The Moonlight Dance

She heard his voice loud and clear though it sounded more like it was coming from a far away place. “We need to take her off the support system. Leaving her here isn’t doing her any good. She has tried her best and she has fought hard these past weeks. We would be doing her good by letting her finally rest in peace.”

And just like that, her death warrant had been signed by her family doctor. He had just shared the good news with her mother and only elder sister.

She wanted to shout so badly, “No, I’m still here. I can still fight. Don’t do this!” But she knew there would be no point trying as her entire body had become immobile after her accident. “His well-planned accident,” Wonu thought. She sighed deeply inwardly. She knew she had only a few minutes more to stay alive so she decided to spend it well reminiscing. “What better place to start from than the beginning of my end?” She thought. “I might as well start from the moonlight dance.”

In her mind, she shifted from right to left as if to make herself comfortable in a settee. With a mug of hot choco in her hand, she flew down memory lane to the night she met her angel, her poison, her lover. She blushed self consciously when she flash forwarded to certain ‘X’ rated scenes in her movie and shook her head vigorously as if to caution herself from giving herself spoilers. She cleared her throat slightly and began replaying…

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It was a cool Friday evening during the harmattan period. Christmas lights flashed from different angles on the road as if to tease her. She had gone to a mini party with her best friend Bomi against her mother’s wishes. She could still hear her trying to win the debate with her that evening as she held her fur coat in her left hand and tried to adjust her side fringe with her right.

“Wonuola, I don’t know why you have to be so stubborn. I’ve been trying to reason this matter with you since yesterday. Why do you choose to go out when tomorrow is the new year? Everyone is trying to stay indoors and safe so they can enter the new year without sorrow yet you have chosen to go out to look for danger yourself. Wonu, listen to me, you know that we have finally made it to the last of the ’ember months’. It is by God’s grace alone that we have made it this far. Wo, a a ni resu omo mi o! You know that you and Yemisi are all I have now. Remember I lost your father on a New Year’s Eve just like this one. Please listen to me and stay at home.”

She let out a deep breath but it came out as a soft whistle. She didn’t like the fact that she disobeyed her mom but she just needed time away from the house that night. It had been exactly a year now since her father’s death. She could still remember it vividly like it all happened moments earlier. The telephone conversation, mom’s seizure, Yemisi’s tears and hers– cold and runny like wet mucus (or was it actually mucus? Can’t remember well right now).

It took her some time to realize it but he had been watching her all that while. She stopped thinking and instinctively turned right to stand eyeballs to shoulders with a devastatingly handsome nerd who had obviously been standing beside her while she was thinking out loud. She coughed awkwardly.

“I’m sorry I eavesdropped into your silent monologue. You seemed really occupied with what you were thinking about that I had to keep watching. A penny for your thoughts?” Then he smiled shyly and scratched the back of his head with his left hand, revealing a delicate looking palm. “Maybe too delicate if you ask me,” she thought to herself.

She cleared her throat once more and tried to reply to him without sounding shaken by his calm intimidating aura, “I don’t know if you’re from this century but we no longer use coins here in Nigeria, so I’m sorry bro, but I’m not interested in your pennies.” She congratulated herself inwardly for giving an appropriate and witty comeback to the intruder that dared to evade her privacy.

He laughed. A cold, dry, humorless laugh. Not only had she returned his bant with sarcasm dripping from each word but she had successfully called him “bro”. He shrugged it off and decided to not be discouraged. After all, the most precious things in the world don’t lie on the surface, they lay deep, deep in the ground, and only those that persevere enough to keep digging find them. So he tried once more.

“Okay, first I’d like to apologize for intruding the way I did. I’m usually polite and well mannered. It had been a while I saw a young lady actually use her brains to think. Most girls these days are always busy taking pictures or surfing the net. I simply had to check you out. I’m sorry for being so forward.” He did that thing with his palm at the back of his head again and she knew she couldn’t pretend to be angry with him anymore. He had won her over with his calm, deep baritone, and easy nervous smile. She knew she had fallen hook, line, and sinker.

