EPISODE 1
Shelby checked her wristwatch, it was already
some minutes past 12pm, the party would start
by 4pm and thankfully she still has enough time
to get things ready. The balloons were already
blown and left to be tied up . She hoped Michael
would be back soon to help her with the rest of
things. Being the only Black in the
neighborhood had been really challenging but
hopefully, the birthday party they were throwing
for her six months old baby would give them the
recognition they needed in the suburb.
“Honey, we don’t need these people to like us.”
Michael had said to her when they had moved
here some weeks back.
She knew that was a lie. The hostile glare she
received anytime she took a walk down the road
or at the shopping mall was just more than she
could handle right now. She needed Tracy to
grow up in a friendly environment where she
would not be scared of being an African.
Michael of course hadn’t seen it as a big deal
so she had brilliantly brought up the idea of a
birthday party and had invited some of their
neighbors. Hopefully, some would show up.
She was tying the last ribbon around one of the
balloons when her laptop chimed
.
. A quick glance at where the laptop lay and she
found Michael’s blue inhaler beside it.
He has forgotten his inhaler. Why did he always
do that? She might need to tie a rope around it
and attach to his neck one of these days, maybe
by so doing; he would never leave it behind again.
Probably he was the one who sent a message to
her right now-
She clicked the ‘enter’ button on the keyboard
but to her surprise, her friend’s face popped up
on the Skype messenger. “Hello Nicholas.” She
said with a little enthusiasm. He was one of her
friends at the IT department of where she
worked.
“Hey Shel, how are you doing girl?”
“I’m good. Whatssup?” She replied, now taking
another balloon to her lips.
Nicholas brows were raised. “Wow! Quite a job
you get there. What about Michael?”
“He went to the store with Tracy, should be back
any minute.” She was tying one end of a green
balloon to the end of another. “Where are you
at?”
“Well, you know, nothing much, just working as
you know, some of us need to work during
weekends to keep this place floating.” He said,
slouching comfortably .
Shelby smiled. “Your pride will be the end of you
one day. So are you coming over?”
“Oh sure! What will I not give for a free food.”
He replied. “So have any of your neighbors
brought anything yet?”
She shrugged. “No. I think it’s a little early, they
will soon start showing up by three
thereabouts.”She was sitting down and starring
at the screen now.
Nicholas smiled. “I love your courage. Does
Michael understand why you are doing this?” He
asked.
“Well, I think he does.” She replied and
continued. “He hasn’t really been bothered
whether our neighbors liked us or not. I believe
we need to show the white folks that not all
Nigerians are Boko-Harams besides, I believe
that Nigerians are the victims. I don’t know why
they have to,…” She stopped as Nicholas burst
into laughter. She could see his bulging Adam’s
apple as he raked with laughter.
“I’m serious Nick. Stop laughing, you have no
idea how staying here has been.”
“I’m sorry…sincerely.” He apologized, now
smiling. “You guys don’t look like terrorists; I
wonder what they would do when they see me.
Actually, maybe I should come with my head
wrapped in a turban with my beards…” He
started laughing again. His head slightly bent as
he went through the phone he held in his hand.
“Don’t you even try it Nick, else, I will be the one
to call the cops for you. Staying here for almost
five years with my husband, you would have
expected me to have gotten used to this
but…this East-End just makes things worse and
every day the bombing continues back in Nigeria
and we all have to suffer for it here. It’s so not
fair, what if Tracey grows up…” She stopped as
she realized that Nick was no longer paying any
attention to her. Instead, his eyes and mouth
were frozen wide open in an expression of
stunned surprise.
“Nicholas! What happened? Are you okay?”
He stared at her blankly. “D..did you say
Michael went to the store?”
“Yes..yes, that’s right. So?”
“Oh God! This is happening again.” He
whimpered.
“What is it Nicholas?” She demanded more
curios now.
Nicholas shut his eyes tight and shook his head
sorrowfully.
“Nick, for God’s sake, what is it? What has
happened to Michael?” Just then she received a
video from Nicholas and she played it
immediately.
The scene was a bit shaky at first and slightly
bent sideways, as if whoever was recording the
video was trying not to be caught. She saw the
white men in uniforms, whose faces where a
little blur, there were two of them confronting a
man in a familiar T-shirt and Jean. The sound
wasn’t audible enough for her to understand
what was going on.
However, Michael seemed to be protesting
against something. He soon spread his arms
out, frantically waving some papers at the
uniformed man who held handcuffs in his hand.
