Nobody Remembered

“Slow down Ben!” Iyke said with an edge of concern, and maybe a little worry in his voice. Tolu and Cossie snorted from where they were both snuggled in the back seat of the car as they all drove down for the graduation party booked by their University department’s student body executives at the popular Korado Beach Resort. The Biochemistry Department had less than 70 students graduating this year so at least the party won’t be crowded, Iyke thought.

It had been a frantic couple of months, with the academic year disrupted by the strike action of the national academic union of university staff members which had lasted almost 4months, causing the last semester of their final year in school to become a rushed affair as the strike ended and lecturers scrambled to cram all the remaining activities of the university curriculum into the few months left before the start of a new academic calendar. Suffice it to say that after their trial by fire, the exhausted students wholeheartedly embraced the notion of a graduation party when it was proposed, especially since they weren’t paying for it themselves.

The University’s Natural and Applied Sciences faculty, particularly its Biochemistry Department had a very generous benefactor in the Dangote Group, one of the biggest companies in the country. The company underwrote grants, provided scholarships – he was a beneficiary - and once in a while, picked up the odd tab for extracurricular student events, which was how Iyke found himself in his friend’s car hurtling 120km/h down the expressway towards what was billed as ‘the party to end all parties’ this rainy Friday evening.

“I know you fancy yourself the next Lewis Hamilton, but I’d like to get to this bash in one piece,” he said “besides, when was the last time you took this car for an alignment and wheel balancing.” Ben just grinned and pulled to the left, his concentration on the road, overtaking the next car but slowing down a bit as they sped down the freeway, accompanied by a pearl of thunder rumbling in the rain laden sky overhead.

“Don’t worry ma guy, NG will date you still, even if you look like Freddy Krueger. This party is TDB, they booked so many rooms nobody will be left wanting. So relax, maybe you’ll even get lucky tonight.” Chima said in his usual devil may care manner and they all laughed.

It had become something of a running joke in the department about how much time he and NG spent with one another. Over the past year, their relationship had steadily grown and strengthened, so much so that he couldn’t imagine going a day without talking to her.

At first, he had only noticed her in passing, they had been casual acquaintances, colleagues and competitors in their quest for knowledge and the acquisition of a distinguished university degree. They hadn’t really run in the same social circles, she was more of a political animal than he was, even though he was the department’s student financial secretary, she was in the Student Union Government and held executive posts in a few of the University’s social clubs.

It wasn’t until they returned from the industrial training program in their penultimate year and were assigned to the same academic supervisor that their relationship changed. The more time they spent together, the more they discovered about each other, the more they couldn’t wait to learn more. She introduced him to the world of movies and got him appreciating the exquisite pleasure of losing oneself in a good book. He shared his passion for music and his culinary adventures with her, often laughing at the way she’d dramatically wrinkle her nose before sampling any dish she’d never tried before.

By mutual agreement, they decided to hold off on physical intimacy until their final exams were over. Which means that tonight……no, can’t think about it yet. Loathe though he was to admit it, he was sometimes frightened by the depth of his feelings for her, but the most amazing thing about it was that she appeared to have the same strong feelings for him too. His friendship with her cousin Eric also seemed to have been a factor in his favor, speaking of whom...

“Cossie, is it true that Ada broke up with Eric?” Iyke asked, turning in his seat to look in the back as a flash of lightening illuminated the interior of the car.

“I don’t know for sure what happened, but I think it was mutual” shaking her head “You know he’s travelling abroad after graduation, maybe they don’t want to do the long distance thing.” She shrugged.

The Korado Beach Resort was an ocean front property covering acres of prime real estate. It consisted of manicured lawns, a theme park outfitted with water slides, arcade games and fun rides. Huge buildings pretending to be cottages dotted the resort grounds in laid out grids that seem a landscape designer’s wet dream. The centerpiece of this tropical paradise; a three story mansion of wood, marble and brick that would fit right in a Disney fairy tale. Though seen through the storm in the dark, it looked more like a Hollywood horror movie set.

