Death of a Life

*****

There were no stars that night.

A phantom maestro pulled his fisted hands to the sides and the constant chirping of the crickets and hoots of the big-eyed owls ceased – the death of a rhythm.

We only heard the dry crackle of the leaves we massacred along the way to the deepest part of the woods.

Only the faintest light of the moon shone through the thick, grey clouds that also ate up the once-luminescent stars. That light was the only witness to the deed we were going to do tonight.

George and I huffed up every breath we could draw. You ask why? It’s for heaving the heavy body of life we were carrying to where it was going to be hidden forever. The limbs peeking out of the blanket added more weight to the guilty conscience we were already carrying.

George surveyed the area.

There, a red flag stood in the middle.

He told me we were already in the dead center.

A grave, wide and deep, was already dug up there. He’d been gone all day for me to understand the exhaustion crawling up his veins now. George’s strong physique somehow looked frail.

“What if they find out?” I asked. Already, tears were brimming my vision.

But he did not answer for the longest time. His back was facing me with his shoulders rising to the highest and dropping down almost immediately. A deafening silence enveloped the atmosphere only disturbed by his deep breathing.

He turned to face me.

A mad look took over his whole demeanor. His eyes – they were feral almost.

“No one’s going to.”

His whisper was a savage sound. I sensed what it was. Desperation.

We threw the body into the hole and urgently closed the pit with earth.

Rain gradually started to make their descent upon us.

All of a sudden, there was a rustle nearby.

I scanned the area and saw what made the noise. I turned my back to it.

I looked at George as he turned to me. Stains. We were drenched in sins. There were no mistaking it for anything other than what it really was.

“We need to go home immediately.” Throughout the course of this night, panic had already sewn itself into my voice. “Before the neighborhood finds out about the evidence.”

George gently touched my face. His expression had morphed into one that was soft and entirely fragile.

“Jen, you’re in this with me, right?”

Shivering from the frosty sting of the night air, my lips quivered as I dipped my chin. Yes.

Always.

Together, we followed the trail back to our home.

I looked back at the one that caused the noise earlier.

I turned my back and proceeded to walk.

*****

“Hey.”

That voice always managed to bring out a grin every time. I turned to see the brightest smile I have ever seen. Feelings of warmth and sunshine just exuded from her direction. I always get that around this woman. Dressed in the most radiant orange African kaftan, paired with a tangerine turban and large, golden hoop earrings and blessed with a big body, you can never lose her in a crowd of thousands.

“Oh, Chelsea,” she said in her thick Kenyan accent. “I could never thank you enough for what you’ve always done for our village.”

She encircled her arms around me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“You come back here again, okay?”

“I’ll never stop coming back here, Mama Zawadi.” She insisted on calling her by that name from the moment I first met her. “And I should be the one thanking you for giving me the opportunity to help here.”

She loosened her hug to look at me incredulously.

“Help? Young woman, you’ve done more than help around here. For that, you will forever be emblazoned in our hearts.”

“CHELSEA!!!”

Just then, a screaming little boy not more than four came running towards our direction, creating a mighty dust storm upon his wake. Mama Zawadi’s grandson, Kerubo.

“Nitakukosa, Chelsea, he cried as he reached to squish my legs with his hug: I’m going to miss you, Chelsea.  “Usiondoke kwa muda mrefu sana, sawa?”

Don’t go away for too long, okay?

“I’ll always come back for you, mvulana mjanja.” I replied in Swahili. I couldn’t help but laugh at his scrunched up face.

I kissed his forehead and turned to Mama Zawadi. She was the leader of their village. I’ve reached out to many villages here in Kenya but theirs was my favorite one to come back to. Their grinning faces amidst hunger and poverty and a comforting sense of community always inspired to work harder and help people who are much in need of my aids.

“Bye, for now, Mama,” I embraced her again and walked to my transport vehicle.

I waved goodbye one last time at them as I went inside.

I need to be back home by Christmas Eve. My best friends and I always planned to spend Christmas time together. We had met each other at an early point in our lives as we all had lived in orphanages. Came 1987, five little devils were all under one roof. Little did they know, they’d be close-knit for life. We promised each other to meet during Christmas even though we each went to different families when we were teenagers. Luckily, our foster parents agreed to this. They drove us every time before Christmas Eve and left us to stay at Jen’s house because Jen’s foster parents insisted on hosting each year. They had a large house and a huge treehouse for us to have a sleepover held in it - just us friends. We always had gifts chosen for each other. Because we had extremely different personalities and distinctly so, too, I haven’t had trouble picking matching presents for everybody.

