Lagos,
West Africa.
June
– November 2014.
Kasali was so happy. His high school final
year examination results had just been released. The results were brilliant.
Now, he was sure that he would gain admission into a good university. All that was left was to start the admission
process. He called his parents, gave them the good news and everything was set
into motion. Four months later, he had
matriculated and was in the university as a legitimate student.
Coast University was an incredible place. There were so many exciting
people to meet and, so many thrilling things to do. Kasali immersed himself in
this vibrant, young society and explored it with the fervour of a hungry dog in
a new junkyard. Considering the fact that he had just gone through a very
restrictive high school boarding system, the freedom of his new environment was
dizzying.
Kasali is a shy and socially inept young man. He is what is usually
called a nerd. Although, highly intelligent and academically gifted, he was bit
uncomfortable in social situations especially, those involving women.
Nevertheless, he was a naturally disciplined person and he had honed this trait
in the boarding school. Therefore, despite the near unlimited freedom now at
his disposal, he started his university career with studiousness and purpose.
Having attended an all-male high school, Kasali had never been in the
midst of so many females and, in his opinion they were all so beautiful. His
shyness manifested itself in his inability to interact freely with them without
feeling awkward. This didn’t stop him
from interacting with his course mates but, most of them mistook his shyness
for aloofness.
The semester was half gone when things got strange. Kasali had gone to
the college cafeteria one evening when he ran into Sandra, literally. He was
carrying his food tray back to where he would enjoy his meal when this gorgeous girl walked into him without looking. She was texting on her mobile phone while walking
toward the food counter. Despite Kasali’s best efforts to avoid her, she still
walked into him spilling all the food on herself and the floor.
They were both very angry and harsh words were exchanged. Kasali was
very upset because the spilt food meant that he would have to go and buy another
meal. His disciplined nature was appalled at the waste, and the time that would
be spent on the long queue to get another meal. The young lady on her part was
livid that her carefully selected outfit had been ruined by the food.
Nevertheless, peacemakers intervened in time, before the situation degenerated
into something more serious.
Three days later, Kasali was in the library studying for a test, when he
felt somebody touch him on the shoulder from behind. He turned around to see
who it was. It turned out to be a ravishingly beautiful girl. She was smiling
shyly at him. He recognised her immediately as the girl that had spilt his food
in the cafeteria accident.
Before he could say a word, she started
apologising profusely, saying that the whole incident was all her fault. She
went as far as insisting to buy him dinner in compensation for the one he had lost.
Kasali was both flustered and flattered. He never believed that such a
beautiful creature could be so humble. She told him that her name was Sandra,
and that apart from compensating him for the meal, she wanted to be his friend.
He declined her offer but she insisted. In the long run he gave in, although,
it wasn’t as if he put up much of a resistance. Thus began what one would call
an unlikely romance.
Kasali fell in love with Sandra, and he fell
hard. He was absolutely smitten. It didn’t matter that he was two years her
junior in both age and the university. It didn’t matter that she was always
uncomfortable being seen around him, when she was with her friends. All he knew
was that he was in love with the most beautiful girl in the world. He was
delirious with happiness.
Sandra introduced Kasali to sex. Although, she
was his first, he was definitely not hers. She was way, way more experienced in
the affairs of the flesh than he would have imagined, but he didn’t care. He
was in love.
However, despite all the excitement, his innate character couldn't be changed. Kasali remained a studious and disciplined
student. This part of him irritated Sandra to no end, since it made absolute
control of his being almost impossible. Nevertheless, being an extremely
possessive person, Sandra did everything in her power to keep him in a social
bubble. Any show of friendship towards another girl sent her into a rage. It
seemed she was even jealous of his male friends. Although, Kasali’s friends
warned him that there was something wrong with this type of behaviour, he
explained it away as her love for him.
On a weekend two months into their
affair, Sandra asked Kasali to escort her to a party. He regretfully declined, explaining
that he had to prepare for a test taking place the next week. She flew into a
rage, accusing him of insensitivity. When she saw that he was adamant,
insisting that he had to study, she promised to ask another boy along; and
never to see him again. This ultimatum broke his resolve and he agreed to go
with her. He would rather die than lose her.