In an attempt to save her face and still come off looking at the top of the situation, she flashed him a meaty grin and extended her arm to him for a handshake. He happily obliged her and in those few seconds, they knew instinctively that that was not the last time they would meet. They knew that just like that they had sealed a contract with fate. They knew their destinies were intertwined and they smiled at each other ready to accept whatever it would throw at them. They had just met each other but they felt like they had known each other all their lives. “Just like familiar strangers…” they both thought to themselves.

He removed his glasses, leaned in closer, and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. He seemed uncertain if he should proceed and lingered there faintly as if awaiting her approval. She kissed him back; a deep, sensuous kiss that had them gasping for oxygen when they eventually separated.

Right there under the moonlight, they made out and she was known for the first time. It wasn’t as painful as Bomi had described it to her, if anything she completely cherished those moments. Her chocolate skin intertwined with his light skin, the perfect combination. They were perfection at that point and in their own universe.

The sound of shouts and cheers of others who were dancing on the opposite side of the lawn brought them back to reality. They dressed up once more and stared at each other awkwardly, averting each other’s gaze until he spoke up.

“It’s chilly outside. I’m not much of a party person. My best friend literally dragged me here but I’m not ready to have a pretty girl like you freeze to death out here. Though I’ll confess that that green dress looks amazing in contrast with your chocolate skin. The dress becomes you well even though the sensible part of me argues that you should have worn something thicker.”

She shyly turned her face away from his intent gaze. Although she couldn’t see him due to her short-sightedness, she could still feel his big black pupils staring at her through his glasses. He might look like a nerd but those eyes carry a certain passion she had just known and promised even more adventure that she was yet to encounter.

She let out a small cough and turned back to him to explain herself, “For the life of me I don’t understand why I’m even going through the stress of explaining myself to a stranger.” She could hear Bomi’s vibrant voice laughingly bellowing the words, Wonu, resist the urge to ‘shalaye’. But she couldn’t help it this time. For some very strange reason, she felt she needed to ‘shalaye’ to this stranger. So, she went on ahead to tell him how she had taken a fur coat to keep her warm but had forgotten it in the Uber ride they had ordered to attend the party.

He vigorously nodded twice as if reasoning the matter in his head and decided to have the smart idea of giving her his own sweatshirt to put on. Embarrassed beyond belief that he would risk catching a cold just to act manly to a stranger like her, she hastily rejected his proposal. “Tun… Kun… Bo…” Struggling to produce the name of her benevolent stranger, she realized she didn’t quite ask him his name all the while they had talked or made out.

Embarrassed but bent on refusing his proposal, she decided to ask him his name. “Ummmm… I was going to call your name and refuse your proposal but I realized that I hadn’t asked you for it before. I’m Wonuola. How about you?”

He blushed, though it seemed more like his cheeks got darker than pink or red. “Well… Ummm… my name’s El-Roy. Pleased to meet you Wonu.”

She suddenly got pissed at him. Here she was trying to be honest by telling him her real name, yet he couldn’t take her seriously enough to do the same. “El-Roy? Does he think I’m a toy?”

She turned to face him and shot daggers with her eyes, “Is that the name the government recognizes?”

Confused, he had to ask her to reiterate the question. She asked again, “I said, is that the name the government recognizes? Is it the one on your birth certificate? Did your parents give you on your naming ceremony or did your friends make it up?” This time she was softly spitting venom.

It took him a few seconds to process, understand, and provide her question with a suitable answer. “Oh yes, of course. All of the above. It’s of French origin. You see. I’m of mixed race, though I took more of my dad’s white skin. So, yes I was given by my parents at my naming ceremony and the government recognizes it because it’s the one on my birth certificate.” Cold sweat trickled down from his left temple but he dared not wipe it off. He appeared to be in a serpent’s nest at the moment and any wrong move would land him a vicious sting so he simply said nothing and waited for her to trust his claim and move on in their discussion, which she eventually did after fifteen very long seconds.

