Shadows To Star [Wattys2019]

The Normal Things Around Him

"What he sees is what he believes to be life. What more could he do, other than water the flowers in the beautiful yet mysterious house? The house is entered by hundreds of people, yet few live to tell the tale. He has been confined there for over a decade, but he has already lost count. There were days when he wished to die, but not anymore. He sat on the bench with his watering can beside him, thinking of nothing in particular. He can see what many people can't see, but he can no longer dare to go against the rules.

"Ahmad!" called out Baba Garba, cutting Ahmad from his train of thought that only revolves around his so-called home.

"Not again, son. What is it this time?" the elderly-looking man asked with tenderness in his eyes.

"Nothing, just admiring my hard work. Don't you see how the flowers are growing so beautifully?" Ahmad smiled a smile that eases one's aching heart. It screams hopes and dreams, even though he has none.

"I do, son. Only with Allah's blessings, because with the grave sins happening here, how do you expect plants to grow around this place? We're lucky we even get to experience the rain." Ahmad only smiled because he had nothing to say. It's something he is used to hearing from his father. He is very calm, composed, and gentle, to the point that his captors had given up trying to kill him a long time ago. However, they have a big plan for him.

"Come on, let's eat. I cooked something for us." The two vanished into the inner part of the house, where there are still some areas they have never set foot in. They began eating their meal in gentle silence.

"I haven't heard any movement here in a while. I think we are alone," Baba Garba said as he took a spoonful of jollof rice into his mouth.

"I don't think so, Baba. I heard movement from the room behind mine. It's like they will be bringing some goods very soon." Ahmad said with a twinkle in his eyes, and Baba Garba looked at him questioningly.

"What? I swear, Baba, whenever you look at me like that, I get goosebumps. It's scary," Ahmad said dramatically, covering his body with his hand, pretending to be cold and shaking."

"Human beings can never be anyone's good," he scolded, snatching Ahmad's spoon from his hand. "That's it for you, son." Ahmad grimaced while Baba Garba took the plastic bowl from which they were eating and covered it with another rubber plate.

"Oh my, you're going to starve me now? Why should I care about those people? Besides, that's what everyone calls them around here: Goods," he said, quoting the word "Goods" in the air. Still, Baba Garba ignored him as he continued with his earlier activities.

"OK, don't talk to me then. I have already missed the smell of blood, but that will soon happen. I will get to feel it," he said, closing his eyes dreamily and inhaling the air around him. Baba Garba smacked him on the back, and Ahmad swiftly rubbed the assaulted place, saying, "Ouch."

"And you know, Danjuma told me that human flesh is delicious. If I start eating that..." Before he could continue, Baba Garba squeezed his ears, and he received another hard smack on the shoulder.

"Since when did you start hanging around that boy? Don't even listen to him again. He is good for nothing. Even though he is young, he is a cold-blooded murderer." Baba Garba sat next to Ahmad on the old bench and took his hand into his.

"Ahmad, my son, we only have each other in this whole world. I am only here today because of you. You have come a long way, so don't throw away all those years of suffering. You have a clean heart, so nurture it. I know you have been tested between right and wrong.

Whenever you get the chance to leave this place, don't think twice, okay?" The man wiped his moistened eyes with the back of his hand, even though he knew Ahmad was only kidding. He knew better that the heart doesn't have a bone. There was a time he ran away but came back on his own, only to protect little Ahmad then. But even now, at the age of 23, he still wanted to protect him to the best of his ability.

"Awww Baba, you're getting old that you don't even differentiate a joke," he said, trying to cheer up his adoptive father, as that's what he had been to him: a father.

"Call me old, but I don't like that kind of joke."

"So then, where will I go if I leave this place? You just said we only have each other, right?" Baba nodded yes. "Then, as long as you're here, I will also be here," he said with seriousness and finality in his tone.

"Ahmad, listen to me!"

"Baba, do you remember that girl?" he asked, changing the subject so that Baba Garba couldn't go on about how he should escape without him if he got the chance.

"What girl?"

"The one that died."

"I have lost count of the number of girls who have died here, so be specific."

"The one that choked on her breath when she saw a man being chopped in her presence," he said with a laugh as if it was a normal thing to talk about.

"Poor thing, she was so young. I can remember that she had a fifty-naira note with her. Seeing people being killed is only normal to someone like you, son. It's not like she saw a ram being slaughtered on Eid. Some people can handle the sight of blood." They were quiet for a while as their minds took them back to many incidents like that.

"I wonder how the outside world looks like, how people of my age live out there. I am only living a life without a future."

Ahmad gasped, and Baba Garba looked at him sadly. Before he could say anything, they both heard the horn from behind the gate. They looked at each other and knew that yet again, the fate of another set of innocent lives was in the hands of the blood hunters. Ahmad always wondered why power or wealth must be gained at the expense of other people's lives. He was still not used to the idea of people being killed brutally, but that was a normal thing around him. But by now, he knew that those people were willing to go to any extent to get what they want.