Finally, Uli gets off the bus. But danger still looms darkly around her.  

At this time the sunset comes as a settled heart to the horizon, as if the sky itself could speak of love.

Holding tautly to her chest, she manages to find her breath. Her eyes wander around, intently searching for her house as though it is missing, as though this is her first time here. On one side there's a small salon, a big shopping mall, the one she has never visited or think of. Still on the other, a hospital, its structure towering high and already flooded with cars. The biggest in Lagos. A cavalcade of eye-catching houses, well secured by tall barb-wired fences and street lights. But her house isn't there. All she has to do is wipe her hand over her eyes to clear out the mist and she would see properly that her house sits in-between two tall trees, looking morose, like a child sitting by himself after everyone has left school, waiting for his mama to come pick him up.  

She can be seen walking fast, as though her feet are floating, not making contact at all with the road recently tarred by the government. Not bothered if she misses a step, after all she's not crippled, so getting back on both feet wouldn't be a problem. And she doesn't have to worry about her wig sliding off her head since she always enjoys wearing her overgrown afro like a golden crown, with an aura of a blackness that's enchanting, only privy to an African woman like herself; likewise she doesn't have to care so much about messing up her makeup (she hates wearing them, eyeshadow and mascara make her eyes singe with tears) or her clothes or the possibility of her heels breaking since many, mostly Mama and Toria her best friend, think she has the most awful fashion taste. Although they insist she looks like a boy in those shabby dresses of hers, still she likes them. Once, when Toria was at her place (she's always been around) and flung a red dress at Uli's face, in that she was absolutely clueless about what to wear to a birthday party, Uli felt at first repulsed as she tried it on.  

Both her ass and large breasts, tightly hugged by the dress, stood out as though they had been waiting for years, just the right moment to announce themselves to the eyes of the world, to

break free from those baggy shirts and pants and big bras which seemed to swallow them, probably holding them hostage.  

'See now... you look just fine, just like a lady your age should, my dearest Uli,' Toria chuckled.

'Shut up! Babe, this gown is too tight. And I can barely breathe in this thing you call a push-up bra. Seriously, I want my old ones, my real me.' Even as Uli stood before the small mirror, gazing at her reflection, she knew there was something different, something beautifully different, a fact she couldn't have denied—that she was damn gorgeous and her chi had taken the extra care to secure in place every delicate piece that made her inevitably adorable. Yet she had chose to hide everything from the world.  

'See eh... The way you look now eh... No man would ever be able to resist you at the party. Trust me!' Toria gave a proud smirk.  

As soon as she enters her house, she would secure all the bolts that need securing. Then she would turn off the lights, grab a baton since she has no money to purchase a gun, continue to hold her breath while she waits for her executioners to come to her.  

While on the bus, she had seen them. The so-called Mind Readers. All three. Their bodies in a mesh of fine dark, red, and grey inks. Only their eyes, which wore an array of colors, seemed visible in all that web. They wore red sleeveless shirts and ripped jeans and had dark gloves on.  

Everyone gave way for them. No one dared to speak unless spoken to, or confront if any of them demanded for a seat or two. You just let it go, for the sake of your life.

The thoughts of all, but one, in the bus were laid bare before them like one lying nude on the bed, waiting for her lover to take her.  

We are in soup! an older woman's thought

Holy Mary Mother of God, help us! another's thought escaped and one of the mind readers, a tall, bald man caught with a sneer, you better pray very well to Mary, maybe she would come to your aid. He laughed and the other two, tattooed men joined in.  

'Mama, what is going to happen to us?' a boy of seven cried, tugging at his mother's skirt.  

A cold silence hung in the air. Uli kept still. Kneading her palms in a bid to conceal her thoughts. One of them staggered towards her. Bending slightly low, he poked his face before hers. Eyes gaped, sizing her up. Then he stopped and began to smell her face, hair, clothes, wherever his curiosity drove him to. He was looking for something. She knew. But she wasn't ready to give him the pleasure. Her thoughts had been swallowed up. Now her mind was a tabula raza, so she thought.  

The man continued to sniff around like a rat. Instantly he pulled away, to whisper something to the rest of the standing guys. The three of them flanked her.  

She knew she was in trouble. Seeing the guns and knives, and the mixture of frustration and anger on their faces, she changed location, drifting to the back.  

'She's an Obscuring!' the bald headed man murmured.  

