THE ESCAPE (3)

 Life With The Captors

Who was going to appear from the background and announce that this was all some big joke? How had he gone from trying to see a movie to being the cast in a real movie? Thoughts flooded John’s head, but first he remembered that he hadn’t checked himself and he did just that. He realised that he was stripped of everything he had on him: his phone, Bluetooth device, wallet, and chain. All he was left with was his watch and he was grateful he had something. He checked and saw that it was 3:24 p.m., and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. The movie must have been over, but he was sure his friends didn’t go anymore. He remembered Alero, Longs, Ada, and he hadn’t gotten the name of the other girl; he was too focused on Alero.

Alero, why did she have to tease him that way? Why did she make him feel so conscious of himself? Why didn’t she just focus on her phone and let him be? Was he even asking the right questions? Why was he so quick to blame others? Why did he have to go that far into the bush? Why couldn’t he find his way back by observing his surroundings as he entered the bush?

All these questions wouldn’t change his condition. He was kidnapped, hungry, and confused. Maybe if he just slept, he would wake up and realise that it was all just a dream, and off to sleep, he went.

He was woken by an aroma that pervaded his nostrils, and he almost thought he was back home. It was a bad dream after all. Then he realised that the floor at home wasn’t cold, and his senses returned, but what was that smell? He sat up and saw a stool placed close to him. It was evening now and a dim bulb revealed a tray on the stool. In the tray was a meal of noodles and fried eggs, with a tempting aroma, to the side of the plate was a cup of beverage with a sizeable piece of bread on top of the cup.

“It’s all yours” said Khalid. “We have had our welcome party and now it’s your turn. It would all be added to your bill. If you are here till next week, you’ll be on the two pieces of yam served with oil like us, except your people pay for your VIP treatment”. The girl was up and didn’t touch the food in front of her, the other guy just kept to himself, his plate was empty, and he eyed the girl’s.

John dug into his meal and for a while, he forgot that he was a hostage, the food was good. Within minutes, his hunger and the allure of the food ensured that he made a quick meal of the tray and even forgot his desire to leave some for Khalid, his new acquaintance. After eating, he felt light in the head. Had he been drugged again or was he just tired? He lay down again to sleep, memories of his family flooding his head, but he slept with one name on his lips: Alero.

 It wasn’t daybreak yet when John woke up. He didn’t sleep as well as he’d have wanted to. The floor was hard and he couldn’t remember having to sleep on a cold, hard floor before, it wasn’t even swept. He could swear he heard voices in hushed tones while he slept, but he had unusual dreams too, so he couldn’t be too sure. The others were still asleep, but John couldn’t sleep. Having nothing else to do, he remembered something he hadn’t done for months; to pray.

Ever since he turned the rebel at home, John was never one for family devotions, especially not to a God who refused to give him the admission he wanted, and that was the only thing he had prayed for since he had written and passed his WAEC. He used chokes for that, but well, if God didn’t help him, he would have been caught, right? Well, for one who didn’t disturb God a lot, it was time to call in on the favours he had accumulated with his good deeds, whenever he had been a good boy. He said a short prayer asking to be rescued and preserved, but when he was done, he didn’t feel good about himself.

He didn’t know why he felt that way, but then, he was going through a lot and his feelings were jumbled. It was just 18 minutes since he had woken up, and daybreak was still a long way away. His heart still felt heavy, and this time he couldn’t shrug it off. He couldn’t talk to anyone, but he had to talk about what was happening to him. As he thought deeper on this, he found only one recourse; he had to pray again. If God was truly there, he was the only one he could talk to right now. After all, prayer was talking to God, right? He had never taken it this way, normally he’d just follow the crowd and say Amen at the end of the prayer, but he was going to try out the conversation thing today, see if it worked.

“Dear God” he began, “I need you to help me. Please take me out of here and let me appear home right now”. No, that didn’t feel right. He felt like he had just spoken to the air, he was sure that wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to try again. It was hard having normal conversations with people, but he got by, but having to talk with a person he couldn’t see, and this was supposed to be the Maker of all things, this was going to be difficult. Well, he had all the time in the world, so he might as well try, this would have been much better on Whatsapp or Messenger though.

“Dear God, I’m here again” he started again, and suddenly he remembered the story of the prodigal son, and he felt that way. He hadn’t spent his own inheritance, but he had not been good either. “I am here and I know that it might be harsh, but it’s not undeserved, better people have been through worse. I am not the best person, I’ve not even been good, not in a lot of areas, but at least I’m alive. I ask that you help me get out of this situation I am in presently. I don’t know how it’ll be done, hopefully the ransom they would ask for won’t be too much, and my family would be able to raise the money, or they just realise it’s not me they were trying to kidnap and return me back, I don’t know why anyone would want to kidnap me at all. Please help me, for the sake of my family, and help the others who are here too, let us all get home safe. Keep my family and friends safe too, in Jesus name, Amen.”

He waited for an answer, a voice, a vision, nothing. So much for his efforts, and all he had been told about prayer. Well, he had done his part, besides, to be honest, if he was God, he wasn’t sure he’d listen to a rebel like himself. He let his thoughts carry him and he didn’t know when he drifted off to sleep again.

The continuous tap he felt on his back woke him up. It was Khalid. “Senior man, it seems you slept well, seeing as you refused to wake up early. Your food is almost cold, sit up and eat”. He sat up and saw a bowl of custard with a plate of akara beside it. There was also a sachet of milk and some cubes of sugar. John started to eat but this time, he was kind enough to leave some food for Khalid, who was grateful to join in the luxury, he had only had few slices of bread and some form of tea.

Looking around, John noticed that they were one person short: the girl. “She was taken while you were sleeping”, Khalid said, reading his thoughts, “her people have probably paid her money this morning”.  Was this an answer to the prayer John prayed this morning? Was he going to be next to be set free, and how did he miss her going? Time check was 8:54 a.m., he truly slept longer than he’d thought. It was a Sunday, and sleep was his normal practice by this time when he was at home, until he was sure others had gone to church, and then it was ball time for him. Today though, he wished he could go to church, he hoped he would be in church next week; he knew the church would pray for him today.

All he could do was hope that their prayers and his would be answered.

John's first day in captivity has begun. In our next episode, we see how his escape plan develops.

Stay with us!