Mustakeemah: (panting heavily) Am sorry, please! I didn’t mean to… please forgive me! (She tries to move closer but notices he isn’t responding) Sir! (She taps him) Please wake up, am sorry! (Blood keeps gushing from his head) Please wake up, you’re scaring me! (She lifts his head, then panics when she realizes he isn’t breathing) Ahhh!! Please, if this is a joke, stop it! I promise never to do this again. From now on, I will never complain again, I swear! Please wake up, please! (Her cries increase) Please stop this joke, you’re scaring me… please! (She places her head on his chest, then screams) Oh my God! He’s not breathing for real!
(She falls to her knees, rolling on the floor in anguish) He’s dead! I have killed him! I killed someone… so now I’m going to rot in jail! Yaa Allah! This is a big mistake… this is not how I wanted it to end. This isn’t my wish! Please have mercy on me… I don’t want to be a murderer! Yaa Allah! What should I do? What if the police are already coming? (She gets on her feet, trembling) I need to run away before someone finds me here. I need to leave—but how? How will I open that gate? Please, just wake up! This is lifetime imprisonment… who did I ever offend to deserve this punishment?
30 minutes later –
Mustakeemah’s POV
The more I stare at him, the more I realize the danger I’ve landed myself in. I can’t believe he is truly dead. It’s hard to control my tears because it’s unbelievable—I just killed someone for the first time in my life! And the worst part is, I can’t even escape from this. My life just keeps getting worse and worse. This is the end of me… they will hand me over to the police and kill me too.
I cried bitterly, hoping the ground would open and swallow me. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I wiped my tears and moved closer to his corpse, though my whole body shook with fear. What if he suddenly strangled me? I had never been this scared in my life. I had never seen a dead body this close. But I forced myself to be brave and searched his pocket with trembling hands. Luckily, I found a spare key.
I snatched it out, ran out of the room like a chased rat, and rushed to the gate. I shoved the key inside—and it opened! As the gate creaked, I breathed in the fresh breeze of freedom. The wind kissed my face, and for the first time, I smiled. “Freedom at last…” I whispered.
I turned back one last time, staring at the house that had been my tunnel of pain. Then I slammed the gate shut and ran—without knowing where. I just wanted to be far away before anyone saw me. My legs carried me like never before, even as my mind screamed, what if someone worse than Mubarak catches me again? But I couldn’t stop running.
Finally, when I was far from the house, my legs buckled, and I collapsed on my knees. Passersby stared, some murmured, but I dragged myself to sit beside the gutter. A group of beggars sat nearby, which gave me slight relief.
Suddenly, a child walked up to me, speaking a language I didn’t understand. I forced a smile, and she smiled back, sitting beside me. Soon, she called her friends, and they all gathered around me, staring. They were beggars’ children—but their faces were so beautiful. Life was unfair to them, just like me. At least they begged with their families… I had no one.
One of the children gestured, pointing at her belly. I understood. “A baby?” she meant. I smiled faintly. “No… I don’t have a baby.” But as the words left my lips, reality hit me—I was carrying Mubarak’s child. The very reason we fought. The very reason he was now dead.
I placed my hands on my stomach and broke down in tears. “So now, I’m not just homeless… I’m homeless with my unborn child. Your father is dead before you are even born. And I don’t want to lose you too.”
The children noticed my tears and tapped me gently, but I faked a smile for them. I stretched my hands to the sky as the sun blazed on my face. Just then, I noticed a man giving the beggars one-thousand-naira notes.
So good people still exist in this life…
I watched him hand the money one after the other. Then he stretched a note toward me. I froze. Me? I wasn’t expecting anything. I turned to the beggars, who were smiling and praying for him. Then I looked back—his hand was still extended. Slowly, I raised my head to look at him. But I couldn’t see his face clearly because of the brightness of the sun. Still, for the first time in my life, someone handed me money freely.
I gently took it. “Thank you,” I whispered. My mind began to race—what could I buy with it? Would it even be enough for me and my unborn child?
