the second sight episode 27

THE SECOND
SIGHT

Chapter 27

Location: SERENE TOWN

Yaw Boat doesn’t know where to take her.

She is still being weighed down by whatever drug Styles has used on her, although her movements are more frequent now.

He just drives automatically, and after a while he is surprised to find himself cruising around Serene Town.

It is a suburb of Beach County, and this is only the second or third time that he has entered its borders.

Serene Town is not a place you want to be. It is a hu-ge community, filled with beautiful buildings and nature-fresh plants and pristine streets.

It houses a variety of special institutions.

A philanthropic organization started it all by erecting a special institute for the mentally-challenged. The government followed by establishing two institutions, one for the blind and deaf, and another for orphaned kids living with AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.

From there, the institutions have sprouted, and a fancy politician with great selfish ambitions has named it Serene Town.

Three kinds of people come to the suburb: those who are potential inmates, the workers of the institutions, and visitors.

It is a ti-ghtly-secured environment, and police presence can be seen every few blocks. The first time Boat had come to the place was when his father – and his church – had donated some valued items to THE HAVEN OF BLISS, an institution that provides care for the aged, more famed for its superb services than its absurd name.

Serene Town has had its fair share of scandals, though. The most recent one had been about a male nurse at The Haven of Bliss who had obviously had a sick desi-re for wrinkled women.

No one had been able to fathom out what was going on until a vibr@nt new doctor had become suspicious of how the old ladies seemed to favour the young stud, giggling with silly abandon whenever he was around and fawning around him with the enthusiasm of teenaged girls. There had been one occasion when two brittle-boned ladies had engaged in a pathetic scratching bout simply because the nurse had seemed to give more attention to one of them.

The doctor communicated his concerns to the right ears, and secret camera had been installed, and eventually the footage had revealed the sick young nurse giving the old ladies the rides of their mature lives whilst he filmed the whole show.

Later it had been revealed that he sold those tapes at high prices to a list of clients so powerful that its existence had caused a major furore.

As Boat cruises throu-ghthe town he slowly comes out of his moroseness. He switches off the car’s air conditioner and winds down the windows. The air is fresh and clean, and as he slowly drives past the Serene plea-sure Park, he hears hears the wonderful high-pitched sounds of crickets and other nocturnal insects.

There is peace here and, most importantly, there are not many uglies here! It seems as if Serene Town is not their favourite playground.

He turns throu-ghthe entrance of the park and parks the vehicle.

The hu-ge park is lit but empty, save for a few late sleepers. Maybe doctors and nurses mostly, escaping from their hectic jobs to grab a few moments of nature and love.

Boat gets down and walks towards some shru-bs and begins to pee. He knows it is a bad practice, one he personally abhors, and he knows a policeman can appear and raise hell any moment, but today he really doesn’t care. He has been throu-ghhell, and deserves a little break no doubt.

Boat does the toss, puts the boy inside, and is zi-pping up his fly when his vision is suddenly filled with a brilliant green.

He swivels round, startled, and sees that it is Hideous, blasting away into the black sky with a screech of fear so horrible that Boat almost covers his ears.

Boat is intrigued and mystified.

Hideous, the Great Bad Thing, the fearless Demon, Supreme as-sas-sin for the demons supremo, fleeing with such fear?

What has spooked the demon so badly?

Boat turns towards the car.

The pas-senger door is open, and suddenly he sees a bright light to his left.

He turns.

The lady he has rescued is bent double, puking into a culvert.

And her whole body is suffused with that wonderful and brilliant for-ce-field.

Boat looks into the skies, and sees a tiny dot of green.

Hideous is fleeing far far far into the sky in its terror!

First Boat begins to giggle as happiness bubbles de-ep in his che-st. He is extremely happy to see Hideous in flight, and soon the giggle becomes a full-throated wail of sheer delight.

He laughs so ha-rd that he feels pains in his ribs, and tears of glee comes to his eyes. Yaw Boat knows he is sounding hysterical, but he doesn’t give two hoots!

Hideous is scared!

