As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the small room slowly reveiled itself. Walls covered in spiderwebs, faint light shining through a small window, a bare, cold floor. My consciousness slowly came back to me, but I had no memory of ever getting in this place. I panicked. How did I get here?
Time continued to tick by and I considered all sorts of horrific scenarios and possiblities. I was terrified and confused. “I could not believe this was the end of me and all I had to do was to make my last confession to the empty room for my soul to rest in peace”. As I lay there, facing roof that turned dark from smoke, I thought that in-spite of the intruders plan, I can still do something to save my life at these merciful minutes.
I stood up and tried reaching the window, but it was too high for me to reach. There was nothing in the room that could support my plan for escape. The front door was obviously locked… I told myself that there was no point of trying, maybe this was the end of me. I was ready to give up, and sat down listening to vehicles pass by outside. Where was I? And what would happen the next coming hours?
Miles away, a desperate and uneasy looking man was making his way through a mall by Ebube street. As he strode passed the goodies, he kept looking at his watch, as if he was in a rush, and his watch was the only thing that kept his plans in order. “Ludo!”, a familiar, self assured voice yelled, “what are you doing here at this hour?!” Only then did Ludo realize it was nearly evening and the girl he had locked up in his room since noon had not eaten, nor had he given her even a drop of water. It worried him. Why was he doing this?
As the cute looking lady approached him she kept asking him why he was there. “Hope you’re not at it again, you just look so guilty right now…” Linda could easily see that her ex was up to something, and she remembered why she broke up with him. He’d been caught raping teenage girls and she had to give up on the relationship. Every-time he did it, he bought food for the victim before the act and usually something will just not go as planned, resulting for him to get caught.
Linda had to be the one to save whoever the victim was. Without hesitation she took snaps of the man without his acknowledgment, made her way to the bathroom and called the police. When they answered, she sent them her location on Google Maps, and planned to quietly follow the man behind while directing the police.
I suddenly broke away from what seemed to be a horrible day nap nightmare and realized it was the reality I was facing. I was hungry, and felt tired and floppy like a young plant on hot, dry summers day. In a split second, everything seemed to come to a halt as a thought came to me again. I moved across the room to the front door, trying something desperate, but when I pushed the front door, it swung wide open!
I stood there, shocked and surprised by this unexpected turn of event. I couldn’t believe it. The front door was never locked. I stood there astonished, and the sound of sirenes approaching. Then the sight of several police cars, lights blinking, coming to my rescue.
31 October, 2022
