The Witness of Usehjiki

Nine

It was a three-hour drive from Kuwin's home in Emami to Mba in rural Izecha. Kuwin couldn't sleep, couldn't think of anything but the explosion that they'd heard, many blocks away from the house. He'd asked Enechi to go back and see if people needed help but Enechi didn't budge. They had to get to Mba as quickly as possible and going back would only slow their already late journey.

Facebook was swarming with videos of people trying to aid his compound as church members called out for him. Many of them thought he'd been in the explosion but some of his building mates mentioned that he wasn't even in the compound when it happened.

Kuwin didn't know what to reply or what to say. His phone was blowing up with people who wanted to talk but his head was empty. Even when he tried to think of Bible verses of support, he kept coming up with nothing.

Soon, the place was swarming with reporters as word spread that the Prime Minister's cousin had been there. Kuwin's mana called. His siblings, cousins. His phone was blowing up in his hand and he couldn't deal.

"KUWIN, JESUS," Mana shouted into the phone.

"I'm alive. I wasn't there."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I find out, Mana. I have to go."

He cut the call and fell back into the seat as Enechi watched him, sideways.

"I thought it was a sin to lie," Enechi said.

"I wasn't actually there."

"Truth on a technicality? Oh, Pastor, it almost seems like you're as human as the rest of us."

Kuwin closed his eyes and turned away because he felt like vomiting.

___

When they got to Mba, Enechi's family home was a large compound surrounded by forests and a twenty-foot-high gate. The house was five minutes away from the gate and the building, itself, was four stories high and three times the width of Kuwin's apartment building.

The walls were faint green, and the roof was dark brown with edges, pillars, and settings to match.

Inside the house was even more impressive with huge chandeliers and golden settings and mirrored doors. Kuwin had grown up in a comfortable home, but even he had to admit that this was a bit excessive.

"Make yourself at home," Enechi said, taking off his jacket as a young woman dressed in a white and grey maid's uniform appeared with a bottle of water for him.

With nothing to do but wait for the others to reach Mba, Kuwin roamed the house, looking at family photos and assessing their wine sets and every room available to him, as a guest.

Just as the sun was coming up, Kuwin was roused by the arrival of Ahimad and Osa.

"Good morning," Ahimad said as he ushered in the woman, who was unconscious and strapped to a gurney. Both her hands were bandaged. Her bruised face was tended to and plastered but there was a huge bump on her forehead.

"What happened to her?" Kuwin asked, rushing to the gurney.

"The witness killed her sisters and she saw the whole thing," Ahimad said, shaken and jittery.

"My goodness," Kuwin exclaimed.

"She wouldn't let me look at her injuries, so I had to sedate her. She has a lot of broken bones. A lot of it, first aid wouldn't help."

As he spoke, they followed the gurney into a room with a very high ceiling and a crowd of shelves and shelves and shelves filled with books. When they got to the center of the room, Enechi was sitting on a table, surrounded by open books with a bright, reading lamp, just above his head.