Wild West of the Heart

"In recent news, three women and one man were found knifed to death in their Abuja residence" David's eyes fell on the news as he sat forward. Uncrossing his legs, he increased the volume.

Believe it or not, he was one of the few twenty something year olds that actually enjoyed watching the news. And this night, he'd been unlucky as to hear such vile news before bed. It was what the eight o'clock AIT news had started with and he was already as invested, because it was Gara, Abuja-

just a few kilometers from where he'd lived with his family. Now, you may not remember David but he grew up alongside Mira and Silva back when he was Lagos, which really was not that long ago.

But then he had to move across states for school where he eventually settled down. They used to be so close, well he kind of is to DaSilva. But he never talked to Mira since she left. And she'd made it out to be one of her deepest regrets. He was so much different than he was years ago, studying in the engineering field and bagging a job with one of the prominent petroleum companies in Nigeria. He was comfortable, but that was the least.

And he had a kid, Femi with Anna, his half-cast wife.

He was so much different now from the plans he'd made when he was younger, with Silva and Mira, the times where everything seemed so permanent.

But that really was a conversation for later. Right now, he had his heart in his hands watching the news. And the realization dawned on him that he, in fact knew one of those casualties.

"Detectives were called at about 1.40am to reports of a disturbance at a property in West Gara. The police then forced entry to discover four people - believed to have been living together with apparent stab injuries" The reported read, laced with a straight face as if such news couldn't bother him.

David could never understand how the journalists did it, how they were comfortable reading the worst of news.

He himself was shivering in that seat the moment the graphic images popped on the screen. Half of it was censored, but there really wasn't much left to the imaginations. He knew one of them, but not per say—

—at least they'd come across each other in the streets since they were somewhat neighbors. Angel was her name and there was more that met the public eye, regarding who she was.

"What are you saying?" Silva paced the corridors, looking to the muted news. He himself had seen the same headline, forgoing his previous research on the mystery illness. This was here, and real.

"I think she's the one. She's openly trans around here. An activist one might say. Angel" David said to him. He had picked up the phone not longer after those images popped up. "Go to AIT" He'd said.

And Silva left all his was doing to turn back the channels. "Are you sure?" He asked, concern laced in his quivering voice. "This could be another Jazz"

Mira was awake, sitting on the counter and holding her chin up with her knuckles. How could she sleep when Silva made so much noise.

"Yes i'm sure" David replied, turning back to the tv.

"Witnesses claim to have heard screaming for about five minutes before the police showed u-" He finally turned it off, holding the phone firm against his ears. "Who's that?" Mira asked, sticking her fingers through her messy hair- -she hadn't gone to the barber in ages and her hair seemed to grow the fastest. It wasn't all that bushy but still, her hand could go through.

"Can you see if you can get any more information from the hospitals in Abuja?" Silva said as he faced out of the windows. Thunder rumbled above him before it started to drizzle. He looked to the clock, realizing he hadn't even seen Obi since he got back.

"Can you stop forming detective, you have no idea what is going on" Mira stood from the chair and Silva turned to her. "Mira, you don't know. You can't know because the virus, the one Jazzlyn had-" "It's crazy, it's deadly and i have spent all evening reading all about it and it's still not enough. Hundreds and thousands and millions of people in the states have the virus. They die from that virus" "And there isn't such thing as a gay cancer, is there?" He turned to Mira, pulling away from the phone. "I haven't slept all day, so you can look at me like i'm crazy but it's the shit i read on the internet-" "Gay cancer?" Mira echoed. "Gay flu. Plague, there are a million other names. It's killing people like us" Silva replied. "Then what does Jazz and this have to do with it" She pointed to the television. "I think they're two epidemics" He whispered as he hefted up the newspapers he'd bought earlier from the chair.

"Two things that are killing us. Our community. And no one's doing shit. It's not even on the news, it's nowhere" Tossing them to the floor, he looked to a stunned Mira. "I'm going to get to the root of it"

"So David, i'm going to need you to find out all you can on those victims. And we'd look for the common denominator. Hopefully it's not what i'm thinking" He muttered the last part of that sentence before he hung up the call. And Mira inched closer to him. "What are you thinking?" She whispered, reaching for his arms. He was quick to brush her away. "If this shit is as contagious as it abroad and Jazzlyn had it" He said. "Then-" He paused and Mira turned back to look at him. It clicked in her head the exact same time, though she was unsure if she believed these theories. "Reginald" She whispered back to him. "We need to see him again"

-

"How was school?"

Mary was across the dining table, and she watched her son gorge the plantain and beans she'd fried earlier like he hadn't eaten anything all day. His eyes shot up, immediately locking with hers. "It was okay. Stressful" He lied. And she knew.

"What'd you do today?" She still asked, hoping he'd see the need to tell her the truth. She remembered seeing him from the windows, and then there was Pennywise, which he didn't have before. It was clear he had visited their old house instead.

Now she wasn't mad, that was reach. She was just hurt to see Ola lie to her face like he did that very moment. "Maths, English. You know, the usual" She could see through him, plus he was a terrible liar.

There was someway his eyes twitched when he told a lie, and she'd known that since he was like five when he'd lie about stealing meat from her pot or breaking something.

She relied on that when it came to his punishment.

But right now, he'd gotten better at hiding that twitch that she would have believed him if if she didn't have as much proof.

"The usual" She echoed, and he looked to her with stew hanging from the corner of his mouth. All she saw was that little boy that was inseparable from her. The little boy that would apologize for those lies even after she twisted his ears or slapped him.

And just like that, it vanished like it was all an illusion. The little boy was no longer there and his eyes had gone dark. "I know" She whispered and his cutleries fell to the plate after nodding. "Know what mum?"

