Wild West of the Heart
NINETY SEVEN

Ola didn't think the sun had shone that bright since he arrived at Nigeria a few months back. It was true, he thought, about how the brightest mornings come right after the darkest nights.

He stared from the doors, and into the familiar hallways with some students doing some last minute reading, and others dumping their bags in their lockers to take a seat. Obi halted right beside him, putting one arm through his wine blazers. "Come on guys" Fiyin walked ahead of them, making eye contact with Collins at the opposite end of the hallway. And she and Deb looked turned around. "We're going to ace it, trust me" She hit him lightly in his arms just before Nathaniel peered from above.

"You ready?"

The sound of the warning bell filled the hallways as students ran helter-skelter on the day that was supposed to be their finals. And Obi looked around in quagmire, placing his hands in his pockets. "You okay?" Ola whispered to him. "I uhm" He walked to the door as another set of footsteps drew closer to them and Obi recognized that scent. He was slow to turn around and a smile crept to his lips. "Looking for me?"

"Abdul" He softly scoffed. And Ola wore on the pair of glasses he seldomly used. "Let's do this" He cleared his throat as Deb took Fi's hands and Ab took Obi's. He then looked to Nate ahead who gave a firm nod. "Let's do this" He mouthed. "Alleged murderer behind the string of killings across the country and Most Wanted target arrested in Nigeria, alongside a few members of a hate group called Aces-" The news fell on her eyes as Mira tried to sit up in the hospital bed. She'd barely gotten enough sleep as she looked to her bandaged abdomen, clenching it softly with her palms.

Her attention immediately drifted to the door once it had opened and in came the nurse that had drawn her blood. There was a smile on her face, so she could tell beforehand that it was good news-long overdue good news. She was careful not to be too happy, or too comfortable. Because things always had their way of getting bad again.

She flashed a smile back as nurse Agatha closed the door behind her. "How are you feeling?" She asked as Mira looked to the table. "The leader of this group, and a few of his followers' cabin had been raided last night with scores being arrested at Ikeja, Lagos last night" She turned the tv off with the remote, and then looked to Agatha. "Better" She replied.

"Well i got the best news. The results from yesterday's tests came out and it's negative. Everyone of you is clean, now asides your very low blood sugar, you should be good to go soon enough" She placed her clipboard against the crash cart. "And i could take you to see your friend now if you want to"

She scoffed. "Of course yes. Oh he's going to hate me for being so late to the party" Agatha laughed, wheeling her whole bed through the door while she held unto her heart monitor. They went down the waiting room as Dee crept up behind her.

"Hi bitch" There was a crack in her voice as she called snarkily. "Silva's going to whoop your ass" Tara and Uno followed. Dee pushed open the door once they'd gotten there. And the first eyes Mira made contact with was Silva's. Immediately he halted whatever he was saying and his jaw literally dropped. Mira raised her hands in her face as tears welled in her eyes. "Why are you in a bed bitch?" Silva tilted his head as Mira chuckled, inching closer to him. "Not everything is a competition" He joked as everyone let out a chuckle. "I'm okay. It's just "

"I saw the news" He whispered, turning to the tv while Mira looked to Bode. She nodded back at her, with a proud smile on her face as her fingers intertwined with Silva's. "It's all over, Silva" She said, looking to his healing wounds. "It's over He squeezed her palms. "We did it" He whispered. "You did"

"We did" She argued, a smile on both their faces just before the door opened. "Mira" Dee called, pointing behind her and she turned back to see Sara and Dare with flowers in his hands. He walked in with a leather jacket, a different attire other than the khakis and camouflage. And Sara wore makeup.

"Is today an off day?" She sat up as Sara scoffed. "One could say so" She sat in the already filled room. Silva looked around him as Dare halted by Mira's side. "Vlad is in custody" He whispered, beneath all the mutterings. "And thanks to you and the information you gathered, we had a secret location where they usually had meetings to discuss their targets" He added.

"And we got a few of them. Luckily more than enough to catch the others. Because they're going to play the blame game" He sat into her bed with a deep chuckle.

"That's disgusting" She whispered as Silva turned his attention to David. "Yeah it is, but it's all over now. And uhm-Jeff" He continued. "That was Jazzlyn's killer. Met up with her that night and jumped her on the roads where she'd fought till her dying breath. He was doctor, the doctor that diagnosed her" He said.