They got their ticket at the gate, then drove down the winding drive way to the huge red brick cottage at the edge of the resort grounds, right before a little cliff (if it could be called that) leading down to the sandy beach and parked. The rain and wind had increased in intensity. “Don’t you have an umbrella in this car, Ben?” Cossie asked, concern in her voice as she stared through the car windows at the waves pounding furiously at the beach.

“I parked as close as I could to the door. With this wind, you’ll just be fighting to hold onto the umbrella if you open it out in this weather.” Ben said. “He is right babe, it’s only a few feet to shelter. Don't you always brag you could beat me in a race? So come on Jessie Quick, show me what you’ve got.” Chima arched his brow, a twinkle in his eyes as he leered comically at her.

Cossie sighed pretending to slump dramatically in defeat, then lunged for the handle calling over her shoulder as she slid out the car, “last one to the door is buying breakfast tomorrow” she laughed as the boys fumbled to get out, their outraged howls racing her through the rain.

The party had been in full swing for some hours now, Eric wasn’t sure he could bear his cousin NG asking him if he’d heard from Iyke one more time. He already told her only fifteen minutes ago that Iyke was coming with Ben and a couple of their other friends after picking up the merit awards from the fabricators’ shop. He was happy for her, he truly was. Her relationship with his friend was the kinda stuff movies were made about and books written on, he was just feeling sore about the end of his own relationship with his girlfriend and Ada seemed to be avoiding him all evening. He too wasn’t sure how to act around her now that they were no longer together, he really missed her. He heard a soft tinkle of laughter from the tables over to his right at the end of the room and looked up, spying Ada laughing at something one of the girls at her table said. Think of the devil, he thought. He knew they both agreed a clean break was the best thing for both of them. That does not mean it has to start tonight though, he decided as he started walking across the room towards her that they could have one more moment, one more memory together before their college romance was over for good.

He was almost to her table when beyond them, the door leading into the ballroom from the vestibule was flung open and Chima, Cossie, Ben and Iyke stumbled in laughing. Chima protesting about someone cheating and how he’d have one in a fair contest.

Eric changed directions and walked over to them “Thank God you made it, we’ve been worried the rain might have caused you to give up coming down here.”

“No way bro,” said Ben, bumping knuckles with him, “we have the awards with us, besides, I’ve been looking forward to hanging out with Aisha tonight.” He looked past Eric, then elbowed Iyke “here comes your girl.”

Iyke looked up from drying off his pants to find NG walking over to them looking like a vision in an indigo dress that clung to her like a glove. She gave him a hug, “glad you made it love.” He gave her a light kiss on the lips, hands around her waist “glad you’re here.”

“Aww, you guys are so cute” Cossie said. NG laughed and turned to hug her friend, “I hope they didn’t smother you with all that testosterone in one car.”

“Nah, they’re not so bad. Their mamas would be so proud.” She sniffed. “Oh please, all the naughty things you know and the many you’ve forgotten, they haven’t even learned.” Aisha said joining the conversation, she gave the other two girls a hug.

“You know me so well” Ben said, a pious expression on his face, “I am a pure soul.”

“Yeah, Purity’s your middle name” Aisha said dryly. An incredible strobe of lightening flashed through the windows followed by a boom of thunder that crashed over the sound of the music playing in the ball room startling everyone. “This is one intense rain storm” Ben said. “That’s stating the obvious” Aisha muttered.

“That’s my song playing, come show me some moves babe” Chima said laughing as he took Cossie’s hand and led her to the packed dance floor. Ben gestured to the dance floor and quirked an eyebrow towards Aisha who assented and they too headed to the dance floor.

“There’s a drinking game going on over in the other room, and nobody can beat Ada when it comes to drinking. I think I’ll see if she’s interested” Eric said as he turned towards where he saw Ada seating earlier, but she seemed to have heard him because she looked up, shook her head and walked off towards the outer rooms. Some of her friends at the table, noting the exchange, went after her. Eric’s heart felt heavy in his chest as he watched her leave.

