MERCY- PART ONE

MERCY

PART ONE

The time on the alarm clock on her bedside table was 2:41am. She was finally getting some sleep after two sleeping pills, half a glass of milk and a nightmare, this had steadily become the new normal for her for the past week now. Insomnia, bad dreams, sometimes sleep paralysis, they had all found a way back into her life for the umpteenth time since Ness. Mercy always said to herself that she wasn’t at fault but somehow the guilt still found a way to eat her up whenever it pleased.

Most nights were restless for mercy, it definitely wasn’t every night but unfortunately this was one of ‘those’ nights, 2:04am was steadily a new record for her, the earliest she had gone to bed this week, “at least the sleeping pills seemed to be working now”, or so she thought. 2 nights ago, mercy was finding it impossible to shut her eyes for up to five minutes straight, she was on her second pill already but the nightmares didn’t stop and neither did the insomnia. The moments she closed her eyes, all she saw was her flaws, her past sins and of course Ness. So, a helpless and desperate mercy took out a bottle of vodka she had stashed away behind her bed and started to pour the whole bottle down her throat. She just wanted to sleep and she didn’t seem to care at that moment if she never woke up from that sleep. Unfortunately for her, she woke up the next morning. In the emergency room of course.

Laying in her bed, her room was dark as the night was, the only glimpse of light seemed to be coming from the socket on her bedside wall charging her phone. The air-conditioner in her room was on, and the room was cold as ever but still she had started to sweat a lot, turning and turning aggressively on the bed, with her duvet almost completely on the ground. It seemed like she was stuck in another nightmare and she couldn’t seem to get back into reality just yet.

In her dreams she saw flashbacks of her and Goodness as kids playing with their father, the sun Is shining and they are at a park, running round with kites in their hands as their father chases them round the park, they have a blanket with fruits, snacks and drinks laid out on it, and 2 baskets with more food and toys, seems like the perfect picnic. All of a sudden, the sky changes and now it’s dark outside, like it’s about to rain, lightening in the sky with thunder striking not so far mercy and Goodness run to their father in fear but the closer they get to him, the dimmer he gets till finally they both get to the spot he’s standing but he’s nowhere to be found. Standing at the spot their father used to be, mercy and ness both cry out for their father at the top of their voices with tears running down their faces. Now mercy seemed to be in a different dream, she now saw flashbacks of the night she was raped as a teenager by her father’s best friend, Uncle Mike. Dad had to work late as usual so he left mercy and a sick ness with his friend mike. Mike wanted to rape both girls but mercy took the pain twice, her sister was terribly ill and as young as she was, she was ready to make sure she didn’t lose her best friend, so she took the pain for both of them.

Mercy was still turning in bed but now she wasn’t turning as much as she was a while back while still stuck in her nightmares, now tears were running down her face, her bed sheet socked in sweat, she was in so much pain in her dreams and in reality, too. Back in her dream, mercy is now having flash backs of the night ness died, the memories of how she finds her sister dead in her own apartment with foam coming out of her mouth hunts her and the guilt that consumes her feels so fresh to her, “Ness, Ness, please Goodness I’m sorry, please don’t do this” Mercy screams at her sister’s lifeless body. Again, her mind took her back to her sister’s funeral, she’s at the funeral, with not another soul in sight, it was just her and Ness as usual, and in the rain, dressed in all black sweats, more than her own tears the rain drenched her. She picks up a handful of dirt from the floor and sprinkles it on Ness’s grave, “she should be grateful I came” Mercy thought to herself before she turned to leave.

Slowly she opened her eyes with tears dried up in them, she didn’t seem startled when she opened them, turning gently on the bed she used her hands to wipe her lazy eyes, and the bags under them seemed part of her now. Mercy was used to the nightmares she had in her sleep by now, she had grown a tough skin in living with them, the only thing she really feared was waking up from that nightmare into another called reality.

Mercy sat up from her bed for a while, she sat there with her back resting against the wall just looking, it was like she was lost in a trance, like she was lost in nothingness. It was the same old routine she was in, the same old nightmares, and emptiness, and deep down, her soul had become accustomed to it, she was now comfortable in her discomfort. She was just merely existing. Everything that happened with Ness sent Mercy down a dark-trance like road, nothing really meant anything to her, nothing excited her, or made her sad too, it was like her soul was locked up and she didn’t bother look for the key. And she had convinced herself that she didn’t need the key anymore.

