THE MASKED
The Masked - Chapter 17
©Godwin Winner & Aghedo Grace
"what"
This girl. She's a real crook
"so you were pretending all this while? How were you feeding."
"leave all that details and answer my question"
"It wasn't my intention to kidnap you"
"then why did you, you asshole. Do you know that i was tied and barely fed"
"what!! I told them to feed you properly"
"well, they didn't"
"am sorry for that and sorry for kidnapping you. Someone I couldn't refuse just wanted to know how important you are to your dad that's why we held you hostage. Am sorry"
"who told you to kidnap me"
"am sorry I cant tell you that"
"why"
"its confidential" i cant tell her my dad is behind all this.
"if you don't tell me then i'll have no choice than to tell the world that you're a kidnapper"
"are you trying to blackmail me"
"not if you tell me what I want to know"
"if u do that you wont know about your past"
"you cant use that against me because I remember every single thing that happened back then"
"but you don't know what resulted to the wiping of the whole town"
she became quiet.
"how did you get to know"
"i had it researched"
"and why"
"i also cant explain why am doing all of this. Think am attracted to u"
She laughed. Her laugh is so beautiful but I cant help but ask why she's laughing.
"why are you laughing"
"you are a comedian... How can a mere attraction push you to go an extra mile in meddling with someone's life"
"i also cant explain it"
"really? What do you think I am? Seven? Please say something reasonable. Ok lets look at it this way. Am in the hospital because you shot me and yet you say you're attracted to me. Oh please spill the beans"
what she said added coal to fire. My conscience has been pricking me and now it felt like she stabbed my heart with a knife and rolled it thereby making me to bleed more.
"Emilia, I care for you and I didnt shoot you"
"what did u do then"
"i only used the back of my gun on you"
"hmm....so much for someone who claims to care"
"don't be like that.... I saved your life"
all she did was bat her eyelash and stared at me giving me the i-don't-believe-you look. Maybe if I explain to her, she'll understand
"the stunt you played on me made the boys angry and they wouldn't have hesitated to kill you so I used the back of the gun to knock you out so that their target can be on other people"
"how do u expect me to believe u
you when I was shot"
"one of them must have understood what I was trying to do and shot you to savage my plan. Am really sorry"
in a flash, i saw her soften towards me but before you know it, its gone and if I hadn't looked closely, I probably wouldn't have noticed it
"am not thanking you. You know that right?"
"it doesn't matter. So why were you faking your comma"
"cos the world wasn't ready for me to wake up yet" this girl is really something else
"i don't understand you"
"And why should I trust you"
well... here it comes
"because am in this with you. You have suffered so much and its time to make those who caused your pain pay for it"
a sly smile appeared on her soft lips and it disappeared as soon as it came. One thing I discovered is that she's changed. A whole new person. Not the breakable girl I saw years ago. It simple means that her pain is gradually turning her into a strong woman who wouldn't trust so easily...
"so... Answer my question"
"Well, when I woke up, I asked the world a question and it wasn't able to provide the answers that I wanted. The answers I needed."
"I still don't understand what you're saying "
"You want me to start story telling"
"Am all ears"
"What if any of them come in here"
"They won't... I'll just notify the nurses not to allow any of them in"
"And how are you going to do that"
I gave her a wink
"Am the dude with the looks and the money"
I went outside and notified the nurses while giving them a tip..
"Alright princess, we have the whole night to ourselves to do whatever we want to do"
"Shut up asshole....we aiint doing anything " she said slapping my arm
"Yeshh... that was rude lady"
"Serves you right"
I kinda think she's warming up to me. What do you think. Getting her to trust me is a giant step and I would love that.
"So start your story"
"Help me up a little "
I helped her to sit while using the pillow to support her. Then she started...
"For the past ten or twelve years I've been living with my foster parents and for those years I've lived with amnesia. I forgot everything about my past, where am really from and my real parents. I was having series of nightmares almost every night and I couldn't even understand why. Well, now I do. My nightmares where actually what happened back then in my home town.
After the kidnap drama and all, I didn't know what was happening here but I had a long dream of everything that happened to me before. Right from the reconciliation time between me and my friend, Shilla to the gunshots, the killing of my parents, the shooting of shilla in which I couldn't do anything to save her and finally when that man pointed that gun at me"
All those time she was sniffing and at her last sentence she broke down. She didn't really change. She was kinda masking the feelings of being strong. I went to the sit beside her and hugged her. She relaxed into my arms and wept. Maybe I shouldn't have asked her. We remained like that for sometime before she disengaged herself from me and cleaned her face.
"I screamed out of the dream and sought answers but no one understood what I was saying. I was confused and they were behaving as if I wasn't ok or I don't know what I was saying. When they called the doctor to check me, he told all of them to excuse him and that was when I explained to the doctor that I want him to give the comma story so that I figure out what is wrong with me."
"So what did you figure out"
"I got to know so many things. Realised that the people am surrounded with love me so much but they are only part of my second life. I don't even know who to trust anymore.
At first I was just too weak to even listen carefully but I did listen later and I heard so many things.
Now that you know why I faked the comma, tell me what I need to know"
The hour has come. Giving her the names of the people involved is like giving her a full loaded gun. So am not gonna do that and another thing is that my own father is involved. What if she decides to kill all of them. No she wouldn't do that. She's the fragile type and moreover her father is involved. I'll just be technical.
"Am not going to use their names ok"
"Why..."
"That's just what I want to do"
"Ok"
"Mr A, B and C agreed to do a business together. It was the idea of Mr B to do the business. Being that he needed money and military men, he brought the business proposal to Mr A. When Mr A estimated everything he discovered that he wasn't having much money to invest in the business so he told Mr C about it and that was how they all came together.
Later on Mr A discovered that the business would involve moving a town from that area completely and tried to convince Mr B to abandon the business but he refused. Mr C and Mr A had already contributed their own part of the money and Mr B refused to realise it even if they were backing out..
When it was getting out of hand, Mr A decided to withdraw thereby cutting Mr C out of their movements reasons best known to him.
It was later discovered that the town wasn't even forced to leave, they were killed and the business started with Mr A and Mr B having direct access to it while Mr C was sidelined."
All this while, she paid rapt attention. Who wouldn't. Am a good story teller.
"And that was why everything happened"
"They killed my family and friends because of a stupid business "
Hmm... it was a wicked thing to do but it has been done anyway.
" seems so"
"You're not even sure?"
"I am... the investigation proves it"
"Hmm"
She was quiet for long and I knew she was thinking.
"Can you please give me a name? Please...."
Oh God. Just what I was trying to avoid...
"Mr A is Richard Roderico "
"What? You mean my dad"
"Yea"
Tbc......
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