Mr Lanre and his family drove to the airport
accompanied by Florence who was looking forward to meeting Maya, who looked
very posh in pictures on social media. The driver was hurrying up to meet up in
time, years of driving a military man around had taught him to meet up with
time. Precision and orderliness was one thing he had learnt from his boss.
Florence was looking at him from the rear mirror, she noticed that he was
rather cute for his job. Dressed in a white neatly pressed shirt and navy blue
trousers, he appeared more like a cooperate man than a driver. She tried to
establish eye contacts with him but he appeared too glued to his driving to
notice her. She picked up her phone and sent Naya a WhatsApp message.
Florence: “Babe, this una driver cute o”.
Naya: “And what is that supposed to mean?
Are you crushing on my father’s driver?”
Florence: “relax Jor, you are always too
serious. I am just telling you what I observed about him”.
Naya: “let it stop at observation. Don’t
come and distract him with your eyes, I don’t want to die via accident”.
Florence: “ Lmao”, she chuckled.
Mrs Lanre who was conversing with her husband
noticed that the two girls were exchanging chats and she smiled and shook her head.
Mr Lanre cleared his throat, everywhere fell silent. His wife and daughter and
driver knew that anytime he did that, it meant that he had something to say.
Mr Lanre: “What was that I heard your friend
saying about some boy breaking your heart when I called you yesterday?”
Florence: “Sir, it is Naya o. One boy is just
playing with her heart anyhow and she doesn’t want to dump him”.
Naya: “Florence! Ha, can’t you even cover
me for once?”
Mr Lanre: “So, instead of you to concentrate on
your studies, you are busy going out with men right?”
Naya: “Daddy, it is not so o. Don’t mind
Florence”.
Mr Lanre: “Anyway, we will discuss all these
when we get home with your sister”.
They arrived the airport about ten minutes
earlier than the scheduled time. The airport since it was under renovation had
arranged bus services that conveyed passenger from Kaduna airport to Abuja
airport, it was more convenient for passengers, especially those who were new
to Kaduna and those who couldn’t find their way around. When the bus arrived,
Maya was not in. One by one the passengers came down and there was no sign of
Maya.
Mrs Lanre: “My dear, why is she not here yet?
Is there another car coming in?”
Mr Lanre: “I am not sure about that; I will
have to ask them”. When he enquired if there was another car coming in,
he was told there was none coming in for the day and that some passengers had
opted to come in through the train so they could have the experience.
Naya: “But she ought to have told us if she was
using the train. She should have at least told me. And why is she not replying
her messages?” She asked with concern written on her face.
Mrs Lanre: “I have been trying to call her too
and it says number switched off. Probably there is no network on the train”.
Mr Lanre: “Driver, do you know the train
station?”
Driver: “Yes, sir. It’s in Kubwa, opposite
Daughters of Charity hospital”.
Mr Lanre: “Fine, let’s go there and wait for
her”.
They learnt that the train had arrived for some
minutes and that most passengers had gone. When there was no sign of
Maya, her father asked for the Manifest of the train’s trip from kaduna, they
went through it and her daughter’s name was nowhere to be found.
Naya: “I don’t understand this, dad. She sent
me a message on Facebook to tell me their plane had landed Kaduna
airport. I tried to call her back immediately but her number has not been
available. Something tells me my twiny is in trouble”.
Mrs Lanre: “Don’t say that, there is power in
the tongue, I have always told you that”.
Mr Lanre: “keep your nerves still and let me
make some calls. There is no need to start panicking”.
Florence looked on, not able to say a word and
wondering why things had to go wrong just when she was ready to enjoy the
company of the family. Often times she had been told that she had ill luck that
always had its way of rubbing off on people, they could be right, she thought
====
They drove far into the Bush and then the
driver stopped.
“Your money or your life”, he asked the
frightened Maya who was shivering.
Maya: “I don’t have any money on me” She
replied tearfully.
