A night to remember 3

The house had no gate. I walked slowly into the compound looking out for dogs or something but it was all clear. I noticed a motorbike parked by the porch. This was definitely them!  I took out my phone and called the Police. I gave them directions to where I was. According to them they would be there very soon. I sent my GPS location to Keli too. Just in case I got caught and killed at least he could find my body.

Just then I heard voices coming from behind the house. I moved closer to hear what they were saying. " KK what are you doing? My girls are waiting for me at the mall." The lady said. I recognised her voice immediately. "Then go eh? I just dey copying some of ein movies." A male voice replied. "Ah, you are lucky I don't know how to ride a bike. Frank will come for the laptop tomorrow. Let's go, ah!" She snapped at him and he giggled. When I heard doors opening I knew I had to hide! I crawled into a bush in a dark corner.

When they came out of the house I watched them get onto the motorbike. The guy was much bigger than he sounded. The lady had changed her clothes and had put on makeup. It annoyed me how pretty she was. It was definitely her because I recognized her tattoo. I knelt down quietly in the bushes till they were gone.

When I was sure the coast was clear I rushed out and headed for the room I heard them talking from. I honestly didn't know what I was doing and before I could come up with a plan someone opened the door to the house. I just stood there staring. It was a teenage boy. "Who are you?" He asked. He had just opened the door to the room I wanted to enter. I took my chance and cooked a story. "I'm Kojo, Frank's friend. He's busy so he said I should come for a laptop." I lied. The boy stared at me with a blank expression. "I called KK and he said he's stepped out but I should pick it up." I added. At this moment he believed me because he let me in. "Ok you can pick it up." He said.

I walked into the room and was surprised to see tons of phones, laptops and tablets. I tried to remain composed. I looked around and immediately I spotted my laptop I heard the sound of a motorbike. "Looks like KK is back." The boy said. My heart skipped a beat. There was a fair chance KK would fall for this trick too but what if he called the Frank guy. I had to leave but it was just too late. KK got to the door before me.

"KK this is Kojo, Frank's friend." The little boy introduced. I nodded and looked away. That was probably a bad idea. KK stared at me. When he reached for his phone I knew it was all over. I looked at my laptop one more time and wondered if it was worth my life I was going to lose. Maybe I could offer him money to spare me but my account was dry as hell. As my life flashed before my eyes I heard a loud bang and next I knew there were police officers inside the room.


To be continued... 

Grace of Fear 3

Baaba froze. Her heart started pounding like the night before. Then a few pieces came together. The bikers must have been the robbers and they may have accidentally dropped the money.  She grabbed her phone and with her shaky hands and called Ralph but he didn't answer. He was the only one she could talk to. She rushed out of the room with the money in her bag and headed for his workshop.

   When she got to Ralph's workshop she was directed to go into the store room. "Ralph, something bad has happened. Some man got robbed and..." she blurt out as she entered but stopped when she realized he was not alone. There was a tall guy standing in front of Ralph. He turned to look at her. "A man got robbed? Where?" the tall guy asked. Baaba looked at Ralph and back to him. "Somewhere around Kaneshi School Junction, in my area." Baaba replied. "What's his name? I know some people who live there." The tall guy added. "I don't know his name but he has a daughter called Nasara. They say the robbers used a special key to open all his doors." Baaba added. The tall guy said wow and smiled. "Bikers are just strange." Baaba said grabbing Ralph's hand and sending him outside. "You heard they were bikers?" the tall guy asked. Baaba froze. She realized she had said too much. It happened a lot when she got nervous. "Ei, did I say bikers? I meant robbers." She said and faked a laugh. Ralph excused himself and went outside with Baaba.

   "Baaba what is this all about?" Ralph asked when they were alone. She hesitated for a while and finally said "it's about the armed robbery I was talking about." Ralph looked scared all of a sudden. She told him the whole story of how she picked the money. Ralph looked a little excited and scared at the same time. Just then the tall guy walked passed them. Baaba turned and watched him. He kept stealing glances at her too. It was when another guy on a bike came to him that things became clearer to her. 

 Then she saw it, the snake tattoo on the other biker's leg. Her heart missed a beat then she heard Relph's voice. "Baaba, stop looking at them. Look here." he said. She managed to do as he said. "Yo, ma guy. We dey go come." The tall biker yelled and hopped onto the back of his friend's bike. Ralph nodded and waved as they left. "Were you part of them? Ralph what is going on?" Baaba asked almost in tears. "I needed the money so we could leave this place. I had nothing to do with the shooting. The man brought his car here and his key holder had his house keys so I just made a copy. That was all. They said they'll give me 500 cedis if they got the money. The man is very rich so it's not so bad. I swear I didn't know they would shoot him." Ralph explained. He had to get her to trust him.

Baaba listened in shock with her mouth slightly open. "I think we should send the money back. I can give it to the Police." she said. "Are you mad?!" Ralph yelled. He looked around to see if anyone heard him. If the Police find out, I'll go to jail or the biker boys will kill me. Those guys are hard. Let's just take the money and go." He suggested. Baaba felt guilty. "What if the man dies? What will happen to the girl? If we tell the Police about the bikers we won't go to jail. Just say they forced you." She said. Ralph considered it for a moment and shook his head. "Look, these guys are untouchable. Even the Police are afraid. Where's the money?" He asked, looking around. When he saw that Baaba wasn't convinced he held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "If you go to the Police both of us will die." He said.