The
party was loud, noisy and wild. It was filled with young people of all ages,
shapes and sizes. The women were in all in different states of nakedness. They
all wore clothes that were very revealing and designed to titillate. Kasali had
never witnessed such a brazen display of flesh, not even on campus. Sandra
introduced him to the host, a guy who introduced himself as Chukason. A drink
was pushed into his hand and he was ordered to enjoy himself.
Kasali had eaten and drank. He had
declined the offer of different strange smelling cigarettes. He had also
declined all alcohol. Nonetheless, he found out that he was enjoying himself.
Next thing he knew; Sandra was dragging him out of the house into the garage.
At the back was a room that in the dimness looked like a tool shed. In the
shadows, he saw Sandra turn away from him, pull down her panties and grab her
ankles, the glistening wetness of her nether regions winking at him from the
darkness. As he moved purposefully towards her, he felt the bite of a mosquito
on his neck.
Kasali felt his head throbbing with pain.
It was as if somebody was repeatedly hitting his skull with a sharp cutlass.
Then he noticed that he was lying prone on a hard cement floor. He felt very
cold.
He tried to sit up with difficulty
despite the pain in his skull. Having done this, he checked his surroundings.
He was in a bare room. It was not empty.
The other people in the room were young people. They all looked scared and desperate.
He stared at them and they stared back, their eyes reflecting the fright in
each other. As he looked at them, his common sense and mental discipline kicked
in. He knew immediately that he was in some kind of prison. The looks of his
fellow inmates, and their various apparels suggested that this was a kidnapper’s
den. Kidnap?!?! How had this happened?
He did a mental review of everything he
could remember, quickly. The party! Sandra!!
The party was still very fresh in his
mind. He vividly remembered Sandra dragging him to the back of the garage for
some naughty activity. He remembered the mosquito bite. He touched his neck,
and it slightly swollen. He realised that this was the method with which he had
been drugged. But, where was Sandra? What had happened to her?
Fear for Sandra’s safety rose in Kasali like
a tsunami. Where was his love? What had these monsters done to her?
He looked around the room desperately
trying to see if he could recognise her among the captives. It was obvious that
she was not in the room. Fearfully, wild thoughts chased one another chaotically
around in his mind. The care for his loved one making him completely forget
about the desperately dangerous situation that he was in.
Suddenly! The door to the room flew open,
and four large men armed with machetes entered.
Kasali saw a boy in the room jump up and
rush towards the door. Before he could take three steps, the armed man closest
to him casually beheaded him with one swift stroke of his machete. The victim's
head sailed across the room to land with a loud thud beside Kasali. The bodiless
head winked sorrowfully at Kasali, while the its mouth open and closed in
soundless horror.
The horror and casual brutality of the
scene froze the remaining captives into place. Many of them defecated on
themselves as they watched the headless body twitching, geysers of blood
spraying from its severed neck.
The captives were ordered into a line and
handcuffed behind their backs. They were all marched to what looked like a huge
warehouse. Their cuffs were removed and they were ordered to undress quickly. A
girl among them protested and she was promptly beheaded. Her head and body were
taken away by some men. The other captives scrambled out of their clothes as if
it was on fire.
Naked, they were all matched into a huge
bathroom were they were scrubbed and hosed down like animals. Still shivering,
they were then locked up in a bare metallic room. Leaving each one of them in a
private and collective hell.
Kasali was no longer sure whether it was
night or day. The circumstances in which he found himself had made
disorientation total. His heart tripped and hammered in his chest like a caged
bird. He relived his short and uneventful life over and over in his mind
wishing that he had done this or that. He thought of his parents knowing that
he may never see them again. He thought of his siblings and his small circle of
friends. Then he thought of Sandra and gut wrenching sobs were ripped from his
lips as the fear of what might have become of her tore him to pieces inside.
