This chapter is dedicated to abcbdbeb Your words were so sweet ❤❤❤❤
Enjoy.
~°~°~°~°~
°Jeremiah's POV°
My driver wasn't moving as fast as I wanted him to be and the day was getting darker. Looking out the window, I began to worry and hoped to get where ever Uyai was, on time.
"Sir?" My driver called, not taking his eyes off of the road. "Are you sure that Badagry was their destination?"
"Miss Royal said...." I dragged, then stopped. "I don't know, but why do you ask?"
"There would be a big traffic jam around this time. We are likely to get to our destination around twelve mid night." Informed my driver.
I still did not care if I wouldn't get home this night cause of the long journey. I wanted so bad to find Uyai and make sure she was alright.
My driver didn't argue with me, as he overtook a truck. "If only we knew her location at the moment."
"Her location?" I stopped as I shut my eyes to think hard.
FLASH BACK
"You all are going to be alright," Emem was in the arms of Dafe, as she addressed my friends and I. "Though we're sorry we couldn't help much. Just watch your back, Uyai. Both you and T, should stay at home after school, to avoid regrets later."
Uyai nodded her head at Emem's advice. They were really nice to Uyai, though she haven't spoken to people like Dafe, Sofia and Osas, much. But the truth still remained that they were really nice. And right now, Uyai needed all the niceness in the world.
"We might not find this killer Uyai," I held Uyai's right wrist. "Give me your phone." She handed her phone over to me.
"Emem is right, after school hours, both you and T should stay at home. Here," I finally handed Uyai back her phone. "I just activated your GPS navigation to my phone. Always let me know of your whereabouts and If I don't approve of it, no going."
ENDS FLASH BACK
I opened my mouth out of realization and fetched out my phone from my side pocket. I finally went to the connected GPS and found the navigation for Uyai's phone.
"Stop the car!" I said heavily, as my driver hit the break suddenly. We heard several horns from angry car owners behind us, which prompted my driver to pack at the side of the road. I stretched out my phone, while my driver took hold of it to see what I was pointing at. "She's still in town."
My driver quickly revised and we found ourselves heading back to town. Still moving over to the destination, I called Dami's phone to inform him on the development.
"We're almost out of town," Dami said to me. "But we'll head back now."
"Who's with you?" I asked, still not comfortable sitting still.
"Omonigho is with me right now. Irene, T and Jubilee are in the car behind us while the police car are behind theirs." He informed me quickly. "I'll have to hang up to inform the others."
I let Dami hung up and just focused on the road instead. More than one time, I leaned over to my driver to ask how much longer.
We finally arrived at a Bush part, which was creepy to be honest. Moving in, with the direction from the GPS, we came in contact with a car whose driver's and passenger's door were wide open.
My driver and I moved over to the car and I placed my fingers on it. "This must be Miss Royal's."
I searched inside the car for anything useful, before I felt a pat on my shoulder. "Sir, I think that's them."
I quickly turned and saw Miss Royal holding a knife above her head, as she was about aiming it on Uyai, who was laying helplessly on the dirty floor.
"Miss Royal, stop!" I yelled from where I stood, before Miss Royal does the unthinkable with the knife in her hands. I ran over to Miss Royal and my eyes faltered as I noticed Uyai's wounds. I felt anger sip through me as I clenched my fist with so much range.
"Jeremiah," Uyai breathed tirelessly, as she gulped down a lump in her throat. "You came."
"Oh, your Prince charming has arrived to save the day." Miss Royal snarled once Uyai tried to find enough strength to slide away from Miss Royal, as she looked distracted. "Where was Happiness' Prince charming to save her own life, when your damsel in distress, made her pass through all that and made her to eventually kill herself!"
My eyes subtly moved from Miss Royal, then over to Uyai. But my attention snapped back to Miss Royal, when she yelled her next words. "Answer me!"
"Though I didn't know Happiness too well, I'm sorry for what she went through at a young age." I said softly to Miss Royal. "She was a happy child and would have remained that way if you hadn't slit her throat for revenge purpose."
Miss Royal glared at me with tears evidence in her eyes. "That's because she was already dead!"
