MYOPIA

MYOPIA- ONE
    Sweat flowed  from Ben's  face,  like the heavy down pour of rain thus making a confluence like the River Niger meeting the Benue on his chest.  But he seemed not to notice as saliva dried in his mouth and all attempts to get words out of his mouth were futile. Thus  Ben's father was forced to repeat the turbulent question once more "Did You sit in the car the whole time, the event was taking Place?" he asked once more,  and silence swept over the family house like the early morning Hamattan breeze  and everyone present waited in anticipation for Ben's answer, like they were waiting for a goal to come out from a final panalty shot in the Fifa cup.
       Ben tried hard to surpress a stammer, as his mind flashed back to the unfortunate event  that had now landed him in "court" . It was a Friday afternoon and Ben rushed from the grand lecture hall in excitement as his "play boy" elder brother, Paul was finally ready to settle down.  Ben continued his sprint as he had to meet his brother who was seated in his ride parked close to the driveway as they had both planned a short trip to meet "the one".
           He was soon blinded by excitement and bumped into someone in the gallery in the process, and it was a great collision indeed,  which left lecture materials flying in the air like it was a graduation ceremony.  But the fact that the other party fell to the ground and the obvious choice of a pink hoodie sold her out as to being a girl. Ben was apologetic  as they picked up their personal effects,  but she was persistent about seeing the face of her offender and he was forced to stare at her too, and for a moment he was lost in those honey  brown  eyes of hers; my God!  She is beautiful,  Ben thought to himself with his mouth slightly agape. He soon straightened up without saying a word as that masculine pride of his bit out at him and he made to leave.  Wait! She protested, “I haven't forgiven you for bumping into me earlier” she said and Ben blamed  the  last statement of hers on the fact that she had probably seen a lot of modern day Korean movies. But his facial  expression once revealed warmed up her face with a smile.  He asked for her name after introducing himself and held his breath as he waited  for the worst.  Please,  let it not be another Chinyere, Ada or Amaka he thought within himself as the likes of those in his previous relationships had made him feel like he was in an EPISODE of “witches of East End". "Ebiere", "my name is Ebiere" she answered finally and relief spread all over him like the rain after a very sunny day.
      Ben soon rushed to meet his brother and for the duo, love was indeed in the air.  And that was why,  when some policemen tried to stop paul who wasn't breaking any traffic regulations he hadn't  seen  them and drove right past them, but after Ben called his attention, he turned around and drove right back to meet them; an action either carried out by a very good citizen or a man drunk in love.
    Things soon got messy when a police man accused Paul of driving at high speed and breaking numerous traffic regulations and Paul was forced to leave his car on the officer's command and Paul reassured Ben that he would take care of the whole situation before leaving.  So Ben took the opportunity to think about Ebiere's great beauty and their destined meeting earlier, but he was later distracted  at the peak of his thoughts by the sound of a slap which had obviously been given to his brother by the police man.  Thus he struggled to open the door of the car as he watched his brother bite his lower lip as he addressed silently his battered masculine  pride.  As Ben rushed out,  the police man took seven steps backwards   before shooting Paul on the chest,  and the other officers present chanted a "No!" "Ben, I am dying"  Paul said as Ben held onto him and he fell to the ground, but it didn't take long before Paul gave up the ghost.
        Now in the family house, Ben stood distressed at his father's last question.  The case was definitely going to court as Ben's dad was going to make the people responsible pay.  paul was their father's favourite and now Ben was going to stand as a major witness in the case. So, How was he going to explain to his father that he had missed out on the major details of the event and had failed to  be there for his brother in a time where they ought to have been together all because he was thinking about a girl he had just met...