He got away

The van rolled into the clearing in the middle of the compound, the noise alerting the people inside.

Opening the door, Jidenna got down from the car, greeting the middle-aged man and the woman standing outside. "Daddy, good morning. Mommy, good morning."

To Jidenna's exhausted brain, the next actions happened in a blur. The moving men brought down the objects from the van one after the other, transporting them into the house under the guidance of his father, while his mother dragged him inside.

She fired question after question and complaint after complaint. Giving him a hard pat on the back, she grumbled, "Look at you, as big as you are, you don't know how to take care of your body, and you want to go abroad for your university."

She shook her head, sighing. "If you can't take care of yourself while you're still in your home country, then how do you want to take care of yourself in another person's country?"

She turned to her husband, who had taken over Jidenna's job.

"Look at your son. See how he's acting. With the way he's behaving, how sure are you that he'll survive over there? You're not even concerned about your son."

Turning back to him, she continued nagging, "And you—you're not eating. Is it when you get an ulcer that you'll start eating?"

Hearing her words, Jidenna did not realize when the words, "Mommy…" slipped out from his lips.

Snatching a small bag from his grasp, she walked towards the house, leaving Jidenna behind, and commented, "Don't mommy me. As my son—" she choked on her words.

Her steps paused, her eyes drooped down in sadness, dimming.

Jidenna, noticing something was wrong, walked up to her, his voice full of concern. "Mommy, are you okay?" Immediately, his fingers touched her shoulders, her mind snapped back.

She grumbled, desperately trying to mimic her usual attitude, "See how thin you are, like a broomstick. I'll cook some vegetable yam with dried fish for you."

She brushed off her jumbled emotions, sweeping them into the deepest part of her mind, locking them up.

But she couldn't lock up the tears that brimmed in her eyes. Jidenna couldn't see them and was fooled by her, but her husband, who had been with her for more than 20 years, wasn't.

After dropping that statement, she stormed off into the kitchen, swearing her dishes would make Jidenna's concave belly become convex.

Believing all was well, Jidenna walked along the path to the house, the corners of his lips lifting into a smile. The hot sun suddenly felt perfect, and a cool breeze blew, rustling the flowers planted by the sides of the path.

As Jidenna walked, the tension from the last week seemed to seep out from his pores. His anxious mind became still, his tensed shoulders relaxed.

As the realization of the crazy things he had done sunk in, and at the same time the most unbelievable thing—he got away with it.

He patted his chest and declared, "I have revenged you."

Once he said that, Jidenna wasn't sure if it was in his mind, but he suddenly felt lighter, like an unknown burden on his shoulders had been lifted.

Looking forward past the house and into the horizon, Jidenna had a feeling—he couldn't quite describe it, but he just knew that he was ready.

Formerly, he had been feeling unsure about a lot of things. The way seemed blurred and foggy, but not anymore.

Though it still wasn't completely clear, Jidenna knew. He just knew that he was ready for the next phase of his life.

'Growl'

His stomach let out a growl, disrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to the present.

He touched his stomach. "Well, plans for tomorrow can wait. It's only a living man that can enter tomorrow. I'll need to get you fed." Jidenna entered the house with expectations. The room was filled with the fragrance of food.

It didn't only touch his stomach but also his heart, warming it up.

At that moment, Jidenna promised himself inwardly, "I'll always protect this."

Some time later, Jidenna walked towards his room, with a bulging belly, massaging his waist. He could feel the effects of sitting in a van for 10 hours straight.

He let out another groan, feeling a stiff joint make a satisfying snap.

"I need a hot shower."

After a satisfying shower that washed away not only the dirt and grime but also his fatigue, Jidenna jumped into his bed. The bed sunk, accommodating his weight.

"Traveling under such horrid environments makes me appreciate this more."

The distant ticking of a clock was the only thing that accompanied him in his room. Alone, he allowed his thoughts to drift freely once more, remembering the announcement he saw at the filling station.

"I can't believe he's dead." Up till now, Jidenna's mind couldn't wrap around it.

"Before I could deal with him, he just died, just like that." He wondered in disbelief.

"A two-story building was destroyed just like that, but I wonder what was the cause—an impact so strong that it could shatter the windows of buildings four streets away."

"It must be something extraordinary," Jidenna's eyes narrowed, his hands behind his head, looking up at the white-painted ceiling.

He sighed, shifted to his side, boredom welling up in his heart. "Apart from the blast, there hasn't been anything interesting going on."

Gazing outside the window, Jidenna wondered, "How will the university be like?"

He had tried checking online about the university but came up empty except for miscellaneous stuff like how great the school is by blogs, awards won, professors, research papers, and so on, but nothing he could use to gauge how the campus environment was like.

These thoughts kept rotating through Jidenna's mind until he drifted off to sleep.

Golden blood dripped down from an elevated platform. Pooling at the bottom of the stone like platform it flowed into carvings engraved on the floor.

On it, a towering man, with his limbs tied, struggled.