FICTION : Love turns sore

“Stop him! Stop him! Stop him!” shouted the big bellied policemen to a fast running Mr. Kariya. With the help of the mob, the police finally caught up with him. The angry mob wanted to unleash blows and throw every object they could find at Mr. Kariya but olice managed to cool them down. “Let us go to the station” said one of the officers. “No! No! No! the impatient crowd shouted back at the police; “Let us have a piece of him.” The crowd cried cursing and thirsting for Mr. Kariya’s blood. Reinforcement was summoned through radio call. A speedy police vehicle arrived and Mr. Kariya was thrown at the back of the vehicle and whisked away to the police station. “Am innocent, am innocent” pleaded a visibly shocked Mr. Kariya to one of the officers who was interrogating him at the police station. “Why were you running in the first place if you are innocent as you claim?” asked the police. “It is mistaken identity. I went there to collect some documents I had given her. We college together” said Kariya to the officers. “Are you implying that it was your first visit to her house?” asked an officer. “You better tell the truth otherwise you will face the music,” he added. Mr. Kariya was a young handsome man. He had just finished his university and was now a lecturer at a technical institute in town. It is at this college that he met one of his students by the name Hellen. Hellen was married to one Apollo. He was a long distance truck driver. They had married for half a decade without conceiving. This left Hellen quite lonely. Apollo had noticed the depression on her wife and had decided to find a college for her, to keep her busy instead of staying at home alone. That is when she landed at this technical institute with Mr. Kariya as her lecturer. Pressure mounted for Hellen from her parents and friends as well regarding her inability to conceive. Hellen and her husband had visited several health care institutions to establish what their problem could be. None of them yielded any fruits. Witchdoctors didn’t either. One of the doctors though suggested to Hellen that the problem could be with her husband. This, the doctor had explained had to do with sperm count infertility. Mr. Kariya the lecturer admired Hellen the student. They started dating occasionally. Hellen managed to hide her marital status from Mr. Kariya all along their dating episodes. This was made possible since most of the time her husband was not around. A good friend to Hellen had advised her to try her luck outside her matrimonial bed. Hellen had refused the idea initially and was not willing to cheat on her husband. She however started entertaining her friend’s idea after joining this technical institution, and after meeting Mr. Kariya. The relationship between the two grew to an extent that Mr.Kariya could take Hellen to his house. Oblivious of Hellen’s marital status, he wanted to marry her. He had even suggested introducing her to his parents back at home. She would brush off the idea since her mission was yet to be accomplished. Hellen loved her husband very much only that he could not shoot to produce. The love secret between the two did not last long. Villagers had started noticing the illicit relationship and were not pleased. None of them however disclosed this to Apollo who most of the time was away from home. Mr. Kariya demanded to know where Hellen was living. She had avoided this question for a long time until this one evening when Kariya could not accept any reason as to why they could not go to her home. Hellen tried all her best but Kariya could not succumb to any unsound explanation. This caught Hellen unawares. She had planned to end the relationship once she establishes that she had conceived. She decided to let Kariya come to her place only this once since her husband was away. She directed him to her home. He was to come on this one Saturday afternoon. Mr. Kariya was punctual but could not interpret the map correctly. He had to ask around Hellen’s neighbourhood, unknown to him that he was publicly announcing his glad coming to the curious neighbours. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter house, they directed him to Hellen’s house and immediately embarked on a mission-to expose him. Word went round that Hellen; Apollo’s wife had gone too far. Her morals were despicable and had to be taught a lesson. A small group gathered around the house and it kept growing slowly by slowly. Hellen smelt a rat and decided to disclose everything to Kariya. Kariya swallowed the bitter truth and felt hell calling. He thought of putting up a fight but that was not practical. The crowd was big and someone had called police officers. Adrenaline got the better part of him. It is at this juncture that Kariya decided to open the door and run as fast as his legs could carry him. Ends