Narrator’s Name: Still Unknown.
XIX. The Identity of R; Safiyya’s Words
Hint/Confession: I enter people’s thoughts to put essence in words. To pour truth into feelings. To pour words in a word.
Umar lay on the floor, his eyes fixed to the ceiling. Sleep didn’t come. Just thoughts and plans and Umar was tucked in between them.
Here are the things I know, Umar thought, whoever is sending me these messages knows me a lot or has put me on his or her radar for a long time. And in that long time, he or she has put me under the microscope enough to know about the gun and where I had been in those ten months I was away.
To know ‘the who’ I must see ‘the why’ of it first.
So, theory one: R is someone I don’t know and apparently, has plenty of time to devote this much effort on me like a writer doodling the fate of his character. Therefore, to take control of my life I’d have to be the writer and not the written – an idea, or a thought that will most likely end when the writer’s audience close the book of my story or when the writer gets bored and decide to quit or write me off. But that’s still not ‘the why’ of it.
Still on theory one: R is constructing a reality he or she expects of me or wants from me. R is dictating my story until R kills me or I put R out of his or her misery by dictating it myself. But that’ll be taking it too far even for a crazy person like R (and stating this almost feels like I know what R can or can’t do and that’s just weird). And I don’t see an endgame. Apart from R passionately messing with my life, there’s no endgame.
So theory two: R might be one of Abba’s, or grandfather’s or Saleem’s enemies, or even mine. But I don’t think I have enemies; I’m too passive, too quiet, and frankly too insignificant to have enemies. So it’s most likely Abba’s, grandfather’s, or Saleem’s enemy. And R thinks I’m an easy target – which is also true, but that’s changing.
The ‘why of it’ is enmity and revenge. But that doesn’t make sense. And that doesn’t explain why such a person would want me to find Safiyya’s words scribbled in some book. Unless, maybe, her words would bring harm to these three people. If that’s the case her words – Safiyya’s words – are, without a doubt, the most dangerous thing on earth, since they have the power to bring harm to the three greatest men I know.
Three: the car accident that killed Safiyya was planned. And Safiyya was intentionally killed because of something she might have stumbled upon about the person behind all this. And Abba was framed for the murder of the drunkard who killed her in the supposed car accident. And Abba beating the hell out of the drunkard in public for hitting his daughter was simply bad luck that R used in his or her favor. Because R thought that the only person that’d stand as a threat after her death would be Abba. R is an enemy of Safiyya and is probably still looking for what Safiyya has on him or her. That’s why R wants me to find her words because he can’t and he thinks I can.
Or theory four: R is, indeed, someone I know. The top five candidates are Jameel, Saleem, Abubakar, Adam, and Safiyya. In that order, but I think Safiyya should come first.
I know you might think Umar crazy for listing his dead sister as part of the suspects but hear him out. Follow his train of thoughts and try not to get lost.
Safiyya is dead – that’s a given. And the ten months was an affair that happened after she died; not before. But she’s the only one who knows about the gun. She’s the only one I told about the gun. And the words I have to find are hers.
Maybe I should tell you why Umar thought that Safiyya is R.
After Safiyya’s car accident, she was in a coma for almost a week before she gave up the ghost. And in that week, Abba tracked and found the man behind the hit and run. Abba beat the man to a pulp and in public – with witnesses. Abba brought out his gun and pointed it at the man but he didn’t shoot him. He wanted to but he didn’t. Two days later, the man died – he was shot in the head. That same day, Abba was arrested as the prime suspect. When Umar saw them taking his father away, he searched for his father’s gun and hid it in Safiyya’s car.
When Umma, Saleem, and Umar visited Abba in jail he told them, “I’m glad he is dead. And I’m not lying when I said I didn’t kill him. Only weaklings lie. But I’m glad he is dead.” He was wrongly accused because he was seen by at least a dozen witnesses threatening to kill the drunkard after beating him up.
How does Safiyya know about the gun? Umar was alone with Safiyya while she was still in a coma when he came to her ears and whispered what he did with the gun.
But how can dead Safiyya do all that – send threatening messages, and almost kill her brother on that Friday night almost a year after her death?
