The Hole in The Wall - Season 1 - Episode 19

4 years ago

The Hole in The Wall - Season 1 - Episode 19

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I stared into the casket…my heart pounding and my breath caught up in my throat. Flashes from the past hanging around my memory in a cloud that hovered just on the brink of my consciousness. Images…from different places and time. Fomé…in school, on her graduation….the day we quarrelled..her face when she smiled…..

I reigned in the black cloud and peered into the casket, I blinked and blinked but still couldn’t recognize the corpse I was I was looking at. I could see the form, at least make out the torso and the legs although it was still unrecognizable…just extremely black patches that was once smooth skin over bones.
But then I bent my head and caught the faint whiff the rot couldn’t cover….this body had been burnt…I remember the fire that had ‘killed’ Fome but yet, the force of the explosion should have done more damage to the body in my mind at least, I had expected to see the body in a worse state…I mean the blast of heat that had enveloped the compound alone….

Tonye glanced at me and her expression stopped my thought process. She had definitely seen something I hadn’t
“What…what is it?” I asked her
But she shook her head and continued observing the body.

My eyes followed hers reluctantly and I began to see it too….

The strands of hair..standing separately and erect on the black sooth- caked shape that had to be the skull.

Pieces in the mouth that seemed to reflect the morning light which I knew had to be indentation at once…and the general state of the body (which to me now looked like it had been rubbed thoroughly with charcoal)
I looked at Tonye again and she was looking at me too. But this time my expression must have mirrored hers because she was the one who spoke.

“This body….this body hasn’t been in the ground for up to two years” she said in the kind of tone doctors used to tell families that they had lost a loved one.

You know human nature is so strange. There’s something that scares us when the truth is out in the open, the very truth we have acknowledged in our deepest hearts but still when it’s time to face this truth, it’s easier to fall back to denial.

And so I found myself saying “no its not up to two years na….maybe 19 months or so”
She shook her head sadly “Rex…this body hasn’t been in the ground up to a year…a couple of months maybe”

I knew she was right. There wasn’t really supposed to be a body…remains maybe but not a body as complete as this. But I wasn’t accepting the voice of reason.
“Heey…you know Mr X…he probably had a good undertaker get the body in good condition so the body could withstand the test of time as long as possible.”

“Heeeey what on earth can you two be talking about at a time like this!” Bami called out from the hilux and Andy made a sound in agreement.
“They’re right….let’s get the DNA to the doctor..I’m glad I won’t have to sever any major flesh the dental records would be the surest way or the hair…or maybe…”
I stopped hearing her words as I tried to grasp something suddenly…back at the hospital doctor Rasheed had said he couldn’t come with us because he had a lot of work to do. According to him the ‘backlog kept accumulating and he had to take care of it today….

If he had said that two years ago, I would have understood perfectly and wouldn’t have noticed anything irregular then…but it was all over and the doctor had only his practice to run now, there was no jumping from hospitals to dark night clubs for secret meetings anymore for him… So why would he have so much backlog that he couldn’t even take few hours off… ? His young intern looked competent enough, not like she was going to burn the whole lab if unsupervised for a while.
He can’t take some time off because he as taken to much already…

The answer came from deep within and I suddenly remembered a famous advert from a soap opera during my younger days.

In the flick, a boy can be seen on a roof and a much elder man on the floor urging him to jump. Their exchange goes something like this;

Father: My son jump…jump I’d catch you

Son: (whimpers) I’m scared papa

Father: My son jump I will catch you

Son: Oh papa…(approaches the edge of the roof cautiously and filled with terror)

Father: remember I’m your father…I will catch you, now jump!

The boy jumps and lands on the floor as the man steps back.

Son: (holds his leg in agony) why didn’t you catch me papa..why did you let me fall?

Father: (stares down with his face contorted in anger) Let this be a lesson to you in life, never trust anyone…not even me your father!
Now after so many years the clip replayed in my mind and I knew I must be smart. I couldn’t trust anybody blindly.
“Tonye….get another part whatever it is…teeth or flesh or bone…I want a second opinion” I said

She looked at me and I could see she understood me perfectly.
“Terry?” She asked
I nodded. The young man was very efficient.
I let her do her work and stepped back.
“is it her? How’s the body?” Bami asked me as I got into the hilux

I wanted to tell him to go have a look himself but instead I said “its unrecognizable…black and blunt but I believe there’s ample DNA to run the tests”

He nodded and Andy added “if it comes out she’s not the one here I’d have to dig up Mona too…you know I never saw her body”
“You can start by seeing this one now” I pointed to the open casket where Tonye was transferring the ziplog bag filled with body parts into the coolar of ice.

Andy shivered “No thanks…I’m not that curious yet”

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