TWO MOTHERS CHAPTER FOUR
*Theme songs:
Banks: Waiting game
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SHALLOWS OF KANAWAR
Fast-forward to the present, I was committing the same atrocity, and more devilishly, I was with an accomplice whom I had dragged into this using the same gimmicks of my companion who sold me out years ago; Halimah.
The ride was silent. I still felt the tingling sensation of his presence at the pit of my belly, but not as much as I felt the rush of anxiety in my veins. Halimah had to be alright. The shallows of Kanawar were as deadly as they described it. The government, on the news had described it as a place leaching with most of the evils in Zaria. The commissioner of police said in quote, "if you catch a thief or a drug addict, he is probably from the Shallows of Kanawar." All efforts to clean and rid the place off people with dubious intent was like trying to struggle your way out of a quicksand. Somehow, the shadows seems to fester.
I was a moron for coming on my own, but the adventures Halimah indulged in might get her into trouble. She was very outgoing, very carefree, and nothing in the world, not even her mother could stop her exaggerated fantasies.
"Trouble." Mohammad's voice brought me back to the now. I looked at him, and he was staring straight ahead through the windscreen of the vehicle, out onto the long roads that lead to the provinces. "That's what they call her in school."
"Halimah?" I wondered.
"Who else? She reeks of it. Other girls try to steer clear from her. I don't understand your friendship."
"They don't understand her."
"And you do?" He turned to me with a scoff.
"I do." I raised my chin defiantly but did I know Halimah like I claimed I did? Was I really sure of her capabilities? The question irked my pulse, and to avoid Mohammad's questioning glare, I looked out of the window to my left. Maybe, just maybe for the first time, I wasn't sure, and it ignited a small angry flame at the bottom of my belly.
"She bullies you." Added Mohammad. "She does that every day, and you don't see it."
“No, she doesn’t." I was quick to defend my companion.
“JSS1, she filled your bag with sand.” He raised a brow.
“It was a dare. I dared her to do that.” I was quick to defend Halimah again even though I knew deep in my heart that wasn’t the situation.
“JSS2, she locked you in the female toilet for over an hour.”
“Halimah was being childish. I offended her, it was my fault.”
“JSS3, she lied to Teacher Mustapha that you stole the key to the staff room to alter your results.”
“That wasn’t the case.” I defended lamely. Halimah had stolen the key to alter her results; that could tarnish her image in school forever. The principal would send her out of school and she wouldn’t be able to finish her education. I on the other hand had my parents involved in the politics of the town, I could be pardoned, so she told me to take the fall for her, and I did willingly.
“Senior class 1, she spent your bus fare and you had to walk eighteen miles home.”
"I'd like you to mind your business." I spoke firmly, trying not to show my emotions.
“Senior class 2, she pushed you off the stairs.”
“We had an argument. I fell, she didn’t push me.”
“You broke your ankle. You only recovered a few months ago.” Now, I was feeling uneasy about it all. He didn’t know Halimah like I did. "She is doing it again. You keep recycling all of it."
"Mind your business."
"Look at us." He swallowed. "Two students dressed in their uniforms. We are supposed to be in class, writing a test but here we are, looking for your lost friend who is probably out there having all the fun she wants."
"Halimah would have said. Maybe she is ill. Something is wrong, and I can feel it."
"I can feel something is wrong too. It is not coming from the idea that Halimah is missing, but the fact that you are delirious."
I was angry now. I folded my arms over my chest, sulked silently into my seat, and promised to make him regret it. I will prove to him that Halimah was different from what they all thought, and something must have happened to her; something unusual.
But that wasn't my duty. If Halimah wanted to clear her name, that should be her doing.
I was busy sulking that I didn't realize that our bus had been pulled over by a bunch of men dressed in police vests with riffles hanging down their shoulders. Mohammad and I planned our perfect escape from the school gate, but we didn't put into consideration the policemen that would patrol the shallows of Kanawar. I shifted in my seat. It was difficult not to spot two students dressed in white and green uniform, heading the opposite way from school at such an awkward time. Subconsciously, I felt Mohammad's palm grasped mine in solemnization of anxieties.
This was bad. If we were taken, it would be easy to spot us because our parents owned such power in the town. I bent my face from the spotlight but that didn't stop the round bald police sergeant from walking up to my window. He knocked on the glass for me to roll it down, and when I did, he put in his hand to request for my identity card. I clenched my teeth and reached into my pocket to fetch it. "Bros, you too." He snapped his finger telling Mohammad to do the same.
We tendered our IDs, he looked at it with a frown lodged in his brows then called his Superintendent who looked at us and asked. "Where are you two headed?"
"To visit our sick friend." Mohammad responded. "She hasn't been in school for the past few days so, the school gave us permission to visit her." The policemen looked at him with such disbelief, but he pressed. "You can call our school to ask. Mr. Akin gave us permission." He was so confident and so real that I thought for a split second that was the actual situation.
"There should be a written document with you; like a pass."
"We don’t have it.” He said. “Our identities are enough.” The police man scoffed, or I might have imagined it. He opened the door and told us to step out of it. He would like to confirm with the school if our claims were true. My heart banged rapidly in my chest. The longer I stayed, the more time I was wasting to get to Halimah.
