Tears kept dropping down my eyes as I watched grandma's fragile hand on my cheek as she kept feeling them. She was old and it was agonizing to see her weak.
I had gotten a call from my Mum that granny collapsed and had been rushed to the hospital. And when she woke up, she sent for me.
"You've grown so well, Tosin."
"Granny!" I sobbed.
"I missed you."
"I did too. I missed your absence in Lagos. I'm sorry if I didn't come to check on you when you came back to Lagos."
"It's alright, you have your own life to live."
"But it's not an excuse not to have come to check on you." Granny smiled and agreed with me. God, I should have visited her in Ibadan!
"I'm sorry about your loss."
"Your dad, my son." She shook her head and touched my hands.
I could see her eyes moistened with sadness. I made her sad, losing her son was probably the cause of her collapsing because granny had always been careful whilst walking.
I wiped the running tears and hugged her. I killed her son, so I knew I wasn't worthy of her hug. Would she have allowed me if she had known? Of course not.
Hugging her despite the fact that I knew I didn't deserve it, helped me to reduce how I was feeling. The guilt was much and the pain scared me. I was ashamed of myself and my existence. I have killed myself over and over and hated myself a thousand times whenever I stared at her or my siblings. I felt their pain was my cause, which was the truth.
My Mum was a widow.
Loveline was a widow.
My siblings were fatherless.
Jonathan hadn't even enjoyed enough of his father's company.
Granny's son died before her.
Jesus, every parent was their child to bury them, not the other way round.
I'm sorry, grandma, I really am.
If I could turn back the hands of time to prevent this pain you are feeling, I would. I would gladly do that because the guilt in me is heavier than I thought.
What have I signed in for?
"Who is that good-looking man, Tosin?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw Jeremy. I sighed as it hit me that I had completely forgotten about him. "Oh, granny, that's Jeremy Jude. My boyfriend."
"Oh, come closer, boy," granny stretched out her hands and I could see the veins clearly.
"Hello, granny." Jeremy smiled.
"Come give me a hug."
I shifted from where I was to create space for Jeremy to hug her.
Immediately after I had entered the room, I forgot everything else but granny that I forgot to introduce Jeremy to her. While they were both in the discussion, I decided to look around.
The room she was in was all white and there was no one she was sharing it with. As Jeremy and granny laughed over something, I focused on them. I had been sitting there without hearing their discussion.
"I'm glad I met you, Jeremy. Tosin, keep this young man here, okay?"
"Well, yeah."
"I have to go now. I have work I have to attend to. I'm sorry I'm not staying here long," Jeremy said and gave granny and me a kiss before he left.
"Such a nice young man. What of Bisola and Toyin?"
"They are fine. They didn't know I was coming here. I was at Jeremy's house when I got Mum's call. And I'm sorry I had to move Mum out of the house."
Granny took a while to answer me. "No..." She coughed. "It's fine."
Little by little, Granny began to cough and I touched her wrinkled face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." Her cough worsened as the monitor by her bedside began to make an alarming noise.
"Granny?" Her breathing became unusual and I looked at the monitor to detect what was wrong but I couldn't understand it. I had only seen in movies that when the monitor sounded that way, it was either one was dying or something crucial had to be checked immediately.
"Doctor?" I screamed at the top of my lungs, trying to get someone's attention. I screamed her name and a nurse and doctor came rushing in.
"She just started coughing!"
"What happened?" I heard my Mum's voice and I quickly embraced her.
"We were just talking and she started coughing. I'm scared. What are you doing here?"
"Gideon brought me in his car..."
"I'm sorry to announce this, but she is dead," the doctor said as the nurse wrote something on her pad. It was her time of death, I presumed.
"What?" I went to the bed, touching granny's face. "Granny?" I looked at the monitor and saw a straight line that said she was dead.
"Oh my God," Mum muttered as tears began to leave her eyes. "Call Sarah."
"No, I can't! You do it!" I replied with anger as the nurse covered her up and left with the doctor.
"Fine," Mum said and put a call to aunt Sarah.