After some time, hunger and fatigue took their toll and he fell into a
nightmarish sleep.
Kasali was woken up from the nightmare he
was having by a painful noise. He didn’t how long he had slept. He and the
others were forced into a rude line and marched into a clinic in which they
were all given a thorough medical check-up. This prompted him to start
believing that maybe the kidnappers were not interested in ransome. He
remembered that two people have already been killed. If they we’re interested
in ransome would they have killed their payday? Ugly thoughts that he was scared
of being confirmed started chasing each other across his mind.
After an unknown period of time, numbered
stickers were placed on their foreheads and they were taken to a large empty
mirrored room. They were left there standing naked under very bright lights.
Nothing was left to the imagination. Then a side door opened, and a middle-aged
man in flowing white robes came in, escorted by six large men armed with razor
sharp machetes and shot guns. He was obviously the boss. He stood in front of
each captive, inspecting him or her as thoroughly as one might inspect an
animal one wanted to buy. After this, he left the room. However, three of his
thugs remained behind.
One after the other, each of the
prisoners were taken before a large wall mirror while the thug received
instructions from an unseen person through a mobile phone he had on him. After
what looked like an inspection, the prisoner was now led through one of several
doors on the side of the room.
After Kasali’s inspection, he was led
through a maze of corridors into an empty room and left there. Kasali knew that
the end was near and he prayed fervently for a miracle. He had been fairly
religious before gaining admission into the university but Sandra had made him
back-slide. Nevertheless, he was a man of faith and he continued to pray in the
spirit.
After what seemed like hours, one of the
thugs came into the room carrying a bundle of clothes. He was told to put these
on quickly while the thug watched. After dressing up, he was told to close his
eyes while black cloth pads were put on them. These were held into place with
black wrap-around-sunshades. He could not see a thing and, anybody observing
him would have thought that he was blind.
He was lead through a series of corridors
out into the open air. A car’s engine started and he was pushed into the back
sit. The door was slammed shut and it started moving while he was hemmed
in-between two large men. His heart was beating at an incredible rate. As the
car rocked on its chassis, taking in the curves at high speed, he knew that he
getting closer and closer to his death. Tears of despair soaked his improvised
blindfold and he started crying aloud. He was ignored.
After what seemed like a long time, the
car slowed down and entered what seemed to Kasali’s senses like a residential
area. Later, it seemed to enter a compound and stop. Kasali wet himself. He
started shivering, violently. This was it.
The car’s front passenger door opened and
somebody got into the car. He must have been a large man because the car’s
shock absorbers groaned. The scent of an expensive cologne permeated the car’s interior
temporarily overcoming the stench of Kasali’s fear.
The car’s interior was silent save for
Kasali’s soft moans of despair. Then the big man spoke.
He had a deep, soft, soothing voice. He
called Kasali by his given name and told him that under no circumstance should
he remove his blindfold or try to find out who was talking to him. This he said
would give him no choice but to kill him. This he said he didn’t want to do.
Kasali was shocked and grateful for this
turn of events. The deep voice told him that he could ask any question he liked
except for knowing who he was.
Kasali took a deep breath and then asked
him why he was helping him? He heard the soft, rumbling laughter of the man as
he replied the question.
According to him, he knew Kasali’s
father whom he referred to as a very good man. He said many people including
himself had been raised up by the man and that they owed their success in life
to his generosity and philanthropy. He said that he couldn’t see such a man’s
child in trouble and not help, when he could.
Kasali sighed deeply, and then asked
about Sandra with a shaking voice, hoping upon hope that somehow the love of
his life could also be saved.
His rescuer was silent for some moments,
then answered him. He told him that Sandra was the one who had effected his
capture. According to him, Sandra and Chukason were members of the gang that
had captured him. Their job was to lure unsuspecting and naïve young people
into the gang’s net.
The enormity of Sandra’s betrayal stunned
Kasali. It had all been a lie. Everything had been a lie. The protestations of
love. The jealousy, everything had been one huge lie. Yet, in hindsight, he had
not been surprised. Even then, somehow at the back of his mind, he knew
something was not right. Right from the moment he had met her, everything had been
too dramatic.
