Binyelum

2 - The Haunted House and The Angelic Trespasser

I looked at Chuma who was already having a hard time trying to hold me back. My suit jacket was bunched up from where he had his arms wrapped around my torso, holding me back. I shrugged him off and proceeded to loosen my tie before taking off my jacket all the while maintaining eye contact with my stepbrother whose mother was whispering in his ear and patting down his chest in an attempt to calm him.

"Chuma, take him away please." Aunt Kene instructed her son.

Chuma tapped my back lightly and turned to walk away. I followed him as he led us somewhere private. By now the audience we'd gathered had dispersed. Chuma and I walked back into the auditorium where the graduation ceremony had taken place earlier. There were only a few people loitering around, some talking in groups, some taking pictures.

"God! Kaka, man. I'm so sorry." Chuma said softly.

I flung my jacket at the chairs, and laced my hands together at the back of my head as I began to pace back and forth. An ache began to grow in my head, throbbing so intensively.

"Are you okay? What's going through your mind?" My cousin asked, he had one hand on a chair propping his body.

"Chuma, I just need a minute." I said to him, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Alright man, I'll be quiet but I'm not leaving. I'm staying right here, okay?" He said.

Not too long after, his phone rang and he answered. It was his mother asking where we were. When he told her, the call ended. Aunt Kene walked in shortly after and came to me.

"I've sent them back to the apartment." She told me, taking my hands in hers. "Listen to me, my son. Control your emotions. I'm here with you, your brother is also here. I want you calm when you get back to the apartment. I want you calm when you talk to them. I want you to control your emotions. This is what we're going to do. This is still your graduation. Families take pictures at things like this. We're going to take a few family pictures. If you want to talk to some school friends, you do that. Then we'll go back to the apartment, the three of us. And we'll all get answers."

I ran my palms over my face and she pried them away from my face. "Do you understand me, my boy?"

I shook my head in agreement and she sighed in relief. We took some family pictures, some of which were with my academic regalia. I barely had friends to socialise with so I insisted on leaving as soon as possible. I couldn't stop thinking about my father's death. We'd only spent about twenty minutes there before boarding a taxi back to the apartment.

When are arrived, I quickly alighted the car like the seat had been on fire. Aunt Kene stayed behind to pay the driver. Chuma was quick to follow me as if sensitive trouble ahead. Him and I ended up boarding the elevator together. Earlier, Aunt Kene had given Annayo and his mother her personal spare key so they could go wait for us at the apartment.

The elevator stopped at our floor and we got out. I opened the door with my key. I pushed the door with so much force it could have swung off the hinges. Ifeyinwa seemed surprised by my sudden entrance into the apartment, she had visibly flinched. Annayo on the other hand was unphased. I marched further into the living room with my cousin hot on my heels.

"I need those answers now." I demanded from the mother and son duo who were seated on the sofa.

I locked gazes with my stepbrother. "Start talking."

He sighed and scooted to the edge of the sofa and started talking. "It was a ruptured brain aneurysm."

"What does that mean?" I asked the same time Chuma cursed.

"It's basically swelling of a blood vessel in the brain. If not managed properly, it swells and eventually bursts and causes intracranial bleeding." Chuma explained.