This time around, I’ve got some exotic presents set for each of them.

I can’t wait to see everyone!

*****

I waited for everyone to go out.

There he was. My favorite student. I rolled my eyes.

Well, this is getting boring.

I climbed the stairs of the lecture hall to get to the top row seats where he was. Comfortably sleeping.

“Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco,” I chanted repeatedly to show how repeatedly he was disturbing my peaceful state of being. “Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco.”

Now, ten more times to make sure. Ok, I’m known to be the Fun Professor at this university. But this student just ticks me off.

In the seventh repetition, his face crumpled in annoyance.

“MOM, stop it,” he complained about his eyes still closed.

“This is Professor Mike Evans. Your favorite, remember?

“What – SIR YES, SIR!”

He shot up straight as a pole and I gotta hold back my laughter with that.

“This ain’t the military, young man,” I mused. “In fact, quite the opposite.”

Surprised, he turned to look at me like he didn’t come to class 30 minutes late earlier. He seemed to have forgotten about his college degree. I could forget about that, too, then.

 “Oh, Sir Mike, it’s you. It’s just that, I have this shift at work last night and-”

“Save the excuses for the court, soldier! You already have the lowest marks in my class and the other professors are already complaining about your academic performance this semester. You have maintained the infamy, my boy”

“Profess–“

“You have been a student of mine since your freshman year. I have defended you long enough using your pathetic excuses. You have been accepted into this university, Marco, among thousands of other applicants. Don’t make us regret it.”

“Yes, sir!”

I grinned.

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy-”

“-Kalu Ndukwe Kalu, sir!”

“Well done, young padawan. Please do this for me if you can’t do it for yourself, Mr. Esperanza. You have great potential ahead of you. Don’t waste it.”

His eyes sparkled for a mid-second before he found the floor interesting. Yep, I have that effect.

He sniffed, “God, these allergies. Um, thanks, Mr. E. I have another shift tonight so I better get going!”

With that, he enthusiastically waved goodbye and sprinted towards the door.

I rolled my eyes.

He does remind me of certain people.

Speaking of those people, the sleepover! I completely forgot about that. I’ve missed three years in a row already.

Now, I have shopping to do.

Damn it. My back hurts.

*****

“I’M HOME!”

No one replied. Where are they, now?!

“Jen! George!” Those people! Probably rutting out in bed.

“You’re here.”

Jen was walking down the staircase. They look like shit. What the hell – is she on something? She looked annoyed. Most people do when I bless them with my presence. I mean, some people are just straight ungrateful.

“Well, aren’t you too happy to see me,” I remarked. “George definitely did you rough last night, didn’t he?”

She swatted my head and froze.

“Hey, sis? You okay? Because if you’re on drugs, you know I’m not a doctor yet, right?”

Well, technically, I just finished my pre-med course, Biology.

“Levi, I have something to tell you.”

“What, you’re pregnant?”

“Other than that-“

Wait, what.

“You mean there’s something more important than you telling me you’re pregnant?”

She swatted my head again.

In a flip moment, she turned gravely serious again. Now, this is disturbing me.

“Spit it out. You’re driving me crazy here-”

“We killed him.”

“No,” I said in pure disbelief. “Does anyone else know? Where is he?”

“You must keep quiet.”

*****

It was already six in the afternoon. December 24. My head was spinning from doing everything that happened last night. It was a chorus of hammers thumping my skull one after the other. There were faint sounds – voices. Am I going crazy? They sound like Jen’s and Levi’s.

Jen and Levi. December 24. THE PARTY!

I immediately grabbed my shirt and put it on. We needed to prepare everything. The tables. The chairs. The games. THE FOOD!

“HONEY, calm down. You are thinking out so loud. It’s really annoying,” my wife called out. I turned to look at them. All solemn faces.

“He knows, George,” Jen added.

“What you did was a good thing,” Levi cut through. “He – he was a parasite. A taker. But the others can’t take this”

Our group of friends. Our family.

Jen’s foster parents died several years ago in a devastating car crash. My own foster momma died of cancer two years ago. Such great people.

Our friends were the only ones we’ve got right now.

“Hey, something wrong?”

Mike.

“Brother!” I embraced him in a long, long hug. “You imbecile! You’re too busy to go here now, huh. Three years and only video calls. Man, I missed you!”