'Never seen her kind in a long time. I think... no, I know this one must worth a fortune, boss,' the one with dreads opined.

'Let's cut her open, here and now!' the third man whispered grudgingly, all the more ruffling his already rumpled visage. His head looked  like  a  millet  field  after  a  ghastly  downpour, the  guy  obviously  thought  the  existence  of  combs  was a  nuisance.

The bald headed fellow hushed him up. 'We can't risk it. Remember we've got the police on our necks.' They agreed to get off immediately the bus stopped in order to catch their prey.  

It's utterly pointless to lock all three doors—the one to the small living room, the other opening up to the kitchen, and the other securing the backyard—she is aware. The Mind Readers posses the ability to break through any kind of walls—metallic, concrete. But she is also prepared, semi-prepared since she's still getting to know her inherent powers and the extent of the damage they could wrath.  

Suddenly all three break-in without fracturing the wall. That shows they've been able to master their abilities.  

'Guys, I think we should spread out,' suggested the man with dreads.  

'No, let's stick together, what if there are more like her inside this house?' said the one with a ruffled face.  

'Freeze, is right. We've got to stick close. We don't know how many they are. Right?'

'Right!' they answer  

She waits for them to appear in the living room, and the minute she sights them she strikes the dreadlokced man on the head employing the full weight of the baton. The man falls flat on the tiled floor like a log of wood.  OMG! Is he dead? She's thinking. The bald headed man bends down, checks his guy for signs of life but there's none. Willing himself up, his face tauts in a frown. Uli isn't sure of her next line of action.  

'Boss, wetin we dey wait for? Make we rush this...' the rumpled face man ejects a red bolt of lightning from his eyes, and instantly Uli's invisible avatar, Toria, appears and shields her in a grey balloon, impenetrable to an army of Mind Readers.  

'I thought you said you were traveling to Mars?' Uli asks. Both guys still standing, looking  helpless and confused. Wondering who she's actually communicating with.  

'Yeah. No time for petty talks, wield the iron beam from your hands!' Toria gives the command.  

'Iron what? You haven't taught me that!'

'Come off it. Must I teach you everything?' she sparks. Still in the bulletproofed balloon, Toria spits a fiery, gold light from her mouth, but eventually missing her target. Before she could spit another, both men disappeared through the wall, carrying the corpse.  

'By the way I had things under control!' Uli says.  

'Yeah, clearly you did.' Toria's hallowed face hangs out to Uli's, waiting for her to let those words out of her mouth.  

'You're right. Thank you, anyways. If you hadn't arrived earlier, guess I would have been dead,' Uli says as she slouches into the sofa.  

'You're welcome!'

'And please, don't come and be feeling like some hero here o,' Uli says and the both of them chuckle while the night sweeps down.  

Uli is startled the moment Toria appears. 'Gush! Why do you always do this?'

'I guess I love it,' Toria says, drawing a plastic chair to sit beside Uli.  

'I forgot, do you think those guys would return?' Uli pauses her fingers on the keyboard of her laptop.  

'Hmm...  I'm not sure. Even if they did, I'm always here to protect you.'

'Yeah right. As much as I like that I can't believe you.'

'Why?'

Uli adjusts her seat to face Toria. 'You're a robot. And what if, one day, the galaxy summons you? I need to be able to defend myself. My powers...'

'Yeah, about that... You still have a lot to learn concerning the use of your powers,' Toria cuts in quickly. 'I will teach you how to harness the energy from within.'

Very few Obscurings had the ability to see eyeball-to-eyeball with an avatar from the galaxy or talk so friendly with it.  Yet, Uli could. Toria first appeared to her while she was at the University. Since then has continued to appear and disappear at her own convenience. Uli's mother, who's also an Obscuring, knows about her daughter's special abilities but not the avatar. Uli hasn't told her or anyone else.  

Toria rises from the chair, walks gracefully to the window, draws up the curtain blind, and instantly, warm streaks of morning sunlight sweeps into the room.  

'No, blind me if you want!' Uli covers her face with a hand to ward off the lights.  

'You know I can't.' Toria leans over the shoulders of Uli's chair. Once again Uli's focus returns to the screen.  

'You, humans, keep working and working. What's it you're looking for from the web?'

'Seriously, you've forgotten?' Uli pauses and turns to her.  

Toria makes the I-don't-know-and-you-didn't-tell-me-anything face.  