“Are you ok cuz?” NG asked him, her expression one of concern. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine” he turned and headed for the bar at the western end of the room.

“I’m worried for him” she told Iyke. “Time is what he needs. Even though the decision was mutual, they both still care. It’ll take a while before they both adjust. That’s if they don’t say screw it and pick up where they left off.” He replied.

“Speaking off screwing it” she pulled his head down and whispered in his ear, when she let him up, he had a dazed look on his face. She wore a smug smile that had him dragging her off to the doors that connected to the private suite of rooms reserved for the departments’ use that night much to the amusement and whistles of their friends who noticed the two of them slipping off the ballroom.

And so they all were lost each in their own little worlds of pleasure, of rediscovered friendship, of heartbreak. Nobody remembered the storm warning forecasted by the meteorological institute on all the news stations that morning.

Their part of the world rarely experienced extreme weather phenomena, hurricanes and typhoons were things only heard about in the news and seen on TV happening in other countries thousands of miles away from the West African sub region.

So when the storm shifted into a category 4 hurricane and swept inward towards the southern coast of Nigeria, when the waves crashed past the levees, and overflowed their banks, when the pounding surf flooded the outermost car parks of the resort and flowed under doorways into the kitchens and back halls, nobody was really paying attention.

“Is it me or does those waves seem to be getting closer?” Sade looked at Ada, who turned towards the window and blanched in shock. The tumultuous waves which had looked so majestic earlier in the evening, admired from what had been the safety of the cottage balcony, seemed now to end a scant twenty feet or less from the front of the house. The parts of the lawn they could see from their vantage point, was submerged under water.

The spark of lightening broke the spell holding them in place as they all stared in horror at the rising waters outside. As one, they turned and ran for the ball room entering just in time to see a wide eyed Dozie, their class representative, telling everyone with fear in his voice that half the hallways and some of the suite of rooms in the south side of the building was flooded.

“The beach has flooded its banks, get everyone to the main resort building. The water will reach us in no time and we need to be on higher ground when it does.” Sade gestured to Ben and the others “go use the DJs mic to help Dozie get everyone in the main room out, the rest of us will find the resort management and tell them what’s going on.”

Iyke couldn’t believe this was finally happening, and it was better than his fantasies. Ng smelled so good, her shampoo, her natural fragrance and the light scent of her body cream all combined to make him feel intoxicated. He couldn’t wait any longer. He was reaching out to divest them of the burden of the rest of their clothes when someone rattled the door handle and banged so loudly on the door it felt like they would knock it off its hinges. Before he could yell angrily at the killjoy who so abruptly pulled him out nirvana, he heard the yells and scampering feet of people rushing past in a panic.

“Get out here, Iyke, NG, this place is about to flood, everyone’s running over to the main building” Eric yelled in frantic voice, still rattling the door handle. He and NG scrambled off the bed only to land in a puddle of water on the bedroom floor.

“What is happening?” Iyke couldn’t believe just how fast everything changed, one moment he was having the time of his life, the next he was in a nightmare. The hallway was flooded. People running for the door, most barefooted, clutching their shoes or purses and bags in their hands. The happiness and abandon of moments ago now replaced by anxiety, fear and panic.

"Is Chima with you? Have you seen him?" Cossie asked catching up with them as they hustled for the outer door. "I saw him leave with the first people who ran out of here heading for the mansion." Eric answered.

"I can't believe he left without me" She said, her voice distraught.

As they all ran out into the storm, holding onto each other, struggling to keep their footing in the rising water flooding the grounds, the three storey main resort building's halogen lamps came on, its light blazing like a beacon in the dark. Nature’s fury lit up the sky with flashes of lightning that left phantom shapes dancing in the shadows and a rumble of thunder thrummed so loud and so long it seemed to rattle the earth. Iyke couldn’t help thinking - the hype was right, this really is going to be a party to remember. That is supposing we survive the night - just as a particularly vicious wind surged the ocean waves forward, the water sweeping them off their feet.