“Ok then. I’m sorry for overreacting. It wasn’t my intention. So… Roy… wait I can call you that yeah?” He nodded in the affirmative and she continued, “Roy, I know you’re a boy…”

He stopped her short in her tracks, “Man, you mean? I’m not a boy, Wonu. I’m a twenty-six-year-old man.” She flushed visibly because the man in front of her looked no older than twenty if not younger. She cleared her throat and retraced her words, “Roy, I know you’re a man, but you don’t need these excessive shows of masculinity in front of me. I’ll have you know I’m a feminist and I believe we’re both equals as humans. You deserve that sweatshirt as much as I do, if not more considering your small stature.” She couldn’t have looked more proud of herself but he was starting to tip over. She had called him small and insulted his masculinity, calling what he felt to be a required show of responsibility excessive. Still, he would not lose his cool. Not here, not now.

“Well, I insist that you take the sweatshirt and put it on. I’m still wearing a turtleneck sweater under this sweatshirt but you’re wearing a thin dress. So young lady, put it on now.” She heard the command in his voice and knew he meant business. She would forgive him and oblige since he was six years older than she was. She pouted her reply and they both walked back into the party to get drinks. He excused himself and told her he would come see her later before she left because he had an urgent matter to take care of.

>>>>>>>

Thinking about it now, she knew she shouldn’t have accepted things from a stranger, told him her name, or even given herself to him for the first time. “Oh well, it’s too late now, back to hot choco and flashback movie premiere for me. I’ve got nothing to lose now. Mum has signed the agreement and they will be taking the plug off very soon. Now, where was I?… Oh yes, the moonlight dance on New Year’s Eve after Roy left me for urgent matters.”

>>>>>>>

The countdown into the new year had started but she couldn’t find Roy anywhere. “3…2…1… Happy new year!!!” The noise afterward could cause a deaf man to start hearing again. She covered her ears and went in a frantic search to look for her familiar stranger. At this point, she was half drunk and half high, as she was unaware that the punch shared at the party was laced with weed, codeine, and vodka.

She left the large lawn that served as the venue of the party and went into the house. She searched every room in the house and was about to turn back to look for him in the opposite direction when she noticed the bloodstain on the floor. It was little and would’ve been ignored in normal circumstances but it seemed like the concoction she drank had amplified her vision and sense of smell. She followed the scent and trailed down a corridor, into a bedroom, and stopped in the bathroom to see the body of her best friend lying literally in a pool of her own blood inside the bathtub.

She screamed hysterically and fainted but had enough time to see the culprit of the crime disinfecting his knife just before she passed out. The shock she received only made things worse as she lost consciousness even before she could call out his name.

“Bomi, Bomi. It’s not true. You can’t be the one in that bathtub. Bomi you can’t be dea…” Her words trailed off.

>>>>>>>>>

The split rays of the sun permeated her room to reveal the day was well into noon when she woke up. Wonu tried to sit up but fell back down. A sharp line of pain across her forehead sent her lying back in place without resistance. It was good enough that she could recognize that the room she found herself in was hers and not some stranger’s. “Stranger… stranger… why do I feel like I need to remember something very important about a stranger?” The sharp pain returned to answer her instead and she understood that she needed to stay quiet for some time, so she turned around and called for her sister.

“Aunty mi, aunty Yemisi…” It was no good, her voice wouldn’t reach the end of the room, talk more of going across their huge house, but God was kind enough to hear her prayers as her elder sister walked in right on time to check on her. Relief flooded Yemisi’s face as she ran to hug her baby sister. She had thought she had lost another family member on New year’s eve. She cried shamelessly while she hugged her and cleaned her runny nose to examine her sister.