"Now, that's disgusting" He took Mira's palms as she shook her head. "It's okay, he's with us. Alongside the many other Vlads. Nothing like this would happen again, i will make sure of that"

"You can't be too sure. Look how much time we spent convincing people to believe" Mira replied. "Change won't happen unless someone steps up. Listen to me when i tell you nothing like that, or nothing like that protest night will ever happen again” He added. "Unless you're planning to run for governor or something-" She teased and he squeezed her hands. Her brows arched. "I think it's time for change" He said. And Mira's lips morphed into a smile. A proud one.

"Meanwhile in the next couple of months, you'd be placed in witness protection or under very hectic surveillance" He smirked. "What does that mean?" She chuckled as he brought her ring close to his eyes. "It means you'll see alot now" They locked eyes but that was the most they ever did.

Bode immediately received a call and walked out of the room, and David turned all the way round to Mira. He cleared his throat, interrupted Dare. Mira looked to him, pushing a lump down her throat. "Hello stranger" He whispered and she smiled. "Hi, David"

"It's been-" He pretended to check his imaginary wristwatch. "It's been a decade and a half. You were probably busy" Dare chuckled lightly as he pulled away. He drew close to Sara who nudged in his arms for the reason only both of them knew. But you do too.

"There's alot of catching up to do" Mira fraily said as David climbed into the space between his two best friends. Silva eyed her from a distance and it was there they spent the next few hours-catching up like they were five year olds again. Oh what they would give to go back.

Alot had changed, some for good, others for worse. But these three remained exactly the same to each other. It was something rare to see and something rather beautiful indeed.

Ola finished scribbling in the nic of time, and he placed his pen next to his exam papers. Fiyin was already done, waiting on him to reciprocate her eye contact. It was just two hours-

-six years reduced to one final two-hour paper. And the students handed in their papers on what was the last day and Hillway High and they sat on the edge of their chairs, waiting for the last bell they would ever hear of this place.

-

"How was it?"

The edge of his coat hooked by the door as students raved through the halls, throwing their books in the air once the exams were over. There was the paper in the air, and calculators falling from the very roof of Hillway High. Obi was the first to locate Ola and he had on the widest smile.

"This is it" He whispered.

"It was great. You know the circulatory system didn't come out and you know that was my biggest fear" He chuckled, holding Obi in for a hug. "This is it" He replied before Obi pulled away.

"I got to go find Abdul" He ran in the opposite direction, going up the stairs. Ola stood there with ears that stung with tears. It wasn't long will an arm reached out to him. He thought it was Fiyin or at least Deb but it wasn't.

It was Fraser, the one person that always moved with Ayo. "Hey man" He looked up at him. "I know this is weird but uhm i kinda always wanted to see what you could do since Ayo offered to join the team" Ola scoffed. "What?" He replied. "How about you come for the game before graduation?" He offered, revealing his braces through a smile. And then he walked away, disappearing into the crowds and the millions of torn paper in the air-one falling in between his glasses. "Huh" He stared in disbelief.

Obi paced through the uppermost hallway as he peered behind each locker. "Abl He called out before the school intercom beeped. And it was a strange voice that bestowed the speaker.

"Obinna Chukwu. Please make your way to DOS' room"

He halted, turning around with an arch in his brows. "The what?" He asked, and if there was anything in the air asides paper, it was confusion. But then suddenly someone walked up him. A certain someone who he might have never spoken to in his entire life.

"Hey" The girl with wine locs waved in his face and he looked at her. She was more average heighted than he was and she had a stack of books in her arms. "I'm Bola, Anna's friend" She whispered, and Obi did recall seeing her a couple times by the stairs but nothing more than that.

"I just wanted to say i'm sorry. I was watching the news" Her voice quivered. "About that man Vlad, targeting people like you and i remembered you know the whole paper-Ayo incident. I remember seeing you at his funeral and I've just hadn't had the courage to walk up to you to actually apologize for the way everyone handled it. Especially myself "This seemed like a dream sequence or a scene straight out of the twilight zone.

But Obi couldn't believe his eyes, nor his ears.

The world was nice to him. "What?" He let his intrusive thoughts get the first words but then he shook his head. "I mean thank you, actually. Thank you for that" He reiterated.

"You don't know how long i've waited to hear something like that. You don't know how much i needed to" Now, his voice quivered as tears filled his eyes, ready to fall. She rubbed his arms. "Better late than never" She said before walking off and then he turned around.

"Bola" He called. She looked at him.

"Do you know what the DOS is?" He scoffed. They both did.

-

"The moment question was kind of confusing, although i think i later got it" She showed to Deb who ran through her answers on the question paper. "Was that what you got?" She bit her lip as they ran down the stairs. And Deb chuckled. "Well, either i'm wrong or you're wrong" She closed the paper, almost rumpling in it her hands. "You know what? It's in the past-" She added as the crowds before parted and she sighed Ola.

