FOUR

The sound of the clock struck his ears, the repeated tick tocks as his eyes focused on the long hand. He drifted back within a second to the metal tag, just across the table. The metal tag, with the inscription.

Mr Collins.

Fair man, with glasses like he wore. And his stomach protruding through the shirt he wore. He had a cane by the side of his desk and a stern expression. All of which, was again just a facade.

Olamida had known him before he traveled. His father's good friend who would come by the house and spend the weekends gorging on fruit and palm wine. He looked with a flirtatious smile at Mary.

She adjusted herself in the seat and thereafter, her gele before looking to Ola. Collins had gone through his documents, like his grades and gpa from Texas and Ola couldn't quite see past his glasses. He might have been impressed, though they had dropped but that was according to American standards. He hummed, closing the papers.

"Well, he'll need to take an entrance exam" Collins said, as he pushed it towards Mary. He rested back in his chairs, twirling with his pen. "But i can't assure he'll make it quite into final year. As you know the session's already halfway started and the transfer would be anything but easy" He said and Mary felt the need to fall to her knees, her hands grasping the edge of the table. "Ejor, Mr Collins"

She pleaded as she looked to Ola. "Time is of the essence. A luxury we cannot afford now" She said, her favorite quote of all time. "Olamide has to finish in a year's time and we can't afford any extra tuition than we already budgeted" He nodded his head, gesturing her to sit back up. "It's okay, Mary"

"I'll see what i can do" Came a frail promise.

"Thank you, sir" She pleaded, like he was a complete stranger. "I hope he's settling in fine" He turned to Ola who stood in that minute.

"I have to use the restroom" He asked, turning around like he already knew the way around here.

"Yes, i'd like to think so" Mary looked to him, completely ignoring Ola and when they acknowledged his question, Collins pointed to the wood chapped door. "By the left, you'll see the boy's toilet" He replied, as Mary crossed her legs.

"It's like he's a walking reservoir" She remarked.

"Well, it's kids his age—" His voice died down as Ola walked through the door and closed it. But not completely. He hesitated behind it, having the urge to eavesdrop. "Well, how's Janet?" She asked, of his wife and he exclaimed. "And the kids?"

"We thank God" Came a simple response as Ola heaved a deep breath. Luckily, he didn't have much questions. "How's Akin my fr—"

"Olamide" Came a yell from across the halls. There was an echo that struck his ears. He'd recognized that voice and pulled away from the door. "Obi?" He couldn't mask the doubt in his voice.

"Ola"

"Obi" They called each other as Obi ran through the doors that led outside. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was his best friend for years. "Well, damn my eyes" He remarked, pausing only inches apart.

"It really is you" Ola grasped him in for a lasting hung as they rocked each other to the side before pulling away. "You know i heard but it was not the first time. I just wavered the thought you'd actually come to Nigeria again—" He continued, with shock still evident in his voice. Ola had become a little teary. Obi had changed alot, and he didn't realize until now, how much he missed him.

"And maybe i just thought even if we were coming, you'd at least give me a call or a text" They both turned to face the stairs. "We used to be penpals and write to each other, what happened?" His hands smacked Ola's back slightly and he shrugged his shoulders. They hadn't talked in years.

"You made some new, fancy friends huh" Obi raised just an eyebrow and Ola chuckled. "Nothing like that, life happened, Obi. Phone happened and i lost your contact and all" He made up an excuse.

"Excuses man" Obi could tell, and he gritted through his teeth. "But i'll let it slide because i am happy to see you" He graced him with a grin as they pushed open the doors and went up to the roof.

There were railings that bounded each side, metal railings they both clung to as the winds blew into Ola's face.

"So what brings you back?"

"And here, most importantly" Obi added and Ola couldn't fathom exactly what to say. "Alot of things" He finally replied. "Thinking of enrolling?"

"Actually— yes" Came a stutter of self realization also. Obi's jaw dropped. "You're joking" He yelled and Ola just shook his head, looking over the top of the buildings. "I'm not—" He whispered.

"I won't be going back to Houston, at least not for now" He continued. "Well is everything okay?" Ola turned to him and scoffed at his question. "Of course" It was obvious it was a lie, but it was also another thing Obi let slide. To be honest, he was just excited that Olamide was back in Lagos.

"It will be like old times" He already plotted a million adventures in his head as he looked away too. "Old times" Olamide echoed.

The former took a series of glances as silence fell between them, and he cleared his throat. "How are you settling in?" He suddenly asked. It were convos like these, that Ola enjoyed. He had barely talked to anyone since he got here. And he just looked to Obi and was prepared to let it all out.

