𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰𝒔 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅| 3

35: Gifts and sacrifices

"No Gods
No masterpieces."

Asa

Nightmares plagued my nights these days. I threw myself into my studies, extracurricular activities, JAMB preparation and university applications, self medicating to keep myself awake and alert all the time.

I pretty much looked like shit these days.

Kam would swear otherwise.

My anxiety was at an all-time high and I kept darting my eyes left and right, wanting to be alert in case anything happened.

I rolled out of bed that Thursday morning, alert and exhausted at the same time, dreading leaving my room.

Have a nice day, Selene.

I stumbled back into bed, ripped my blankets up and buried myself in it, panic shaking my bones and rattling my nerves.

I hated this. This feeling of being inadequate, small, helpless... Scared. I tried to drown out the pain, the fear, the anxiety, but they had settled in my heart and built a castle in my chest.

Slowly, reluctantly, I slipped out of bed and prepared for school.

In the living room, Olanma was sitting, cross-legged on the floor wearing paint splattered overall and surrounded by sheets and sheets of white papers. Yanis was listening attentively to what she was talking about.

Everyone had been elated to find her chirpy and talkative when they returned home that day. I still didn't know what Kam did to my cousin that flipped her switch. I don't think I'd ever know.

"There's cereal for you, Asa." Tasha called at the dining room, gesturing to the cereal box and jug of milk waiting for me.

The fact that she was even talking to me startled me but I took her up on the offer.

"This goes without saying, I'm sorry about how I've been acting lately." She whispered, catching my eyes the moment I sat down across from her. "You don't deserve it, I'm a bitter nasty bitch, I apologise and I'm happy for you."

I waited for her words to have an effect on me and wasn't shocked when I felt nothing.

She was spreading butter on her bread and she paused once to sip her tea.

I stared at her and found myself focusing on her dark painted lips.

Everyone was tiptoeing around Tasha. I was vaguely aware that something had happened while I was away these past few weeks. Something had happened that had changed the entire dynamics of how everyone treated Tasha and why Tasha was so bitter. Something bigger than dropping out, bigger than struggling financially, bigger than her envy for me...

I was dying to know what it was, but nobody was offering to shed light on it, so I dropped it. With everything on my plate and in my head, I could really use a breather. I'd be there for Tasha if she needed me, but I won't break my neck trying to get to the root of it.

I was about to start small talk but Olanma suddenly cried: "Asa! Asa! Kam! He's on the news!"

My head snapped up. I scrambled out of my seat, toppling the chair over as I went to join her in the sitting room. She increased the volume and I realized she was wrong.

Kam wasn't on the news... But something more... Intriguing was going on.

"...and so it appears, Chief Sidney Ojiba was assassinated." The reporter was saying, arousing my curiosity. "The surveillance video was released just last week after much persistence from the press but there's not much we could uncover except the fact that the Crude oil patriarch was assassinated by a group of unidentified gunmen. Underground rumours say that these men call themselves 'debt collectors' and whether this is real or this is fake, we do not know.