Clash Of Interest – episode 6

CLASH OF INTEREST
EPISODE 6
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Jack is a product of a broken home. Whenever he returns from school, either he finds his parents in a fight or drooling over their previous quarrels. At night they would yell, shout, curse, and fight over frivolities, Jack would cover his ears with a pillow to wade of their nagging voices. Infact the house can be titled “Agony of hell” The few times they can be found an item can be counted with the tip of the fingers and they are normally short lived. Unable to bear the trauma, neglect and shamelessness of his parents and coupled with his young age, Jack ran away from home into the cold hands of the street. Where he fought to survive through all dubious means like pilfering, barrow pushing, engaging in menial jobs and at times involving in street fights and gaining the spoils from the oppressed. All this made Jack grow wild and become an untamed phoenix in the street in a manner that can’t be explained. At thirteen he had already joined a gang known as the “SHADOWS” who were involved in petty thieving, like; pick picketing, forceful snatching of people’s properties and gang raping. At fourteen he could handle guns perfectly, could throw a knife at will, could steal from a grown up man and escape unscathed, and could open a car with a broomstick. That is what we get from streetism. He could perfectly remember an incident that changed his wh0le cat and dog life for good.

{ LIFE IS A GAME PLAY YOURS WELL}
It all occurred on a day he was out on his normal routine of what he knows best which is crime. When he saw a very well dressed man and he decided to follow the man, because the man would really make a juicy meat for consumption.
He trailed behind the man, until the man mixed up with the crowd, never relenting, he continued on his search for the man, then not very far from the s₱0t he stood, he saw the man negotiating with a trader and haggling over the price of a commodity, he waited until they agreed upon a price, that was a perfect timing as the man brought out his purse to pay up and Jack dived up towards the man and snatched his purse away and picked up the race. The trader raised an alarm and the wh0le market broke into pandemonium, as hot blooded youths chased after Jack, he ran with the speed of a cheetah, too surprising and quite frightening for a fourteen year old boy, as he dodged, jumped, leaped and swunged from side to side in a bid to shake off his assailant, but they persisted. As he was still thinking of a way to evade those in hot pursuit of him, he saw a hand grab at him, without turning to know it was, he turned around and planted his canine teeth on the hands of the man, the man cried out in pain and let go of his hands but he had already bit off his flesh and ran away with his mouth filled with blood. Still hearing the horror cry of his victim. As all this was going on, the man whose purse was snatched remained calm and watched in amusement at all the happenings around him. He had seen the young boy tailing behind him, but decided to pretend that he didn’t see him, for reasons best known to him, he had seen the young man hurdle at a corner watching him and had decided to play it cool, and watch him through the corner of his eyes, he saw the boy running forward, immediately he brought out his purse, but decided to play the fool and allowed him to know the main aim of the young man, and as he had already guessed. He was just one of the boys out there who would engage in any dealings to eke out a living.

 We make war so that we might live in peace. 
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After he was relieved from his temple run, he went to a serene area and surveyed the area before displaying, the content of what he stole from the tigers jaw. He smiled. “today was a blast” he muttered. As he displayed wads of naira notes ranging from; a thousand notes to five hundred naira in denomination. “Yes!!” He yelled in an unconcealed joy. “Now i can buy at least two pairs of trousers and shirts, the one i bought last year was already going underway, not until. It met its demise on the last street fight that he was narrowly involved in. In a fight that, he narrowly escaped with a thin rope. Where he chanced upon Poison, a brute and bully to the core. They do say the fear of poison is the beginning of wisdom.

 >>>> FLASHBACK<<<<
 It was a sunny afternoon in the street of Eden. Jack squatted at a corner in the street alone, with the sound of chattering and the smell of marijuana and alcohol, enveloping the street, with normal activities going in the street. Then suddenly the wh0le street turned quiet as the sound of a pin could be detected if dropped on the ones noisy street. Jack turned to know the cause of the silence, when he saw a group of men around thirty men facing a group of men no lesser in number than them. He looked closely and found that the first group was headed by Poison a deadly man who could even kill his parents for money, if the price was right. He was a very huge man and can be likened to a gorilla both in size and looks. The leader of the second group was known as Diego who was equally known through the street, but he was the neat and considerate type and very good to the core. Some do think what brought such a person to the activities of the street.
 As all this was going every one was already vacating the street silently, both beggars and street urchins. Jack couldn’t Pin point the cause of the conflict but stayed put at his corner, viewing the happenings instead of leaving like the others. When he had, saw what he needed, he made to leave but that was already too late. A fight had already ensued among the two groups. And not wanting to get involved in a matter he couldn’t tell how it occurred, he decided to slip away, when the fighters, were occupied. As all this was going on bottles, daggers, planks and clubs reigned paramount in the street, as cries of horror could, be heard every where in the street. Jack made to slip away but unfortunately for him he was sighted by Poison, who forcefully grabbed him and drew him in between two fighters. Jack sprang up and made to escape from the approaching Poison, tried jumping under a car that was at its last leg, when Poison quickly held him on his khaki trousers, as it tored from the wa-ist side down to his knee, he was stilled torned between escaping from the devilish hands of Poison to care about a trivial case of his trousers being tored. He tried all he could but Poison was choking him to death by mercilessly wrapping his hands around his neck And Jack gave a strangled cry, his legs wriggled in the air aimlessly, then out of sheer luck, during his aimless battle for survival, his twirling leg paved in into Poison’s manh-od and that was a critical hit, which left Poison momentarily discombobulated and he felt his feet wobble under the impact of the kick, that was all the time Jack needed as he quickly freed himself and tried to flee, but that was all in vain, as Poison held unto his shirt and that led to the shirt tearing loudly, he gave poison a heart piercing bite on the wrist and Poison shouted in horror, that was all the time he needed to escape, he made to run but on second thought changed his mind. He reasoned that escaping from poison doesn’t mean escaping forever and to crown it up he was not one who leave grievances to escalate into the future. He turned and glanced at him and said “Leaving you would spell doom for me.” he said. And patiently waited for him to Poison to stand before he brought out a pen knife from his tattered boot and cleaned the surface of the knife and threw the knife at him as it planted itself deep in poison’s Adam’s apple. Jack ran away without caring to know the effect of his strike.

To be continued

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