‘Knock, knock’, someone knocked on her door before opening it slowly. “Good morning, dear”, a pretty, light-skinned lady said in a low voice, almost in a whisper.

“Enter with your change, enter with your change, first under bridge”, the voices of different bus conductors shouting for people to board their bus filled the air, the roads were filled with them all, yellow and black danfo bus with each conductor running after people and screaming at the top of their voices in other to get their buses full on time. It was a busy day in Victoria Island Lagos, so a normal day, people went about minding the business that pays them, hawkers trying to run after buses to sell their frozen drinks and snacks with sweat running down their faces, some sat down at the edge waiting for someone to patronize them, “come and buy your gala o fresh gala”, they were saying as people passed them. Everyone was going somewhere, little kinds in there checked blue and green uniforms held each other as the crossed the busy roads on their way to school, some stopped at little shops to buy a few snacks for school, market women opening business for the day, with workers sweeping the front of their shops getting ready for the day’s work. It was a Lagos morning, everyone had something doing, had a destination even mercy. She clutched her hand bag firmly to her side has she walked, the noise of everything going on around her didn’t seem to bother her at all, with her head held high and eyes focused, it didn’t even seem to bother her that she was walking in six-inches high heels on the streets of Lagos, she wasn’t even that dressed up, she simply wore a navy-blue pantsuit but her confidence struck out, she was absorbed in her and her alone, nothing going on around her really mattered at the moment.

2 months had passed now, and already it seemed like the shadow of her demons were becoming more distant to her, she was on a new path, or she was simply just trying to survive, either way it was obvious time had help her leave some demons behind and face new ones.

Mercy walks into a 3-story office outlet building, its reception was busy, people in suits littered the place, but one wouldn’t hear more than the sound from people’s feet as they walked by, she made her way to the receptionist who after speaking to her in not the nicest way, finally directed her to an office on the ground floor. As soon as she got in, she saw a door labelled MPO, according to the lady at the reception that was where her interview would take place. As she waited in the interview room, she looked around reading the posters on the walls, reading them word for word but almost soonest she didn’t seem to be able to concentrate on them anymore, her hands start to sweat after a few minutes and she starts rubbing her palms repeatedly on her legs while slightly fidgeting her left leg. A few minutes later the interviewer entered the room, it was obvious he was a middle age man in his early 40’s, he wore a white office shirt tucked into black trousers, showing off that he had a bit of a pot belly, but he still had a very solid posture despite the belly. And the interviewer quickly notices Mercy was nervous as soon as he sat on his sit opposite her. “Don’t be nervous” the man says with a mild smile “Thank you, sir” mercy replies smiling back. She seemed to be less tensed now as the man goes through her file, she’s trying to read the expression on his face to see what he thought of her, following his eyes as it traced through her CV, but he didn’t seem too impressed with her profile from what she could tell, and honestly, there wasn’t really much to be impressed with on it.

“Now mercy”, he says closing her file and placing it on the table, “I’m sorry but I don’t think I can give you this assistant role, you just have zero work experience in the field, you didn’t even finish school, I mean it says here that you’ve only worked petty jobs like being a waitress and sales girl. Our company is quite big and we have a lot of people more qualified that yourself applying for the assistant job, so I don’t think I can give you this job, but if we have anything for you, we’ll give you a call”.

“I understand sir, thank you sir”, mercy says with a smile while stretching out her hand to shake the man and quietly takes her leave.

Later that evening, Mercy finds herself in a bar with a desperate attempt to fill up her soul with alcohol, her suit is off and the first few buttons on her shirt is undone, she looks drained fitting in perfectly with the rest of the people in the bar. She’s not drunk yet, as she asks the bar man for another drink saying, “you better hope I can afford to pay you” with a pathetic laugh after.

All of a sudden, a scruffy looking man walked into the bar, he’s wearing a black tank top that was more than a little tight on him and showed his fully tatted arms, with brown cakey pants which were sagged way below his waist. He sat by the first table by the door, and quietly scanned the room, table by table, like he was in search of something or someone.

Suddenly, his search seemed to come to an end as soon as his wondering eyes stumbled on mercy sitting by the bar and without hesitation he rose from his sit and walked towards her, leaving her startled as she turned to see him standing behind her.

