Agony of the deaf episode 3

AGONY OF THE DEAF
(FADED FEELINGS)
Episode 3
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Written by Author Nath
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Furiously, she stepped out from the window to the living room to eventually leave the house, but the mother and Gbenga stopped her just at the exit. Her eyes burns with passion to find the boy whom she had been attached with emotionally. She glared at her mother and the old neighbor whose palm gripped his walking stick tightly like a baby to her mother’s finger. A wall clock on the wall of the living room which hand ticks in an interval of a second was the only sound that circulated in the room as the glare continued.

“Eniola, what on Earth do you think you are going?” The mother’s voice subdued the ticking clock’s.

“Mama, that man outside knows where Claude is.” she replied. “How can we all sit here and watch him go away when he should be explaining how he kidnapped Claude!”

“How sure are you, my daughter?” Gbenga interfered. “What gave you the impetus to accuse a stranger for the missing of the god-sent boy? The last time I checked, Claude carried you from this couch to your bed the night he vanished. Moreover he left you a flower which signifies a lovely goodbye. How was he then kidnapped by… by… that man outside?” He added. His questions rendered the girl speechless, so she swallowed hærd. She knew what she felt but didn’t know how to convince them. That was Claude’s blood working in her without knowing. It became heavy for her and her eyes which suddenly began to drop tears like droplet of rain.

“I know you both don’t believe me, but try questioning him for me. I beg you, mama.” she cried.

The mother rushed to give her a shoulder to cry on. Therefore her tears easily w-t her clothes. Meanwhile, Gbenga had used his staff to open a window curtain, watching as the car drove away, leaving the little girl the driver was questioning behind. Briskly, he stepped outside.

“Hey, Ọmọbinrin lẹwa, jọwọ mi.” He called on the girl in Yoruba, meaning, “Hey, beautiful girl, excuse me.” His voice attracted Eniola and the mother who watched from the window with ears wild opened. “Sorry my daughter. Is not as if I’m intruding. I just want to know what the young man that just drove off was skiing you.”

“He said his name is Raphael and he was looking for a man called Abosede.” The poor girl replied as an afterthought. She wondered why an old man suddenly become interested in a stranger.

“Well, did you tell him where Abosede is?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I do not know who or where Abosede is” she became uncomfortable with the interrogation. “Sorry sir, I need to take my leave.” she walked away.

Gbenga exhaled, monitoring the girl’s movement. Immediately she left to a distant, he hurried back into the house of Ayomide and closed the door behind him. Anxiety and curiosity burns from the eyes of the mother and her daughter after hearing the closing sound of the door.

“We heard the girl, but why would someone be looking for Abosede?” Ayomide broke the silence.

“That’s a question that has gotten me perplexed.” Gbenga walked into the inner part of the living room. “Since Abosede has come into the picture, i think Eniola might be saying the truth about the young man knowing where Claude is.” He elaborated.

“I’m lost here. Who and where is this Abosede?” Eniola threw the question in the air. He looked from her mother to the old man who never said a word thereby increasing his perturbation.

“Is not just who Abosede was, it’s also where he is now.” Ayomide replied the question. “Abosede is dead.” She clarified.

With terrifying wild opened eyes, Gbenga said, “And he was a great diabolic man who knew the history of all strange African progeny. Let’s try to connect the dots; Claude strangely came here and strangely disappeared. After a day, a man came looking for Abosede who Eniola identifies as someone who knows where Claude is.”

Silence creeped in and revolved around them like the earth around the sun. Eniola spread her hands hopelessly forward. “I didn’t get any of the thing you said, papa Gbenga.” she said.

The mother exhaled deeply. “Gbenga is only saying that there’s a possibility that Claude is a special child from special ancestors.” She replied.

“What makes him special?”

“That we do not know.”

“Well, I don’t care what he is. I just want to see him!” Eniola lamented.

“Well, Eni, is high time you stopped being desperate for a boy because you are still tender. Also show a little respect to me, your mother when you start craving to see the other gender. It’s wrong culturally! Pull yourself together! Looking for where Claude is isn’t the main thing now, it’s to dig deep to find who he really is. Pray we don’t find anything negative and diabolic about him because if we do, that will be the day you’ll stop talking about him and totally forget him.” Ayomide fired her daughter who couldn’t believe her ears. The mother’s words broke not just her heart but also her bones. Therefore her legs couldn’t carry her weight anymore. She tried walking out on her into her room but fell down on the way.

“Eni!” The mother rushed and pulled her up. The little girl detached from her, entered into her room and forcefully locked the door. Ayomide and Gbenga could hear her sniffing tears. They looked at each other in the silence.

“You need to take it easy on her. What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn.” Gbenga lowered his voice.

Ayomide didn’t say anything. She robbed her forehead painfully as she collapsed on the nearest cushion, wondering the next steps to discover who Claude really is. She exhaled.

“Do you have the boy’s picture?” Gbenga asked her.

“You mean Claude?” She straightened up. “Yes, on my phone.” she replied curiously.

“Come, I know who we can meet about this issue, though not to know the way about of the boy but who he really is. His true identity can reveal his true location.” Gbenga matched forward by first, hitting his walking stick on the tiled floor and raising it up for the gods to watch and guide his movement towards the door which was like that of a cow with a broken limb. It always seems like it would fall at every juncture where the broken leg should function. Ayomide hastined up from the cushion, grabbed her phone and followed him. They could be seen, steated in the house of one of the great men in the village, Isiala, from the tribe of the Igbos. Hence he wasn’t a true indigene of Olupona but he had stayed there for years. He was not only close to late Abosede, he had the same obsession with him.

