BLOOD

A rush of fear fills her eyes like dense dark clouds fill the sky during a rainstorm. Amaka sees a man in her home with scarlet fluid flowing next to the sparkling, unstained white couch, her favourite. She runs to the door to check; the familiar slanted number 6 is hanging from a rusty nail. She runs to the door and checks it. How did this stranger get here? Why can I see the red-stained floor through the hole on his skull? She thought. The face, unrecognizably beaten with a bat studded with tiny pieces of razor blades and shards of glass.

She picks up her phone and calls Chibuzor; the dial tone is too heavy on her ear to notice Chibuzor had answered the phone by screaming hello for 20 seconds. He is the love of her life, so it is no surprise she called him first, standing at a crime scene. Chibuzor became number one in her life from the moment they met a year ago at Marlo's Diner- uno numero- a number he maintained. She was about to leave the diner when Chibuzor walked in. She saw glowing lights around him as if he had a halo on his head. It might have been the brightness of his shirt against her light-sensitive eyes, but she claimed it was his presence that blinded her.

"What should I do? I don't know how it got here", she said. "Don't call the police," he replied. "Don't touch the body! Leave the house!" She picks up her bags, performs the sign of the cross over her body, and mouths a prayer. On the phone, Chibuzor says, "Nkem, everything will be fine." His tone of voice somehow reassured her, just as it did when the doctors told her no children were in her future.

It's Chibuzor's way of responding to every situation; a sweet smoulder. "It will be fine", he says in his way, followed by a touch like the first rays of sunlight. Chibuzor is a poster boy for perfection. He says the right words to say, uses the right body language, smiles with a mouth upturned and eyes wrinkled, speaks with a strong, dominant, low-pitched voice. A voice so smooth he could give Morgan Freeman a run for his money. Chibuzor is slender, with a toffee complexion and a smile that lights up the milky way. His life is far from idyllic; though he was born into a home that wanted no family and had to live with his aunt at age 3 in North Burnaby, Vancouver, he created a persona of perfection to hide his past.

Amaka turned into the driveway of her parents' house. The tall fences of the compound shielded the house from passersby, alienating and intimidating neighbours. Amaka never really thought about the tall fence or why her parents built it; the only answer she had was that it prevented her from sneaking out to parties. She wondered if they foresaw her being vexatious as a teenager. She got out of the car, immediately took a deep breath, and made the cross sign as she walked to the front door.

She tries to erase the image of the man lying lifeless in a pool of blood on her living room floor from her memory. Her parents’ home has always been her safe place. She grew up loving the lilies on the porch, conversing with the butterflies in the summer, and watching the oil paint peel off from the wall in the winter-she used the peeled off paint to create dresses for her Barbie dolls.

She walks up to her mother, a fun-sized woman with a big nose and small lips. She hugs her and kisses her cheeks. Amaka had grown so tall; her mother, Mabel, stood on her toes to hug her. She takes her luggage and hands it to the maid. However, she is still trying to figure out why her daughter decided to spend the weekend with them when there was no occasion. Her mind did not wander for long before she blurts out, Nne, why are you here? I know you don’t miss us, as she gestures to Amaka to have a seat. "Fumigation, Ma," she answered. Amaka never had a close relationship with her mother. Their relationship was as familiar as they looked, considering Amaka looks nothing like her mother. Their relationship drifted apart when Amaka met Chibuzor. Her mother could not bear the idea that her daughter was becoming a grown woman.

Amaka spent Saturday wondering how the mysterious dead man ended up in her living room and who killed him. She texts Chibuzor: "How far? What did you do about our situation?" She could not get her mind off of the pool of blood she saw, the face, and the hole in his skull. How wicked! She thought. In an effort to settle her thoughts, Amaka walked into her father’s library to search for her childhood photo album; she had always referred back to it to calm her nerves since she was a teenager. There was something about the pink velvet skin of the album decorated with a mosaic. She sat on the cold, concrete floor and scrolled through the album, reminiscing on the good old days when life was fun, and her living room was without a dead man there was no dead man in her living room. Captured in front of the fence of her parents' house, she sees a picture of herself standing with her dad and an unfamiliar man. She becomes distraught as it seems she knew the man but could not place his importance in her life.

Chibuzor picks up Amaka from her parents' place on Monday. When Amaka becomes curious about what Chibuzor did with the body, he does not directly answer, "Nne, I took care of it. The less you know, the better". Amaka tells him about her weekend, the man in the picture. "Ozor, I want to find out who that man is. From the way he held me, it looked like more than a random family friend," Amaka said. Chibuzor looked at Amaka as she spoke, rubbing her shoulder as if she was in pain. He rubs her leg to remind her that everything will be fine. Chibuzor took Amaka to his place as he knew she was still recovering from the heinous scene.

Midnight, buzz! Buzz! His phone vibrates; a text message from Mabel reads, "Nna, I will come over tomorrow; everything is in motion :)"

It took a lot of courage for Amaka to step into her apartment. The serenity was restored. There are no stains on the floor, the couch is as white as snow, and the glass table has been replaced with an identical one. She moves around her apartment, checking the doors, windows, and locks to ensure she and Chibuzor are the only ones in it. She runs into his arms, crying. It is the first time she has cried since the incident. It was a cry of relief. All was well with his "e go dey alright".

They're startled by a knock on the door. Chibuzor walks to the door, placing each foot before the other, like a thief in the night. He uses the peephole to check who the timely stranger is. It is her mother. He opens the door to her, greets her with a hug as she taps him on his back. Amaka sees her mum and is shocked as to why her mother is in her apartment. Mabel kisses Amaka's cheeks then brings out a photograph from her bag. I believe you got the confirmation email making you the recipient of the 40 million-dollar fortune left by your biological father, she points to the strange man in the picture. Until this moment, Amaka had no idea she was adopted by Mabel and her now-deceased husband.

Click! Click! Amaka feels something blunt against the side of her head; she looks up to discover Chibuzor at the holding end of the gun. My daughter, your father tried to stop us, we killed him right there, Mable points to the tiles beside the couch. It has been a long time coming for Amaka's mother and Chibuzor. She enlisted Chibuzor, who until now, Amaka had not known was a notorious con artist, to keep eyes on Amaka. Her biological mother had died during childbirth and her father could not bring her home because she was conceived by this mistress. The only reason Mabel agreed to adopt Amaka was, that she had eyes on Amaka's part of her father's fortune when she comes of age.

Amaka fixes her gaze on his eyes in anticipation of hearing "e dey alrite." He leans in, pecks Amaka on the cheeks as he whispers; "Nne, e go dey alrite"

Bang!

Glossary

Nna- Son

Nne- Daughter

E go dey alrite- It will be fine