“Mercy mercy, remember me” he says with a devilish smirk. Mercy’s heart drops, the color in her face suddenly disappears. “How was this even possible?” She thought. Her eyes widen in shock, she looked like she had just seen a ghost, she tried to speak but the words just didn’t come out, it took a lot to leave mercy speechless and this was a lot. He just stood there for a few seconds enjoying her shock before finally pulling a stool next to her. “AY” mercy said with a stern look on her face as soon as he sat, the shock on her face seemed to have disappeared. “it’s been a while; you know since my brother got busted because of your lousy sister and you fled the country leaving him to face the heat alone” AY replied.

“What do you want AY” mercy says with a daring voice, it was obvious he wanted something now, he always wanted something. “A favor, or should I say a debt you owe my brother for letting him take all the fall for what happened in London”. He ran his right hand through her hair and immediately mercy slammed his wrist on the table, he was being too cocky and she was already out of patience. “What debt” mercy replies now looking disgusted. “Easy” he chuckled. “Just listen to me, you’re going to make one last heist for me here in Lagos, just to pay me back for getting my brother in trouble, oh and I’m not asking. You have 48 hours to think about it or I can sing like a bird to the police back in London, you know they would love to know my brother’s partner in crime. Everything you need to know is in here” he says sliding her an envelope, “no questions asked” he says getting up from the bar and taking a sip from her drink. As soon as he reaches the door he turns back to a clearly infuriated mercy and says, “oh mercy, I meant 24 hours”, he says as he walks out of the bar. Over by the other side of the bar, another man in a black face cap and polo shirt looks over at mercy, he looked a lot more decent than AY, he just sat there watching her trying to make sense of everything that had just happened then carefully stands up from his sit and takes his leave.

Mercy had spent the past few months running from her past, maybe she just didn’t run far enough.

Shoes in her right hand, and purse in the left, she stumbled as she walked on the unfriendly dark streets of Victoria Island, Lagos. Drunk but somehow still sober enough to feel her pain, to relive her past and feel the hurt again. Somehow at the turn of day to night, mercy was now living her shadowed past all over. She was now a few minutes from shola’s house, she thought about shola, about how she had dragged her into her mess like she did her sister and tears ran down her face, shola was all she had, she was the only person that told her she was there was her and meant it, shola would always say it was ok to get back up and move on, to be better, and now she was about to drag another good person down with her.

Suddenly mercy froze, not a sound not muscle she moved, she just stopped, the house was already in eye’s view but she couldn’t take another step. It was like everything dawned on her all at once, the past, the pain, the fear, the guilt, everything she had pushed away for months, the truth she ran from was now looking her right in the face. She felt a gripping pain in her chest, and her heart sink from her chest, there was nothing else hold her up, not the will to or her body so she slumped to the ground, with her heart broken into pieces she sobbed.

As she sat on the cold hard floor with tears rolling down her cheeks slowly, consumed by the pieces of herself and the realization that everything, everything she had tried to run away from was here to devour her, her phone rang. Shola mi showed on her phone screen, mercy paused for a few seconds staring at the phone buzzing in her hand, she was trying desperately to overcome the numbness she felt all over. So, she just sat there, not a sound she made or a muscle did she move. “They found me” she whispered into the air. Shola called, over and over, and by the time she called for the 11th time, mercy had summoned the littlest of strength she needed to move her hands to answer the phone.

“Mercy” shola said in a faint voice, her voice trembled as she spoke, faint as it was. Shola had a lot, husband, two little babies, a house, she had a lot to live for and on, but mercy was all shola had left, and they both knew this. Mercy needed shola, after everything happened shola was all that was left for her, and shola wanted mercy to need her, she wanted to be there for her, she needed her to need her. Now as she sat on the floor, through the tears in her eyes she told an anxious shola all that had happened that night, “I’m finished” mercy sobbed as she gave a now teary shola her location, luckily, she was just a few miles outside shola’s house.

Later that night about that time where only the sinners were awake, and at lot after shola had come to get mercy, taken her home, cleaned her up and wiped her tears, after they had talked about everything and tried to both make sense of it all, Mercy sits in the dark of her room and opens the envelope AY gave her with the torchlight of her phone, as she carefully unfolds the letter inside, she was sure that whatever what inside wasn’t an option, it was a commandment.

The letter read;

Actions have consequences and this is yours

Don’t step on the lion’s tail

Love, AY.

With 2 addresses below, one for pickup and one for drop off. The letter also came with a stop watch, she was to get the job done exactly 48 hours after she read the letter, and her time started immediately. The tears in her eyes were no longer there, she didn’t feel pity or pain for herself anymore, there was no empathy or guilt anymore, all that was left in her eyes was anger. She was no longer running from her demons; she had become one of them.