Remember To Forget

34

Naomi's fingers suffocated her bag as she squeezed it to control her nerves which leaped through the roof. She looked through the window of the taxi, her breathing was quick and tensed. Her eyes roamed the steeet, searching for any indication that she was being followed.

Ade, the taxi driver glanced to his rearview mirror several times. He wondered what would make a good - looking elderly woman so agitated and unsettled. Ade had tried to start up a conversation but she had ignored him. His friends always mocked him about his disclosed attraction to older women and of all the ones he had been with, none was as attractive as the woman sited at the back of his borrowed taxi.

"Could you drive faster please." Her sharp tone told Ade that it wasn't a request. He tried to swerve past the speeding bikes and impatient kekes but his driving skills didn't match the narrow road of Lagos.

He drove his car into every little space he got, his forehead glittered with sweat and his skinny hands felt strained on the steering wheel but Ade was determined to impress his attractive passenger. The screams and curses from other drivers didn't bother him.

Naomi held on to her seat belt as the taxi driver steered through vehicles like a maniac. Panic was an emotion Naomi rarely had, she had gone through the worst but still she never lost her cool.

She had hoped that everything would go back to normal with Marcus, back to excatly how it worse before the gold.

Before Katherine.

Knowing that she had not been strong enough to safe her grandchild's aunt stirred her emotions to condemnation.

Relief and guilt was what she had felt after she had spilled her guts to her family, her sons had said nothing and her daughter in-law thought of her as a murderer but Naomi planned to make it all right.

She could have told them, she thought. Sitting drenched in sweat and shivering in anxiety, Naomi picked up her phone and transferred all the files and information she had procured from her husband.

Naomi had not been bold enough to tell her sons that she never divorced their destructive father. She had tried but she loved him still and she wondered if that made her a murderer as well.

Ade glanced at his pretty passenger, his eyes couldn't stay away from her breasts which he planned to make love to. He just needed to impressed her.

Naomi's fingers typed away on her keypad, fiercely without looking up for a second.

If the taxi driver had paid more attention to the road instead of his inept fantasies, he might have avoided the Jeep which drove straight into his bumper. The force of the crash sent Ade into a chaotic swerve, his fingers battled with the steering wheel as he felt another aggressive hit to his side. The taxi tumbled forcefully to the concrete ground, with every strike to the floor Ade felt excruciating pain as every glass shattered. The endless tumbles came to a stop as they crashed into a construction site.

It was then Ade heard the screams, the old lady wailed in pain and fear.

She kept pleading to no one Ade could see. He couldn't turn around to take a last look at her, Ade knew he was going to die. He could feel it but he wasn't scared. His life wasn't one to fight for, he dropped his neck slowly to stare at the steel that had tore through his chest. His nose, eyes and mouth bled profusely.

Ade couldn't stop the pain and he wanted it to stop more than anything else, so he closed his eyes and imagined his life as a very wealthy young man who was always in the company of wealthy, sophisticated older women like his passenger. He fought the pian with his fantasies.

Ade died with several older woman making him happy in bed and an iron pole stuck to his chest.

Micheal had tailed the rear of Naomi's taxi for a while before he concluded she was safe, he had stopped to get roadside popcorn for his kids.

Still keeping an eye on the taxi, Micheal noticed when it's speed increased like they were being chased. Irritated that his cover might have been blown, he paid for the popcorn without collecting his change. He drove off, trying to match their speed but also keep a safe distance.

Which seemed impossible.

Micheal had seen the Jeep but his continuous horns at the taxi was ignored and when the incident happened, he dialed Jonathan's number.

It rang severally before he picked.

"Doc, there has been an accident. It's your mother. She was in a taxi. I'm sorry Doc. I really am." Micheal's panic was evident in his voice.

"I'll be right there." The call ended and Micheal had never felt more heavy-hearted. He had disappointed the one man that had taken him from the deadly streets to a life of luxury and adopted him despite people's opinion.

He contained his lugubrious emotions then he rushed to the condemned taxi. People had gathered around with their phones held up and their irrelevant remarks.

Micheal swore underneath his breath as no one bothered to help him.

He screamed at the towering audience to call an ambulance. He tried to pull the doors but they were stuck, he dropped to the ground and looked into the taxi.

His eyes grew sour at the sight of the taxi driver. What a terrible way to die, Micheal thought. It was his fault, damn popcorn. He should have done more.

Even though Micheal was not sure about the 'more' he could have done, guilt ate through him as well as outrage.

He was about to look into the passenger seat when he saw a Range Rover horning to the crowd as it drove through. Instantly Micheal knew it would be Jonathan.

He reversed his attention back to the passenger's seat, he struggled to pull the door open, but it was stuck.

Jonathan and his older brother, Jackson came closer to assist him. Their faces were furious, frightened and dejected.

"She's not inside. She's not here!"

While his brothers struggled with the door, John had looked inside to see how bad he mother was. He knew his brothers were scared of what they might see. John's voice screamed to his brothers again, "stop pulling! she is not in the taxi."

The three men looked inside and groaned at their masked stupidity.

"Are you sure she was in here?" Jackson asked.

"Yes I'm sure. She must have been taken." Micheal answered as he ran his palm through his sweaty face.

"Taken?" Jonathan pondered, by who?

"I'm so sorry. I just stopped to get popcorn for the kids. I'm sorry Doc." Micheal apologized desperately to his foster father.

"Stop it Micheal. It wasn't your fault. We all know this is my father. I'm sure mother has something on him and he has her. He's at fault. That monster is to blame! Not you." Jonathan assured Micheal and he pulled him to a hug.

"It's not your fault Micheal, we will find her." Jackson patted Micheal's back to confirm his brother's words.

Once an ambulance arrived, they decided to go back to the house to inform the others and speak to the detective, he was the one person that had numerous information about their father.

It was the third time their father was behind a vast chasm.

As they were about to drive off, a paramedic came up to them.

"We found a phone in the back seat of the taxi. Do you recognize it?" After they had offered to cover every bill of the late taxi man and public destruction. Jackson had requested that any item in the vehicle be sent to them.

"Yes, i do." Jonathan took the phone which was in a transparent plastic bag. It was covered in blood and broken glass.

Their mother's blood.