A TRIP TO HELL 5

A TRIP TO HELL V
*Behind the Mask*

I lie still. I'm not sure I'm ready for death but this seems it. I listened out, there was a sound of movement from one side of the bush. Banle stands on alert, he was carrying a log of wood, ready to attack, same as Joseph.
"Arm yourself", Tony advises, "With anything". I looked around and I found a small stone not strong enough to kill a bird, but the idea was to fight to death. Isn't it? I picked the stone and stood in readiness.

The noise from within the bush goes louder. Someone was approaching. Banle waits patiently. His eyes red as blood. He looks more like a beast than human now. The death of his sister must have shaken him so much.
Suddenly the bush carves open... Someone appears. Banle wasted no time, he smashed the plank on the intruders head. The later groans in pain as he crashes to the ground. Banle is about to
strike a fatal blow when he noticed... The intruder was Bro. Emma! What! We are all shocked. We walked up closer to the scene when we hear another rustling from the bush. Someone else comes out of the bush. I look. We all look. I pray my eyes are not deceiving me... Irene!!!

I just screamed that name simultaneously as I rushed up to her and embraced her very tight. My eyes misty. Irene! I just remain there with her in my arms. It must have been ten minutes, I mean it for a moment, nothing else matters. Just her, just her here.
***************************************************************************************************
Thirty minutes later, we are all seated round. Bro. Emma is narrating how he had gone lost with Irene and they had both struggled together to find us. As he narrates the story, my eyes are fixed on Irene. She's just smiling. Something seems wrong with Bro. Emma's narration. He is not portraying Irene's bravery as I would have expected it to have happened.

Irene glances at Michael. He is lying beside me -looking very sick. He is no more bleeding but that is probably because there is no more blood to bleed. He had been hit on the back, just under the shoulder.

"Is the bullet still inside him?" She inquires. "Yes", Tayo answered. We could not remove the bullet but we've applied some herbs on the wound. "What herb?" "There", Tony points at what is left of the leaves they had plucked from the bush earlier. Irene rises and walks up to examine the leaves. "What is this?! Bitter leaves!!!"
"At least, it's better than nothing", Joseph interrupts. "Seriously? Bitter leaves?!" "Look, Irene, that was the only leaf we could recognize", Tony explains. "It's better than getting some random unknown leaves that would turn out to be poisonous." Irene smiles. Tony's nonsense sure makes some sense. "I'll go check if I could find some leaves that could relieve pain". "You can't go alone", Tony warns "I'll go with you.",  I quickly volunteer before anyone else does. Tony smiles knowingly. "You two be careful out there".
****************************************************************************************************
Silently, we walked through the forest checking leaves, just me and Irene. This is the first time I'll be having her alone to myself - and it may as well be my last. Here is my golden chance. "It's great to see you again", I eventually break the silence. "Same here" "You know, for a moment, I thought..." "...you thought I was dead", she smiles. "I can imagine". "Yea". She stares at meet deeply, still wearing that smile.

She walks closer to me. Mouth first I closed my eyes. Is she about to kiss me? Seriously? But then I hear a soft whisper to my hear "Chimamanda". I opened my eyes in disappointment, all that drama
just to remind me of some traditional name? I stared at her. She's already walking up ahead. The name must mean a lot to her. I quickly walked up to her.

She is plucking some leaves from a tree. I stood there and watched her curiously - she seems to be everything, like some goddess. She turns to me "hold this for me, please". She hands over the leaves to me. "So you got lost with Bro. Emma", I say in a bid to hear the full story from her. "Quite funny". She chuckles. "Don't mind that man. His mouth is too sweet". "He was lying, right?" "It depends. Sometimes it's a lie when you do not divulge all the truth". I smiled. "I was running when I found him hopping around with his pot belly". We both busted into laughter. "He could not run so I had to stay with him and hide". I stared at her. "I admire your courage, Irene, do you feel fear at all?" "The strongest way to confront your fear is to pretend it does not scare you*, she patted me on the shoulder" you stand to lose nothing". I remain there staring at her while she stares back.

"What's your name?" She asked me. "Daniel", "I'm not sure I used to see you in church". "I know right. But I saw you once. Until recently, I used to attend more regularly. I guess you're a new member." "Yes." "That's it. The other guys know me, though I'm
not really close to most of them." "You family attends the church too?" "My family is in Osun state. I just finished from Unilag two months ago so I decided to still hang around in Lagos", I paused I thought about my family. "I don't know if they are aware of my plight now". My last utterance seems to trigger something in her. She walks some distance away from me and sits on a shrub. I slowly walked up to her. She seems distraught. I think her eyes are misty. For the first time since I've met her, she finally looks human - weak. What could be wrong with her? I gently sat beside her. "Irene". "I just..." She sighs. "I just don't want to imagine what he must have been going through now." She turns to me and feigns a smile. "I missed him. I missed him so much?"

"Who's that?" "My boyfriend". Did she just say that? She has a boyfriend? Gosh! I realized this is something I should have asked
earlier, very much earlier. I tried to fake a smile but even that is not coming. Nothing will ever remain the same around here anymore. Nothing.

Michael Adejonwo