“Tell me Nuola are you hurt anywhere? Where do you feel pain? Is it your hand? Left one? Right one? Your back? Or is it your leg? Talk to me now. Mummy and I have been worried sick about you. When mummy heard what happened to Bomi she fainted twice. She’s been worried about you ever since. Thank God you’re okay. I’m so glad you’re fine.”

“Bomi… Bomi… what’s wrong with her? What happened to Subomi?”

Her sister looked at her in disbelief. She couldn’t believe her sister didn’t know what had happened to her best friend the night before. She had never been one to beat about the bush so she told her matter-of-factly that her best friend was killed by a psychopath at the party the night before. Apparently, the culprit was a serial killer who liked to seduce girls around their age, kill them, and then carve his initials on their genitals (E.R).

Fear gripped Wonu in a tight hug and refused to let her go. She stared at her sister long and hard to see if it was all a prank, an expensive joke to ensure she didn’t disobey mommy again but her sister only burst into fresh tears. Unconsciously, tears started streaming down her eyes. She didn’t force it or try to stop it, she just let them trickle down softly as she reminisced the past twenty years she had spent with the most lively human she had ever known but was regarded dead.

Yemisi gave her the entire day to mourn her friend. Wonuola refused to eat or sleep, she simply sat on her bed crying silently. Her mother walked in to find her daughter still awake by 3 am and gave her Piriton to get her to sleep, if only for a few hours. After taking it she was finally able to sleep.

The next morning she was supposed to have an appointment with her family doctor, who was supposed to conduct a thorough examination on her to ensure she was perfectly okay medically. Her mom was just about to go knock on her door to get her to prepare for the appointment when she suddenly woke up from her sleep. She had remembered it all, everything that happened at the party came back fresh in her memory. She started screaming hysterically and her mother rushed in to hug her and calm her down. Fresh, hot tears flowed down her face from her eyes, she looked pale, her rosy lips charred. Her mother frantically rushed her into the car to drive her to the hospital.

On their way to the hospital, Mrs. Owonibi glanced at her daughter from the corner of her eyes. Seeing that she was now calm, she decided to strike a conversation with her daughter. “You didn’t tell me you had such a handsome boyfriend” she teased and half laughed. At first, Wonu didn’t react, then seconds later she jumped to face her mom to ask her more questions. “What is his name? What does he look like? What did he say? How did you two meet?” Fear crept into her voice with each question she asked.

Her mother thought she was simply scared that she would be angry with her for having a boyfriend so she playfully responded to her questions slowly, adding dramatic pauses at intervals. She ended with, “He was the one that brought you back home this New year’s morning when I thought I would run mad searching for you.” Then she leaned closer and whispered, “I think he’s a good kid and he’ll make a fine partner,” finishing it off with a wink.

As if being summoned, she instinctively turned to her right and saw her best friend’s murderer catching up to them quickly in a car. He was no longer wearing his glasses and the deep black pupils she thought he had were actually bright brown now that she saw them in broad daylight. He looked murderous. As if on cue, he swerved heavily to the left and hit their car off the road. That was the last thing she remembered.

>>>>>>>>>

“Oh well, I’ve been in this state for weeks now. I’ve put mummy and aunty Yemisi in needless pain long enough. Mummy, Yemisi, I love you both so much. You’re honestly the best thing that has ever happened to me but I think it’s high time I go join Bomi. My only fear is that I do not know where I’ll end up. I mean, I know I can be a very stubborn child and I did certain things I shouldn’t have done but I always sang faithfully in the choir and God knows I love Him. I guess I’ll just say a quick prayer then before they cut me o…”

Glossary

*’ember months’– used to refer to the last four months of the year and is believed to be the most dangerous time of the year to be outside in Nigeria.

*A a ni resu omo mi– Yoruba translation for “May we not see the devil (evil) my child.”

*Shalaye– A Yoruba word that means “to explain.”

All images are sourced from unsplash