Michael, what did you do? Shelby thought to
herself, her breathing becoming rapid now.
Michael looked more furious, he seemed not to
be complying. He could be stubborn at times,only
when he knows his right.
Rose knew what would happen next if he loses
his nerves… he would need his inhaler…the inhaler
he had left behind… Now, he was searching his
pockets and at the same time tapping his chest
with the other hand gently, continuously.
She clasped a hand to her mouth as she kept
watching…She knew her husband was running out
of air…
One of the men, the one that was more built
with a double-stubble chin was talking to him.
His cheeks kept bouncing up and down and his
brows bumping into each other as he poked his
index finger at Michael’s broad chest several
times.
Michael stood-arms akimbo, his eyes were
shut, his head was slightly bent while beating
his lower lip. Just as the man stopped talking,
he attempted to walk away and immediately, the
other strangled him from behind, with his arms
around Michael’s neck. The first joined and
together, they pulled Michael to his knees.
While doing this, they laughed…
Michael was pinned down to the ground now, he
was lying on the ground, faced down and his
hands were already cuffed behind him. He
seemed to be saying something…she could see
fear in his eyes but they laughed on…
The same man placed his leg on Michael’s back
pressing him firmly to the ground. He took a puff
from a lit cigar which dangled at the corner of
his chapped lips and bending down, close to
where Michel writhed in pain, he snorted the
smoke out of a flaring nostril into Michael’s
face. Then he grinned, revealing his nicotine
stained teeth.
Michael squinted, and began to jerk. He kept
jerking continuously, his eyes widened in horror.
Both men were talking now, they were trying to
talk to Michael at the same time, the camera
zoomed in to Michael’s face, making the video
more blurry, but he was no longer jerking, he
seemed to have grown limp and his eyes were
wide open, unblinking, his mouth agape.The one
that was smoking took the cigar from his lips
and exchanged glances with the other. Then
second one suspended a hand over his nose and
then Rose caught the movement of his lips as
he said. “He’s dead.” The other gasped.
She felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark
plugs in her abdomen…her heart was beginning to
race like a rabbit trying to jump out of its skin…
“Dear Lord! Please let this not be real…”
There was a rapid movement and the scene
bent in a 45. angle. Debby recognized the
interior of her Toyota Corolla, the one Michael
had driven to the store. She could see the back
view of the police, the one who was smoking, he
seemed to be searching for something at the
driver’s seat, then he directed his attention to
the back seat and that was where Tracey lay, in
her seat, her tiny baby eyes were wide open-
unblinking, her neck was a little slanted to the
back which was unusual for she seemed to be
starring at the roof of the car, her lips were
open, she was still and there was a little swell
around her neck. Her small left palm had
painting from a pen and on the seat lay the
spring and the tube of a ballpoint pen. The rest
of the seat were filled with bags from O’mac
stores.
Michael had gone to O’mac to get souvenirs for
the party.
The cigar dropped from his lips and he left the
scene, then he came back with his other partner
and immediately, their voices could be heard.
“She dead too?”
“I think so”
“She is a baby, baby don’t die”
“Think she choked on that pen right there.”
“We should call 911?”
“No need, she is gone to meet her father. What
a loss or a reunion as the case may be.”
She stood up, unable to watch anylonger.
Something was terribly wrong.
.
. Someone was definitely playing joke on her. She
quickly took her phone and dialed Michael’s
number, it wasn’t reachable. No ..no,,no! She
needed to calm down, why was the house
spinning…everyone and everything should just
calm down!
It was like a hurricane starting from deep within
her, shutting her brain out like a machine gun.
She was immediately covered in sweat, She felt
like her body was covered in another hot body like
a bin bag and she knew she was going to
explode.
Suddenly,she began to feel a deluge of ice water
surrounding her every limb, until it passed her
mouth and nose, causing her to lose her grip and
she dropped to the floor, curled up in a foetal
position. She wanted to scream, to cry, to run. She
wanted to freeze…she wanted to wake up from this
nightmare.
Just then, the door suddenly burst open and
Nicholas ran to her side. Holding her. He was
saying something but she couldn’t hear a single
word.
“My baby is cold, Michael needs his inhaler,
please Nick, my baby, my baby can’t die. Nick…
Michael must not die…my baby..Michael….”
She felt paralysed as Nicholas lifted her in his
arms and was carrying her out of the house.
“My baby…can..not breathe” She said finally,
before the agony enveloped every part of her
consciousness.