"I know you didn't go to school" He was quick to slam his palm against the table. "Now, you're calling me a liar, just like dad?" He raised his voice, that comparison like spear in her heart. She stood, enraged as well. "I saw you Olamide" She yelled.

"I'm not an idiot. I saw you when you came back home. I don't see why you need to look me in the eyes and lie to me" She pointed her fingers at him as tears welled in both their eyes. "I'm not Akin-“

"I am not your father" There was a crack in her voice as she felt her heart thump. She clutched her chest and Ola found his way right past Titi, who stood at the door.

She walked forward, offering Mary a glass of water like she'd been standing there for a while. She smoothed her sister's back as she gulped the liquid.

"It's okay" Mary almost choked as Titi walked to her front. Tears rolled down her cheeks which she wiped away. "He'll come around. It's teenagers" Titi spoke like she was an expert on kids when she didn't even have any. "No-" Mary shook her head.

"He won't" She whispered, realizing how difficult he had been since the night he'd got back. "I asked you, what is it you're not telling me?" Titi asked.

"He's been different since that night" She placed the glass cup to the table, next to his abandoned food and Titi hefted up her chin, wiping her eyes. "What night?"

She lifted her eyes to Titi. "The night Jazzlyn was murdered" And that was the first time actually, that she acknowledged the events of that night.

-

Ola jumped on the stairs, hefting the phone out of his pockets. He pushed open his door, slamming it after him. His chest rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath. There was water that dripped down his hair from the rain that beat him earlier.

It was why he never made to Mira, instead he'd stopped by Hillway High at the closing hour, hoping to see Obi, but he never showed up. Unbeknownst to him, he was in detention. And so he ended up running back without any money for a bus or bike.

Although the rain started when he was close around seven pm, it still poured over him, wetting his uniform before he could secure a shady area. He'd squeezed the life out of the clothes he still wore, leaving it marked with wrinkles all over. He pulled away from the door, one hand around Jazzlyn's device and the other ravaging through the books in which he had Obi's phone number. When he found it in, he pressed the eleven numbers on the hard keypads and hit dial immediately. His hand went through his hair as he waited for Obi to pick.

He'd tried his best not to remember what had happened downstairs, his fight with his mother. He couldn't bear so much in his mind right now. They rarely ever fought but these days, they seemed to all the time, it was just like Abdul and Obi

-and for reasons they couldn't quite pin down.

"Hello" He hastily said once the call went through. He wasn't sure how much of call-card Jazz had left, but his guess would be that it wasn't that much.

"Obi. It's me" Ola broke the silence between them. Obi cleared his throat. "You're alive" He said, enthusiasm drained from his voice. "Of course i am" Ola replied, failing to see the sarcasm.

"Where the fuck have you been?" He asked and Ola looked out of the windows. "I dont have much time. I'll tell you all about it in school tomorrow-if i come" He whispered the last part.

Obi scoffed. "Of course, you have to come. You can't keep missing school. Not when exams are drawing low. And your attendance" Ola heaved a sigh, turning back around. "I know" He replied. "But Obi, this is huge. You wouldn't believe what i found"

His voice went low, just before the call ended with a beep. "Shit" He cussed, punching into the duvet. He knew he didn't have that much credit, but still.

He ended up pacing around the room like he was in sort of manic episode, and Mary looked up, being right below his room. She could hear his racing footsteps above her and she looked to her sister.

"I don't know what's gotten into him" She whispered. "I assumed him talking to David would change something but it didn't last a few hours"

"I don't know, what i did wrong. But i can't lose him" Mary sobbed, withholding the tears from falling down her cheeks. "I can't lose another son"

Titi reached for her palms, smoothing the skin.

"You won't lose him" She whispered. "Because that would just be me proving Akin right. And i'd rather die than have that happen. Titi, i know i can't do this on my own and it's why i came to you" She said, a crack in her voice. "I left everything" She added.

"I left everything behind. I left everything for that man. It's what i usually do and it never ends well" The tears streamed down her cheeks and Titi was quick to wipe it. "Hey hey" She squeezed her palm. "Look at me, we'll figure this out"

"I promise you that we will figure this out" Titi said, moved by seeing her sister cry. She turned her face away as she herself held in her tears.

"Have you tried talking to someone?" She asked and Mary looked to her. "I called James" She replied and Titi moved closer to her. "Not for him alone_"

"For you"

"For both of you" She added and she sniffled. "I" Mary scoffed. "I can't do that. Therapy is paying people to tell you what you want to hear. What you already know. Quite frankly it's a waste of money" "And i don't have that" She heaved a sigh, somewhat gaining control of her tears. And it was Titi who scoffed this time.

"Ola witnessed a murder. For a boy his age, he should never have to. He was moved miles away from the life he knew back in Texas, already the change of environment was a factor he had to deal with. He lost his friends, his life and these are things he wouldn't tell you" Titi said.

"These are things he wouldn't even know—"

"He's a strong boy, and he's been through so much" Titi remembered his countless diagnosis as a child. From his bulimia, to his eating disorder. His anxiety and heart condition. "He's just lashing out" She said.

"He's thriving. Trying to survive and battle with school and all of this. He needs more than you. He doesn't need Akin or James. He needs help" Titi whispered, holding her hands firm in hers.

"Professional help. Therapy isn't a waste of money. Sometimes we need to hear it from someone else"

Mary sobbed, wiping her eyes.

Titi brought her head to rest upon her shoulders. "I know someone" She said as she stroked her brown hair with her fingers, just like they were kids.

To be continued...