Episode 3

 

THE RICH MAN'S DAUGHTER

(Based on a true story)

By Luke, Prim and Jackline

EPISODE 3.

Edgar and Emerald had been betrothed, by their parents, at a tender age and I longed to see that bond broken. Her parents wanted someone of a high caliber, which on the onset, I wasn’t. I knew I couldn’t work miracles in a day and become rich so as to be considered but I so wished. I thought to myself how best I would give her the life she grew up in but it was outright she was doing me a favor. I wasn’t loveable, so I thought. I questioned the kind of heart she had that she paid for a new hostel for me. I pondered these things and loved her the more.

A week after his return to Kenya, Edgar paid Emerald's parents a visit. He played it cool with them as if all was well and fervently assured them that he was eagerly waiting for her to complete school and officially ask for her hand in marriage. Of course her parents were even happier with the affirmation. Emerald’s mother called her to inform her of the great news that Edgar still hadn’t looked on the side for another woman. She was agitated and couldn’t wait to tell me. In her tone, I knew she was frantic. She asked me for help on how to tell her parents that she no longer loved Edgar. I had no idea how to advise. My own parents didn’t know I was in a relationship anyway.

The hope of being with Emerald stirred something in me. I still wanted to be a hero. Whatever it would take, I was ready to offer. I decided to think of any way possible to win it. There were many ways but I wanted our relationship to be rooted on truth so I told her to honestly explain why she didn’t want Edgar anymore. To tell them the hidden truths about his life which included how vicious he was. I explained to her that she had to be smart if it were going to be a success because her parents would not just take her word for it given the assurance Edgar had earlier made. I advised her to be protective of her feelings for me so that they wouldn’t be preyed on by her parents.

A few days later, I got a letter from my new hostel's custodian. It was addressed to me. Upon opening it, I was so dazed that it was from Edgar, with a bold reference, "Last Warning!" I was alarmed, the letter being proof he had located me already. He added in the letter that he had given me only seven days to break whatever was between me and Emerald and send him a proof of the break up if at all I wanted to live and see another week after that. I couldn't handle it alone so I at once told Emerald about it. She advised me to report to the University Police and when I went to the station, I openly explained to them all that was happening; Edgar’s threats at my peril, assault and other unknown things that were, probably soon, to happen. They resolved to allot an officer to patrol my hostel every night. This brought back a portion of relief and confidence to continue with the battle. 

The seven days passed and I was still alive. I became braver and convinced that Edgar had given up on us. In the morning of the eighth day, I got a note on my door and it simply read, "Any last words?" I got terrified beyond measure. I went back to the police station but they assured me that the guy was just bluffing. That evening, I returned back from campus very early since I didn't want to take any chances. At about 7:45pm, I went out to have supper at my usual restaurant nearby. On my way back, just about 50 meters away from the hostel gate, a certain gang of four attacked me. Looks like they had gone to my hostel room and missed me only to bump into me just in time. I knew my forty days had come. I couldn't see any of their faces since it was very dark.  They grabbed me and suffocated me that I couldn't even scream. They, in haste, dragged me to a van waiting by where they blindfolded me and tucked a cloth in my mouth before driving off swiftly. I couldn’t track the direction. 

In the van, I was slapped, punched and kicked till I became unconscious. With every blow, I heard my bones rattle. On waking up, it was morning and I was in a shipping container. I could see a dim beam of light coming in through what looked like the door. Judging from the surrounding noise, I was in an industrial area. When I fully gained my senses, I tried moving my body but I felt a lot of pain especially in my wrists and ankles. The pain was so excruciating that I felt like my every bone had been broken. I gathered the last of my strength and tried to move again but I couldn’t for I was tied up on a chair and my mouth glued up with a duct tape. It then clicked, I had been kidnapped. I was so helpless. Given my humble background, I couldn’t imagine someone kidnapping me for a ransom. The only reason on my guess list was my relationship with Emerald. It then occurred to me that indeed Edgar hadn’t made a jest about me breaking up with Emerald. I wondered how she was doing and if she would ever know I had been left in a deserted place to die because of my love for her.

The day passed by, very slowly and none of the kidnappers showed up to check on me. Not that I expected them to or not to but I wanted my death to be worth it. I needed to see the face of the man that was responsible for that. I tried my best to loosen the ropes but I ended up hurting myself farther since they were hard to detangle. I had to pee on myself. 

As night fell, I became weaker and starved. The night was long, really long and I couldn’t close an eye. I tied to shout but no sound came out.  I cried my eyes dry. I made several prayers asking God; to forgive me and keep Emerald safe, to help me die a happy man and to terribly reprimand my kidnappers and the person behind the kidnap. I gave up thoughts of being saved. It felt like my day had finally come.

The following day, life became more agonizing. I was all smelly, feeble and powerless. All I could imagine was dying like a dog in a wretched place without even my parents knowing. I wondered what I would have told them happened to me. I felt sorry for myself; for lying to them and ending up in such a situation. “Will they ever accept Emerald as my wife if we make it out alive after all this?” I wondered as fresh tears formed my eyes.  