He laughed and stopped as he saw Jen.

“Hi, Jen.”

They looked immediately away from each other. That was weird.

Mike proceeded to swat Levi’s head.

“Nerd,” Levi retorted. “Missed you.”

“Nerd, yourself, doofus.”

“-Hey, at least I pick up girls from the club.”

“Let’s–” I began but was cut off.

“SURPRISE!”

The whole atmosphere just illuminated with her voice.

“CHELSEA!” Everybody shouted in unison. She was our baby. Now, a full-fledged environmentalist. Everybody loved her. Even strangers she bumped into in the streets. She kept traveling to support the Green Belt Movement by doing tree planting projects along the way amongst other projects. I’m proud of what she had done. I’m scared of what she might know.

She kissed everybody and gave them their wrapped souvenirs. Her ebony skin glowed with excitement.

“Now, don’t you open that until midnight, ok?” she demanded.

Nods of agreement echoed around the group.

“Now let’s go to the back-“

“NO!” Jen, Levi, and I shouted at the same time.

Chelsea’s eyes narrowed. Suspicion.

“You can’t stop me.”

She ran. Dang. She really ran!

Ten steps forward with my sprint, I can’t even breathe. This might be the becoming-a-Daddy effect. Well, will you look at that! I’m gonna be a father real soon. Now, back to Chelsea.

She can’t know.

When I finally caught up with her. She was on her knees, crying. No. She was kneeling in front of the misplaced evidence. Damn.

“Chelsea, come back. I can explain!”

Everybody else was behind me, catching up.

“Chelsea, baby, I’m sorry,” Jen cried, ever the mother. “Let’s go back inside and talk about this.”

Chelsea lifted her head to glare at us.

“YOU MONSTERS!” She snarled with fury and then, ran towards the woods.

Jen grabbed my hand and ran after Chelsea.

“Oh, Georgie, what have we done?”

Tears were already streaming down her face.

We were all barefooted when we dashed through twigs and sharp rocks. Damn it.

“Is everybody okay? Jen, are you okay, baby?” I shouted to make sure.

“Only got bloody feet, man,” Levi countered. “Not much.”

“Sit with the pain until it passes, and you will be calmer for the next one,” Mike yelled and everybody groaned. “Naval Ravikant”

“No shit, Nerdy Sherlock,” Levi yelled back. “I ain’t gonna be calmer for the next one!”

We ran and ran until we reached it.

The dead center.

There it was. The red flag, marking the sinister act we had committed.

But everything was dug up. Chelsea was there at the bottom-hugging the limbs.

Levi threw up.

“Man, am I out of shape,” he mused.

“I knew it!” Mike shouted.

Jen started to say, “Mike-“

“I came last night to surprise you but you weren’t in the house. I searched every nook you’ve got there. Nada. But I went to the back and saw what you have done. You still disposed of the body in the middle of the woods – of nowhere instead of giving him a proper burial! You heard me last night but it was only Jen who saw me. I can’t believe it. You killed a life!”

That was why they acted so weird earlier. Neither of them also wanted to bring it up.

“What they did was right. He seeped out the life of others. They really needed to kill him.”

Everybody became quiet even the heartfelt, heavy sobs of Chelsea.

Jen and I looked at each other.

“He had a lot of memories with us, yes,” I said. “But it was time we let him go.”

Chelsea climbed up the pit. Mike and Levi pulled her upright.

Jen went to her and patted down the dirt on her clothes.

“Don’t ever run away like that again,” Jen said as she pulled her into the tightest hug whilst crying. “I was so worried.”

“We’re sorry we didn’t tell you earlier, Chelsea,” I said. “We didn’t want to upset you and apparently, we did a bad job at that.”

“Now, I understand why you did it. I forgive you,” Chelsea hiccupped. “I’m sorry I made you chase me.”

Now, we can all properly say goodbye.

We looked down at our shrunk treehouse. Mangy and scabbed with age.

“Goodbye, Mr. Tree House,” Chelsea cried while saying it. “We had fun with you.”

We gave him a proper burial that day in our backyard with a proper epitaph.

We celebrated his life the next day and we exchanged our presents.

Then, Jen gave the good news.

“I put too much nutmeg in the eggnog, didn’t I? Anyways, I’m pregnant, it’s a boy – Hmm, and cinnamon, too”

Everybody stared at her in disbelief.

“WAIT, WHAT.”