They were the perfect kind of friends, ones that didn't need communication daily, or ones that a ten year distance didn't break. No matter how long they spent apart, they'd just ease back into that normalcy.

Their normal way. Their regular conversations.

"I don't know" Ola simply replied. "You don't know" Obi turned to him, his back against the rails as he fell to the clean floor with his grey uniforms.

Ola did the same, as he heaved a deep breath. "It's all weird" He said.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear of what?" Obi asked and Ola's voice fell in a whisper. "Of the man that died last night" And Obi shut his eyes, looking away. "I take it that you did"

"How wouldn't i?" He asked.

"It just feels no one's talking it. And the fact that it was in our driveway. And they had her body wrapped up like nothing happened" Ola replied.

"This is Nigeria" Came a quite frank answer.

"Jazzlyn was a trans woman here, and people saw her and saw all the negative things. But she never hid her truth. I would see her on the streets coming to school and on one occasion had spoken to her"

"She was fluent like she taught in a school. But no one would ever know because they never spoke to her. I'd watch her grow and transition whilst everyone rebuked her. They saw her ways as sinful, and it's a crime here to be lgbt" Obi continued.

"I know that" Ola whispered. He lied, he didn't.

"So it was no surprise that she got murdered. She did have a lot of enemies that you'd begin to ask when. What i don't know is why" He continued.

"Why she had to be killed in such a vile manner"

"How?" Ola didn't know that, either.

"She was stabbed maliciously, countless of times" Ola shut his eyes, hearing clearly her screams. And Obi looked to him. "You didn't know?" He shook his head and looked away. "Well, Mira told me"

"They were good friends" She replied as tears welled up in Ola's eyes. "No one deserves that" He whispered, coming to the gruesome realization.

"The person that did it should never have to walk the streets again. Should never have to see daylight" He said, cursing beneath his breath as Obi got up at the sound of the bell. "This is Nigeria. I mean, to everyone else, she was a demon, right?" He said, resisting the urge to cry also. Ola stood, and dusted off his shorts. Obi sniffled, straightening his blazer.

"I have to get to class—"

"Can i have your number?" Obi went for it, halting in his steps. And once he'd gotten it, he walked away, leaving Ola atop the roof.

The tears fell down his face as he looked over the railings. He had to get his shit together before going down the stairs, he knew.

And when he did, he pounced down the stairs, walking directly past his mother. "How long will it take you t—" He fumed in anger, walking out through the main doors. And she stood in quagmire.

"What has gotten into him, now?"

"I figured out a way you could take the test as soon as tomorrow—" Mary poured water into a bowl for Akin who'd balanced in front to television after a long day. He was so invested in the stocks and the recent news of inflation, that he hadn't any attention to spare. He still had on his tie from office and his suit hanging across the dinning room chair.

The bungalow was built in a way that all the rooms were close to each other. The dining was literally an arms length from the parlor, just a pillar that separated both. And the room were scattered at each end of the house. Ola could hear the barking of the neighbor's dogs through his ears.

A piercing sound, like the rest which he'd heard today. Right from the alarm this morning, his headache had tripled he realized. This was why he followed a routine, it was as if he ran insane.

His whole day had gone into shambles from the start, the exact opposite of the previous. And he stood with messy hair, gorging on nothing but coffee. He felt if he ate any other thing without exercising, he'd explode.

Maybe it was an eating disorder now.

"You don't want rice?" She asked as she entered back into the kitchen. He remained quiet since he got back home. His eyes were bagged sore. And his brain shrunk. She came out with a plate heaped with jollof rice whilst he shifted the tray to her.

She placed it, as if being immune to the heat that emitted from the food, and she placed the cutleries.

Akin was starving, it showed. He seldomly sat down straight from work. He'd at least take a shower first but tonight was different. She hefted the tray in her hands once she placed the stew and she was off to the parlor. Placing it on the glass table, he withdrew his feet towards him.

"Here you go" Came a submissive whisper and he hummed at the sight of it. Perhaps he'd expected something as heavy as eba. But he didn't say a word, so as not to strike as ungrateful. He just stared, through his eyes, she'd noticed his disappointment though. "There is no more garri" She said and he looked to his plate. "It's okay"

"I was thinking i go to the market tomorrow to get some for you. But the money you gave me, i spent on soup—" He went silent, usually when it came to money matters. "I said it's okay" He added.

Were they about to start off yet another argument when it came to money when they should have been talking about the woman that was murdered in our driveway? Probably yes.

And Ola had had enough. He strut up, his knee hitting the table from underneath as ceramics clashed into each other. The sound drew his parent's attention to him as he yelled. "No, it's not okay"

"What exactly are we doing?" He asked. "And why is everyone being calm about Jazzlyn? Why's everyone acting like a woman wasn't viciously stabbed next to our building. It could have easily been any of us" His father rolled his eyes, turning to him. "Mary, please control your son. Not now"

"Not now?" Ola echoed.