 To be continued  ...

Grace of fear 2

 The bikers rode around yelling at each other for about 10 minutes and left. When all was clear Baaba looked for her keys and made a run for it. Luckily for her they didn't return. She breathed a sigh of relief when she entered her Auntie's house. Her hands were still trembling with fear when she laid down to sleep. After another 30 minutes she managed to fall asleep.

 Baaba went about her morning chores very quickly the next day. It was Saturday and she wanted to tell Ralph the good news. As she did her usual trip to the market for her auntie, she was so tempted to buy herself a thing or two with the money. She knew her Auntie would suspect her if she did so she left praying that where she hid the money was still safe. She called Ralph and asked him to meet her at the market. When she saw him she smiled and told him to guess the good news she had for him. He didn't seem amused at all. In fact he was quiet unhappy. This was strange.

   Ralph liked meeting up with her and was usually happy when she initiated it. "Ah, what's wrong? Did Bra Yaw ask you to pay for something again?" Baaba asked concerned. Ralph shook his head and shrugged. Bra Yaw owned the fitting shop where Ralph worked. He was very stern and would make his workers pay for every tiny mistake they made. Bra Yaw was another reason why Ralph wanted to leave for Kumasi. "What is the surprise? I have a lot of work to do." Ralph snapped. Baaba felt offended. Why was he taking all her fun away? Just then, Ralph's phone rang. He signaled at Baaba and walked away to answer the call. He was speaking very low so she wouldn't hear what he was saying. When he walked further away and turned his back to her she left. "I'll keep everything to myself then." she muttered as she walked away, a little heart-broken. B

 Baaba took the long route on her way home. She wanted to think. It was hard to think with her auntie yelling and screaming in the house over trivial things. As she walked home she couldn't help thinking about Ralph. He was the first friend she made when she moved to her auntie's house. She enjoyed his company because he was always full of smiles. He would always listen to her complain about her auntie and reassured her. Baaba didn't understand why he was acting strange. Maybe there was another girl. One who entertained his leaving town plan more than she did.

As she walked, she saw a large number of people in front of a house. She recognized one of the people, Agnes. Agnes used to work at the bar with her. Baaba walked to her and asked what was going on. "Some people robbed the man who lived here yesterday oh. They said the robbers used a special key to open all the doors. We are not safe anymore oh. The man and his daughter were asleep kwraa. They stole some plenty money the man had and shot him too." Agnes narrated. Baaba listened. "Ei, is he dead?" Baaba asked. "No he's been sent to the hospital. I feel sad for Nasara, his daughter. Her mother left the father last year. They said she preferred the father. Now she'll be forced to live with the mother. That woman is terror." Agnes continued. Baaba's heart sunk. She knew what living with a terror woman felt like. She noticed the time and rushed home.

 When she got home she was scolded for leaving a single plate unwashed. Baaba could not take it anymore. She was leaving, with or without Ralph. She went to her room after cooking the evening meal. She noticed Ralph had called her a number of times. She rolled her eyes and put the phone aside. She took out a pen and paper to write a list of what she needed to run away with. Then she locked her door and took out the money. She hadn't even counted it. The piece of paper around the money had something written on it. Baaba noticed it was a list. It read, "tomatoes, fresh fish, cabbage, light bulb, story books for Nasara..." Baaba froze.


 To be continued ...

Grace of fear

  Baaba kept her head down as she walked home. That part of the road had so many potholes. She had to watch out for them before she tripped and fell. She had fallen before. It was darker that night than usual because she stayed an extra 4 hours at work. It was because her head was down that she saw it, a bundle of 50 cedi notes and a piece of paper attached to it.

   At first she wasn't sure it was money so she bent down to take a better look. She gasped and picked it up. She instinctively looked around. The lonely street was just as it always was at 2 am. She put the money in a secret compartment she had in her bag. She made this compartment for her money just in case she met any robbers. Luckily for her she hadn't met any yet since she started working at the bar but today it was very late so she didn't feel safe.

 Baaba walked faster now, completely forgetting the potholes. She was busy imagining what she was going to buy with the money. She was sick of working around drunk men. She guessed the money would be at least 2,000 cedis. When her house was in sight she broke into a run. She was planning what to do next. She would hide the money inside her mattress. There was no way her auntie would find it. Then she would run to Kumasi with her boyfriend, Ralph. He had been bugging her about running away for so long. She smiled as she run.

 She was just five minutes to her house when she heard the sound of motor bikes moving in her direction. Baaba was so startled that she missed her step and her bag fell. She picked it up quickly. Bikers at this time was never a good thing. She turned and looked in the direction of the sound. She saw shadows and lights getting brighter. They were moving very fast but she knew they couldn't see her yet. She dug her hand in her bag trying to locate her keys. There was a chance she could rush in before they saw her. When her shaking hands couldn't find the keys she shook her head and dashed into a bush nearby.

 In seconds they were on her street. She could hear them talk but couldn't make out what they were saying. They went up and down the street slowly. Baaba just sat in the bush with her heart beating faster and faster. She clung on to her bag like it was her baby. From where she was squatting all she could see were their feet. One had a tattoo of a snake around his ankle. Baaba closed her eyes tightly and prayed he wouldn't come any closer.


 To be continued...