It was a busy morning –rush hour that I was standing in a bus terminus waiting for Matatu . Then all of a sudden, the guy came to me pushing and shoving people aside. I could see that morning sweat was running along his curved cheeks. I had no clue as to why he was sweating or what begot his morning rush. Strongly moved by desire to help the poor man, he got hold of my shirt moving from one side to another as if hiding from someone. I tried to look for his aggressor from the direction he was hiding from, but I did not see anyone coming or anything suspicious.
His face could show trouble written all over, tears told me all of the sought.“Please help me,” he pleaded, still looking from side to side then turning slowly around me.” Why should I help this guy and from who,” I thought. As if reading my mind “he wants to kill me too, he shot my friends and now he wants my life… help me please, safe my life,” I could see nothing, only the crowd that had gathered around to see the morning show or the story of the day. “Who wants to kill you,” I asked. He pointed at the crowd, people moved away one by one until none but the blank space. “Don’t you see him there?” He asked as if being puzzled that I cannot see what was obvious. I shook my head and said, “You mean there is a ghost here?” pointing in the gap. With tearful eyes, he replied, “He is drawing near us… Guard me please; don’t let him kill me please….” Before I could say anything, the guy started running away still crying for help.
It took me some minutes to discover the show is over, nothing has been left but gazing strangers. Only a few of them wanted first hand information concerning the man and his strange pursuer.
As the crowd dispersed, I boarded a Matatu and headed for my work place in Nairobi Town- Capital City of Kenya. The road was so clear with a few vehicles mostly personal cars and some Lorries heading in the opposite direction. I could imagine arriving in my office earlier than previous day, when I was stuck on the road for more than one and a half hours because of traffic jam. This gave me my first smile as I thought of the work I left pending the day before, not hard but tiring as it involved repetitions from first file until the last.
Rains had started drizzling when I alighted from a Matatu and off on foot towards my office that is in Hazina Towers 6th Floor Room No. 26. Fortunate enough, the elevator was as if in waiting for me, none had used it on that particular morning. “Early bird Hum,” a stranger spoke from behind. Looking back, the face I saw on the bus terminus was looking at me. “Do I know you?” I asked the guy. He burst out laughing as if something about my question was so amusing that he could not bear to laugh. In exchange of glances, he laughed again and said, “You are so foolish…, so you are a stranger in Nairobi hum! Did you think you could help me?” He burst out laughing again as he held the key into my office. Blood rushing from my toes to my head; hair could be felt growing on my head at an alarming rate, anger giving in to shaking as I clenched my fists. “Don’t worry kaka…Sijabreak into cha office”, he said stretching his hand as he gave me the key.
Wait for Part 2