"No she wasn't, she had a faint pulse and might have survived it if you had taking her to the hospital." I felt frustrated the more we talked about this disturbing topic. "Who the hell slit a dead person's throat, to begin with. You had no respect for the dead and that act plus your revenge act, caused your sister her life!"
I knew my words must have hurt her, as she dropped the knife on the floor and fell on her knees to start some water works. I decided to move over to Uyai to help her up. But all of a sudden, Miss Royal got up and brought out a gun from beneath her long top.
"This is all your fault, all your fault!" She took off the safety and aimed her gun at Uyai. Both Uyai's and I eyes grew wide when we heard a gun shot, but it wasn't from Miss Royal's.
Not to far behind Miss Royal, was my driver who also happened to be my body guard. My driver had aimed for Miss Royal's right arm, while a completely different gun aimed for both Miss Royal's legs.
Miss Royal fell to her knees in pain, while I directed my attention to the far end. The other gun had came from the three police officers, who had my friends beside them. The police man that had shot both Miss Royal's legs, tucked his gun beneath his waist line, while moving towards us.
T moved over to me and together, we rushed to Uyai's aid. I tried to put pressure on her cuts, as the blood couldn't stop flowing.
"It's gonna be okay," I reassured Uyai with a hush voice. Miss Royal on the other hand, stared in shock as her eyes traveled from T to Uyai.
"There's two of you?" Miss Royal tried to yell but I guess the gun shots had rendered her breathless. She leaned to get her gun but Jubilee slowly moved over to Miss Royal with both hands in his side pockets, and kicked the gun away from her reach.
"You're lucky I didn't shoot you myself!" Jubilee said angrily, as he clenched his teeth. Dami moved over to Jubilee, before he could do anything nasty.
"Dude, calm down." Dami held Jubilee's upper arm but Jubilee angrily moved his hands away.
"I should calm down?! She literally killed the one person that got my heart beating and you said I should calm down!" Jubilee began to transfer his aggression to Dami. "What if the same thing had happened to Omonigho?!"
"God forbid!" Omonigho glared at Jubilee. "And please don't add me to your conversation if it isn't pleasant!"
In the midst of Dami, Jubilee and Omonigho's dispute, T got up and walked over to Miss Royal. "I'm Tatiana and I'm sorry for everything I had done to Happiness. I never even knew Happiness had a sister, since she had never spoken about you in the past."
T finally squat close to Miss Royal, knowing she was now harmless. "I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life, I even wanted to kill myself on top the Lagos bridge, just to please Happiness and to use that as a means to get myself even with Happiness. I also know that I won't find Justice for my childish mistakes but..."
T stopped, as she cleaned the tear rolling down her left eye. "Revenge wasn't something Happiness favored, since day one. And because of that same revenge you wanted so badly, caused Happiness her life."
The police had used that opportunity to get Miss Royal up her feet. Two police officers gently moved Miss Royal to the police car. While with the extra officer's helped, we moved Uyai over to my car so we'll take her to the hospital.
~°~°~°~°~
Mrs Ekanem after accessing Uyai's condition, said it wasn't critical but was in need of some stitches. She had placed the equipment needed for the stitches on an iron hospital kit, before moving into the room Uyai was in.
T seemed busy, as she was in the middle of Omonigho and Irene, as she tried to reach her parents on the phone.
"Come on," I felt Dami's presence. "Eno's mum said Uyai only needs stitches. Good thing it was only minor cuts."
"Dami," I exhaled. "Just what if, what if I wasn't there on time? Uyai would have been dead!"
"But she isn't," Dami said quietly, seeing me all worked up for the very first time. "We are happy it didn't end up in the biggest 'what if' in the history of all 'what ifs'."
I chuckled, listening to Dami's choice of words. I was about opening my mouth, when I saw Mrs Ekanem walking out of the room meant for Uyai.
"The stitches are all done," Mrs Ekanem smiled at us. "You can go meet her now." Dami and I stared at each other, before getting into the room.
Laid in white sheet, was Uyai with both eyes closed. Both of Uyai's arms, were bandaged and her sprain leg which was also bandaged, were comfortably placed on a soft pillow.
Whomever said Uyai was weak, never knew the definition of weakness. Seeing her laying in the hospital bed with her eyes closed, made me realized that she was the strongest human on earth. She did risk her life just to save her sister's.
