TARASHA Episode 20 Pt 4 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Tarasha’s bag dropped from her hand to the floor, her heartbeat increased and her eyes became full of frustration.
‘Henry, what do you want here?’ She asked angrily.
‘Is that how to welcome a friend who you haven’t seen for a while?’ Henry replied, still sitting comfortably.
‘And who told you that you are my friend?’ She slammed.
‘Hey Tara, calm down.’ Jefa interfered, he got up from his seat and faced his sister. ‘Did he wrong you so much that you don’t want to see him here at all?’
Tara gave her brother no reply but fixed her eyes on Henry who was smiling mischievously.
‘Uncle Jeff, I think we can fix this ourselves,’ Henry said, standing up from his seat. He touched Jefa’s shoulder in a calm manner.
‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come in?’ Jefa turned to look at Henry’s face.
‘No, we would handle it ourselves.’ Henry said with a smile.
‘Okay,’ Jefa said. He took another long stare at Omotara’s face before he turned back and walked into his room.
Henry and Tarasha stared at themselves eyeball to eyeball quietly for almost two minutes, there was a tensed atmosphere around them. Henry smiling face gradually changed into a serious one while Tarasha maintained her furious gaze, soon her hand was going into her pocket.
‘Calm down Tara, don’t bring out the gun yet.’ Henry stopped her in a loud tone. ‘I’m not planning to run away, why don’t you hear what I have to say before you ki*ll me?’
‘Shh…’ Tarasha hushed him with a frown and pulled him away, not wanting Jefa to hear their conversation, she knew Henry was speaking very loud to ensure Jefa could hear from his room.
She pulled him to the front of the entrance door and stared into his eyes coldly. ‘What do you want from me?’
‘You want to ki*ll me…’ Henry continued loudly.
‘Oh Shi*t!’ Tarasha frowned at him for speaking on top of his voice. She thought of taking him outside to talk but the neighbours could hear their voices, so she had no other choice than to pull him into her room.
Henry went straight to the bed and sat comfortably, watching her as she locked the door and threw the keys behind the bed.
‘I could ki*ll you, you know?’ Tarasha said in a threatening voice.
‘I’m not afraid to die in your hands,’ Henry replied, he got up and started walking around the room. ‘You tried to ki*ll me and failed, now I brought myself to you,’ Henry said as he got to the table where her laptop was placed.
‘What do you want from me?’ Tarasha asked.
‘I want to ask some questions, I hope you would give me the answers,’ Henry said.
‘I’m not obligated to give you any answers,’ Tarasha said coldly. ‘In fact, I think it’s time for you to leave; I don’t want to see you near me or my brother anymore.’
‘You don’t want to see me?’ Henry asked tauntingly.
‘Yes, I don’t want to see you,’ she shouted.
‘But I need you to answer my questions or you’ll keep seeing me until you ki*ll me.’ Henry replied.
‘Get out of here,’ Tarasha commanded, leaving the way to the door.
Henry stood unmoved and kept looking into her eyes, he took in a short breath. ‘If you don’t want to answer my questions, then you have ki*ll me but you should let Uncle Jeff witness my death.’
Tarasha was getting angrier, not understanding his intention, she moved closer to him slowly, dipping her hand into her pocket. She didn’t plan to ki*ll him but to scare him to leave. Her heart was beating abnormally and her body vibrating all over, there was a strange kind of overwhelming fear around her; one that she had never felt whenever she tried to scare or ki*ll someone. It was as if she was the one in danger of death.
Henry didn’t step back for her in fear, he was as calm as a dove, he was little bit confident that she wouldn’t ki*ll him because he knew she was intelligent. He knew there would be questions and doubts in her heart as to whether it was a set up by the police for her.
Tarasha stopped at his front and stared into his eyes, she took her hand out of her pocket when she saw that he was unmoved. She looked away from him and opened up her laptop on the table. She quickly pressed the boot button. The fear in her heart began to increase even as she stood very close to him, but she choose to ignore and act like the fearless assassin that she was.