"Why's no one talking about it? Why isn't it on the news like the rest? Why didn't the police come and investigate and do—"

"Olamide" His mother reached out and he shrugged her hands off. "Well, what do you want me to do?" Akin stood too, inadvertently flipping his plate of rice over the carpet. "I don't know. Just do something" He yelled back. "You know the kind of person he was. He was nuisance and a harlot—"

"What does that have to do with anything, dad?"

"What does the bible say about people like him? People like him that go about dressing like women and putting on makeup? What does the bible say or the white people have erased all that off your head"

"Well, what does the bible say about murder?" Ola asked and silence fell. "You know this is why you're here. This is one of the reasons i brought you back. You've changed" Came the infamous words of a father to his son. "This is not about me" He said. "This is about doing what is right" Ola added.

"So maybe you've changed because the father i know would fight for what is right" There was a crack in his voice. "You think what he was, was right?" He genuinely asked now, seriousness in his tone and Ola looked to Mary. "This is not about me and for the nth time, she was a woman"

"Jazzlyn was a woman" Came a loud thud.

"Go to your room, now" Akin threatened, his true color coming into foresight as he clenched his feet.

"What do you want to do?" Ola matched his energy, standing his grounds as Mary just stood there, trembling. She herself, didn't know what her husband was capable of when he was angry.

"One would think after everything. After all the shame—" Akin moved closer to him. "That you'd come here and do the right thing for the first time. That you'd face your studies here"

"But n—" He raised the back of his palms, preparing to dash a slap across Ola's face before Mary finally yelled. "Akin. Get away from my son"

He halted, looking to Ola who did not everything but quiver. Akin had done alot worse in the past. It was then, he brushed past his shoulders and walked to his room. "You'll be this child's ruin" Akin heaved a deep breath as Ola slammed the door in his face. He fell behind it, and cried in his arms.

He was in pain as he sat there with a sore throat from all the yelling, and the aching muscles from having nothing to eat. And the headache from his deprivation of rest and sleep.

Yet, when his phone rang and he had summoned enough strength to pick it. He slid across his screen to answer it, hesitating to reply the unknown caller.

"Mide" Then came a voice from it.

There was only one person that called him that, and that was Obi. "Hey" He sniffled, trying to sound as normal as he could. Like he didn't just breakdown.

"Come meet me outside"

He looked to his windows where a pebble hit the glass and he got off the ground. And rushed there.

He might have been a literal walking dead, yet when that call came through, he didn't hesitate to climb through the windows out. All whilst Mary walked to his door, giving it a slight knock.

Little did she know, her son, who was having an exam tomorrow was thrusting down the streets with Obi, his best friend. They pushed against the winds on his bike, to only God knew where.

When they got there, it was clear. It wasn't at first, because night had fallen and it was dark. But the moon had illuminated the skies and the road that led to the land where they had reached.

His bike came to a halt and fell to the ground as they stood. Ola's eyes admired the candles, and the lights close to the coffin. Obi held him, towards a group of people. "I thought you'd want to come"

Ola looked to him. "Is that Jazzlyn?" He asked softly as he looked to the wooden coffin and the hole in the ground. He nodded, coming to halt in front of a woman that stood by the edge.

"Hi" He whispered. And Mira turned around. Ola had recognized her in that instant. They were perhaps Obi's guardian and it had been them, ever since his real dad died in a car crash.

And his mom abandoned him.

"Olamide Bankole" Came a high pitched voice as he flashed a smile back in return. "Aunt Mira" He whispered as they set their eyes to the coffin.

"Why's he being buried now?" Ola asked.

"Muslim rights. Has to buried the same day" Mira replied as they all consciously looked to Jazz's mother that welp by the side of her daughter's grave. "Is that her mother?" He asked the obvious.

Obi nodded, holding unto Olamide. "No mother should have her child's body delivered in a bag" Mira said, with pain subtle in her voice. "And the funny thing, is this wouldn't change anything—"

Obi's grip tightened as Ola looked to him.

"Are you okay?" Ola asked.

"Yes" He was the one that lied this time. What he didn't say, however was, that one conversation he had with Jazzlyn, was about him, Obi transitioning.

He'd realized that, after so long. And this was about to haunt him in ways he wasn't ready for.

"You sure?" Ola could tell something went through his mind but he flashed a pretty convincing smile.

"Yes" Came a whisper that followed and he brought his head against his shoulders, calmly in a way that relieved the pain in his head.

He was better, now that he was with him.

To be continued...