The Thorny Path to Europe - Episode 15

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Ade, Lizzy and Cecilia joked despite being tired on the way. They spent the rest of the night on the way, with most of them exhausting the water with them. By the middle of the next day, the boy whose mother had been making his suck her breast began to cry for water. Everyone relayed how piteous the situation was. They wished they could help her . Tunde grabbed her bottle of water and Cecilia edged nearer.

'You don't want to save that boy's life at the expense of your brother. We have one bottle left and I can't let you go when I still need you and well… Still love you'.

Tunde gritted and held himself. The woman with the child kept pleading for water for her child. But everyone had drained their water. Normally, Tunde shouldn’t be afraid of her, but the thought of the fact that she had killed six people without batting an eyelid made him know she was to be feared.

When no one gave the woman water, she banged the side of the van. They were all bereft of food and water, which was glaring. She got no response and that made her bang the door erratically. Jude and Leo stormed out of the van to talk some senses into the head of the person that banged the van. When they saw her and heard her plight, Jude understood her plight, 'we will reach there soon

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. Leo, give him small water from the carburettor'.

Some people exclaimed. Jude was infuriated by their noises.

'Which should I give him? Your urine or water from the carburettor'.

'Carburetor', the woman shouted and ran after Jude with a bottle she grabbed from the van. Tunde wished he could warn Ade before he and Lizzy fell into her trap. At least, Lizzy was clingy and loved s*x. She would have a reason to hold Ade down from trying to flirt with Cecilia.

He saw many men staring at her and wished for their sakes that they were looking away. One of them kept staring and he smiled at Tunde after he caught him looking at her.

'She is taken', Tunde shouted at him and gave him a look that showed that he would do anything to make sure she didn't get a chance to even talk to him. She waved at the man and moved near Tunde.

'What are you trying to do? You're putting Ade's life at risk. Don't you dare pursue these evil men away from me? I'm their nemesis'.

He refused to answer her even after they got to the gate that bordered the Sahara Desert from Libya. Jude bribed his way into the country and in a short while, they were in the country.  They were driven to a camp. There, they met a lot of people. They all rested there and were given sumptuous meals. Tunde sat aloof and didn't try to move near to them. Ade didn't care about him as he snuggled away with Lizzy. Tunde was disappointed in Cecilia and tried to sit away from her as far as possible. It was better to be with people he didn't know than to be with the ones that he assumed were his people.

Ade too had become exceptionally silent. Probably from tiredness, but Tunde could help relating that reactions the others he had seen in people. He only saw that reaction in people when they have done something bad. Even if he had done something that Ade felt he should guilty of, they were there in Libya already and that proved that they were free from any trouble on the way. The only trouble they should be wary of was Cecilia.

After a while, Jude came and directed them towards a compound. They all gathered at a large room that would have fit a modern day sitting room. When a young rotund lady, wearing her skinny blue jeans and a red top, served them food alongside a thin one with a glaring waist bead, Tunde watched Ade from the corner of his eyes while Cecilia stood between he and Ade.

'Tunde, can we talk?' Ade said. 'It's important'.

Cecilia looked from Ade to Tunde, smiled and moved back. She carried her food and walked on with her hand now dipped into the bag. Tunde rubbed his nose, looking at anything or anyone that could stop them but she was at a vantage point. The slim lady edged towards her. Tunde seized the moment.

'Ade, you need to be careful. C…'

At that moment, Cecilia walked past the slim lady and threw her food away. She moved off to another side with her bag in her hand. The slim lady stared at her for a while and seemed to have come off short of words to say. Tunde knew Ade's life was in danger because of him.

'I'm tired. Can we make it to another time?' Tunde said and walked away, leaving Ade confused. They were given some flat worn-out foams to sleep and like before, they were to sleep two-two in a room. As much as he tried, she wouldn't leave his side until Jude called her away. But she ensured he was within her view. Not minding her threats, Tunde picked a foam and entered the room that was opposite the one they carried the foams from, seeing that it was empty.  A guy dragged one into the room but went out immediately. Cecilia came in a while later, dragging hers and placing it on the bed.

Tunde used some of his clothes as a bedsheet and slumped into the bed. She smiled at him and made tongue at him.

The guy that brought his foam the other time entered, went near her and tapped her. 'That bed is taken'.

'You should have brought your family's bed here. When there are other beds around, get a life and get out'.

He wanted to say more but she shouted him down. 'Are you g*y? Don't you see this is my man?' The guy looked about, sighed, took his leave, fuming but making no audible comments. Tunde could only stare at the ceiling as others left the room for them. The place Jude brought them was massive. The compound could contain thousands of people and if they decide to pick a room each, they will get one. After a while, she tried to touch him, he smacked her hands away.

She was relentless. Searching for a major weak spot, she c*ressed him but he flung her hands away and hissed. She rose and went off to lock the door of the room and sat on him.

He grumbled as he said between clenched teeth. 'Don't you dare'.

'You have no choice. You'll obey me come hell or high waters and to be clear I'm the hell and high waters'.

Tunde turned from her and she left her bed and rammed herself in front of him. She held him and did all sort of things to him. She kissed him and when he raised his hands, she shook her head. 'Your brother'.

