A Truthful lie

"Mum do I really have to go? I can just call and give my greetings over the phone" Favour Said to her Mum who had come into her room to remind her for what seemed like the one hundredthth time of their visit to Her Uncle Paul's place. 

"Do u just enjoy hearing me repeat myself? I already told you" replied Favour's Mum, Rita "Besides you love going over there what's wrong" She continued

 "Yeah mum but I just don't feel up to it today" retorted Favour while rolling her eyes.

"Whatever you say, just be in the car in 30 minutes" Rita concluded as she left her Daughter's room. She was in no mood to argue, the day was far too hot for that. 

Favour put her phone down to get ready for this visit she was less than willing make. She hasn't been home for up to a week and her Mom was already giving her a headache, this was definitely going to be a long summer Vacation. She had finished her final exams for her 3rd year in the University about two weeks ago and was now home to spend the holidays with Mom. It has always been just the two of them for as long as she could remember, the topic of who her Dad was and the circumstances surrounding his demise was always avoided by Rita. All she knew was that he had died while while her Mom was pregnant, She was usually not forthcoming with the details and seeing as the whole event was still traumatic to her more than two decades later, Favour tried to stay away from the topic as well although it wasn't exactly an easy thing to do.

Growing up, her Uncle Paul had been the closest thing she had to a father. He was Rita's Older and only brother, Favour absolutely adored him, he had been there for her more times than she could count and his home had always been like a second home to both her and Mum.  

As Favour sat down in a chair to tie her shoe laces, she suddenly remembered a very weird incident that occurred few days ago. Rita was at work, and Favor decided to go to the Mall to pick up a few things for the house, She decided to call up her Childhood friend and former Neighbor Kathy, they grew up together and had spent almost half their life together until her family moved away. Kathy was a cheerful and free spirited girl, she was the kind of ogerson that could hardly be caught angry. She attended University in the Same City they grew up,so she was usually home, although she also was on summer break. Kathy agreed to come with and promised to meet her there, so she had thrown on some clothes and put on a little make-up and then called up a cab. Since her house was nearer she arrived before Kathy did, so she decided to just go in and wait for her at the favourite ice cream parlor. When she got to the Entrance door, there was a security Guard vyhere as usual, he looked to be about 50 or so tall and heavily built, immediate he saw her, he stared at Favour like he had just seen a ghost, it was weird to say the least. Favour tried to not think much of it, maybe she wasn't even the one he was looking at,She quickly made her way inside the building. After what seemed like ages Kathy finally arrived and they hugged and ordered some ice cream and snacks to munch on while they talked. And then she saw him again, the Security guard, he pretended to be merely taking a stroll checking things out but he kept casting glimpses at her as if trying to figure something out, it was really creepy. She had to hold Kathy back from approaching him to know what he's deal was

"Sweetie are you ready? We have to get going, I wanna make make back in time to watch "The proposal" Rita yelled from downstairs interrupting Favour's thought.

"Yeah Mum I'm almost done" Favour answered while wondering why Her mum loved that ridiculous show. She still didn't know why she was been made to go see Uncle Paul today, she could always go visit him whenever she wanted and felt like. After a few minutes she rushed down the stairs purse in one hand and phone in the other.  

The drive took about 45 minutes, Since it was a Sunday the roads were fairly free. Taking a drive round the City of Calabar where she grew up, has always been one of her favorite things to do especially in the company of her Mom. They would put on the radio or connect either of their phones to the Car's Speaker and just sing along to whatever music came on. Rita couldn't sing to save her life, but she would raise her voice to it's highest pitch while pretending she was a famous Superstar on a stage. It was always hilarious for Favour to watch.

As they drove in through the gates of Uncle Paul's house, Favour could see him sitting in a Chair in front of the house doing whatever it was middle aged Men did on their phones. She smiled, she really had missed him though and Aunt Steph and Jeremy their son. 

"So Favy I heard you are now too big to come see me" He said as soon as she stepped out of the Car.

Favour turned to Rita rolling her eyes, of course she told him. Smiling from earlier to ear she jogged up to him and gave him a hug saying "Oh Uncle you know you shouldn't believe everything you hear"

Soon they were all seated in the living room talking about everything. Uncle Paul was telling yet another story of when he and Rita were Kids. This was nice Favour thought in her mind, this was Family the only family she had ever known, these four people here plus Jeremy though he wasn't home today. She looked at her mum as she laughed out loud at something Unce Paul just said, she was beautiful, she had a round face, pointed nose and dark brown eyes, with a light ebony Skin that always glowed.Many Said that she was the exact replica of her mum and they weren't far from the truth, so now as she looked at Momma she could almost see herself saw for the few lines underneath her eyes and that look that you could only see if you knew what you were looking for, these were the only evidence that revealed all the pain she kept so perfectly hidden.

After some hours of Talks, laughter, eating and more laughter, Favour and her Mum were ready to call it a day and head back home. Uncle Paul had made her promise that she'd be back before travelling back to school. Of course she'd be back she thought if nothing else but to see Jeremy and ransack his closet as she usually does.

