A Visit…

It’s been six hours. Six hours since I witnessed a murder crime and I haven’t been myself since.

When I got home very late, my mum was super worried and I hadn’t realized it was nearly midnight till she told me amidst all her talking about me coming in late. She noticed my demeanor and asked what the problem was. I didn’t have an answer to that because I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw.

Pastor Richard murdered someone in cold blood? Impossible.

I just had to waive off any comments and used the excuse of being tired to get to my room so I could try to process what happened.

I couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard I tried because the event kept playing in my head like a broken record.

“Pastor Richard, please”

The voice of his victim rang in my head and I closed my eyes to shut it out. I hugged my pillow tightly and it just kept playing over and over in my head.

A slightly hard tap on my shoulders snapped me out of that nightmare. I opened my eyes and looked up to see my mum standing over me, concern was evident on her face.

I sat up and looked at the time on my phone. A little after 7 in the morning.

“Jumoke, what happened?” my mum asked. I shook my head and looked away, unable to look into her eyes for long.

She will know something is wrong by just looking at me.

“Are you sure? You’ve been acting very strange since you came home at midnight.” She notes and the images went through my mind again. I am traumatized.

“I’m fine ma” I manage to let out. My voice sounded strained. I need some water.

I stood to my feet, still avoiding my mum’s obvious gaze trained on me as I moved around to look for my slippers to wear.

I heard her scoff. “If you say so, your food is ready. Come eat so you can get ready for work” she told me and walked out of my room.

I don’t think I can bear going to work or looking at anyone. I just witnessed a gruesome crime I so wish was a dream and going outside, I think would just make things worse for me.

I let myself get ready for work and walked out of my room to the kitchen to get my food. I sat on the chair in the dining area to eat while I watched the TV in the sitting room.

Our sitting room and the dining area are almost joined together, so watching TV from there isn’t an issue.

Mum was sitting on the couch, her usual steaming bowl of Ogi (Pap) was on the small stool beside her and she was holding the jar of groundnut I got from the market yesterday. That is her usual in the early mornings.

She went past a channel but took it back. It was the news channel, reporting a new crime that happened. Mum increased the volume and I could hear all the news carrier was saying. She was talking about the murder that took place in the alley and I swore my blood went cold for a second.

She was talking about how it might be linked to the recent murders that have been happening for the past months which is rumored to be a gang war between two rivals.

The place of murder is different from the others that were reported but they still think it is linked and she further talked about how this is causing the citizens to be scared that they aren’t safe anymore.

My mind was going haywire with all these and I couldn’t continue eating anymore. I covered the food I had barely eaten and proceeded to get my bag so I could leave. I needed to clear my head and there’s one place I can go for that.

“Mummy, I am leaving” I went to kiss her cheek and walked to the door.

“O daro (Goodbye) my dear” she waved at me and continued watching the news.

I opened the door and for the nth time today felt my body stiffen at the sight in front of me. Like he knew I saw what happened and has probably come to end me. My eyes did a million summersaults as I looked at him.

I am sure he can see the fear in my eyes because my shaking hands did nothing to hide the fear I felt.

“Good morning, dear” his usual kind voice I knew over the years said in a friendly tone.

“Pastor Richard” I quivered.