'Get a life. Get another man'.

He refused to heed to her cravings and that made her burst into tears but he looked away. He wasn't one that would be blackmailed by someone's emotion. He had read a lot of books and knew silence was the only thing that could work.

She sniffed and whispered. ' I love you. I still do. My father was the worse of men. I had no choice than to kill him because he always wanted to r*pe me. I had no choice. The sweetest part was that watching those men die gives me joy. I know one less evil is gone. I don't kill random men. I kill men that are known to be r*pist or perverts'.

That got to Tunde. 'You'll kill all the men in the world because they were perverts at one point or the other. I don't love you. I never did. I can never love any woman in my life. I'm g*y'.

She stared at him, sniffed and laughed loudly. 'You, g*y? Stop deceiving yourself. I've seen the way the brother under always rises whenever you see me. It means you're attracted to me but had learnt to hold yourself even the day I was drunk'.

He nodded and swallowed hard. Maybe he loved her. Maybe he didn't. But he came to realize that she knew just how to make him talk and that was something he would avoid hence. He felt bad for all the things he had lost because of going to Europe.

He had lost his family, almost lost Ade, lost his respect by exchanging words with Lizzy, lost his freedom by being loved by a serial killer. He was lost.

She began to battle with his belt but he wrestled it out of her hand.

'This is your last chance, I'll go out, kill Ade, Lizzy, and that slim lady and leave this camp'.

Tunde stared at her. They showed how resolute she was. He didn't want to play to chance so he rested back in the bed. She unloosed his bed and used it to tie him to the bed. He gritted when she used clothes from the bed to tie him there.

'Want me', she murmured as she played with his trousers but he wasn't ready to look at her. She stopped and stared at him and burst into tears.

'What's wrong with you, Tunde', she wept. 'Do you want me to r*pe you?'

'It's the only style you understand. Go on with it'.

This statement rattled her that she cried the more and move to the other bed. She cried for a long then tied him well, then returned to bed. They slept off. When she woke, she woke him and took him wherever she went. It was glaring that she was sad because she too like Tunde made no jokes.

Ade also was too quiet for Tunde. Only Lizzy was chatty as she kept provoking wry smiles from Tunde. They were there for another three days and that got most people worried, especially Tunde because he felt he would get the chance to lose Cecilia once they got to Italy. However, the fourth day, things happened beyond his reasoning. It started with the blaring of a horn. Then, a husky voice shouted into a megaphone,' everybody, come out'.

Some men with guns came into the rooms and led people in the other rooms to their rooms. They surrounded the room and Tunde swallowed hard as he could feel fear in his mouth.

'Stand up', a hefty man shouted. 'All of you. This is Jude's connection house. Here, no one. I mean no one, not even Jude, has a say over who and who will cross the border. I'm the general in charge and what I say, happens. That's why many of you should have made a proper deal with him'.

He brought out a piece of paper and despite the light that hung above them, he asked someone to point a torchlight. They began to call names.

Tunde anticipated the call of his name. And when they got to Ade and skipped him he glanced at

Ade. But Ade wasn't looking at him; instead, he was staring at the ground. Cecilia hobbled on to him, but he brushed her hands away.

When General finished calling their names, it dawned on Tunde that he had just witnessed a foul

play.

He spun towards Ade. 'Ade, what happened to the money?'

Ade sighed and looked at him like someone that was failing at being strong. 'You'll be given the remaining one hundred and ninety thousand and you'll return home. It will help you'.

'Return home?' Tunde and Jude exclaimed.

Tunde's mind quickly raced through the journey and trouble he would face. He placed his hands on his head and slumped to the ground. General and Jude rushed to his side and poured water on

him.

'I'm alive. I'm just...I've been betrayed'.

'Sorry, he will get revenged', Jude said with a mocking smile.

'Yes. But please don't let me return'.

'Of course, you're not returning. The remaining one of you is being...Erm...Transported to a point that you would work until you have the money. Europe is the goal'.

'That seems good', Tunde said and that made General laughed

'This boy is a fool. You're in for trouble. Work that will make you wish you never came to Libya without completing your money. Works that will make you wish death was on your speed dial', Jude said. 'That's what you Nigerians did to my wife too. And my sister. At least, I'm better than the people who brought them'.

'That wasn't the plan', Ade shouted.

'Will you like to join them?' Jude said and gestured for his men to lead them away.

'A minute', Cecilia said and she ran to Tunde. One of the gunmen tried to pull her off, but she slapped his hand away.

'Let her be', Jude said.

'Let me help you', Cecilia said. 'I'm rich. I have a lot of wealth'.

'No.

Read " Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. I'd rather die'.

She heaved as if she had suddenly become possessed by Leviathan himself. 'I'd be with Ade'.

Tunde shrugged and shook his head. 'Be with him. Sleep with him. Kill him. If you ever do, I'll love to watch it. Try to send his heart to me. You can do anything you want'.

'Tunde, don't do this', Cecilia and tears flooded down her face.

'Come and take her away', Tunde shouted as he drew away. He returned a corner of the room and stared at the empty space until the men were gone. Then, he burst into tears. He never believed Ade could betray him in such a way.

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