Safiyya was the smartest person I know. And this whole affair is about her. Her words. Like it’s some holy scripture and I must find it to be redeemed. Safiyya was amazing and when she wanted something she got it – and she always did. That’s just how she was. What Saleem said about her not being perfect is perfectly true. True, I love her for it. I love her outspokenness (mental note: this was one of the singular things grandfather loved about her too and why she was his favorite even though he didn’t show it much. I pray he gets better). She was nice, kind, smart, and brutally outspoken. I remember the last thing she said to me was ‘I love you even though you’re a scaredy cat’. She hugged me, entered her car, and then said it inside the car that led to her end.
Now the ‘why’ and ‘the how of it’.
Maybe she wanted to give me a wake-up call. Maybe she had used one of the many resources of the Delivery System to make sure those messages were sent to me. After all, she had a network of people she knew who were ever ready to carry out her biddings. Probably even willing to kill just to make sure I get the message. Maybe she even made her best friend, Sarah, do her bidding and that’s one of the reasons Sarah left Nigeria for Saudi. All these are both possible and probable. But I don’t think this is it.
The most probable person capable of this after Safiyya is Jameel. He’s assured me he’s not the one but if there’s anyone who was truly capable of this, it’s Jameel. He has the time, the wit, the means, and truth be told he is very carefree and a little too dangerous sometimes. He fits some or all of the criteria of theory one. He also has access to the Delivery System (mental note: he used it when you wanted to see Abba in prison and he still refuses to tell you how he knew about it). But he wouldn’t need the Delivery System to carry out his bidding; he’s more than able to that himself. But the why of it is not really clear except if you factor in theory one’s criterion: he’s doing it for the fun of it.
Then Saleem. What made Safiyya a suspect basically also applies to Saleem. Safiyya and Saleem are very similar. Another reason could be that the book he’s currently working on is about me and so he’s dictating the challenges I’d have to face just so his book would sell. That’s too cruel but it’s a possibility.
Then Abubakar. It’s unlikely that Abubakar is behind this. He’s too kind and a little like me – passive even though he always speaks his mind. He is the most religious person I know. And between the family business, his family, and his students, Abubakar is too busy to be the man behind this. But people who appeared innocent usually turn out to be the guilty ones. If he’s not the one behind it then he is probably an accomplice especially if it’s Jameel that’s behind this. Abubakar is a man of principles but I don’t think he can help it when it comes to Jameel. As objective as I’m being with my theories, I do not think it’s Abubakar.
Then Adam. Most of the reasons I think it is Abubakar also applies to Adam. And Adam comes from a poor family and wants to be well off, and so wouldn’t have time for such things. But I haven’t seen Adam for more than a year. People can change a great deal in just a year. Even a humble person like Adam can change in ways I can’t imagine.
Excluding Safiyya, the only way the rest of the four suspects would have found out about the gun would be that they stumbled upon the gun since they frequented the house; apart from Adam though. I haven’t seen Adam since my return. But I don’t know if he ever visited the house in the ten months I was away.
Umar replayed the crime scene of that awful Friday night in his head but he couldn’t draw any inference he liked. He called the king for the seventh time that night and this time the king picked up. Umar asked him about the book Safiyya gave to him and whether he still has it. The king told Umar he could never part with it. Umar found that information a little bit unsettling given that the king was married but I guess, first love has a way of staying in someone’s heart. It was unsettling but Umar was happy. Finally, some progress.
“There have been a lot of changes here in Dihaara. Have you not been watching the news?” King Abdullah said. “The Concentric has been scrapped. They are no longer guarding the palace and whoever is responsible for the rapid changes happening around me has the new security personnel in his pockets. Things have been missing around me, Umar. And for some bizarre reason, that book, Sign Your Death Warrant, is one of the things missing. But I do know her words by heart.”
Umar wondered who would want to steal a book and whether it had something to do with the things happening to him. This hinted at theory two and three: either her words could destroy the three most powerful people he knows or Safiyya stumbled upon something she’s not supposed to. This is getting interesting, Umar thought.
“She wrote on both the front page and the back page. On the front page, she wrote um –she wrote this.
