The Verdict

     You could almost taste the tension in the court room as three young men stood in front of a supreme Court judge and waited for the verdict; their fate obviously no longer in their hands.
      The crime of cultism was quite a touchy one for his lordship, Henry peters.  Thus while the young lawyers in front of him threw a cross fire of legal tantrums, the learned justice stared on to think of the very event that seemed to be his unending source of pain, even though many years had now passed and he now had a family of his own.
    Figuratively,  it had been a decade back and young Henry was then in the university as a law student; a course which his father had forced upon him, for the love of his children following a professional field.
   Henry was not such a strong willed young man thus his father usually referred to him as soft and easily bended, more so  he nick named him, mellow,  like the fruit mash mellow. But the young man was quick to find an escape route from the pain he constantly faced at home by using his good looks to get the attention of young women.
     Henry was so good at it that he was soon given the nickname of  "Honri the player". A nickname which he preferred to his former nickname of mellow and soon became more popular than the latter. But like all other great players in the game, Henry soon faced his own "achilles hill" when he fell in Love with a certain young woman Chelsea,  and felt by all means that it was time to quit the game.
      He had seen her the first time at the school's art theatre where she gracefully took the role of Lady Macbeth in one of William Shakespeare's legendary plays, Macbeth. He had watched her every move and there and then realised that he wanted her for keeps.
    He had tried to talk with her several times and unlike most other girls, his good looks seemed not to have any effect on her whatsoever thus she had given him the cold shoulder and without warmth or pity, snubbed him; "such brutality"  he had thought, but he never gave up.  Especially when he realised that he needed to keep on thriving not just for himself but to prove  to himself and his father that he could persistently go for what he wanted.
    Thus,  he would wait for her every day after lectures and stalk her tirelessly, and days soon turned into weeks and weeks into months,  until she literally got tired of protesting and would just walk in silence while he followed her.
     He soon had some time to think on one cold faithful evening as he realised that she would never be his.  This was definitely karma he thought, a payment for all the hearts he had broken prematurely and also his attitude towards girls who really liked him but he didn't share their concerns, even those he had only used to do his bidding, selfishly thinking of only his gains while the love drunk young girl would do all he asks.
       Now it was time to pay the price, as the only girl he had ever loved didn't share his concerns,  and this turbulent thoughts soon led him to premature illness.
    Chelsea had waited patiently the next day for her good looking stalker to come around, the young man she had grown fond of and whose company she was beginning to long for, to the extent that she would patiently wait for Henry's lectures to be over before passing the route by the law college just so he would see her and stalk her.
   But today, the case was different as lover boy was nowhere to be found. Panic rocketed through her body like a killer virus and the blue ink of concern boldly written on her face could no longer be hidden.  Thus she asked around and learnt of Henry's illness.
   Henry thought his fever had reached its peak when he saw Chelsea at the door and his thoughts were as to... "am I hallucinating?"  but when the young lady hugged him and told him she had come to take care of him and wasn't leaving any time soon, he was sure it wasn't a dream.
    But from thence,  a passionate love tale bloomed. Henry never understood that love could be as sweet as nectar from a flower enjoyed by the butterfly, but now that he knew, he had no intentions of letting go..
     Talking to his best friend he said
"Guy, I really love this girl. She understands me like a wife, takes care of me like a mother and provides solutions to my problems like an asset, if she leaves me, I will die".
    For Chelsea, the feeling was no different as if there was a guy she was ready to spend the rest of her life with, it was Henry.
And the opportunity soon availed itself, yes! Henry decided to propose soon after their final exams.
    He had called her that Saturday evening under the school's big mango tree, the tree nicknamed the "couples tree", due to the fact that lovers often met there, she was hesitant initially but she finally agreed  and he had waited for her to come as fear and anxiety overwhelmed him.  It felt like he was going to check his result, who knew that proposing could be so tedious.
    He soon saw her walking gracefully towards him when the shootings began.  The cultists at school had obviously declared another war against themselves! He quickly ran to grab her as she held unto him,  obviously frightened.
      "I'm going to protect you" he kept whispering into her ears as she held unto him, believing his every word.   The shootings were soon over but just before he made to speak there was another rain of gun fire and a stray bullet hit her...
      He started screaming for help, but everyone seemed to be running for their lives.  His pain wasn't only from the fact that she had been shot, but his heart bled as he watched the love of his life, struggle for her life in his arms without being able to say a word until she finally died.
    That pain knew no bounds and it was that same pain that made him follow his study of law vigorously and had even landed him first class honours in the law school.  And now,  here he was some donkey years later facing a similar case with three young cultists killing over five persons intentionally and stray bullets killing three other final year students.
     As if coming out from a trance he realised that the honourable court was waiting for his verdict.  He took a deep breath with pain and anger still burning passionately within him as he said.
    For the charges of murder and manslaughter I hereby sentence Obiora Kingsley, Bola Adeniye and shehu Usman to death by hanging..
   
       .. Shun cultism..