'Jeez...  Toria! I told you about the job last night.'

'Oh, yeah. That...'

'Sometimes I wonder if you're really a robot. Guess you must have forgotten all we discussed last night, too. These days you're becoming less machine and more human o.'

'Come on, give me a break. I still remember.' She rolls her purple-colored eyes, different from Uli's chestnut eyes. 'On the contrary you could be right...' Toria toys with a strand of her silver plait, reaching down her back, the one Uli made for her two days ago, and after she was done, Toria had exclaimed before the mirror: I didn't know I was this beautiful.  

'You know I said I don't really fancy my current job. My boss is fucking rude! There's this vacancy for a waitress I saw online. There's no harm trying it,' Uli says all in about a milisecond.  

'Get a new job, yes. As a waitress, no. A big no for me,' Toria raises her voice in a stream of defiance.  

'Why?' Uli relaxes her fingers on the keys.  

Toria says she had stumbled upon a post online about the way customers usually harass waitress sexually. But that's not the real intention behind this statement—Toria knows.  

Uli rolls her eyes and continues scrolling up and down the screen with her index finger. Toria is still talking but she pretends not to listen.  

'Are you even listening to me?' Toria barks, digging her needle-like nails into the column of flesh on Uli's right shoulder.  

'Ouch! What did you do that for? It hurts!'  

Toria apologizes. 'See, I can help you get any job at all but not in a restaurant or hotel.' She rolls out a arm, presses a few buttons and a glass-like screen appears in front of her. She enumerates a list of available  job offers and the various companies recruiting, swiping left and right, up and down, her head following the movement of her hand.  

'Alas!' she exclaims, 'an IT personal will be just fine. This is just perfect for you.'  

'What's the name of the company?' Uli asks.  

'Let me see... It's a tech company—Greenworld Saving the day Techlog.

'Really, is that a thing?' Uli quirks her eyebrows.  

'It's not my company. They say here the salary is 100 K—a handsome offer. Don't you think? You could give it a trial!'

Uli hesitates before accepting. Toria doesn't wait for her to complete her next sentence which begins with a big, flat 'but' before filling and submitting Uli's details.  

'Application submitted! They would get back to you,' she announces gayly.

'So fast?' Uli wears a surprise look.  

'Yep!'

A call wires in almost at the same time Toria's automated body gives the distress call, and her face twists relentlessly in a frown, for she knows the caller.  

Recharge, your system is low!

Recharge, your system is low!

Recharge, your system is low! A female robo-voice informs.  

Uli picks the android device vibrating on the table next to her laptop. Gradually a smile begins to  uncurl itself at the corners of her mouth,  the moment Uche's voice pops up.

'Hunger is calling, I guess,' Toria says, anticipating a reply from her friend; but unfortunately her words miss the target, as if deflected by that impenetrable air of euphoria surrounding the recipient, only to return to her in that raw, humorless state. Quickly she withdraws her chair from the long desk, away from Uli's corner, to a lonely corner, attending to her energy-drained body. Generating sparks from two black wires, she powers her body back to life.  

'Are you done?' Toria's face flushes red.

'What's up with you?'

'Uche, stop that! Uche, you are so funny! Toria flails her thin hands just to micmic.  

'Why do you hate Uche so much? Tell me... Why do you hate him?' Uli demands

'Point of correction, I don't hate him. Hate is such a strong word, and sounds petty of me. I just don't trust him; he's too nice for my liking. And... you've been in two relationships before and all two ended badly. I just don't want you to make the same mistake. You know what, men are scum!'

'Oh please, don't even go there. Don't remind me of my past relationships. It's one book of my life I don't wish to open again.' Uli bows in anger.  

'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up! Please forgive me!' Toria draws near, throwing her arms around Uli's shoulders.  

'Toria, I know you care about me, but I'm not a child and I know what exactly I'm doing. All I want is your support, ok.'

Later that day, quite sure she would be invited for an online interview at Greenworld Save the day Techlog company, she would go over to work to tender her resignation letter before her boss. Then she would finally decide to pay her Mama a visit, after one full calendar year, a full year of trying to settle into the hustle and bustle of Lagos, and the ferociousness of the sun.  

Her flight is called amidst the rattle of voices at the airport.  If you stand where Uli is, you can see the sea of heads spinning about.

'What do you think about this new wave of technology spreading its wings on Nigeria's soil,' a deep female voice inquires.  

