Blindfolds

9

She was two weeks in, to being Zara's nanny, and for the days she worked, they went by in a routine; Yomi would pick her up with his daughter— not minding the gossips. Abike had been able to convince most teachers that Dinma was forcing a relationship with Yomi, if he had heard the rumors, he didn't show it at all. And after Yomi would pick her, she would spend the rest of the evening with Zara, either helping out with homeworks, or playing with dolls, while Yomi worked in his study.  Then towards the end of the day, she would make a meal for them even though Yomi had told her that it was unnecessary.

Unlike the other days, She had got home later than she would due to the traffic, by 7:49pm. She had met an empty house prior to the fact that Temi wasn't coming home, she was spending the night at her boyfriend's.

So, exhausted and hungry, Dinma made a hurried dish of yam porridge. She had just finished eating when the power went out. With a frustrated groan, she groped for her phone and turned on the flashlight.

Then almost immediately, she heard shouting from a distance, which was followed by gunshots.

Armed robbers? But nobody that stayed in the part of city where she lived was rich. She thought.

The gunshots drew closer and Dinma felt her heart rate plummet. She turned off her flashlight and locked her apartment door and windows, then she bolted into her bathroom in fear.

The gunshots had stopped much to her relief, but before she blinked, the door to her apartment was knocked open. From the thud, she knew it had been knocked off its hinges. Her heart throbbed heavily against her ribcage. Heavy footsteps stomped the room, from the stomps, she reasoned that the footsteps belonged to more than one person, and that they were raiding her house. She heard her bed tossed heavily across her room, and the contents of her cabinet thrown roughly on the floor.

Dinma made to dial Temi, but quickly decided against it. She was not going to ruin her friend's night. Then her attention was quickly drawn to the rattling of the bathroom doorknob. Her heart pounded, and she felt blood rushing into her ears, she was literally facing death.

After a few turns on the knob without any luck on opening the door, the door was kicked open. Thankfully, she was farther away from the door. And there in shock, Dinma stared back at the masked gunman. In less than a second, the man pointed a gun to her.

“Please... please don't kill me.” Dinma begged, her hands clapped together in front of her.

“The box dey there?” A hoarse voice from the room asked.

“No.” The man before her replied still not taking off his glare and gun from her.

“Please...” The rest of her words were swallowed as the gun went off.

She smelt the gunpowder, before she felt the shot. It burned through her right leg and she slumped into the floor in a bloody mess.

She heard sirens from afar, but the world before her blurred, and the last thing she heard before she drifted into a void darkness was.

“Shit, why did you shoot?”

She was awoken to beeping sounds of a heart monitor, and  squinted to get her eyes accommodated with the white lights. She blinked and tried to sit up, but she felt her right leg burning. She let out a groan and squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

Temi who was seated in a chair by her left side, scrolling through her phone, looked up at the noise.

“Dee!” She rushed quickly to Dinma's side.

“My leg hurts. Real bad.”

“I'll call a nurse.” With that Temi raced out of the room.

Dinma sat up, grunting in pain as she tried to move her right leg. She looked around her, realizing that she was in a private hospital room, she was the only one in the room. Then looking beneath the hospital sheets that covered her, she saw the hurting leg wrapped up in a bandage.