Sacred Oaths

EPISODE 9: THE BIG QUESTION.

#SACRED_OATHS

Author: Samuel Frederick

Episode 9: THE BIG QUESTION.

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They threw punches and kicked every part of his body with fury. They kept on hitting him mercilessly as I stood there, screaming in shock.

Boma's groans were audible as he suffered the impact of every hit. He was whimpering and panicking, trying his best to subdue them and stand up to his feet but he failed at every attempt. He was outnumbered, overpowered.

They kept punching, kicking and slapping him ruthlessly until, suddenly, practically out of nowhere, a bottle of beer landed directly on top of the first attacker's head. He staggered like a drunkard and fell flat on the ground. The other two men tried to turn back to see their opponents, but unluckily for them, two other bottles were broken on each of their heads. They both fell down flat like common toothpicks, breathing heavily!

Simon, Kingsley and three other guys showed up together. The music had stopped playing from the speakers and everyone focused on the scene. Some people even ran out of the hall with fright, in order to avoid any further catastrophe and save their dear lives.

Kingsley helped Boma up on his feet while the other guys assisted Simon to raise up the rogues who had just attacked Boma, and they held them down to prevent them from running away. Boma's face was practically oozing blood from the cuts and bruises he'd sustained. He looked weak, and tired.

"Take them out." Simon ordered authoritatively, and the other three guys, assisted by Kingsley, manhandled them roughly toward the back door. I could spot Oluchi, Mimi and Jovita at a far end of the hall, watching the whole drama intensely.

"What were you even thinking?" Simon asked Boma with a harsh voice, but Boma said nothing in response.

"Weren't you warned not to come here?" He asked again. Yet, Boma remained motionless, retaining utter silence. Looking around, Simon noticed that all eyes were on them, so he just hissed and walked over to the DJ's spot at the right-hand corner of the hall, whispered something into his ear and thereafter, the music started playing again.

He then walked back and whispered into Boma's ear as well, and after that, he left without saying a word to anyone else, not even me. All the while the entire drama occurred, I just stood there, watching in shock and utmost disbelief. It was surely an unexpected dilemma.

Boma's gaze caught mine as he turned around and faced me. His nose was bleeding badly as well as his cheek had swollen beyond recognition. He slowly made his way to me, dipped his right hand into his pocket, pulled out my phone and handed it to me. I noticed that the upper part of the screen had cracked slightly.

Just then, Oluchi, Mimi and Jovita scurried towards where we were standing, with fear and anxiety obvious from all of their faces.

"Is he okay?" Oluchi asked, referring to nobody in particular.

"I don't think he is," Mimi interrupted, showing avid concern. "He's bleeding badly! Can't you see it?"

"Are you alright?" Jovita cut in, referring to Boma directly. Their eyes were all on him.

"I'm fine." He said quite softly, forcing a smile to convince them. His voice was mild; it sounded shaky... and weak-too weak like a distorted echo.

To avoid any further questions, Boma simply turned around and started heading toward the exit. We called him repeatedly but he didn't answer us. He kept on walking until he exited the hall.

Seeing that we had no alternative, we all ran after him. Luckily for us, he was just about to leave through the main hotel gate when we caught up with him.

"Boma!" I called out to him. "Wait!"

Having heard my voice, Boma froze and turned around hesitantly, then I walked up to him, held his hand and walked him back to where my friends were standing.

"Could you all spare us a moment, please?"

With no fuss at all, they all agreed and left us alone. I spotted two chairs at a vacant, secluded spot and led Boma there. We both sat down and I asked him to take off his shirt, which he did.

A small bucket and a tap were nearby, so I fetched some water into the bucket and dipped my scarf into it, then I squeezed the scarf, folded it and dabbed it carefully upon Boma's skin. At first, he flinched a bit from the pain, but he gradually got used to it as I went on.

Throughout the time I cleaned him up, we never talked or said anything to each other apart from making constant eye contact in deafening silence. However, I finally rounded off my work on the wounds and asked him to put his shirt back on.

"Thank you." He said, wincing from the sharp pain he got from slipping his hands into his sleeves.

"Sorry. You're welcome."

That said, another wave of silence ensued between us for a very short time that seemed like forever to me, until I finally killed it by asking:

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better now, I guess." He said, sounding quite unsure of his own words.

"Boma, can I ask you something?"

He nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, go ahead."

"Who were those guys?"

"I don't think I know who they are."

"Then why did they assault you?"

"I really don't know."

I felt like Boma wasn't in his best mood to have this conversation or to answer any questions from me or anyone else, so I just let him be. I wetted my scarf again and continued soothing his wounds softly until my eyes caught something strange. It was a terrifying tattoo of a fractured skull, along with a symbol I couldn't really understand by its side, both tatted on his left wrist.

He noticed I was staring intently at it and then he quickly covered it with his sleeve, desperately avoiding eye contact with me. I knew he was hiding something. I always knew it, but I had decided to play it cool since we met, instead of making baseless assumptions that might lead to a hasty decision in the end, which could eventually put me in big trouble for not minding my business in the first place.

I sighed and kept on soothing his wounds gently until, yet again, my eyes caught something else. It was a black ring this time around. The exact type of ring I had seen on Kingsley and Simon's middle fingers.

"Boma, where do you think your friends must've taken those guys to?"

"I don't know."

I kept quiet for a while. He sounded insincere. I was a very stubborn and curious person by nature, so I pushed on with, "And what was Simon's reason for telling you not to come here?"

"Fifi, I truly don't know. Give me a break. Please?" He exclaimed with a frown in place, almost yelling at my face.

"I just hope it's not what I'm thinking, though."

"And what is it you have in mind? Tell me!" He asked, sizing me up with a cocky look. I took a very deep breath, heaved a sigh of distress and looked deeply into his eyes, basically warming up for the big question.

"Are you a cultist, Boma?"