'My dear, I think it's a miracle. An answered prayer. Finally, Nigeria can see the light like the rest of the world. Perhaps come out of that dungeon of third world country, shuuh,' another female voice replies. Uli hears these women chatting as she brushes past. She doesn't notice their eyes gloating behind her, but her ears do not fail to catch the mockery in their undertoned laughter. She knows why they are laughing scornfully. Her shirt and baggy trousers, the reason for the mockery. She keeps fighting the urge to turn around, to finish them with her words, to let them know she's happy with the way she looks, and that her boyfriend isn't complaining, until she steps into the space ship.  

Enugu seems to have changed with time. Uli notices the many breathtaking skyscrapers, like the ones in Lagos; before you could easily count how many they were in the whole of Enugu State. In deed the State has been flooded by massive industrialization.  

Something wows her the moment she arrives at the terminal. Enugu now has electric-powered cars and buses! For a minute she tries to find her breath, can't stop gushing over the huge progress of the State; the phalanx of green buses, the perfect symmetry of the body, the burnished tyres and the reassuring purr of the engine.  

The ride from the terminal to Nsukka was a bump-free one. Zero potholes. Come to think of it, where's the room for potholes since the roads are all fully tarred?

Uli could have sworn that she was somewhere else as she arrived Nsukka. She wonders where the pool of red sand that coated your skin mostly during the harmattan periods was. The place she once called small, her birth home, seem to have vanished from her eyes, leaving in its place something huge, something beautiful, perhaps better. She pauses at the door to take in the new air of change, the warmth that floated around, the beautiful houses, the trees and vistas of mountains. 'I'm still here o,' Toria cuts in quickly.  

'Oh, I didn't know you' were still around.  I thought you had...'

'You thought what?'  

'Please, don't start. Remember we agreed you'd remain invisible throughout my stay here.'

'Yeah, I... Perhaps we can...' Toria's voice trails off the moment Uli's knuckles release short taps at the door. She's both excited and tensed to meet her mother after a long time.  

The door opens halfway as though the owner is afraid of being robbed. The owner shouts and jumps the instance she sees Uli.  

'Uli nwam o. Welcome! Bata, bata!'

'Mama the Mama, is this you?'

'Yes o,' Mama says.  

That evening, after she took a shower and ate Ofe nsala with fufu, she gisted and gisted with Mama until there was nothing else to gist about. She kept inquiring about the people she grew up with—aunties, uncles, cousins, neighbors, many of whom had either passed on or relocated to other States or traveled overseas. Successfully she managed not to bring up Uche's name to their conversation, else Mama would start to talk about marriage.  

The following morning, just before she takes a shower and is about to go around Nsukka, at least to reconnect with the past, Toria appears.  

'Hmm...  I see you're enjoying yourself.'

'Haba, what are you doing here again, this girl? Please, go before Mama comes in. Abi the one you did last night isn't enough? You almost made Mama think I'm mad while talking to you. Why did you have to show up unannounced? Uli stops scattering her box in search of the best outfit to wear.  

'Stop jor. What's doing this one? I doubt if your mother even slept last night.'

'What do you mean?'  

'She was just going in and out of your room, checking up on you, as though you were still a child.'

'Eh...what? It does not matter. I'm an only child, and besides, she's not seen me for a while now.'

'What about your father? You barely  talk about him.'

'See, you ask too many questions. I never knew my dad. He died before I was born. That's it. Oya come and leave.'

Uli tries to force Toria into her wardrobe as soon as Mama starts calling from the kitchen.

The news about Mama's abduction reaches Uli's ears while she's at her new office. She only tells her colleague on the other end that she's a bit under the weather and steps out of the Greenworld Save a day gigantic structure.  

'Calm down, girl. Let's think!' Toria says as both of them enter the car, the one Uli got two weeks ago after nailing a major deal for her new Boss.  

'How do you expect me to be calm? Mama has been kidnapped for crying out loud. Kidnapped!' she snaps.  

'I understand. But I don't think you're in the right state of mind to hit the road,' Toria advises.

'I am. Let me be.'

'No you're not. You're not thinking straight. Let me take the wheel,' Toria says. Both ladies are still conversing when an elderly man comes to knock on the glass of her car. She winds down. 'Sorry, I hope all is well?' The man has the most perplexed expression.  

'I'm fine, thank you,' Uli's graceless response puntuates a fullstop to any further question from the man.  