His living room where Ayomide and Gbengs waited for him was locally decorated. It had no carpet. The seats were more of woods than fabric. On the walls hungs pictures of his ancestors which some seemed dusty with cobwebs on their surfaces. To crown it all, there was no electrical appliances in the room. Just then, Isiala came out from his room, wearing a native caftan. He was huge, black and had bushy beards. He cleared his throat as he made use of an opposite seat. “Sorry, Gbenga, i had to tidy up some things before meeting you. He who doesn’t clean his mouth before breakfast always complains that the food is sour.” he concluded with a proverb.

“That is true.” Gbenga supported. He sat up, cleared his throat too and hit his staff on the floor. They say thatconfiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole. Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool. A wise man fills his head before emptying his mouth.”

Isiala also sat up. “What is it, Gbenga? Let the cat out of the bag.”

The old man told Isiala why they came, starting from the discovery of Claude to his disappearance. He also ch¡pped in the part of Abosede being looked for by a stranger. Isiala leaned back on his seat with heavy exhalation. “If while climbing a tree you insist on going beyond the top, the earth will be waiting for you. You made a good decision by coming to me, Gbenga. Did you just say the boy speaks french?”

“Yes” Ayomide nodded his head.

“My goodness! It can’t be!” Isiala hurried up from his seat to the room while Ayomide and Gbengs looked at each other anxiously………
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On the other hand, Eniola’s door cracked opened. She rushed out well dressed in a black leggings and a white design t-shirt. On her feet were flat leather wears. She flipped them to the road just after their house. If not her young face, one wouldn’t know she was just approaching fourteen years regarding her matured body features. She stood by the Sandy road when Raphael drove out. Apparently, she had felt his coming from the room. That was why she came out to wait for him. When she waved her hand at the car, the young man stopped and whined down the glass of the black Lexus.

“Young girl, are you going somewhere?” he asked her.

Eniola nodded her head. “To the market.” she replied, feeling her heart beating faster than initial. “Can you help me, please?” she added immaturely.

“Why not?” The man opened the door, she entered and they drove off…..
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Isiala came out with a large old book. He flipped several pages swiftly as he took back his seat why Gbenga and Ayomide watched him in anticipation. Suddenly, they heard him reading aloud. “From 1802, there lived the family of Sawadogo who their blood were used to win wars and to heal some tremendous diseases with difficult conditions attached to them. Because of this, they were dying from all manner of ways, madness, cripple, blindness, etc. They were called the Hugos from Burkina Faso a landlocked country in West Africa,, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest.” He looked up at them.

“Are you saying Claude is Hugo and he is from Burkina Faso?” Ayomide asked.

“I think so.You said he speaks french and Burkina Faso official language is french. Abosede believed Hugo’s have gone extinct. He would have been surprised to hear this if he was alive.” Isiala replied.

“What is he doing in Nigeria then?”

“I don’t think the Hugo is alone and his mission in Nigeria is what I do not know. Mind you, many are looking for them to exploit the ability of their blood, so who knows, he might be in danger.”

Gbenga cleared his throat again and hit his staff on the floor. “They say Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs. What is the way forward now for her little daughter who is so obsess with this Hugo of a boy! He’s driving her crazy that she might hurt herself if she doesn’t see him, more or less be with him.”

“You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down.” Isiala began. “To be on a safer side especially for Claude, your daughter must never set her eyes on him again. They should never cross paths again. That was why he left after using his blood to heal your daughter’s deafness because we don’t know the condition attached to it. And According to history the consequences are always; not seeing the victim, or having emotional feelings with him/her or even having s–xual intercourse and many more unbearable conditions. Furthermore, these conditions can metamorphos” he added.

“What do you mean by it can metamorphos?” Gbenga asked.

“It can move from not seeing the victim to no feelings or no talking to the victim if their blood receive any impurity like dog bite and cat scratch. So I’ll advise you to advise your daughter, let her know what might befall the little boy or both of them if they should see or do anything contrary to the condition attached to her healing.” Isiala concluded, while Gbenga shook his head pitifully because he knew how poor Eniola will feel about the decision. Even Ayomide became speechless.
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in,side the Lexus was as cool as a refrigerator. Eniola twisted her fingers uncomfortably. She glanced at the young man again. He has some beards and mustache. “Do you know who Claude is?” she broke the silence.

“Claude?” Raphael repeated. “No, as a matter of fact. I came looking for a man called Abosede but just learnt that he’s dead.” He looked at her. “Who’s Claude and why asking me?”

“He’s my friend and he’s missing” Eniola’s mouth quivered in a broken cry. “And I’m very sure you’ve come in contact with him. Please, I beg you, take me to him.”

Raphael became astonished. He slowed down. Truly, he didn’t know that the Hugo his mother captured was Claude as he was known by Eniola. So he couldn’t put a finger on the particular person she was emotionally complaining of.

“Girl, I sincerely do not know who you’re talking about. I’m ready to find him for you.” he said.

“Really?”

“Yes, what can I do?”

“Just take me to the place you’re going.” Eniola replied.

“What!?” Raphael totally stopped the car. “I don’t think I can do that. Is several kilometers from here. I’m sorry, you need to get down from my car.” He ordered.

“Please, I beg you!” Eniola pleaded but Raphael ended up driving her away from the car. That was at the main road. Quickly, Eniola booked a cab and followed him immediately. It was a long drive, paying the cab man wouldn’t be a problem to her because not only did she still her mother’s money, she had her ATM card too.

Raphael pulled over in front of a warehouse where Claude hung on a rope without knowing Eniola was a few meters away watching him. When he entered into the warehouse, Eniola came out too, paid the driver and began to run into the warehouse too…….
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TO BE CONTINUED