It has fled with a screech!

It is the most pleasant sight Boat has seen in ages.

In itself it presents no humour, because it showcased nothing new. Boat has seen that phenomenon before.

What makes him laugh, maybe, is the fact that in the past few hours he has convinced himself that nothing can be done to save him, and that he is doomed to a life he neither wants nor ready for.

Hideous’ flight is a beacon of hope and a great balm to his shattered soul. Maybe all is not lost. Maybe the light he is seeing in the tunnel isn’t that of an oncoming train after all, but a hint of entrance, a chance of life once more!

The girl is on her feet now. She sways weakly, but she looks a little bit okay now. Boat approaches her. He takes out his handkerchief and wipes a trail of saliva from her chin.

Her dull eyes regard him quietly, and then her li-ps began to tremble. A look of sheer horror crosses her face as she seems to recollect something, and then she takes two steps and falls into his arms.

Boat holds her as she cries quietly.

Her for-ce-field is gone now; it had been activated by the presence of Hideous. Boat wonders again why it had disappeared inside the lust-ful li-ps, why he had only seen a trace of it, a ba-rely discernible aura.

Has it been because after the drug Styles gave her she had lost her defences? Or did Styles’ as-sault on her had cause it to weaken somehow? Or, more reasonably, did it grow weak in the presence of so much evil?

It must have been because of the things Styles did to her, Boat thinks. He remembers something about that, something he had picked up in Sunday School many years ago, about how God turned His divine face away from Jesus when the Son was on the cross.

The sight of so much sin hanging on His only begotten Son caused God to look away. Did this lady enter into sin when Styles ravaged her with his li-ps and hands? Is that why she has lost her for-ce-field?

He holds her for a long time, even when she has stopped crying. She holds him and will not let him go even when he tries to move away..

At last she raises a soaked face to look at him.

His shoulder is w£t with her tears.

ABENA BONSU

(tremulously)

My name is Abena Bonsu. Thank you, thank you, whoever you are. Thank you very much.

Boat just stares into her beautiful radiant face, and he feels good inwardly for helping this angel.

It feels real good!

She wants to know what happened to her, and so Boat tells her, but he leaves out most of the gory details.

And then, trembling with the after-effects of her harrowing experience, she tells him her story.

She owns her own hairdressing salon in Cape Coast, and is on a short holiday to Madina. She is visiting her older sister who has finally given birth to a baby boy after sixteen years of marriage without a child.

Her brother-in-law, a respectable lawyer, has a lot of friends who had shown up at the naming ceremony of the baby.

Styles had come to the party primarily to see her brother-in-law whom he wants to represent a group of Italian businessmen who are in a sp-ot of trouble in Ghana.

After speaking to Styles for a few minutes she had been in no doubt that the man is a total sinner who does not believe in God.

Being the staunch Christian that she is, she had tried to speak to him about the great love of God. Styles had pretended to be interested, and had even promised to go to church with her if she would go to the lust-ful li-ps and get him.

The club had shocked her greatly, and she had decided to leave the moment she entered. He had served her with an unopened fruit drink. She had opened it herself and poured.

Next moment she was feeling woozy and faint, and Styles was all over her, pawing her and doing a whole lot of terrible things to her.

ABENA BONSU

(perplexed)

How did he put a glas-s in my glas-s? I was holding it all the time, and he never even tou-ched it!

BOAT

He didn’t nee-d to touch your glas-s. Fruit drink in a paper box, right? The drug was injected into the drink with a hypodermic syringe before it was brou-ght to you. If you had refused the drink, Styles also has a ring on his finger on which he sometimes dips in a drug. He will hold your arm and give you a small pinch with the ring, and the drug will enter your bloodstream immediately.

Her face fall to pieces, and her exhalation of breath is agonized.

ABENA BONSU

(horrified)

That is so horrible! I never imagined he could be so awful! How can anybody be so callous?

Boat smiles sadly.

BOAT

It could’ve been worse, Abena. Some men are jackals. You should be extra careful next time.

The moment he says it he becomes sad, somehow. Who is he kidding anyway, and who does he think he is?

