Chad

“ I thought you’d still be angry with me”

“ yes, I was for a long time but, I figured non of it is your fault"

“I think I should excuse you guys, I’ll be outside” Roma stated as she feeling uneasy about staying there while Chad and his mother were having the all important tension filled  conversation.

“ no , no , you can stay.” Chad replied

“no, it’s not okay. I’m sorry. Excuse me ma’am, I’ll be outside, but it was nice meeting you.” She concluded and walked out of the sitting room to the porch or something, leaving Chad and his mother to the awkward talk.

“ I forgave you a long time ago , Chad. You were just a kid going through a crisis that got out of hand...”

“But you didn’t come for me. Non of you did. All of you thought I was psycho, all of you hated me”

“No one hated you Chiadi. Your father was in coma for weeks and you expected me to leave him? The prince of Duruewuru? to come after you? So if he dies his kinsmen would say I killed him? And treat me like shit. Would you want your mother to be treated like that by these wolves?”

Chad kept mute, he knew she was right.

“ ...but I called you, severally ! And I begged you earnestly to reconsider, to stay …”

“ I know mum, and I’m sorry please? I’m so sorry.” Chad could feel tears filling his eyes.

“I feel ashamed of my self for leaving like that every time I think about it. I regret my decision every day, for over seven years! It haunts me everyday of my life. I feel like everyone hates me and I’ve lost my rights and respect here. All I want is just forgiveness mum, from you, from everyone, please?...”

“Hey hey stop stop” she interrupted.

“ no lion of Duruewuru is a crybaby. Look, whatever you did lead you to where you are right now. Maybe that’s how things were meant to be”

“ was it the head trauma that killed my father?”

Mrs Okorie’s faced became red with grief, she clearly didn’t want to discuss that but had no choice.

“ I feel your father was murdered” she replied with a voice devoid of  grief.

“How?” Chad asked surprised because, yes , his father was mean to them, but he was very good to outsiders and strangers.
He was kind and generous to a fault. He once donated acres of his land, worth millions, for a World Bank Project to alleviate poverty. He trained many under privileged children in school and lots more, and thus, he was always hailed by Duruewuru elders as the most generous of his kind. Hence, his title "ochiri ozuo".

So, who did he offend this bad that’d wanted him dead? Chad wondered.

“  it started a year after you left. Things changed for us when the government changed importation policies and listed some of your father’s goods as contraband. The bill was passed into law the same day your Father’s goods landed at the port hence, all his goods were ceased and labelled ‘property of the state’.
"He tried to fight them but he lost in court and his connections, money, and everything failed him.
"That was his whole business there! ceased! Taken from him wickedly! Wicked country!”

She paused

“what..?” Chad asked puzzled. Not knowing why he even uttered that.

“ ...that was when I knew your kinsmen are evil and wicked. Non of them helped him despite his generosities towards them. They even helped take him down because he was next in line to the throne..”

“and who’s king now?”

“ your cousin Chidi”

“ he’d always been desperate for it” Chad pointed out.

“ exactly! I even suspect his involvement in your Father’s death."

“how?”

“ look, your father decided to get a loan to stay afloat, but not from a bank so the terms would be favorable. He wanted to get a loan from an organization or a body that would give him huge loans on a very long term payback bases. It was this same Chidi who offered to take him to one organization like that, they called it um…. Um… Medusa”

“WHAAAAAATT!!” Chad nearly shouted as tears rolled down his cheeks involuntarily.

Within him he blamed himself because if he’d been around and heard about it, he’d have found a way to stop his dad.

“ you know them?” she asked, surprised at his sudden reaction.

“ ... No.. Um... not really” he lied, trying not to pressure his mother any longer than she already was “ I don’t just like the name. Why would he agree to such a…”

“... I asked the same question, but he said I shouldn’t worry, it’s all business. He’d always been a dare devil from the day we met, like you. That was how he wooed me, and i fell in love with him in the first place..."

She paused and smiled.

"He was just desperate to stay afloat, for his kids. He'd always been a hustler you know.
Well, after a while, about a year, Medusa told him they were reducing their time frame for payback and it was unnegotiable.
"They wanted their money back in six months, that was impossible! The money was too huge for six months!  And according to their legal policy, they reserve the right to change terms of agreement. Your father was too desperate and didn't pay attention to the details of the legal agreement irrespective of his lawyer's warnings.
"Your father could only raise about ninety percent in six months and promised that in a month's time, he’d complete the payments.

"The medusa agreed, but your father smelled something fishy because they asked him to join the organization and forget about the rest of the money with the interests, which of course was very very enticing. But, u know your stubborn father, he refused. he insisted he was just involved with them for business purposes only.
" He told me he suspected they were interested in taking over his business, his importation privileges, to use it for their own benefit, what ever that was...

“ ...that day , your father came home terrified. He had asked questions, researched, and discovered the true nature of the organization he was having dealings with.
"He decided to send all your siblings out of the country and made me promise to never disclose their locations to anyone.
"He told me that once he was done with the payments he’d leave with me to Berlitz to retire for life. He knew something was off!

“ but in a month, after he’d sent all your siblings out of the country and made them promise to never come back, he couldn’t come up with all the money, and honestly, all he needed was more time, just a little more time!.

“ however, on his was back from the airport, there was an accident… and… he was the only one with a bullet hole in his skull…”

“oh my …”  They sobbed softly.

Chad figured his leaving the country was inevitable. It was meant to happen sooner or later. That he didn't have to hate himself for loosing to fate.

“But, mother, why are you still here? In this hell hole?” 

“where would I go?  I can’t leave him, your father. I stay here till death takes me too” she said firmly.

“ I wonder why ..” Chad muttered.

But wait... Just then, he suddenly realized it.

Medusa doesn’t just murder the defaulting man alone, they murder the man and his family so the power of vengeance and karma is defeated.

So how come they left his mother? He asked himself as the picture became clearer.

They left his mother alive to draw him and his siblings back home since they couldn’t find them. To draw them back home so they could finish the job.

“ medusa" Chad muttered shaking his head in disapproval and then he burst into a grievous laughter realizing the trap! He laughed so hard that his mother became puzzled.

"What?" She asked perplexed.

“ this  would be their end “ he laughed hard as he stood up to leave .

And then stopped abruptly with a certain meanness creeping up his facial expression.

“ where are you going to ? What are you going to do..? “ Mrs Okorie stood up trying to stop her son.
  “ stop , please, leave them be before they kill you too. What are you going to do? ”

“… what a son should have done  a long time ago “

He left with his mother following behind him pleading with him, calling his name. But the sound of her voice had faded to the background of his consciousness as he made his way to the white Range Rover sport at the distal end of the large compound. The scorching sun beating its white body to an immerse shinny reflection.

He could see pretty Roma seated and relaxed on a stool under the shade of a tree,  somewhere  closer  to  the fine car than he was, looking pretty as usual. On the sight of his approach, she stood up and gave out her sweetest smile, in expectation of the pending gist.

But then ....

KAABBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A deafening explosion!!!

The velocity of the shock waves throwing them all off their feet, suspending them in air, and then dropping them roughly on the hard floor of the large compound.

The intensity of the sound causing a pause, a deafness, a slow motion

The whole world stopped for a moment!!

What just happened?