Uyai would have yelled 'I'm not Tatiana', in front of Miss Royal, but she didn't. Uyai was ready to take a bullet for her sister.
Uyai stirred a bit, before turning to Dami and I. I moved over to her side and sat at the little spot beside her, then held her hands gently.
"How you feeling?" I placed the back of my right hand on Uyai's forehead, just to feel her temperature. Uyai nodded, looked at Dami then drew her attention back to me.
"What about Miss Royal?" Uyai's voice was still weak.
"Um," When someone had just recovered from unconsciousness, there were ways to break news. I really didn't want to get her over thinking. "Miss Royal was taking to the station for interrogation."
"Just hope she won't be out that easily like Alex." Commented Dami bitterly.
I clenched my fist a bit. "I'll see to it that that'll never happen. Besides Unlike Miss Royal, Alex killed no one."
"Thank God," Uyai whom was feeling better, help herself and sat upright. "That woman should even die by hanging sef."
"Uyai, you know I love you right?" Uyai eyes shown a bit, staring at me. "So save your little energy by lying back down."
I helped her out and place her back flat in the bed. Uyai obliged and lay gently. I couldn't keep my eyes from hers, seeing that I had almost lost her.
"Uyai," I gulped down and tried to think my words through. For some reasons, this made me nervous. "I also wanted to ask if you would like to be my___"
"Uyai!" The door to the hospital room flew open and in came Omonigho, Irene, T and her parents. T mother rushed forward, to access her daughter. "Abasi! Mbok, Uyai my daughter, are you fine?"
"Mma," Uyai said, as her mother kept accessing her body. "I'm fine, all thanks to my friends."
Mr Ukeme, Tatiana dad finally turned to look at me. "You're Jeremiah?" Jubilee used that moment to walk into the room. "This young man told me about your efforts in rescuing my daughters. Thank you."
"It's no problem sir," I reassured him, then bit my lower lips, knowing I might regret my next words. "Uyai is a friend that I like very much."
Uyai sat upright from the bed, staring at me with stunned eyes. She never expected I'd say that to her father. Dami nudged me on my rib, then subtly said inbetween fake coughs. "Dude, shut the hell up."
"I see," Mr Ukeme took slow steps towards Uyai's bed. "My wife and I were evidence of a High School love life." If the blacks could blush, Mrs Ukeme would have done that. "As long as you both control your emotions till you are of age, you have my support."
I smiled, feeling really grateful at Mr Ukeme. "Thank you so much sir, I promise I won't do anything stupid."
I digged my hands into my full long soft hair, before saying. "Dami and I were about going to the station to witness the process of Miss Royal's interrogations, since we are literally needed there. Maybe, you and Tatiana could come along?"
Mr Ukeme nodded without hesitating, then turned to his wife. "I'll be back, please take care of her." Mrs Ukeme nodded, the exact time Jubilee offered to tag along.
Minute passed and we were out of the hospital building. We all got into Mr Ukeme's car, T calling in shot gun. Jubilee, Dami and I, placed ourselves at the back seat of the car. Mr Ukeme seemed angry on our way to the station, which was only fair cause of what happened to his daughter.
~°~°~°~°~
After thirty minutes of driving, we finally got to the station. Inside the station, some security men led us to a huge almost empty interrogation room. Right inside the interrogation room was Mr and Mrs Bassey. I knew Mr and Mrs Bassey cause I usually see them support Happiness when she was undergoing school competitions. Miss Royal was also seen sitting on an iron chair, facing Detective Christian and Detective Ogbonnaya.
Miss Royal was placed in handcuffs while Mrs Bassey, kept sobbing uncontrollably. Miss Royal also had the area she was shot, bandaged. Detective Ogbonnaya, led Mr Ukeme to a spot to have his seat.
"I'm amazed," Commented Detective Ogbonnaya. "My partner told me about you guys little visit to the office the other day and reaching to a dead end. How on earth did you manage to find a new lead?"
Dami and Jubilee's gaze where on me, while I opened my mouth to speak. "My school ward's elder brother, indirectly helped out." Then muttered mostly to myself. "Now that it's over, I need to fill Jasper in before he start his MIA."
