THE JOURNEY HOME 4

He didn’t want to stay any longer but Bosco had forced him to. He felt uneasy by the presence of Bosco’s friends and he missed the bunk he slept on at the workshop more than anything. It was fine when the friends started trooping in and the music getting loud. It was fine when they started to smoke cigarettes and sniff white substance but it wasn’t fine when they tortured their dogs for the sake of it. Something about the act felt distasteful and sinister to joseph. It reminded him of the day his mother was disgraced in the market when her skirt tore and people began to mock her because she had no underwear on.

Joseph approached Bosco and politely asked to be taken back to the mechanic shop but Bosco only laughed and walked away. He was obviously intoxicated and high on narcotic drugs. At about 12am in the middle of the night, many ladies were in the apartment dancing, drinking and smoking away. Joseph was initially interested in seeing the ladies move their tiny waist and big buttocks but soon after, he became exhausted by the activities of the night that didn’t seem to end.

For the third time, he sought for Bosco who was in a big room with two ladies to ask if he could be taken home. But Bosco’s appearance had changed. He looked different and there was an air of mischief that surrounded him. Joseph had no choice but to excuse himself after which he went to another part of the house to try his hands on video games. 

Few minutes after, he felt a hand on his shoulders and turned to see a lady who looked like she was in her 20’s smile at him. “what are you doing here? She asked. “Aren’t you too young to be with this people?”. Joseph had never felt more irritated by a question in his life, who was she to question his whereabouts. He hissed at her and replied “what are you doing here. Don’t you have parents?” Surprisingly, she didn’t seem offended by the statement. She and her fat cheeks with dimples joined Joseph on the carpet next to him and collected the gamepad from his hands. “You remind me of someone close to me, and because of that I would advise you to leave this place and never look back. The place you ran away from is the place where you would succeed”. She said in a husky manner. It was Joseph’s turn to smile this time around, a prostitute giving him advice, why wasn’t she running herself. With disgust and without uttering further words, Joseph walked out of the game room to the guest bathroom to ease himself and clear his head. While taking a leak, he thought again of the young prostitute that had the nerve to advise him and reminded himself of why his life should be great, he could never in a million years imagined his sisters being in that position or prostituting about to make money. Over his dead body he thought. Those thoughts were the last thing he remembered till a loud scream was heard upstairs.

Joseph rushed out of the bathroom to see what was going on. The whole room was thrown in panic as a lady on the top floor started yelling and crying out for help. Within a twinkle of an eye, everyone ran out of the house. Joseph couldn’t understand what was going on and instead of running out, he ran upstairs to ensure that his friend Bosco was safe. He entered into the large room where he had earlier seen Bosco with two female companions and met the lifeless body of Bosco lying in a pool of blood. For the first time in his short life, Joseph fainted.