9:05 am
I got to the market a little bit after 9 in the morning.
I walked around prizing and getting the things I needed for the house. Once I was done, I walked out of the market. I stood by the side of the road to get a cab, when suddenly I felt someone grab me from behind with something hard poking me on my lower back.
I stood stock still, scared to move. Cars drove by; anyone looking at us now will think he’s my boyfriend or something.
The person behind me whispered in my ears saying “don’t say a word, if you do this gun I have right here will harm you in a very bad way, do you understand?”
I nodded my head, scared to speak, he then told me to turn around, he did the same with me, and then we walked. With the things I had in my hands I walked with him. He got to the side of the market where he made me drop my bags.
From their all things went south, he took me to his house.
And thinking about it now, I probably should have screamed or something, I wonder why I didn’t.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Presently.4:00pm
Ada.
So that’s how it happened, I left the house unprotected and got kidnapped by a creepy weird guy that thinks I’m his other half. What have I gotten myself into, gosh.
The creepy guy stared at me from where he sat; his eyes moving from my face to my chest, then to my legs. All I could do was look at him too, and pray real hard hoping he doesn’t do anything to me.
We sat there for a while, he didn’t say or do anything, and I didn’t say or do anything either. So we were at a stalemate.
Suddenly he jumped out of his chair, making me jerk in fear, he then walked to the door, looked at me and said,
“Don’t do anything that will make me hurt you, I don’t want to hurt you, but if you push me, I just might”. Then he walked out.
Oh my god, I’m alone, I should escape, I should scream but I can’t, ‘cause of this stupid tape on my mouth and the ropes tied to my wrist. What do I do?
I sat there thinking, there was no way I’ll be able to escape with my hands tied behind my back, except some miracle occurred.
So I sat there wondering what to do, I did this for about 10 minutes when suddenly the door opened, and my kidnapper walked in. He was carrying two black, small leather bags. He sat back on his seat not saying anything, again astride it, then dropped one of the bags on the floor beside his foot. A sachet of pure water fell out. I watched as he did this, my eyes on the water on the floor, then I looked at him. He dipped his hand into the other black leather he was holding to pull out an akara. My eyes moved to the akara then back at him to notice he was looking at me.
He took a bite of his akara, chewed, then swallowed, then took another bite, chewed and swallowed. Then he asked, “Do you want akara?”
I shook my head negatively, I wasn’t hungry, I just wanted to go home.
I watched him as he ate, as I did, my head started to itch me, I began to move restlessly on the floor, he stopped eating noticing my restlessness then he asked.
“Why are you restless, what’s wrong?”
He actually sounds like he cares.
But I didn’t answer ‘cos of course my mouth is covered.
I kept moving restlessly, he got up from his seat, knelt down in front of me and stared at me for a few seconds, then he gently took of the masking tape from my mouth, and asked again.
“Why are you restless?”
Finally being able to speak, I replied, “My head is scratching me”
His brows squeezed in confusion, “your head is scratching you?” he asked
I nodded my head, telling him yes.
“What part of your head?”
Oh boy, I think he wants to do the scratching for me, time to get creative.
“My scalp” I replied
He stared at me again for a second, and then his hand went to my scalp and he began to scratch.
“No, not there, go to the left” I said, sounding like he was scratching the wrong spot. Meanwhile immediately he started to scratch at first, he had hit the jackpot, scratching the exact place that was itching me. I just wanted to frustrate him a bit. He changed direction and went to another part of my scalp, I immediately told him it was the wrong spot, and this went on for about 2 minutes. I felt it was enough ‘cos I was quite tired of breathing in his air.
So I said, “it’s ok sef, I’ll just manage” sounding like he was no help at all, but he didn’t move, my eyes moved up to look at him and the look I got was a scary one. He looked like he was about to strangle me to death. I gave him a blank look, acting like his look wasn’t affecting me at all. When he didn’t move I said.
“You’re still in my space, you’ve done your job, I’m done with you, I need my space back”
But he just kept staring at me in that ice, cold, look, oh god I hope I haven’t over done it?
Suddenly, a sharp, loud, knock came from his door that immediately made him to turn his head swiftly around to stare at it, I bent a bit to the side to look at the door too.
He then moved from my space making me sigh out in relief, he really wasn’t smelling good, like at all, he smelt like rotten egg and fish, Really disgusting.
The loud knock came again, but he still stood there staring at it like the sound was an alien sound. A few seconds later in silence, he yelled out asking,
“Who’s that?”
A loud lady’s voice replied in pidgin, “ na me oh, abeg Kingsley, borrow me that your Nokia charger, I won charge my phone, my own don spoil, please abeg, don’t worry ehn, I go give you akara tomorrow for free, you no go pay at all, please abeg”
hmm, so she’s the one that sells the akara.
But he kept standing there, not moving, just staring at the door. After a few seconds; he walked to the door and opened it just a smidge, only half of his body was revealed to the person knocking. Then he said to her.
“Mama Kehinde come later abeg, I’m busy”
“You dey use your charger?” she asked.
“No I no dey use am, but”—– She spoke above him saying,
“Ehen, so give me na?” she prompted
“I say I dey busy” he replied, sounding pissed. But I think she didn’t notice ‘cos she said.
“I know say you dey busy, just pass me the charger since you no dey use am, then I go, go”
He didn’t say anything to this, they were both quiet, after a few seconds, he closed the door in her face.
There was a loud “ahn ahn” from her, she sounded offended, but he just walked over to the other side of the room where his bags were kept. Behind the closed door, I could hear her muttering to herself about how young boys of this generation are rude.
I looked at the door to notice it wasn’t properly closed. Then I looked at him, he was squatting down going through his scattered bags, looking for his charger.
I didn’t think, and I don’t know how I did it, but before my brain could function, I was on my feet racing to the door. I used a foot to open it then ran out with my hands still tied behind, hitting mama kehinde on her shoulder in the process, screaming and yelling.
“Help!, help!, I’ve been kidnapped, help!”
Mama kehinde, a short, light skinned, fat woman was totally surprised, she just stood there looking at me like I was some strange specie, then her head turned to the door to see Kingsley looking at me with his eyes wide with fear, those eyes moved to mama kehinde, she looked at him surprised then she looked at me, people had already started to come out of their houses, some that were walking by the road stopped to look at me, I kept on shouting but no one did anything.
Suddenly I heard someone scream, “the man dey run, catch am! Catch am!”
I stopped shouting to know who was running away, I turned around to see Kingsley running like the hounds of hell was chasing after him, some men were running after him to get him, but he escaped.
I felt someone hold my hand, I turned my head to the right to look behind me, it was mama Kinsley standing behind me, she had a knife in her hands, I really don’t know how she got the knife but I was grateful she had it. Then she looked at me for a second to let me know what she was about to do, I nodded my head, giving her the go ahead. then she used the knife to cut off the ropes.
I thanked her, even as I felt blood rush back through my hands and mind you this didn’t feel good, I rubbed my wrists and shook my hands to relief myself of the pain. Then I felt people in front and at the back of me, they were asking questions, questions like, “who are you?” “Where do you live?” “How can we help you?” “Should we call someone?” “How did you get here?” the questions were all asked in pidgin language anyway.
I didn’t want to answer these questions; I had just one thing on my mind. So what I said was, “I have to make a call, I need a phone please”. Immediately a phone was placed in my hand, and I made a call.