‘You’re scared,’ Henry said after shifting back a little as the computer began to boot.
She took a quick glance at him and turned back to the laptop without replying.
‘There’s no need to check anything, I didn’t inform the police or anyone else of my coming here, so nobody is outside. Your cameras are also working, I only made them stop operating for ten minutes.’ Henry said to her, making her freeze for some seconds. She took another quick look at him, wondering how he knew exactly what was in her mind.
‘What exactly do you want from me?’ she stood straight and asked again in a serious tone.
‘I want to know why you wasted several lives just to get me and now I’m here and you can’t even ki*ll me,’ Henry slammed at her.
She stared at him in silence, not knowing what to do or say. Was he really right about her not being able to ki*ll him or was she the one sparing him because it was not the proper situation to ki*ll him?
‘Can’t you answer?’ he shouted at her. ‘Do you think God would be happy with you for wasting several lives?’ he paused to look into her
‘Hehe,’ Tarasha began with a short laugh which turned into a roar of laughter.
Henry became the confused one now but her position about God quickly came into his mind.
‘But seriously do you think all these things you’re doing wouldn’t come back to hunt you?’ he asked again.
She stopped laughing suddenly and looked into his face, her fear had disappeared; now she saw Henry like a weakling; the same way she saw those who reverenced God.
‘Who’s gonna bring them back huh?’ she asked mockingly. ‘Your god who is a great murderer himself?’ she continued speaking and began to walk in a circle round him. ‘I’ve not killed half of those who your god has killed and I’m not hoping to beat him in the records, he’s too good in the act of murdering people.’
She stopped at his front and looked into his face, ‘I ki*ll for people who pay me, I don’t ki*ll because I’m a blood sucking viper; those who I ki*ll are worthy of death in one way or the other.’
‘Nobody is worthy of death, why would you say they are worthy of death when you’re not the God who created them?’
Tarasha laughed aloud again, ‘believing in god is enough reason to be worthy of death, how can you believe in a blood-sucking flesh eater and say you don’t want to die?’
‘Omotara, God does not ki*ll, God does not love to see his people die,’ Henry said calmly.
‘Hehe, god doesn’t love to see his people die? Maybe that’s why he doesn’t come down to ki*ll them himself, he doesn’t see them die but he sees them after they are dead and takes delight in their blood and pain.’
‘Shut up, Tara! Don’t blaspheme, God is love,’ Henry said briefly, running out of words to say to her. ‘God helps those who submit to his authority and give him the right over their lives.’
‘God is love?’
‘Yes, God is love.’ Henry stated.
‘Love doesn’t exist, that means if God is love, god does not exist.’
‘Love exists, Tara. Love exists,’ Henry said. ‘Or tell me why you’ve not hurt your brother, tell me why you’re keeping him here and protecting him, isn’t it because you love him?’ he paused to look at her face.
She was quiet as she pondered on his words. It was true that she was supposed to have killed Jeffrey under normal circumstances but she didn’t understand why she kept him and the feeling she always had when she thought about him as her brother, could that be love?
‘You love him as your brother and that’s why you’ve kept him here,’ Henry said and took another brief pause. ‘And why are you scared of killing me?’ he asked a question which made her shake visibly.
She took a quick glance at his face and frowned at his accusation. ‘I’m not scared of killing you, I’ve not killed you right now because it’s not right place to.’
‘No, Samantha. You’ve not killed me because you are not bold enough to do so. You’ve taken out more secured people even at unideal places, so why can’t you take me out?’
‘So what are you insinuating?’
‘You can’t ki*ll me Samantha, YOU CAN’T ki*ll ME!’ he shouted.
‘Shh, lower your voice please and don’t call me Samantha again.’ she replied.
‘I won’t lower my voice,’ he continued. ‘People call you Samantha Osman, so why shouldn’t I call you that?’
‘Are you crazy? People in other apartments could hear you.’ she said in a scared tone.
