King stayed in his car for several minutes watching the front door looking for any sign of life in the house. Everything was as quiet as it looked and he wondered if he was in the wrong place. He checked the street again and saw he was actually in the right location. He watched the house again and saw the curtains were tightly drawn and the house as silent as a tomb. He knew for a fact that she was home as her car was parked outside for everyone to see; he wondered what she could be doing alone in the house by herself all day. He decided to find out.
The three days since he last saw her and followed her to the beach and back here to her apartment had been the most restless of his life. He had thought of her constantly and it kept coming to his mind to pray for her. Although he prayed and asked God questions over and over, he still hadn’t gotten any answers to his questions. God was silent, but he knew in his heart what he had to do, hence his visit today.
Alewa stared listlessly at the TV screen. She was on her couch, still in her nightgown which she had been wearing for a week, munching on some cookies with a bottle of 1.5l of coke on the small table beside her. She had been perpetually in this position for a week now, ever since she got back from the hospital that terrible day that she got the news she was HIV positive.
She didn’t see the need to take drugs if she’ll still die anyway. The doctor had been calling her non-stop all week, telling her to come to the hospital for her drugs as she had not waited to get them the day she got the news, but she had refused to go. What’s the need for drugs? Why prolong the inevitable? She plans on sitting right here waiting for death to come knocking.
Her father had left her enough money to live on for the rest of her life if she never wanted to work again and if she spent prudently. That was the only good that came out of being related to that man, the fact that he invested his money wisely and left it all to her.
The knock on her door jolted her. Could that be death? Could he be here already? And so soon? She sat there staring at the door, out of her mind with fear. Nobody comes visiting her anyway, so it must be death. Since she moved here, nobody had ever knocked on her door. She was still staring when another knock came. Alewa stood up slowly and approached the door cautiously.
“Who is there?” she whispered, but the person on the other end of the door couldn’t possibly here her.
“Hello. Anybody home?” a voice called out, it was a male voice.
Alewa moved away from the door towards the kitchen. She was going to get a knife or anything she can use as a defense against any intruder. The voice stopped her again.
“Hello Miss. It’s King Karo. Are you home?”
That stopped Alewa. Where have I heard that name before? King Karo? Oh my God!! She flung the door open before she could stop herself. This handsome devil.
“Hello miss.” King said
“What are you doing here? How did you know my house? I’m going to call the police.”
“In Nigeria? Please.” He smiled
Alewa’s hand flew to her neck while her mouth slid open. Fear suddenly came into her eyes.
King saw the look and tried to reassure her. “Look, I’m not trying to frighten you or anything. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes. Can we do that?”
“Please, leave me alone and don’t come to my house again.” With that she shut the door in his face.
King knocked and knocked but Alewa didn’t open. After standing outside her door for several minutes looking like an idiot, he finally walked back to his car. He looked back as he was leaving and saw her peeping out of her living room window. King smiled to himself; she might be all bravado but it was as clear as day that she was scared and she needed someone even if she thought she didn’t. King vowed to keep coming back every day until he wore down her defenses, after all he had nothing better to do for now and he knew he was supposed to touch her life in some way.
No comments:
Post a Comment