Man: “kai, no lie for me fa, I go just kill am
for you. You don’t know me ko, I go just kill you trowey your body for here
nothing go happen”.
Maya: “I have some few pounds with me, take it
and also take my jewelries. That’s all I have, I usually don’t travel with
cash”.
The men collected all that she had after
ransacking her bag. “lie down, I want to do you “. He thundered.
Maya: “I beg your pardon? Say that again”.
Man: “You dey craze? I say I wan make love to
you”
Maya: “Which love? Are we lovers? You want to
rape me and you use love to cover it? Hell no, there’s no way I am going to
allow you rape me”.
He suddenly grabbed her and cocked his gun to
her skull and pulled the trigger. “Jesus!” Maya shouted and woke up with
fright. She had fallen asleep shortly after entering the taxi. She remembered
the details of her dream, reached for her phone in her bag but to her surprise
it was not there. A sign that her dream may be a revelation of what may happen
if she continued the journey with the people in the car.
“Pack the car here”, she suddenly shouted at
the driver. The other passengers turned to stare at her but her face remained
expressionless.
Maya: “I said park the car here, I want to ease
myself”. She lied.
Driver: “I no fit park here o, this place na
armed robbers and kidnappers den, anybody wey park for here, dem go attack the
person”. He answered without slowing down or looking at her.
Maya looked up at him through the rear mirror
and she thought she saw his mouth twitch; the same way she had seen the mouth
of the driver twitch in the dream. When she locked eyes with him at the rear
mirror, she saw him look quickly down. Her heart began to beat faster, she knew
better than to take her dreams for granted, several times, she had ignored her
dreams to her peril. She thought of jumping out of the car but it was an
impossible mission considering the fact that she was sitting in between two
people. She saw the notification of a military check point some few kilometers
away and she knew that that was her chance to get out of the one chance vehicle
she found herself in. As soon as they approached, she brought out her hand from
the car and began to wave. The soldier man cocked his gun and ordered the driver
to stop. Maya immediately got down from the car.
Maya: “Officer, please tell the driver to open
his booth let me carry my box”.
Officer: “Why? Is there a problem?”
Maya: “I just don’t want to follow them again.
The car is not well ventilated; I was almost choking in there”. she lied again.
The officer ordered the driver to open the
booth and he complied immediately. He cast Maya a hateful glance when she
carried her bag and she knew that she would have been in big trouble of she had
not gotten out of the car.
She entered another car and in about an hour,
she arrived Abuja. She was stranded, her parents had told her that they had
relocated from the house they were living in when she went to London, she
didn’t bother to get the address of the new house because she was sure that her
father would come and pick her and take her home. She thought of calling to
inform them that she was in Zuba park but she remembered that her phone had
been stolen. She spoke to a good Samaritan in the park who allowed her use his phone
and she called her father.
Maya: “Hello, dad, I am stranded in Zuba, I
cannot call you, my phone was stolen, how do I locate my way home from here?”
Mr Lanre: “Maya! Goodness where have you been?
You got us all worried”.
“Is that my daughter? Is that my twinnie?” Mrs
Lanre and Naya chorused simultaneously. “She is the one”, he answered and put
on his phone on loudspeaker. “Maya, tell us exactly where you are standing and
what you are wearing, we will come and pick you from there”.
Maya: “Okay dad. I am in a poka dot black and
white jumpsuit, I have a Versace Burberry bag in my hand and a size 3 ash
colored Gucci box. I am standing at the front of one Clean Oil fuel station
beside the Zuba garage”.
Mr Lanre: “Okay, just stay where you are, we
will come pick you”.
While they were talking, someone in the car
sent a text from a phone to some guys. “She is wearing a poka dot black and
white jumpsuit, with a Versace Burberry bag in her hand and a size 3 ash
colored Gucci box. She is standing at the front of one Clean Oil fuel station
beside the Zuba garage. Go there and abduct her now, remember you have to be
fast before we get there”. The person sent the text and smiled.
Question: “Who in the car could have sent the
text? Does he or she mean well for Maya?
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