‘People in other apartments?’ he said and gave a short laugh. ‘No, Tara. You’re not scared of people in other apartments, you’re scared that your brother could hear. Your fear has even made you to forget that you have this room soundproofed. This shows that you are desperate not to allow your brother know who you really are. You don’t want it to hurt him, do you know why?’ she was silent. ‘Because you love him Tara, you don’t want him to become disappointed on hearing that you’re an assassin.’
‘You don’t know anything about me Henry, I’m not scared of allowing anybody know who I am. They die immediately if they are not supposed to know,’ she said, trying to put up a bold face.
‘But why have I not died immediately?’ Henry asked.
‘Stop making yourself look special,’ she slammed. ‘I don’t love you and never would I do.’
‘Hehe,’ Henry chuckled. ‘Now, you just unconsciously agreed that love exists but you say you don’t love me?’ he said and waited for her response but she didn’t reply. ‘I agree that you don’t love me, but I know you love your brother and want to protect him, that’s why you’re so scared of letting him know the real you.’
‘I don’t love anyone, I could ki*ll him now if I want to.’
‘Haha,’ Henry laughed again loudly. ‘The look in your eyes says opposite; you won’t ki*ll him Tara, he means a lot to you and you want to protect him.’
‘I don’t…’
‘Stop arguing,’ he interrupted her. ‘Accept the truth, strong people accepts the truth; they don’t deny even when they know they’re lying to themselves.’ he said and paused to see her response; he was making the desired effect. ‘Tara, you are better than what you think of yourself. You’re better than a tool made to ki*ll people. Think about it; your brother, you want to make him happy, you don’t want to see him cry, you want to put a smile on his face at all times but what about those people who your work has caused to cry, whom your work has thrown into eternal pain?’ He paused again.
Tarasha felt suddenly weakened by his words, her bones felt lifeless and she pulled out the chair and sat on it, tears formed in her eyes.
‘Think about the fulfillment you feel when your brother is happy, think about how you feel happy when he smiles,’ Henry continued. ‘Don’t you think you’ll feel happier if you could make a lot more people smile instead of making them feel pain and giving them sorrow?’
Henry moved closer and squatted before her, looking into her eyes directly. ‘Why have you allowed someone lie to you about God being wicked? Why have you allowed other people’s words and theories control your life? Why should you deny love just because you were taught it doesn’t exist even though you feel it?’ he said and got up again, he began to walk around.
‘Strong people don’t allow what others have said to control their lives, they live and discover what is right, they let go of whatever they’ve learnt before whenever they find out that they’ve been wrong and they try to live right when they discover the right way.’ He stopped in front of her again and squatted. He placed his elbow on her knees and held her palms in his. He could see the tears formed in her eyes as he looked. ‘Why don’t you release those tears?’ he said softly. ‘Don’t keep them in stubbornly; it would mean holding back the things you’re supposed to let go.’
‘I can’t let go of anything ,’ she said stubbornly and got up. ‘I’ve gone too far already.’
‘No,’ he rose up with her and stood behind her. ‘Don’t allow that mentality stop you from doing the right thing. You can start a new life, you can live a life of value; making other people’s lives better. I know you’ve been through a lot but don’t allow those memories keep you like the scoundrels that caused you pain, that would mean that they succeeded. But you can prove them wrong, help others like you avoid the pain, help them get a better life.’
A knock sounded on Tara’s door, she remained still and there was no answer until Henry spoke. ‘Uncle Jeff, is that you?’ Henry asked, going towards the door.
‘The key is here,’ Tara said softly to him. He turned back, remembering that she had thrown the key behind the bed. He picked up the key and went ahead to open the door.
Jefa popped in his head, he glanced at Omotara and looked back to Henry. ‘I wasn’t hearing anything, so I wanted to find out if everything is alright.’ Jefa said.
‘Yes, everything is alright.’ Henry answered.
‘Okay,’ Jefa glanced at Tara once again and stared around the room before closing back the door.
Henry locked the door and turned back to Tarasha.
‘I think it’s late, it’s time you go,’ Tarasha said to him, folding his arms.
‘I don’t have anywhere to go, I’ve been sleeping outdoor for days.’
…to be continued