“We don’t have such time. We have to go back to school. We are having a test later in the day.” I spoke rapidly, and all eyes diverted to me. “Please, we need to be on our way.”
“Step out of the vehicle.” He insisted.
“You don’t understand!”
“What I understand is, with all the problems going on in the shallows of Kanawar, your school will never ask you to go on your own. They will accompany you with security. So, until I confirm that your school actually made this reckless decision, we would be taking you to our nearby precinct in Juna. I looked at Mohammad, and he gestured we stepped out of the bus.
I felt everything playing in slow motion, my heartbeat pounded in my ears as they led us to their cars. Mohammad grabbed me by the wrist and whispered to me. “How fast are you?”
“What?” I looked at him, threatening to have a panic attack.
“What’s your speed?”
“Fair enough.” I exhaled as I watched the Superintendent returning to his post, and since we showed to be obedient, only the round bald sergeant was tasked to taking us to the precinct to call the school. We got into the back seat of the police car, and watched our driver ignite the vehicle. “This wouldn’t take long at all. Once I confirm your claim, I'd drive you down there myself.”
“Yes sir.” Mohammad said ever so politely that he looked like a different person.” The car dragged through the deadly streets. Mohammad leaned into me to whisper again. “When I say your name, that’s our cue.”
“Cue?” I didn’t understand him. “What do you mean?”
“You are smart.” He sat upright.
Soon the police man slowed down for a traffic light. Once he stopped, Mohammad had his hand on the door, and he jacked it open a little to be sure if it was open. I saw the relief in his eyes when it fell back on me. “You can do it.” I tried to understand what he meant until he shouted my name. “Zainab! Now!” He opened the door, stepped out and ran like his life depended on it. A split second later, I found myself following blindly behind him. My heart pounded in my ears, and I felt my veins pumping with vigor; it burnt so much I thought I was having a hypertensive breakdown but still, my legs moved swiftly behind him.
“Stop!” The policeman shouted but there was no stopping now. I had my eyes set on the athlete in front of me. Mohammad stopped for about a second so I caught up with him, and when I did, he grabbed me by the wrist and we ran.
My ankles started to ache. The doctors have warned my parents severely that for the next one year, I shouldn’t be allowed to perform any tedious activity with my foot. Iron rod and screws had been inserted into the hinges to make it walk again. My father had gotten me a butler to drive me around, but Halimah had taught me rebel, and I promised to take the bus and stick to the advice. But for Halimah, here I was breaking it.
We ran for many minutes that it felt like many hours, and soon, we found ourselves in a desolated place surrounded with nothing but bushes and big trees. I couldn’t run now, I limped in pain. The evening was nearing, and we had walked for many hours. This was supposed to be a twenty minute drive, but now, we were in the forests of Juna, and only a miracle could get us back before the night fell. “Are you okay?” Mohammad asked.
“I am fine.” I was pissed at everything. He probably did it for the best, but there we were, lost. “We need to get back on the road.”
“You are limp…” he came close to take a look at my leg, but an anger plug sparked within me and I snapped.
“Mind your business.” It was as if I didn’t say anything at all. He squatted in front of me, grabbed my ailing foot and rolled down my socks. What audacity! I tried to shove him away but he was strong and my push did only little because he remained in the same position. “Are you deaf?” My voice erupted. “Let me go!” He pulled off my shoe, took off my socks to notice the swollen ankle and stood back to look into my face.
“I’d have to carry you.”
“Aren’t you listening to me? I said you should leave me…” And in one scoop, my feet were not touching the ground anymore. It was as if he had done this many times before, lifting me onto his back without my permission. What effrontery! I tried to wriggle free, but it was like every nerve in my body was connected to my swollen ankle like the guitar strings, and if I turned it struck a painful chord so, I remained put. He walked for many minutes until we got to the road. He held me put with one arm, and with the other, he reached for his android to check for signal. Once he received, he pressed the phone to his ears to make a call. That was the shortest call I have ever heard somebody make. “I need your help…. Thanks.” was all he said.
“That leg is looking really bad, we need to get you cleaned up.” He said to me.
“I need to see Halimah.”
“After we treat your leg.”
“No, I need to see her first.”
“You are stubborn!”
We waited at a bus station for close to ten minutes when a car stopped in front of us. The driver came over to where Mohammad stood, hugged him and gave him a male affectionate slap at the back. “It has been ages, what happened? Your father finally made you attend school?” The person mocked him, eyeing his already dirty uniform. Mohammad smiled genuinely and responded with a slow shake of his head. “…you are looking great.”
The person looked over Mohammad’s shoulder, narrowed his eyes to get a better view of me before exclaiming. “Oh my God! You don’t say!” and it was until then I began to register the face. I remember this person, we grew up together although his family moved from Kanawar once I clocked twelve. “The Zainab Danladi.” He sounded so excited. He was Adam Benjamin; one of those rich children that had been introduced into family business before learning to walk. He looked back at Mohammad with a frown lodged in his brows in puzzlement. “Tell me what the hell is going on?”
The Runaway? find out in the next chapter of Two Mothers by Okunola O. Zain
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