55 The shallow grave

"Alright, continue what happened next?"

"Three nights ago, when she had traveled, I went into the hut. There was no money but disappointingly, I saw a strange looking bird locked up in a cage. I wondered why Ego would have a bird heavily secured. I knew it must be of great importance to her, maybe it is what is producing the money. I unlocked the cage and caught the bird; then something strange happened. As soon as I touched it, it was no more; like it disappeared".

"How come there was another bird?"

"Knowing the aftermath of what I have done, the next morning I went out with a large amount of money to market going about from one magician to another promising a handsome reward to whomever that would replicate the bird. Of course, I met someone who did it for me after I presented a detailed description of the missing one. I brought it back and kept it back in the cage.

"Why would you want more? You already have what anybody would pray for" Okemmiri asked confused as to why this young man who had everything life could offer would want more money.

"Because I was no longer sure how much time I had left to remain here" he replied.

Confused further he asked, "You wanted to leave?"

He nodded before responding "Yes".

"Why?"

"Not long ago, I overheard Oluchukwu and Chinasa discussing Ego's dead husband and the mysteries surrounding his death. Curiosity got a hold of me; I asked questions to find out more about this young man. I previously did not know how he died and never asked Ego as it was not my concern. It was all interesting till they told me his name; at the mention of his name I became scared of what Ego would do to me when she finds out". He said and kept quiet.

"Find out what?" the dibia yelled.

"I am going to tell you everything right from the very beginning".

"Go ahead!" he ordered.

"After my banishment for the wrong accusation of murdering of my parents; I went about in search of a place where I will fit in or at least where the news of my parent's death has not gotten. To my greatest surprise, I found none, I decided to stay in the evil forest.

On the first day of my arrival in the forest, I was captured by a gang of four rejects just like myself; banished and some even branded Osu. These young men had waged a war against the world for rejecting them; stealing, robbing and committing all manner of atrocities. They tied me up after promising to sell me into slavery for a fair price.

I pleaded, told them I was willing to join them and would be more useful that way. All my pleadings fell on deaf ears; they never saw reasons with me; that money they would make from selling me was of greater importance to them. The next day, they went out for an operation leaving me behind still tied up. I had begun losing hope, no trick or deception has worked for these hardened criminals. I was now left with no other option than to pray to my forefather for assistance, and for the first time in my life, they answered my prayers. I wasn't done praying when I had a male voice asking "Who is that?" I quickly responded with my name telling him that I have been captured by some slave traders.

The young man while setting me free after a long chat of how I got here said "the men that captured you must be the ones that have those loots buried in a shallow grave not far from here". I told him "I don't know but would love to assist him in carrying them". He responded saying "That was the reason he has set me free". We got the shallow grave and I saw for myself the huge loots my captures have been storing.

He bent down while taking out the loots one after the other he said "We are going to take this to the Igwe and return here with more men to capture these outlaws". I was shocked at the honesty and loyalty of this young man but I knew that would only make things worse for me. I was already an outcast and returning these loots wouldn't change anything for me; rather I would be hunted by these criminals to the end of the world. Right away I made up my mind to prove my loyalty to those that would accept me for who I was now.

"Why don't you grab that gun," I told him, the innocent man went for it while I grabbed his own gun he had kept on the ground and struck him with it at his neck from behind. That was supposed to make him unconscious while I tied him up and wait for the gang to return. Unfortunately, he fell down and became motionless; I touched to discover he was lifeless.

With that I secured my place in the gang, gaining their trust. Together we carried him and placed him under an Iroko tree far from where our loots were. The gang leader knew him and told us he was Nnanna, the wrestling champion of Umudibia. For some reason that name stuck like a stain I could not wash off my heart…" he did not complete the sentence when a dirty slap landed on his face; this was followed with a scream as she fell down weeping "He killed him! He killed Obim! He is the one oh! He killed Nnanna!"

Ignoring the wailing of Ego, Okimmiri continued "Where are your gang members now?"

"They are no more, I dissolved it," he said with a wicked smile on his lips.

"What did you do?" Okemmiri questioned.

"After that event, my place in the ring was solidified. I began going out on operations with them; everything was good for a long time till it went sour. On that particular day, we were having conservation after a successful operation about other similar operations. From the conservation, I got to know that these were the men my uncle hired to assassinate my parents. They said it was their best because it was easy and paid them with an added bonus for a clean job".

He continued now with his voice laced with sentiments "They didn't even know the names of my parents talk more of knowing they had a son. They simply ambushed and murdered a target based on the information provided. My beloved parents were ordinary targets for them. From that very day I began plotting how to carry out my personal vendetta; not minding they were the ones that took me in when the whole world rejected me. They had to pay, and when I was through with them, my uncle would be next.