With a very subdued voice, he asked the
big man how much she had collected for him. He said, fifty thousand naira, that
was about a hundred American dollars.
Kasali felt very, very sad. So, that was
all he meant to her – Fifty thousand naira! Ordinary fifty thousand naira!! Na wa o !!!
The big man’s voice now told him to
thank whatever God he worshipped and consider himself very lucky. He now
proceeded to explain, why this is so.
According to the big man, they were in the
flesh business. They captured and traded in people and their parts for money.
He went ahead to explain that each person that was captured was worth a lot.
First, there was a massive international black market for replaceable organs.
He said that he was talking about kidneys, livers, hearts and bone marrows.
This was the reason they liked kidnapping young, unspoilt people like himself.
Second, there is a huge market for babies.
A young woman that has been lobotomized can produced up to eighteen children
before her organs are harvested. Apart from that, some members of the elite
preferred human breast milk for their beverages. They claim that the
nutritional value is unsurpassed. They don’t mind paying fifty times over the
cost of the animal variety.
Body parts were also needed by ritualists
seeking power, enormous wealth and in some cases unnaturally long lives. The
body parts were used as payment or bribery to demon-gods they had agreements
with. These bribes or payments had to be done regularly and sometimes at the
spore of the moment since these entities were fickle, mischievous and cruel.
They loved to introduce undisclosed items into the agreements.
Then there was the issue of cannibalism.
Unknown to the world is the fact that the human flesh eaters walk among us in
droves. They are rich and they can afford their meat. According to these
monsters, once you’ve tasted human flesh, you’ll not want to eat any other
thing and; you’ll be ready to buy it at any price. He said that an interesting
side effect of this delicacy was that it made you no longer fear any man.
Everybody suddenly resembles a meal.
Kasali sat there in stunned silence. His
mind numb with the enormity of what he was hearing. After some time, he asked
what was to become of him? He had the feeling that after hearing all these atrocities, he may not be set free. However, the big man told him that if he
had wanted to harm him, he wouldn’t be sitting there talking to him. He said
that the reason he was telling him all this was for Kasali to realise how
lucky he was and, for him to be more conscious of his personal security. All he
had to do was obey instructions and everything would be okay.
Although Kasali was a bit doubtful, he
kept on repeating a silent prayer to himself. There was hope.
He asked about what would happen when he saw
Sandra and Chukason in school?
He heard a big rolling laughter rumble
out of the big man’s chest. The big man told him that he would never see those
two people in his life again.
Kasali went rigid again and asked the big
man what he meant by that statement.
The big man now told him that Sandra was
on her way to a baby factory while Chukason was on his way to a slave camp
somewhere in the Middle East. Apparently both minions had overestimated their
importance within the organisation and were asking for more money. Apart from that,
they had made the mistake of threatening their handler with exposure – they had
to go.
While Kasali was still digesting this
turn of events, the big man told to go with one of his henchmen for a change of
clothes since he had defecated on himself many times over. He was led to a
shower where he cleaned up again, and put on a fresh set of clothing. His blind
fold was put on again and he was led back to the car. Before he entered the
car, what felt like two small books were shoved into each pocket of his trousers.
He was driven blindfolded out of the
compound without knowing the destination. After about thirty minutes, the car
stopped. He was brought out of the car and led to a stone bench were he sat. He was told that he was free, but instructed
to sit where he was for a count of a hundred then leave.
Kasali sat where he was and counted up to
a hundred in his mind. He then removed his blindfold and checked his pockets –
it was money. He then started the walk to liberty and a normal life.
Less than a week after his ordeal, Kasali
was walking past the newspaper stand on campus when a headline caught his
attention. It was about a top government official who had been stabbed to death
by his maid. The man had been identified as Alhaji Burj. Taking a closer look
at the picture of the victim, he recognised him as the man who had paraded them
in front of the wall mirror when he was in captivity.
Justice! Karmic justice!!
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