6:13am. Wednesday, 12th.
Bang!
His head flew forward several times as he hit it against the wall. Scenes flashed about in his mind every time his forehead came in contact with the brick wall.
Bang!
A car driving at full speed towards him.
Bang!
Two trees falling and landing with a thud on the ground.
Bang!
A room painted white.
Bang!
He placed his palms on the wall for support. There was blood splashed on the wall where his head came in contact. He was dressed in only a singlet and loose trousers. There was a punching bag-multiple old clothes stuffed in a sack-dangling from the ceiling in the middle of the room. The open window did little to illuminate the room. One would think he lived in a ghetto but it was quite the opposite. He lived in a hotel room just a stone throw from a bus park where he worked as a bus driver. The building wasn't fit to be called a hotel but because many people ended up staying some nights there, the owners decided to turn it into a hotel and they never ran out of customers.
He stopped. He wasn't dizzy. He didn't feel any pain. He glanced at his pills on his bed. They were strewn all over the bed and the container lay on the floor. Without a second thought, he lounged for it and threw more than ten into his mouth. He dragged himself to a door on the other side of the room and got in. Moments later, he came out dripping with a towel round his neck and torso. He looked younger than before and the blood on his head was no longer visible. He would have passed as a handsome twenty-something year old but his certificate of driver of the year that hung on the wall read, Williams Lawanson; 34 year old.
He brought out an old suitcase from under his bed and rummaged for his uniform. Tigey motors was the best road transport in the whole of Nigeria, they were situated in all states and had never had one accident. Except…the one twelve years ago…The one accident that spiraled into more and more accidents in the years following. It wasn't his fault. He was just accused wrongly. He was to be sent to prison but he died before trial. He was-
A knock on his door jolted him from his bed where his clothes were littered.
He quickly pulled out his grey trouser and short sleeve and wore them. He walked to the door and cracked it open. A young female a bit above twenty years stood on the other side. When he opened the door, he caught her adjusting her blouse so it could reveal more cleavage. Didn't she hear the door? He cleared his throat and she jerked her head up.
"Oh, Williams." Her cheeks flushed. Probably realizing that he had caught her in her seductive act. "You…"
Williams raised his eyebrows and waited for her to complete the statement.
She composed herself and said; "The manager wants to see you."
He nodded and proceeded to close the door.
"Now." She said.
He looked at her.
"No delay."
He sometimes forgot that this little lady was the manager's daughter, a business woman who had it mind to take over the business when her old man died. Williams knew her plans for the business though because she had bored him to death with her business ideas anytime she came to his place. Plans that if her father ever heard were her intentions, would rather hand over the company to a stranger. Williams always wondered why the old man couldn't hand over the business to his first son. Which always brought him to the question of who and where the first son was? Why give the business to a deranged woman?
Williams nodded his head and closed the door. His boots where just by the door so he took them and slipped them on without delay and opened the door again but the manager's daughter wasn't there. Creepy woman.
He closed his door firmly behind him, locking it then proceeded out of the building to the bus park where the manager stayed.
6:32am. Wednesday, 12th.
Williams knocked on the door that read 'manager' and waited for a reply.
"Come in." Came the faint reply. He pushed the door open and walked in. The room was well furnished with A.C and a 16 inch T.V placed opposite a mahogany desk. Behind the desk sat a man well into his seventy's. His thin greying hair no longer covered his head but left patches here and there. His wrinkled face showed more of stress then age. He should have retired a long time ago, why hadn't he?
"Williams." The old man said. The name tag on his table read, 'Baruwa David. Manager.' "Did Catharine wake you up?"
Williams smiled and shook his head.
"I told her to wait till at least seven but she wanted me to get it said." Williams frowned. "How are you doing this morning?"
"I've had better mornings." His voice came out thick, deep and rusty. He hardly spoke which was one the things that drew the old man to him.
"We all have. Have a seat."
Williams checked the clock on the wall. 6:39am. He drove the first bus and he had to be there by 7. The old man followed his gaze to the clock.
"There's still time for you, don't worry."
"For me?" Williams looked back at the old man.
"That's right. Sit down." It wasn't a request.
He sat down.
"I have cancer." He went straight to the point. That's just how he was. He never beat round the bush. Williams had learnt in all their previous conversations. This one was news. Bad news.
"How long?" And Williams too had learnt to never show emotion thanks to his training in the Facility. Where he was before he became a driver. One of the traits that Catherine never liked, not that he cared. She always threw herself at him but he had made it clear to her several times that he was not interested and that he was also dangerous. She claimed she liked dangerous men but if only she knew…
"A month."
"Does she know?"
"Not yet. I wanted to speak to you first."
"Why me?"
"You know the way Catherine is. Immediately she hears this, she would want me to retire, hand the company over to her."
"And you don't want to do that?"
"We both know what she will do to it?"
Williams sighed even though he had no idea how the man knew of her plans. "Why me?" He reiterated.
The old man nodded. "I was hoping you could speed up the getting to know each other part and marry her-" Williams scoffed and sat back. His eyes filled with amusement. "So that I can hand over the company to you instead."
Williams actually smiled. A smile that beamed up his face. "You want me to marry Catherine."
"I know it seems odd for me to ask being her father but I want this business to thrive and that won't happen if it lands in Catherine's hands. Ask her to marry you. Today, when you get back from your work. I know she'll be excited, she'll say yes. And then after that, I'll make a will."
Williams sat drinking it all in. Marry the !&$%?, no. No, he couldn't possibly…he didn't even like the lady. In fact, he loathed her. What kind of trap was this? His heart beat increased for just a second and he gripped his chest, breathed out and hung his head. He was running out of pills. He had overdosed this morning. Ten all at once wasn't the prescription, but then, no one could tell him where the facility had relocated to as for him to get more pills. What if they had shut down? What about the experiments they wanted to test?
"Williams?" He zoned back to reality. The old man looked at him with concern. "Are you okay?"
He cleared his throat and answered. "Yes, sir."
"So, when you get back from work?"
Williams weighed the situation. He didn't want to marry Catherine, not in this life, not in the next. Heck, he didn't even plan on ever getting married. And here he was being forced to do it. Williams had a lot of respect for the old man but forcing him to marry Catherine? That was where he drew the line.
Williams looked up into the old man's eyes, into his dying eyes and felt for him. He was dying and the only thing he wanted alive was his company. The same thing William would have done in his situation.
"Williams you don't have all day, you know that?"
Williams sighed. "Okay." Even as he said it, he was regretting it. "When I get back, I'll ask her to marry me."
The old man tried so much to conceal his happiness but was doing a bad job. "Thank you very much, Williams. I knew you were the man for this. You'll make Catherine very happy, I know it!"
Willaims scoffed a little and his fist tightened. What had he gotten himself into?