Favour was telling Rita about a recipe that she would love when she saw him again. They had just turned the corner that would lead them to the Estate where they lived and there he was again just standing like he was waiting for someone.

"Ok this is getting really creepy" Favour Said

"What?  How's the recipe creepy" answered Rita

"Not that mum, I just saw some one that I saw the other day I went to the Mall with Kathy. He was a Security guard there and he just kept staring at me. It's really strange that he's here I've never seen him in this area before"

"Really? ... probably just a coincidence, but you got to be careful. This town is even worse that it used to be in terms of security".

"Yeah sure" Favour replied. But deep down she felt like something wasn't quite right.

It was a Friday, almost a week had gone by since Favour Last saw the Security Guard, infact she hadn't really given him much thought since that night. They had made it home, just in time for Rita to watch her TV Show which Favour joined it to watch as usual even though she never got the show, but for some reason she watched it every time with her. 

Favour was on her way out to go see Dave, she met him in University few months ago and he had called to tell her that he came into town visiting family and so they had agreed to meet up.

It was a great day and it had been an even more week. Been in good spirits she decided to walk out to the main road to wait for the taxi she had called, little did she know that the day and her life was about to change.

She didn't notice him until he was almost in her face, up close she could see that he had a thin scar across his cheek, he looked different that he looked the past two times she had seen him, like he had had a rough couple of days with little sleep. He said Hello, to her, asking that she speak to him for a few minutes. Favour was taken aback by him, she knew there was no way he could try to do something to her out her in broad daylight with people everywhere or so she prayed. She was a bit Scared because this has clearly been following either her or her mum or both of them to know where they lived, but as Rita has taught her all these years, she out on a brave face and told him she wasn't going anywhere with him. He didn't like her answer but he kept his cool and asked again saying "trust me you want to talk to me, I know what happened to your Dad" 

"What" Favour answered. This man must be crazy right? How could he know? Who was he? She thought to herself. Favor was confused, on the one hand she wanted to walk away from this lunatic but on the other she kinda wanted to know what he had to say. She opted for the later, she was after all a curious person. "Fine we can talk, but I'm not going anywhere with you, we'll talk her where everyone can see us" she told him

"Whatever you say" He responded.

She led him to a shop on the road that had some chairs and tables outside.

They sat down and she waited for the weirdo to say what he had to say

"When I saw you last week at the Mall, It felt like I was taken back in time, you are a spitting image of Rita. I knew she had to be your mother so I managed to track you down and I confirmed it.I knew your mother, from back in the day, before you were born" He began.

Ok and? Why not meet her and reconnect with her? Why stalk us and ambush me" Favour answered

"Rita is the reason your Daddy was killed"

Favour just stared at him in mockery at first and then later in disbelief and then confusion.

"Micheal, your Father was my best pal, we grew up together, he was my brother. They met when she was around your age. I admit I watched you both this past week and the Rita I saw is not the one I knew years back the one that got my brother killed

He paused for a moment. Favour just stared at him, she wanted to stand up and storm out, why should she sit and listen to this man talk about her momma this way. But she remained glued to her seat.

"Your Mom never really cared for Michael, your at Least not the way he cared for her, but he was determined to be with her. She manipulated him into thinking she loved him and he fell for it. I warned him to stay away from her, to find someone else but he wouldn't listen to me. Few months into their relationship, Michael found out that she was cheating on him. He was so hurt and angry, I had never seen him that way before, he directed his anger to the man she was cheating with. Michael sought him out and warned him to stay away from Rita. Meanwhile Rita had cried and begged Michael to forgive her, claiming it was a one time thing and it would never happen again. Again against my advice Michael forgave her and everything seemed to be back to normal. Few weeks later Rita announced that she was pregnant, Michael was so happy, he said he was going to marry her and was already making arrangements to do just that. One day were taking a walk back from where I can't even remember, it was almost dark with just s few people on the road and we ran into him, the guy your mother cheated with, the guy your dad had harrassed in his anger but he wasn't alone, he had two other guys with him. They stopped us and basically dared us to fight with them, the guy kept going on about how your Dad had disrespected him and must pay for it. To cut the story short, we tried to hold our ground but we were outnumbered and they were definitely high on something, your dad kept tellng your mom to run but before she could she was held down by one of the guys.Next thing I know the guy brings out a gun says he's going to teach your dad a lesson he will never forget, he begins to say things that didn't even make any sense like how he knows Rita was pregnant and it was his baby while waving the gun around, and that's when I heard the sound..."

Favour gasped she knew what was coming but she didn't want to hear it, she couldn't, she needed to get home, to call momma, surely this man must be crazy. If all this were true surely she would have told her long ago. She stood up forcefully barely aware of the sound of the chair as it scraped the concrete. She rushed into the road searching her purse for her phone, in the distance she could hear her name,like someone was calling out to her to watch out, but it was too late by the time she saw the car her head had already hit the floor. "This is good" she thought as her world turned black, "I'll go to sleep and when I wake this would all have never happened... right?".