Sacred Oaths

EPISODE 2: FRENZY.

"Stop there!" A deep voice bellowed to me in the dark. "Now!"

I wanted to run away quickly, but on second thought, I considered them to be vigilantes, so I just followed my instincts and stopped as I had been told.

"Who you be?" The same voice drew nearer, as they all approached me, flashing their torches at my face. "Ehn?"

I couldn't reply him, due to the intensity of my trembling lips.

"Are you deaf?" Another one asked fiercely, snapping his fingers close to my ear. Yet, I couldn't respond.

"Do you think we are joking here?" The first guy asked again with a more ferocious tone, but I still couldn't talk! I was too petrified to speak!

"Look," a third voice came from nowhere, "it's best you comply with us. We don't want to hurt you, lady. We don't intend to harm you at all, but if you push us, we will. Do you concur?"

I simply nodded affirmatively, completely unsure of what to say.

"That's nice. So let's start afresh! Who are you?"

"I... I am Lydia," I managed to speak up.

"Ly-what?"

"Lydia!" I repeated.

"Liar!" He said loudly and stamped his right foot on the ground three times. It frightened me. HE frightened me!

The other guys beside me burst into laughter on seeing my facial expression.

"You think you are smart?" He asked, barely taking his horrific eyes off mine.

I didn't reply.

"You really think you're smart?" He asked again, laughing this time around. I became even more terrified than before.

"She no dey look face at all!" One of the guys said to another as they both cracked up again.

"You see how they're laughing at you? You could've simply said the truth, and maybe we would've let you go, but you chose to lie instead." He said and then turned to his friends. "Guys, what do we do to her now?"

Hesitantly, his friends whispered to him and made some hand gestures that I didn't understand.

He stood transfixed for a while with his gaze on me, and then he shook his head with disdain.

"Go home!" He muttered, almost in a whisper.

"But I... I need to get onions!" The words slipped out of my mouth all of a sudden.

"What did you say?"

"I need onions. It's why I'm out here this late." I rephrased audibly, hoping I wasn't making a mistake.

He turned around and looked at me in a rather abrasive manner. His countenance changed all of a sudden.

"Don't make me change my mind."

He sounded stern! The look on his face wasn't inviting either, and it emphasized the seriousness in his words. I just had to turn around and head back home to avoid unnecessary problems, at least, for the sake of my dear life.

__________

"Where have you been?" Mimi questioned me the moment I got back inside. She was eating one of the chips I brought back earlier.

"Nowhere."

"Nowhere?" She asked, giving me a funny look.

"Yes, nowhere," I answered and made my way to the kitchen to put down the water I was boiling and then I turned off the stove. I had lost my appetite for dinner tonight.

"Are you alright?" Mimi's curiosity grew worse as I returned to the parlor and made my bed to lie.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure, Fifi?" She asked again, still giving me her funny, suspicious look.

"Trust me, I'm fine." I assured her with a forced smile. I didn't want to tell her about the cult guys in the area. She was fond of panicking unnecessarily- as expected of a complete drama queen-which, in fact, was one of the traits I found very humorous about her.

"Alright, if you say so! Won't you join me in eating this?" She stretched the plate full of chips to me. I declined it politely and bade her goodnight.

The next day, after lectures, something strange happened. A group of guys stood by a corner-right inside of the lecture hall-having a very heated argument. Suddenly, one of them ran into the cafeteria nearby, grabbed a bottle, quickly ran back inside the hall and smashed it on another's head. It developed into a very brutal fight. When they were eventually separated, we were all amazed to know that they'd argued and fought just because of football and table tennis. Nothing more serious than that. If they had been caught during the act by a lecturer or someone else with higher authority, they might've been expelled.

One hour later, I got home and freshened up. Mimi wasn't back from school yet, so I made stew and rice for her, myself and my landlord's daughters. They were the only friends and neighbours I had managed to maintain since I moved in.

Ijeoma was my favourite among them. She was more mature and clever than her elder sisters. We were so close that some neighbors even thought that we were sisters.

In fact, I often helped her with her studies-especially tutoring her for her upcoming Post UTME-when I deemed it fit.

However, on this chill afternoon, we both sat on a bench in the compound, gossiping in our usual feminine fashion while we ate together in the same plate. But then, all of a sudden, a guy barged into the compound with blood stains on his clothes.

Terrible gunshots were being fired outside as he rushed towards us in a frenzy!