Touched

Anele was done.

She just couldn’t go on. What was the point? Who would she celebrate with? What joy would she derive when amid the colourful ornaments and decorations, her entire world had become monochrome? She was alone, and for a moment they had planned to celebrate for the first time in their new apartment, it hurt to see all their plans fall apart just because of him.
William looked at her as she stared at the phone in her hands. He heard the spattering sound of tears hitting the screen before she flung it at their portrait on the wall in frustration. She didn’t look at him. She now knew what had happened and it was hard to take. He understood. It would be difficult for her not to react like she was. He couldn’t get through to her and she didn’t even act like he was there with her. The sadness, anger and misery were all too consuming so he just sat there and watched her go through the emotions ravaging her the way a small fishing boat would in a raging storm.

Anele had always been expressive while he was the contained one. Thinking about it now, he chuckled upon the realisation that he never called her by her actual name; he preferred calling her Sabre. That was the name he got when they met online. The name struck him because it reminded him of Diego, the tiger character in Ice Age and this was the only reason engaged in conversation with her.

Anele on her part had noticed a cynical status update and in their first-ever conversation, asked to know what got him so annoyed.

“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Added you from the Writers Fight Club just in case you’re going to say “who are you and what do you want?”
“LOL! No, that’s okay, I know. I’m not that type.”
“Good, saves me energy. I’m lazy like that.”
“Thanks for the heads up. I bet you’re an angry one sha, going by your last post. Is there anyone you’re thinking of kicking to the curb?”
“LOL! No, I’d rather just shoot them.
“Oh wow! For real?”
“Hahaha, no. I just get to think of random stuff sometimes and I put it all up. By the way, what’s the story behind you, using ‘Sabre’ as your screen name, hope you don’t bite?”

He lay on his bunk at the barracks that evening smiling at his phone like a spell had been cast on him, chatting away with a stranger for hours on end. They talked about Sabre-toothed tigers, argued about the bite force of wild predators and a ton of stuff he wouldn’t talk about with just anyone, much less for hours, up till the point when she asked, “Hold up William, what the hell are we?”
“I have no idea kitty; I guess there’s a lot of time to find out.”
And find out they did, that they were what people would readily call soul mates. It was all so wonderful till what happened threatened to destroy everything they had built.

William remained on the edge of the couch, lost in thought when he heard the sound of a briefcase snap shut.
She was leaving.
He sprang up and said the only thing he had the strength to say, hoping it would make her change her mind.
“Don’t go. Please!”
She didn’t even look back.
He didn’t say anything else but kept repeating the same three words as he followed her down three floors.
“Don’t go. Please…”
Like a spell, he hoped the words would take on some power or life of their own and hold her back. Stop her. Restrain her. Make her change her mind.
Still, there was no answer other than Anele’s losing struggle to muffle her sobs and stop herself from shaking. She put her luggage in the trunk and got in the driver’s seat. There was no way she’ll be staying inside that house, not after what she saw inside the paper. William had told her he was coming home in a few weeks and would send her a list of things to put in place ahead of his arrival. He wasn’t around when she finally decided on an apartment, and she had asked him to send his thoughts on how he would like their space to look. It was one of the things he loved about her. The consideration she had for him even when it came to stuff he had no interest in was one of the things that made him realize she was a keeper.

But she didn’t get a list. He didn’t call and she didn’t hear from him. She wouldn’t have known what happened if she didn’t check Instablog that morning and at that point, she wished she was out of data. She would have loved to keep living in ignorant bliss but since that had been taken away, she felt her only remaining choice was to get away from the pain.
His pain. Her pain. Their pain.

People deal with pain differently; some go through it by connecting themselves to whatever remains of pleasant memories while others try to get themselves away from anything that would remind them of what had been. She didn’t want to see the pencil-drawn portrait of her that William drew. Neither did she want to go anywhere near the kitchen because they cooked together often and had planned a set of meals for their upcoming Christmas barbeque. She’d smear his shirt just so he’d take it off and he’d do the same. It was where they played the silliest games. The couch would be untouchable too; it was where they cuddled there while occasionally wrestling for the TV remote.

Anele wanted no memory, no reminder of what was, and surely didn’t want to stay where she’ll be surrounded by memorabilia; she was better off leaving.

It’s a futile enterprise and she knew it. You can’t leave pain behind, especially not by vacating a location. It follows like a stray dog stalking a stranger.
“Don’t go…Please!”
The same plea, the same response as the first — ignorance.
Banishing those thoughts from the innermost recesses of her mind for the time being, she pulled out onto College Road and headed for Ojodu. She didn’t know where she was going or if she wanted to go anywhere at all. All she wanted to do was to get away. Perhaps she would drive around for a bit before deciding. Face her pain and go back home or stay a while with her best friend, Dotun?
She’ll know when she was done.
For Anele, each tear brought with it, a memory of their best moments together. They’d decided on a second date less than an hour into their first and by the end of that week, were in the same bed in her one-bedroom apartment. It was a reckless adventure that ended up with her getting pregnant. William didn’t care. For him, everything was falling into place, and he couldn’t wait for them to live together till they were old and grey.
William ran after the car as fast as he could. There was a bit of traffic. If he could get to her before she entered a major road, she’ll stop — except if she didn’t mind running him over.
He was too late.
She was wiping tears off her face while looking into the rearview mirror when she ran a red light at the intersection in front of Excellence Hotel. An oncoming truck hit the car broadside and didn’t stop for another ten metres.
William screamed.
In seconds a crowd had gathered to help pull her out of the wreckage. To the amazement of her rescuers, save for a small bruise on her forehead, Anele was fine. A policeman motioned for her to follow him to the County Hospital nearby for a quick check-up before heading to the Area G Divisional Headquarters where he would take her statement.
That was when she saw him.
William stood on the other side of the road wearing his uniform and hat just the way she liked it. The silly smile she had become so used to was on his face.
She ran.
All she wanted to do was hug him so tightly that her arms would break. That, she did, his open arms welcoming as always. It was as if her near-death experience served as the motivation, she needed to forget her present pain and just stay in the arms of love. Her love.
Still, in his arms, he finally said what he wanted to say all the time she ignored him at the apartment.
“I’ll always love you, never forget that.”
“I know. I was so upset and disappointed but I know.”
The policeman, puzzled as to why the young lady stood motionless on the sidewalk, walked back, and urged her on. In his right hand was his phone with the screen off. Beneath that screen was an Instablog post showing the photograph of a group of soldiers with William standing on the far left.
The caption read, “10 Soldiers Killed in Bloody Terrorist Attack.”