THE ESCAPE (1)

John on The Run

Ouch! He was about to shout when he caught himself. He didn’t dare shout, not if he loved his life. He actually didn’t even know he loved his life this much. He was never going to argue again whenever he heard a person say you never know the value of a thing until you lose it. Well, this thing was his life, and John was determined to keep it for as long as he could. He had had the last ten days to review his life, check where he had gotten it wrong, and what he actually wanted to do with his life. He even amazed himself at the kind of ideas his mind was constantly generating. He'd even thought of becoming a pastor, that is if God got him out of this.

He checked his watch again. It had been almost seven minutes since he had made his escape, but he sadly hadn’t made enough good of it. Why couldn’t he get a map miraculously and figure his way home? It wasn’t dark yet, the men all came around in the evenings and left by 5:30 a.m. Like clockwork, he’d had enough time to study them this much. When last had he actually studied anything before now? When last had he prayed as much as he had in the last ten days? When last had he truly had the time to think and appreciate the good things of life he had?

He couldn’t think anymore of the past now, neither could he look too far into the future. He had to face the present first; escape, find a safe place, then think much better when he was sure he was safe. He couldn’t help but think though, was his escape a miraculous answer to his prayers or was the devil just setting him up for his death before he even became an adult?

John, the rebel that he was, aka Rambo, although he had long thrown that name away. No name mattered right now, he was only wishing he had paid a bit more attention in his Geography classes when he was in secondary school, he could have at least made a bit more sense of all this vegetation in this terrain that looked the same to him. Topography; or what was that thing Mr Bola always called it?

The whistle he heard made his heart sink, his escape had been discovered! He could think no more, he could only run, and run he did. As far away from the whistle as he could get, which was now joined by many others, John ran and ran and ran. Fortunately, he wasn’t a poor athlete; his rebellious nature had been good for something, only he never had to do more with it than run from trouble, though none was ever as big as this one. The continuous sound of whistles threw the throwbacks away and on he ran.

The branches of twigs and trees slowed him, but he couldn’t stop. At last, he found a bush path, and he followed it. He was almost out of breath, but he felt a lot closer to safety, surely, it won’t be long before he found someone who could be of help. He slowed a bit, caught his breath while still walking smartly. Hopefully, he had lost his captors, and all he had to worry about was finding someone to save him. He checked his watch again; it had been almost five minutes since the first whistle and the whistles had stopped and he was sure he was safe now, he had escaped their clutches.

The sound of an approaching motorcycle sounded like a rescue boat approaching, and he was already waving his hands in the air as he stood in the middle of the narrow path. He saw the cyclist approach, but as the motorcycle came into view, he realised that the biker wasn’t the only one seated. Before he could adjust to this disappointment, his senses were shattered as he heard the loud shrill of a whistle coming just behind the rider he could see! He had just exposed himself to his captors! Into the bush he ran again, cursing his luck, unable to fathom how he didn’t think of this possibility. He heard the sound of the motorcycle behind him, and he could almost see them just gain on him, meet up with him and catch him.

They were so close he could hear their voices angrily calling to him, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying, it was a strange language to him. He almost missed the little cliff ahead of him, he would have missed it if it was actually dark enough, but he jumped just in time, sure the bike couldn’t make the jump. He just hoped this time around, he would make good his advantage. Time check was 5:28 p.m., and John noticed the bike had stopped. He smiled as he heard them call and swear angrily from their stuck position; they surely wouldn’t follow him this time.

He was forced to reconsider his stance when he heard them blow their whistles; he began to run again when something made him stop. He could hear whistle sounds coming from the direction he was headed towards, and on listening carefully, he realised that it was no echo coming from behind him, at least one person was waiting for him up ahead. How messed up was this? Was he just delaying his death? He surely wasn’t going to be spared by these guys when they caught him again, or his ransom had just doubled, if not tripled.

He turned east and ran in that direction, wondering how he still had any strength left, adrenaline or what was it his Biology teacher had called it? He had been too busy making fun of the woman’s voice in class; he had paid almost no attention to the things she actually taught, except when it was time to teach on Sexual Reproduction, that was where he had come alive. You could however, trust Mrs Cyril to take all the fun out of that class though, it sounded nothing like what he had seen in the movies he watched on his phone at night when every other person was asleep.

Was that a man in camouflage coming towards him or was the emerging darkness playing a trick with his eyes? It was a man, surely tricks didn’t talk. “Come, boy, we no go do you anything. Just come make we carry you go back our place until your people pay your money. No go wound yourself for this forest, we no go treat you, doctor no day”, the voice called.

John couldn’t imagine how bread and coloured liquid called tea in the morning, and two pieces of yam in the evening for the last eight days had sustained him with enough strength to run for so long. The voice was dying out when he fell. He couldn’t shout when he realised he was falling, and the fall ended almost as soon as it began, only for him to hit his head on something while trying to find his footing; and all went dark.

What do you think would happen to John? Would he make good his escape? Tell us in the Comments section.

Stay smart!