I didn’t realize the man was still staring at me—until finally, he spoke.
Lukman: what are you doing here?
Mustakeemah: (scared) uhmm am here… just like the rest sir.
Lukman: that’s hard to believe because you don’t look like them at all.
Mustakeemah: (check herself out) am a begger too sir.
Lukman: (scan her from head to toe) your dressing is quite different from them, you look like a girl born with a silverspoon, so what are you doing here with the beggers.
Mustakeemah: (thinking) oh my God! So my dressings differenciate me from them.. what am going to say? What if he found out that I ran away from him? What if he knows Mubarak?
Lukman: did you ran away from home?
Mustakeemah: (thinking ) oh my God! He is figuring everything out, what should I do to get rid of him before he finds out the whole secret? Mustakeemah think!! (she get on her feet and pick a race leaving lukman speechless)
Lukman: yo! Woman! Where are you running to? (as he was about to run after her, she hit her toes on a stone and fell down) good for you (he run towards her) are you ok? Why were you running in the first place? Am not gonna bite you, are you hurt? (tries to check it out for her)
Mustakeemah: sir please don’t touch me, just let me go… you need to stay far away from me… please am fine I’ m not hurt.
Lukman: (exhale softly as he bent next to her) anyway my name is Lukman and you?
Mustakeemah: sir please am not interest in knowing you, just let me go… all I need is freedom. So please I’m not interest in getting to know you at all… infact I don’t want to know anyone.
Lukman: (stare at her for few seconds) well I cant watch you like this without offering you a help and trust me I really mean well for you am not here to hurt you nor add to your pains… so please tell me your name.
Mustakeemah: (she break down intears) sir don’t you get it? I said am not interested in knowing you or anything about you and I don’t need your help either just leave my life alone and go your way, is that too much to ask? Just stay away from me before I shout for help.
Lukman: (smile at her) your reactions explains it all, honestly speaking… I guess someone had ones offered you help and ended up hurting you right?
Mustakeemah: what ever you are thinking I don’t care just stay away from me and if its because of your one thousand naira note then take( she stretch out her hands) take your money and leave me alone.
Lukman: if only you knew am here to help you, trust me… I just want to help you and return you back to your family or to your husband cus you look like a married woman.
Mustakeemah: (check herself out again) sir please I’m fine just leave me alone abi which kind problem is this again, did I ask for your help? Just leave me alone (not realizing her voice loud as she began to yell at him) is it by force? Are you here to kidnap me just like that monster too? Did someone sent you? Tell me? But I wont let this happen to me again…. If you don’t get out of my front right now I swear I will scream on your face and accuse you of sexual harassment.
Lukman: (smile) you are screaming on my face already and everyone could see that you are the one trying to harrass me, your reactions says it all…. You are in so much physical, emotional and mental pain but someone need to offer you a help before things get out of hands…. Which is why am here for you…. I don’t even know the meaning of the nightmare I had last about my loved ones in danger that’s why I came here to do sadakah for who so ever he or she might be… then I found you…..
Mustakeemah: see sir, if you really want to help people, start by helping these beggers they need help more than I do, they need home and shelter… but as for me there is nothing you can offer to help me nothing, the only help you can do for me is to let me go away from here…. But if you don’t! your life will be in danger as well.
Lukman: well God sees that I tried my best and I have so many important places to be right now and am wasting my time on you, here is my card my office address is there and my phone number, few information is there about me so if you ever need anything don’t hesitate to reach out to me; (he reach his hand into his pocket and hand over some ten thousand naira notes to her) here take this and keep it safe…. You can use them to eat and find a place to sleep like an hotel or something… do have a lovely day (he smile at her and walk into his car and drove away)
Mustakeemah: (show a sign of relieved) finally he has left…. I thought he was going to force me into his car (her stomach grumbling) I feel so sick and hungry… I need to find a pharmacy so I can run some test to confirm if am truly pregnant (immediately she take a step she felt unconscious and fainted instantly).