Along the Path of Memory

This memory filled Frank with great sadness, one that made his heart ache because as a teenager he had been so fond of Denilson. He had been in mighty awe of him and had looked up to him. If there was a person that Frank held in the highest esteem, it would be the inimitable Denilson. But as the years passed, things began to look very differently, much to Frank's disillusionment. As it would seem that the more things changed, the more Frank drifted away from what he thought was the ideal mental place he could be in relation to the man he had come to revere as a god.

Frank remembered how further down Denilson went. The story was told about how Tonye his wife almost killed him one Saturday afternoon. It was Tonye herself who told the story in an elders' meeting two days after the incident occurred.

Denilson had gotten so wild that, under the influence of the substance, he sometimes inflicted bodily injuries to his wife and kids. It got so bad that a few men had to bind him hand and foot inside his room until the effect if the drug died down. But something happened that day. Somehow, Denilson had broken free and had stormed out of his room and ran towards Tonye's makeshift room. Thrown into panic, Tonye had dived and extracted a pistol she had kept under her pillow. It was a gun she had found on a crime scene and had carefully hidden, knowing it would come in handy one day—a day such as this.

As Tonye struggled with the weapon, trying to open the bolt and crank another cartridge into the chamber, her husband started jumping in the doorway, burbling and squeaking and giggling like a madman. There was an apple in his left hand and he took a monstrous bite and chomped on it comically.

Tonye looked at him aghast. She couldn't believe it. How did he manage to break those chains? Who unlocked the door? Where were the kids ?There wasn't enough time for her to frame the moment, for Denilson made towards her like a train without control. Panic spurred her into action. She drew the pistol and swung the black steel barrel straight into his face. Denilson screamed and fell down. For a moment, he lay on the floor like a heap of dirty laundry and Tonye stood there watching him, unsure what to do next.

Then he sat up and crouched on his haunches, stroking his chin where he had received the blow and saying, "I love you, Ayebatonye. Love you so much but I'm going to kill you now." Then he picked up the apple and started eating again.

Tonye made a beeline for the door but her husband's reflexes were good. He darted towards her like a bull, siezed her blouse and slammed his knuckles across her jawline, sending her flying in the opposite direction, plunging her into utter delirium. In her dazed state she knew there was only one option left for her, one grave decision she had to make to save herself and her kids. One decision she knew she would later regret. But fate hadn't left her with much of a choice. So she aimed at him and fired point-blank at his belly. And after a moment, he became still. Totally still.

Denilson survived the gunshot after being in a coma for two weeks. When he was discharged, it was decided by the elders that it was unsafe for Tonye to keep living with him. They told her to take her children and go to her people until Denilson became normal again. But she pressed for a total dissolution of their marriage and the elders acquiesced, and then performed some traditional rites and broke the marriage ties. Tonye left that same day with her kids and never came back.

So, seeing Denilson in rags, having totally gone mad, Frank wasn't surprised. Everyone expected it to happen. Frank shook his head sadly. "This is a world filled with calamities," he said to himself. And then he stood up. The birds wouldn't come back; there was no point staying there any longer. He was already set to will himself to vanish from that place and to appear inside his house when he heard voices behind him. He turned slowly, expecting to see Denilson coming back, but he saw three ladies, holding plastic pails in their hands. There were so engrossed in their chatter that they didn't see him at first. Frank wanted to vanish right there and then, having realised how miserable he looked with his body still sodden, but in spite of himself he stayed put. For the first time in his new life, he started to pine for human company. This surprised and excited him. Surely a lot had changed within him that he had not realised yet.

One of the ladies spotted him, and then she nudged the other two. And then all three of them stood looking at him, contemplating what to do.

"He's quite handsome," one of the ladies whispered to the others. It was humanly impossible to hear what that particular lady just said because Frank stood a good distance away from them. But he wasn't human. He was immortal, with special superhuman powers.

"And why's he standing there staring at us like that?" the second lady said.

"I've never seen him before. Did he come to swim?"

"Swim? So early in the morning?"

"And with full clothes on? That's strange."

"Maybe we should leave. I'n getting scared, look at the way he's staring at us."

"Yes, let's leave. I'm scared too."

"But my mother needs water—how can I leave?"

"Let's find some men to accompany us here. This man could be a rapist for all I know."

"Okay, let's go."

"Yes, let's go."

Frank was disappointed to see the ladies leaving.

"Please don't go," he said, loud enough to be heard. "I just want to talk to someone."

Frank could hardly believe he had said those words. In that instant, he knew another chapter had opened in his life. And he wondered where this chapter would lead him.