My phone beeped in my pocket and I removed it to check who it was, and I saw a message from Toyin. I could sense the urgency in the message. It was about Joe! Shit! Now what?
"Mum? I have to go somewhere important, I will be back before you know it."
"Now, don't you leave me alone in this! What is so important than leaving your dead granny here?"
"This is concerning my job. I will be back before you know it."
"Well, tell your boss to give you a break or so. Granny tried so much for me. I'm happy she got to be my mother-in-law. This is one thing that is so important about getting married. The type of family you are getting married into. I thought she was going to be mean or just wouldn't like me. I dreaded such reproach even before I met her. And she surprised me. She was warm and sweet... I couldn't even believe she was going to be on my side when she was living with us." I didn't know why Mum was saying all these but I knew she needed me by her side.
I walked up to Mum who was sitting on the bed and embraced her. "She was sweet to me too, always told me to do the right thing, and was always supportive and caring. I'm going to miss her too."
"I think Ola's death hit her hard."
"Yeah..." I instantly felt like a murderer. I didn't deserve to be here now. Mum was right, losing her son took a toll on her. "I have to go, Mum." I quickly kissed her and left.
Outside, I saw Gideon in his car and I quickly told him that my Mum needed him at the moment. If I wasn't going to be with her now, at least, she needed someone she could trust and lean on.
___________________
By the time I got to the mansion, the discussion had taken place and in front of us were two people blindfolded.
"Remove the blindfolds," Henry said and Sukanmi obeyed.
Sukanmi tapped Emmanuel on his face after he removed his blindfold before removing the other person's own who I guessed was his sister.
"Let me go!" Emmanuel screamed.
"Emma?" the girl called to confirm.
Emma took a look at his other side and saw it was his sister. "Jesus! What did you do?"
"Nothing." She wept.
Emmanuel swore. "If any of you touches my sister, I promise you I will kill you all."
"You are tied to a chair, you can't do anything to us. You won't have the time for that," Toyin said.
"Who are you people with masks? Do I know you?" Emma asked.
"Do you know Mustapha Tafida?"
"No. Why?"
"Liar… Anyway, I ordered for his death."
"What did he do?"
"He collaborated with the death of a man called Joe."
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Joe?" Emma's sister spoke.
"Shut up, Ellen," Emma warned sternly.
"What group are you from?" Henry asked.
"What group? What are you talking about?"
"Okay, Henry, let's stop this question and answer thing and tell him what we know," Jasper said.
"Alright." Henry went into details about who Emmanuel worked for, how his group was no longer functioning, who Joe was to him and why he killed Joe for his sister.
Emmanuel chuckled with his arms crossed. "Fine, I will admit it all, but never the part you said I accused an innocent man. He raped my sister."
"He was your best friend," Bisola said.
"Best friends don't rape their friend's sibling. He could have said he liked her or just accept the rejection with no complication. It was his fault he died."
"You two wanted to talk it over at the hotel," Jasper said.
"He was dumb enough to think I was going to talk anything out. He knew I didn't and still doesn't mess around with my sister."
"You are dating his girlfriend," Toyin said.
"What? I thought you said you were friends," Ellen shouted.
"Joe's ex-girlfriend. Besides, I wasn't dating her like that, we were just keeping each other's company, Ellen."
"Keeping each other's company?" Bisola asked.
"Yeah, you hear me, lady in a mask. You know she is a gangster too. Joe told me she thought I didn't know. Dumbass. She even invited me to a party one time to catch up on things between us, little does she know that I knew it was her party. Her gangs' party."
Ellen tsked thrice in anger. "Stop talking, Emma! Who are you people?" Ellen screamed. "Why am I here for no reason?"
"All these kidnapping and questions, I will take it this is a group Joe was in. The Scorpion Group. Bravado. I thought you amateurs had forgotten about it long ago when you couldn't bring up the cause. Bisola too should be here."
"Bisola is a gangster? I hate her!" Ellen said with hatred.
"I know, sister, her ex-boyfriend raped you."
"No, she stole Joe away from me," Ellen said and quickly widened her eyes.