Mr Ogbonnaya nodded, then move his gaze on Miss Royal and then her parents. "Before they came in, you were about explaining why you called off the investigation."
Mrs Bassey stopped sobbing for a second. "W-We knew Royal was responsible for her sister's death." Mrs Bassey voice broke in between words, but she kept on going nonetheless. "After seeing the autopsy on the day of Happiness' death and realized she never died by h-hanging, we decided to close the case cause we knew Royal was the one responsible for the cut on Happiness' throat. W-We weren't ready to loose another daughter for committing murder."
"Mama!" Cried Miss Royal. "You knew I unintentionally killed my sister and didn't let me know!"
"I-I'm__"
"Don't touch me," Miss Royal moved away from her parents. Miss Royal was blinded by revenge. She thought her sister was dead and thought it won't be any different to slit her throat and use the blood to send a death wish to the person responsible. She was in the dark. She thought she did nothing wrong and was just avenging her sister's death. Her parents knew the autopsy result and didn't tell her about it. So I wasn't surprised she was acting this way. Miss Royal felt abandoned and guilty. All the things she thought was right, turned back to hit her straight in the face.
"You didn't want to loose a child? Understandable, fine!" Mrs Royal yelled at her mother. "But you could have told me the truth! I wouldn't have killed Kingsley and that girl who saved Tatiana's life and I as hell wouldn't have attacked Tatiana and her sister! I-I would have suffered in my own guilt!"
"Stop talking to your mother that way!" Mr Bassey snapped. "She meant well, while your stupid revenge worsen your case!"
"Daddy!" Cried Miss Royal, in utter disbelief. "Even you?"
Tatiana took a step forward, she felt hesitant but decided to keep moving. "Miss Royal, Happiness my best friend hated revenge, neither does she love blaming people. I'm trying not to blame you for killing your sister because it was unintentional. But there's something you need to know, revenge is for God and not for man to execute. Your act of vengeance made you to loose someone you care so much about. I hope you learn a lesson about revenge, same way I've learnt my lesson about bad behavior and the habit of growing up too fast."
Miss Royal was quiet, as she stared at the floor. Detective Christian called in one of the police men at the entrance of the interrogation room, to send Miss Royal to her cell. Immediately Miss Royal left the interrogation room, Tatiana rushed over to Mr and Mrs Bassey and knelt before them.
"I can never say sorry enough," Tatiana said to Miss Royal's parents. "I single handedly destroyed your family with just a little mistake."
"It's alrig__"
"No it's not, it can never be alright." Tatiana quickly said to them. "If I haven't done that, Happiness would have been having a normal life and Miss Royal wouldn't be seeking for revenge."
Mr Bassey was the one to shake his head. "Happiness had long forgiving you and has promised us to do the same." Even with Mr Bassey trying his best to hide the sadness in his voice, it was evidence. "Royal's action was no one but her decision." Mr Bassey exhaled and shook his head. He bent a little and stretched out his hands out at Tatiana. "Mbok, get up my child."
Tatiana wiped her nose with the back of her right hand and also cleaned her tear filled face, before reaching for Mr Bassey's hands which supported her in getting up to her feet. Once Tatiana got to her feet, she hugged Mr and Mrs Bassey. I noticed her back kept trembling, which meant she was still crying in their embrace.
"Everyone is entitled to a lawyer," Mr Christian said to Mr and Mrs Bassey. "But if you ask me on how the case might be in the future, there's no escaping for Royal your daughter. She did kill three persons and attempted to kill and extra one. Happiness, Kingsley and Judith's death, wouldn't be over looked in court."
Mr Bassey still had a stone look as he tried not to show off his emotion. But for some reason, I could see through him. "I understand."
That day, we left the station with mix emotions. We were happy it was all over, but couldn't deny the sadness aura around us. Mrs Bassey kept crying back in the station, knowing she might loose a second child. But like I said, it was a mix emotion for everyone. For me, I was happy for one thing.
Happy that Uyai survived.
The end? Of course not. More chapters are coming soon.
What do you think about this chapter and about Miss Royal, her parents and Tatiana's case.
I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
This is the longest chapter I have written in all my books combined.
Till next time,
March love,
X
-Eddy