He is also a jackal, definitely no saint; he has done some very terrible things himself, taking girls for a ride, only interested in the plea-sures of their bodies!

She leans forward and touches his right cheek briefly.

ABENA BONSU

(softly)

I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me, Yaw. Thank you so much. You put yourself at great risk to save my honour. I’ll eternally be indebted to you.

Once again, as he smiles down at her, he feels good.

For the first time in many years he has done something for a girl without expecting anything from her.

It makes his heart glad.

Later, after she has recovered a little bit more, Boat drives to Madina and drops her off at her sister’s place.

He goes round the car and opens the door for her, and she drops right into his arms.

She hu-gs him ti-ghtly for a moment.

She is so clean, so fresh. The kind of girls any man would want to raise a family with, to love, and to worship.

She steps back, but she is still in the circle of his arms. Her hands rested on his upper arms, and her eyes are a bit too bright in the night light.

Sometimes a man will meet a girl briefly, and he will always wish he could have known her better and longer.

It is just like that with them that night.

Her breathing is a bit quicker, and the look on her face is a bit funny.

And for just a moment Boat is all focused on her, and he doesn’t think of Elaine Blankson, his angel, for a moment.

He likes the way she fits into his arms. She is beautiful, warm and so essential.

ABENA BONSU

(smiling shyly)

You’re a very handsome man, Yaw Boat, the type mothers warn their daughters about. The kind of man who breaks V¡rginities… a very dangerous species of man.

BOAT

(smiling ruefully)

Now I’m confused. I don’t know whether that was mean as a compliment, or as a put down.

She laughs a little. Shakily, unsteadily.

She stands on tiptoe suddenly and ki-sses him on the right cheek quickly, and then she steps out of his arms.

She looks at him, and the smiles gone, and her face is sad and serious.

ABENA BONSU

(softly)

Wish I can know you more, Yaw, my hero of the night. I hope we meet again.

BOAT

(gently)

Yeah. Wish I’ll meet you again someday, Abena.

Their fingers are the last to part, and he watches her walk to their front door with a heart not quite steady. The door opens, and she turns for a last wave, and then she is gone.

Boat still stands for a moment, and it dawns on him that they should have exchanged cell numbers.

After a moment he enters the car.

He feeds the accelerator and drives away.

He is about five kilometres from his father’s residence when a green light explodes in his car again, and Hideous settles down in his backseat.

Boat has no fear now.

He swings the car to the roadside and parks, and then he turns and looks at that murdering demon.

There is a smile on his li-ps, and he knows it isn’t a really nice smile.

BOAT

(hissing)

You know I can see you, right? And I’m sure you can hear me too, you f*¢king coward! You’re such a bully, not quite so tough, are you? You pick on innocent people and do your shit with them, but you’re nothing but a little silly green piece of shit, aren’t you? Why didn’t you stay in the car when she was around, you f*¢king coward?

The ugly face of the demon does not change.

Suddenly a tentacle flashes fast forward, and gives Boat a sudden terrible slap across his and it feels like he has been hit by a giant.

It almost wrenches his head off his shoulders, and it drives him bodily across the seat to smash painfully against the steering-wheel.

Boat’s ribs hammer the wheel, and his ears ring with the ferocity of that hit.

He cannot see anything for a moment because his vision has clouded over. His eyes are filled with sudden unshed tears, and for a moment he struggles to catch his breath.

He gazes at Hideous with impotent fury and – yes – fear.

Its expression is not so impas-sive now. There is a sort of aggressiveness about it, as if it is daring Boat to open his big mouth again.

Without another word Boat turns and begins to drive again. He has to breathe shallowly throu-ghhis li-ps because there is a great pain still in him, somewhere around the regions of his heart.

After a moment he hears a derisive titter from the backseat.

Typical. Evil for-ces are bullies, especially Hideous.

He drives into the courtyard of his father’s house, his house.

He kills the engine, and then the phone begins to ring.

Boat fumbles his phone out because it is the special tone for his father.

Tbc….