To you, Chinedu, the man who needed fresh air.

I was there when the puddle of blood that gathered in the small pothole – one of the many potholes that bizarrely decorate the road directly connecting Abraka to Warri – transformed from a brownish red to bright red. The thick clots that were once brown, or were they black? Well, I know I was there when they melted like ice cubes placed in an oven, and began to run leisurely back towards your head that lay three feet away, detached from your neck.

Chi, I was there when the blood reached where your head lay and spread out like the arms of a mother yearning to hug her five children all at once. As it spread, it began to seep into your closed eyes, your open mouth, your ears, and into an unbelievably colossal hole that sat on the left side of your head. I was amazed. My eyes felt moist, and my lids stung, but I couldn’t tell if it was the burning sensation in my chest, the sharp pain that had seized my lower spine, or it was from watching all these strange things happen to you. Or perhaps, it was the screams that sprang from the voices that belonged to no bodies.

Chi, your head absorbed all the blood. Your head drank so much that there was not even a drop remaining. What was left was the glistening tar of the road, the sudden slamming of car doors, and the sounds of the car and bike tires screeching to a sharp halt and voices yelling. I think I heard running feet too. Do you remember the Flash guy in one of the movies we saw at your house? That one you loved but I hated? The one who possessed incredible speed? Look, I don’t remember the movie’s name, but we’ve only seen one movie together where a character was called FLASH. The rate with which the massive hole on the left side of your head closed up, the speed with which your head rolled towards your neck, which was resting quietly in the nearby bush; that speed was unrivaled by Flash’s own. I remember groaning in pain and shouting, ‘Jesus!’

It was like a miracle. It was a miracle. You know, that type of miracle that happens in big churches where the pastor commands the disabled man to rise and walk in the name of Jesus, and boom! The disabled person grows like a robot and begins to stride, just like that.

Just before your head united perfectly with your neck, I witnessed three splitting momentarily events: the rattling of your head and the rapid blinking of your eyes. I saw fear. Second was the opening and closing of your mouth, just like the way those cat fishes we usually mocked at the market, breathed. The ones you liked to put last when cooking banga soup. But as your mouth opened and closed, there were no words. There were only beads of spittle flying here and there. Third, I saw that the clots of brown blood that stained and hung on the green and brown leaves around you, were turning to bright red and were snaking their way very quickly to your neck, from where they trickled into your body.
I told you all of that happened just before your head united perfectly with your neck.

Chi, I do not know now how to say this. I do not even think you will believe me because it’s absurd, but you see… Listen, you know how much I admire your straight legs. But after your head joined with your neck, I noticed that your legs were not straight at all. Both your legs were extremely K’ed. Like you had k-legs that were so bent they were at 90degrees facing your arms. Even now, I feel that I have not described it well. Forgive me; I am bad at Maths and all those formulaic nonsense you loved.
I remember whispering weakly ‘Chin..chi..needuuuu…’. At this point, it was as though someone had hit my head with a giant pestle. My eyes were narrowing, but I was still very much conscious and I could see you.
Surprisingly, your overly bent k-legs started to straighten. Another baffling miracle I must say. They straightened up so perfectly, I thought my eyes did not belong to me anymore.

Then, you stood up.

Chinedu, you fucking stood up!

No no no. Now that I remember well, you did not stand up. Yes, you did not. You arose yes, but did not stand. You ascended into the air. I would have used the word ‘levitated’ but you once told me levitations are slow. You were not slow. You ascended into the air like fyuuum! And next thing, everything was happening very fast. And by very fast, I mean like this:
I felt myself rise up into the air too. I was flying. I had always wanted to be able to fly, but at that moment, although I was flying, it didn’t feel like the type of flying I had always imagined. It was horrible – too fast. So there we were, in the air, flying, ascending, and screaming our lungs out.
And crash! We landed.
Landing didn’t hurt, and that was perplexing considering the increase of speed with which we did. Then I realised why. We had not landed on the ground or on a roof or something like that. We had landed on a bike!
See, I know this story does not make sense Chi, but believe me it happened. I was there.
We landed on a bike and you were sitting in front with me behind you.

For some strange reason, we were screaming.

And then there was the deafening blare of a vehicle horn. It was so loud it swallowed our screams. I turned and saw that there was a gigantic lorry just behind our bike and it was moving away from us very fast. As it moved away, the sound of the blaring horn grew louder and more distinct. As the blaring became distinct, so did our screams. In fact, our screams stopped and we were talking in agitated tones, our words mainly incoherent. I recall my heart pounding in my chest. I recall saying a prayer, or was it a curse? But I noticed that the pain I was feeling all over my body had disappeared.

The horning stopped, and our incoherent words became coherent. We began to laugh as though all that had just happened was a joke. I looked behind me, and the lorry that was honking a few moments ago was driving peacefully backwards. We were driving backwards too. You said a joke, and I laughed so hard a drop of pee seeped out of my vagina. Then we started to fight about which movie to see the next time we visited the Cinema. Chief Daddy or Lionheart. I wanted Chief Daddy. ‘Baby, the trailer is so captivating please na.’ I said hugging you from behind. You insisted on Lionheart. You did not have a good reason.

Then there was silence between us as we drove and drove until we arrived at your house in Abraka: one of those cheap houses along FSP road. We climbed off the bike and entered the house. It was dark inside. We put on the light. We kissed. We removed our clothes. We kissed again. We crawled into the bed.
You said, ‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to visit Warri today. Shoprite.’
I said, ‘I don’t feel like going out. I enjoy your company more and…’
‘Yes I know you are not an outdoor person but nkem biko I need fresh air. It’s a festive season. Tomorrow will be very busy so…’
‘Okay, okay. Uguaghan park or all those roadside taxis? Which one we go take?’
‘We are using my bike. It’s sweet. Just the two of us.’
‘Your bike?! On a federal road? Jesus! Chinedu! wetin dey do you?! You want to use a bike to go to Shoprite from Abraka! That your rickety Suzuki. Bye bye o. I wish you luck with your local power bike.’
But you touched my cheek, Chinedu, and you petted me and told me you loved me. You said you had done it many times before
So I agreed.
Then we had sex.