The Things We Do

THIRTY FIVE

He parked and rushed out of the car immediately. The compound was well lit and it was quite a sight to take in. But Kenneth wasn't there to admire the place, he was going to get out of there as soon as possible.

Mr. Aloysius emerged from the house looking like someone who had just gone through the second world war. Kenneth had never seen him that way, he was always calm, collected and scary. Though, as he approached Kenneth with haste, he still looked very scary.

"There's something I need you to take care of." Mr. Aloysius breathed out, standing very close Kenneth.

Kenneth shook his head. "I have a girl in the car, she fainted and I can't revive her. I don't know what to do... I was taking her to the hospital-"

"There's some money I want you to keep safe. I'll let you know when I need it but I need you to keep it safe for now," the man ordered, not caring the least about what Kendrick was blabbing about.

"That's all?"

"Yes."

"Where is it?"

"It's inside, in the basement passageway," he replied before looking up and taking a glance at the car behind Kenneth. "Go and get it. I'll see what I can to help...the girl."

Without thinking twice, Kenneth dashed into the house, not wanting to waste anymore time.

The large downstairs living room was well lit but the adjourned passageway that let to the basement was the opposite. It was very dark. In fact, Kendrick couldn't see anything, he couldn't make out the sack of money Mr. Aloysius had talked about. Was it even in a sack?

With shaky hands, he hurriedly retrieved his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight. The darkness seemed to be swallowing the light but he was able to make out the door that led down to the basement at the far end. He'd always wondered what was down there but he figured it would just be old furniture and other junk.

There was a briefcase lying close the wall when Kenneth looked around. He grabbed the heavy briefcase and began hurriedly made his way out of the house.

When he got outside, Mr. Aloysius was nowhere in sight. He approached his car and could make out the man's figure in the backseat before he even got close enough.

He'd said he would try and help Esther and that was probably what he was-

No, it wasn't.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Kenneth yelled, dropping the briefcase on the ground, grabbing Aloysius by the back of the collar and pulling him out of the backseat where he was hovering above Esther who's clothes were all open.

Kenneth didn't care if the man was nearly twenty years older than he was and if he could have him behind bars with the snap of his fingers, he grabbed him and threw him to the ground. The man managed to stuff his genitals back into his trousers which were unbuckled.

Kenneth couldn't even look at the girl at the back of his car with the way her skirt was pulled up and her undies pulled down. Her shirt was fully unbuttoned and she just laid there, looking more lifeless than before.

He tried to put her in order with his shaky hands before slamming the back door shut.

He hopped into the driver's seat, brought the car to life, reversed and drove out of the compound as soon as the gates came open.

So many things were going through his head and all he could was scream and slam his fist against the steering wheel, not caring if he was dangerously over speeding in the middle of the night.

The estate security had already locked the gates but he not-so-calmly explained to them it was an emergency before throwing them some naira notes. He sped out of the estate after they opened the gates as he fought back tears.