Oh no, she hadn't meant to say that. Why would something slip from her mouth?
"What did you say?" Bisola was on her feet. She walked towards Ellen and asked again.
"Nothing."
Bisola grabbed Ellen's hair so tightly that Ellen struggled to remove Bisola's hand from her hair. "How did I steal him from you?"
"You?"
"You must be Bisola," Emmanuel said.
"Emmanuel, you got it right. We are trying to prove Joe didn't do it," Henry said.
"Aww, I see," Ellen smiled.
I didn't understand why the siblings were too confident in this situation but it disgusted me.
Bisola removed the mask with the other hand and asked, "Did Joe rape you?"
"Yes... Of course. He liked me and wanted me more than you."
"We'll see about that. So this diary," Bisola said and Charles passed it to her, "you remember it?"
"Yes, the nice dairy I gave him."
"Sadly, he didn't write anything nice about you." Bisola looked around us. "One of the cleaners found this dairy in between his clothes and she came to give it to me. And I saw what he had written about you Ellen," she pointed at her. "You tried to seduce him and he told you he was with me. You got mad and I guess your resentment for me abounded that day. You wanted more from him. More than the friendship between you two."
"You ruined it. It was just the three of us before he met you."
"What are you saying, Ellen?" Emmanuel frowned.
"She lied to you," Henry said.
"You stay out of it, Henry."
"I can do anything I want. You are in my house and I can kill you right away." Henry pointed a gun at him.
Bisola took the gun from Henry and pointed it at Ellen. "Speak up or a bullet goes through your head now." The determination in Bisola's voice was serious and I knew she meant what she said. She could care less now.
"Ellen speak up!"
"Oh, shut up, Emma! You could have asked her out earlier than Joe did when we saw her at the ice cream shop. I don't get why you two liked her at first sight, but Joe was smarter than you were, then boom, I already lost him to her."
"You loved Joe?" Emma was shocked.
"Of course! I was in love with him, you moron. Didn't you know? Why do you think I used to always hang out with the two of you?"
"You were jealous." Bisola frowned.
"You were in the way."
Bisola pointed the gun at her head. "Did he rape you?"
"Why? Didn't that diary say something like that?"
"Shut up, Ellen, did he?" Bisola pressed on.
Ellen gazed at us all without saying a word.
"Ellen!" Emma yelled.
"What is the point? Joe didn't rape me."
Bisola sighed in relief as we all murmured among ourselves.
"Silence, everyone!" Jasper commanded.
"What did you make me do, Ellen?" Emma began to sob. "He was my best friend."
"You poisoned and killed him yourself."
"You made me!"
"I didn't ask you to. I only wanted you two to fight or hate each other for a while and end it. But you took it seriously like you always did with your temper."
"I hate you," Emma bowed.
"I know you love me. Listen, Bisola," she touched Bisola's hand, "I couldn't continue to see you two together because it irritated and disgusted me. If I couldn't have him, so can't you. I still love him, but living without him is useless. You must have thought he really did it, right? You must have hated him." Ellen laughed and I thought she was weird. She didn't love Joe, she was obsessed with him. "I can't wait to go and see him wherever he is if that's possible. I love you brother." Ellen said and became sober that tears scrolled down her face
Out of the blue, she pressed the trigger in Bisola's hand and boomed, a bullet went straight into her redhead.
Ellen's body slumped down on the floor with the chair she was tied to and blood began to ooze out of her head.
"You killed her," Emma cried.
"She killed herself," Bisola said and picked the gun that prevented Emma from speaking further.
"You killed him and used me."
"I didn't mean to." Emma looked like he was seeking mercy.
"I don't want to hear your crap. Go and join your sister! This is for Joe." Bisola shot the gun at Emma twice and then kicked him.
Emmanuel fell face down on the floor as Bisola slumped down, crying.
As I watched her cry, I sat there crying as well. I didn't know why, but I just cried. I guessed this whole thing was too much and heavy. I glanced around and saw Henry staring at me, probably wondering why I was crying too.
Well, I guessed it was time I took a beak.