‘No. 98: ‘It’s now a huge a hole because the first person who saw it did nothing when it was just a crack. Fingers can be pointed. The simplest thing second to breathing is complaining. But the responsible thing to do is to do something about it.’
“and in the last page, she wrote,
‘No. 100: My last words are scattered closely in truth,”’ King Abdullah said. “Check your inbox. I just sent you her words.”
“Okay. But the last one, don’t you mean No. 99?” Umar said commenting on her words on the back page. “Shouldn’t it be No. 99 after No. 98 and not No. 100.”
“I thought it was a mistake too when first I saw it. So I called her and asked her about it. She said No. 99 is the book itself. Because 99 stands between 98 and 100. That’s why No. 99 – the content of the book – is sandwiched between her writings on the first page and the second page. Therefore, No. 99 is sign your death warrant.”
“I see. And what’s the book about?”
“Nothing much. It’s talking about change and that to bring about real change in oneself and around one’s environment, one must first sign one’s death warrant. One must be willing to give one’s all. And that to her is No. 99. I like to call these three… the three tenets of Safiyya.”
“Three tenets… what do you think they mean? These three tenets.”
“They have a universal meaning and a personal one –one that relates only to the person reading it. The universal meaning is very apparent. Take No. 98 for example: ‘It’s now a huge a hole because the first person who saw it did nothing when it was just a crack. Fingers can be pointed. The simplest thing second to breathing is complaining. But the responsible thing to do is to do something about it’ . It’s talking about the situation we have found ourselves in – of being in a backward nation and how things are deteriorating by the day.
“And the No. 100: My last words are scattered closely in truth. She was talking about being honest and being a person of action and how that could bring an end to you if you choose to stand for truth.
“And the last one. The one the book represents is to sign your death warrant. It’s my personal favorite and it’s what’s been helping me these days.”
“Deep,” Umar said letting the words gravitate with him as he internalized them as best as he could. “But I don’t understand why anyone would want to steal the book.”
“Even I would want to steal the book if it wasn’t mine. But that’ll be because it has sentimental value. Other than that it’s the last copy of my grandfather’s book, anybody who knew the heroes of our yesterday would want to get his or her hand on a copy. It’s actually one of the reasons it wasn’t mass produced. It details power in its purest form. It also noted places in Nigeria that contain hidden treasures. The hidden treasures some higher-ups in the government have their eyes on. So they create chaos directly or by proxy in order to steal those treasures while they keep people’s focus on the chaos; away from people thinking of the possibility of the existence of those treasures. This is already what’s happening without the book. Think of what would happen if such malicious higher-ups have the book in their possession!?
“The book detailed out how Dihaara came to be and the secrets all the kings who sat on the throne bore. That actually means I shouldn’t be telling you this. Anyways, I think the only people who have read that book are me, Safiyya, and maybe Saleem since I remember Safiyya telling me she had given it to him. I don’t think the former king knows the book still exists. He read it before it was published, at the time he wasn’t king and my grandfather was one of The Table members. And that was when The Table decided the book shouldn’t be made public.”
That was a lot of information but Umar had long processed them. However, he didn’t really know which of his theories this newfound information fell under or if it had anything to do with the things that were going on around him. Of one thing he was sure, that it was a difficult thing to be woke. “Thanks very much, Your Majesty,”
“No thank you. This little talk has renewed my motivation, really. And I hope it stays between us. About the book, that is. I don’t know you much but I believe I can trust you and your brother. And talking to you like this feels like I’ve known you for ages.”
“I’m honored and thanks for telling me the three tenets of Safiyya.”
The king laughed. “May Allah have mercy on her beautiful soul.”
“Ameen.”
Umar picked up his phone and read:
“Three tenets of Safiyya: No. 98: ‘It’s now a huge a hole because the first person who saw it did nothing when it was just a crack. Fingers can be pointed. The simplest thing second to breathing is complaining. But the responsible thing to do is to do something about it’
“No.99: Sign your death warrant
“No. 100: My last words are scattered closely in truth.”
Umar pondered over these three tenets. “Now, what the hell does R want me to with these words!!?”