Being a staunch Christian, I had gone through a three day dry fast before and so I made it through to the fourth day but the pain in every part of my body never gave me the liberty to accustom myself with the chair. I became so frail, as if I had been on a hunger strike. I was super ravenous. The stench in the container, from my uncontrolled peeing and the dirt previously in it, caused one of my nostrils to block leaving me hardly breathing well. Thank God I didn’t feel like empting my bowels. I saw my end draw near and in my mind I knew I couldn't make it to the fifth day so I made my last prayers; that God would receive my soul and that Edgar would never get back with Emerald. All I wished was for her to locate my family and help them grieve me. I knew I would certainly go meet my maker.

On the fifth day, the whole shipment container was stinking. I felt like my soul had left me and was somewhere watching my fragile body lose its life because making it to the next hour was definitely going to be a great miracle. As I sat there, counting every second that passed by before I breathed my last, I saw the container door open. I was too weak to say my last words so I just closed my eyes and let my end come. The end indeed came but to my abduction.

I was found by security guards of the nearby factory. One of them had been looking for a hideout to smoke only to find a lot flies gathered in a corner of the container and this raised his curiosity. He called his friends and when they opened the container, there I was, literally putrid and tied up on a chair left to die gradually.

They cleaned me up, took me to the nearest hospital and reported to the police which searched for my identity and or any news of a missing person. When they checked my pockets, they found my University ID which pointed out I was a student of Makerere University. They called the University Police Station. At the University Police Station, I had been reported missing. My abductors had done me good forgetting to check my pockets.

The beatings and the starvation worked on me a great deal that when I woke up, I was still on a hospital bed having on drips of water and glucose. Emerald was seated on a chair next to the bed but she was fast asleep. I tried to talk but got choked so I coughed. This woke her up and she was so excited to see me awake. I was much more thrilled she was the first I set my eyes on. I asked her what had happened and how she found me. She told me that I had been in a coma for the past five days. About finding me, she said had been greatly worried when for two days, my phone was off and I was inactive on Facebook which prompted her to board and come to Uganda and when she wouldn’t find me at hostel, she reported to our University Police Station that I was missing. The Police asked a few of the hostel residents and none had seen me for three days which confirmed that I was certainly missing. They kept looking for me for the whole of that third day but had no leads. This impelled Emerald to call Edgar and ask if he had any hand in my disappearance but he denied. "I'd never hurt my Fiancé's boyfriend," he added. I scoffed at that statement. I don’t know why but I felt, inside me, he would never have her. Anyway, it was a relief to her when the University Police called to confirm I had been found by some security guards in an abandoned shipment container. She noted, with a smile, to have cried and cursed the person that did that to me. She also mentioned that many of my friends from my hostel, church and school had come to visit me but being in a coma, I must have not realized. I was rueful because I knew they had all known how I messed up.

Emerald took care of me the entire time till I was strong enough to be discharged. She cleared all the hospital bills and we went back to my hostel. I didn’t have enough proof to file a case against Edgar but in my mind, he suffered the worst torture on earth. Besides, I didn’t have money to push it and I didn’t want Emerald paying for anything of my selfishness.

I kept it all to myself and never told my parents. That would break them. I thanked God, having no television, they had no way of watching the news of how their beloved son had gone missing. Emerald stayed with me for a while till she was certain I was physically and psychologically stable to stand on my own.

That while felt like we were surely married. The joy of having her around me made me forget how I had just cheated death. We had fun, lots of it. That enabled me heal quickly. We still had our values to observe so we maintained the respect for each other even while sharing the same bed. I stayed at hostel the entire time she was around. I didn't step in for any lecture much as she tried to convince me to. It felt unfair; I, going for lectures and she, staying doing all the chores yet we both were students didn't seem fair at all. I wouldn’t bear my own thoughts if I were to be in class. I was also mortified that the whole class would laugh at me since they all had heard the news.

The two weeks we were together after being discharged from the hospital drew the examination time nearer and I had to let Emerald go back much as all she wanted was to stay longer and make sure nothing happened to me again. I wanted her to stay too for I had gotten used to her tenderness. I so badly wanted her to wait to go but I didn’t have power over it. It was about four days to the End of Semester Exams. My love for her included her completing her education so I let her go. As usual, I escorted her to the bus terminal and she boarded off to Nairobi. Watching her go felt like a heartbreak but I had hopes we would meet again, soon.

I returned to hostel that evening and yet again, there was another letter at my doorstep..........

(To be continued in Episode 4).

Catch us again next Thursday with Episode 4

The Rich Man's Daughter.

Written by:

Luke Davis

lookndavis@gmail.com

+256770391771

Edited by:

Prim Nabwire

primnabwire95@gmail.com

+256786852800

Jackline W.Kabura Adams

jackykabura@gmail.com

Tel: + 254742386914

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have been blessed by this story, and also in case of any question.