The students had stopped throwing the books as people began to whisper. "What's going on?" She walked to Olamide's side as he pointed behind her, his jaw dropping apart. One second they were finally being kids and the next, she could never guess what was the next-not in a million years. Her heart sank the moment she turned around and Deb held her hands.

"Collins Mcphersons, you're under arrest under rape and sexual assault charges for not one but two persons. Under section 11-" Fiyin felt nauseous, locking eyes with him as they cuffed his wrists. He was pushed against the wall and for some reason, she backed away into the whispering crowds.

"-of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. Anything you say from the this moment would be used against you in the court of law" She had tears running down her cheeks as she looked around.

"They came" She was quivering as Deb pulled her for a hug. "You did it" Deborah whispered into her ears.

"We did it" A voice came from behind. And Ola looked to see Marissa beside him, with a box of all of her things in her hands. She sniffled. "It was long overdue" She whispered.

"And it wasn't just us" She pointed to his office where his doors were wide open, and out came a woman with a young girl. Ola immediately recognized Janet, holding the girl to her arms. He walked forward as Fiyin looked around in quagmire. "We did it" Janet whispered as Ola grabbed her hands. "You did the right thing" His heart raced as he turned to the person beside her. "This is Mo, from the Campbells incident" Marissa stepped forward, reaching out to Fiyin. They watched as Collins was pushed through the very front doors as the sirens wailed at the entrance. "He's never coming back" She said.

Fiyin wiped beneath her eyes. "He's never coming back" Her throat went dry as they both locked eyes. It took all Janet had not to break down into tears in that very spot but she just nodded as Ola squeezed her hands. "You're a good boy-a brave one and you're going to grow into a better man" Janet held his other hand. "Mariam would be so proud" She added.

"Why doesn't feel like a victory?" Fiyin looked to the eyes that feasted on her, on all of them. "It's something i have waited for for the longest of time and then it's happened-Collins is going to prison and i can't be happy. I can't yell or scream or uhm" Marissa pulled Fi into her, letting her arms wrap behind her.

"It will when you mount that stand against him" She whispered. "It will feel like a victory when you tell the entire world what that son of a bitch did to you. When you speak your truth and hear his sentence. When you see the pain, and the regret in his eyes as you watch him walk away for the very last time" Marissa said. "Only then will it feel like a victory, Fiyin" Ola turned to face both of them with tears in their eyes.

Janet pushed Mo, a somewhat fourteen year old girl to them and Marissa was quick to embrace her, without a single hesitation. They held each other close. including Janet-all the women and the survivors of Collins McPhersons, standing strong with each other.

For each other.

Nathaniel walked up to Ola from the crowds, and put an arm around his shoulders. "This feels like an ending" He whispered, placing his nose on his shirt. Ola shook his head. "It isn't"

"It isn't the ending-"

Ola walked on the floor above them, with show laces that always fell loose, he had no idea how to make a simple bow. He had his scripts in his hands as his steps echoed. The place was cleared, the place leading into the one door in the school he hadn't been in. Above him, was DIRECTOR OF STUDIES.

And he clutched his chest, taking one more step to knock against the door. And then Obi stepped back. "Hey" The door opened to reveal a well-suited man. "Been waiting for you-" "We should celebrate" Ola wiped his tears as they walked out into the sun. There was still paper in the air and he looked to Fi who nodded to him. "Thank you" She mouthed.

"For everything" Deb looked to both of them, holding unto her backpack. And Abdul halted his bike next to him. "Where's Obi?" He took off his helmet as they looked to each other.

-

Mira had fallen asleep after a long night, leaving Silva and David whispering to each other. And Sara and Dare by the tv. And Dee and the girls were on the double couch in the ward. Everyone was there, except Bode.

It was why when the door opened, everyone assumed it was her. And even Mira opened her eyes. Bode stood by the door with the phone in her hands and eyes that never left her son. "What is it mum?" Silva sat up, watching her eyes go moist. And she inched closer. "You're coming home, Tayo" She said and a subtle gasp escaped his lips. "What?" Mira chuckled.

"I spoke to them, and you're coming home" She walked to hold his hands. "If you want to spend your last days with your family, then you're going to" She scrunched her nose with a smile and Silva reached for her wrinkled cheeks. "Thank

you"

She shook her head. "No, thank you Tayo" She whispered, holding those hands and he held David. David held Mira who held Dare. And Dare held Sara who held Dee and Tara.

And Uno.

Jane, and Heather. And Tito. Like the one big family they were. And it only makes sense that we end here. Perhaps not the happiest ending but the well suited one, for this chapter only. To be continued...