'Yeah, we're fine, Mr... Whatever!' Toria affirms. But the man doesn't hear her.

The man hadn't walked a far distance when he turned to catch Uli get out of the car, out of the driver's seat to occupy the passenger side. And he shook his head in bewilderment as he went his way,  murmuring along.

'Let's think of a plan,' Toria says as soon as they arrive the apartment. She continues pacing back and forth.  

'What plan? I just can't think of anything right now. After another heartbreak from that cheat of a guy, now this? Oh gush, how many more blows do I have to take?'

'OK. Let's see... No time to start lamenting. You still have the address of the place?' Toria inquires.

'What address?'  

'The person that placed the call, now?'

'Yeah, I do. He said Road map aluminum, somewhere around Mile 2, Nkwoji, Enugu.'

'That's a hell of a distance. And you're sure the Dark Lord is behind this?'

'Of course,' Uli cries.  

Although Uli knows the Dark Lord isn't one to mess around with, but wonders what she has done to deserve his wrath. He is the baddest mob boss in the country. Even the police are in his pocket. They say he captures mutants like herself and usurps their powers, turning them into lab rats, and thereby, making himself stronger.  

Whenever he wants something, he goes the extra mile to get it. No one who ever sees the man makes it out alive, save those in his service. He is ruthless, bloodthirsty, and no one crosses him. His men are always around and appear when they are needed, while he remains shrouded in mystery.  

'Oh my! That's going to be a bit of a problem. But not to worry.'

'Do you think we stand a chance of defeating the Dark Lord?' Uli asks.  

'No one can. Not even you as an Obscuring. Yet, he needs your powers. I have been on him for centuries now since he flouted the laws of the courts and fled the galaxy.'

'How did he know I was here? Who told him about Mama? I'm confused.'  

'Don't be. Nothing and no one is hidden from the Dark Lord. If he gets hold of your powers, you are history and he would become very, very powerful. By that time, nothing and no one would be able to stop him. Yet I have a plan. Not really an interesting one. It's the only way to save you and your mother,' Toria says. She draws near to whisper the plan into Uli's ear.  

Immediately, Uli veers away. 'No! No!' she continues to protest. 'Absolutely no way would I allow you to become the sacrificial lamb!' She starts to cry.

'But that's the only way. I have to, Uli. Please... If Mama dies, you wouldn't be able to live with it. Trust me. You can't possibly defeat the Dark Lord. No mutant can. I can.'  

Uli continues to cry, this time profusely. 'But you're my best friend, my only friend! Is there no other way?'

'I know. Still that's why I have to do this. I have been programmed for this. I know you would do same if I were in your shoes. So let me, please...' Toria pleads, and for the first time a tear would break free from her eyes. Uli sees it and continues crying, as the two of them hold tightly to each other.  

On the 9th of October, 2053, Toria became flesh and blood and died.

It's 2065 and Uli still remembers that year, 2053. That night her best friend gave her life on the altar of sacrifice for her sake and Mama's. She remembers that year like everyday the cry of the rooster pulls her into wakefulness.  

In addition to her other special abilities, Toria the avatar could change into anything and anyone. Yet, only a space of 24 hours was allotted to this transformation. If she failed to return to her original design, she would die.  

So on that night, Toria became Uli—the resemblance between the two of them undoubtedly true. Toria had that hourglass shape Uli has. Also the scar below her chin, the one she got from a fall as a child. No body suspected. Not even the Dark Lord himself in that garland of power and knowledge. Although the Dark Lord and his cabal were destroyed and Mama (who knows all about Toria) saved, Uli lost a piece of herself  the day Toria died. She still keeps the note which bears Toria's handwriting and signature; the same handwriting she mocked Toria about, saying it was ugly.  

Uli reads it aloud to herself in-between hot tears.  

With tears and pain in my heart I write this.  

I am sorry you have to find out this way.  

Guess you might be thinking I was a coward as you're reading this. Maybe I was.  

Maybe I could have informed you how I felt. How much I loved you.  

Perhaps I should have damned the consequences and opened my heart to you.  

Guess now you know the reason for my rage each time you went out with those guys that eventually tore your heart apart; especially Uche, each time you smiled or laughed into the phone with me. I was  jealous and in love with you.  

Deeply sorry, Uli. Please, find love again.  

With love,  

Toria, your troublesome avatar.  

By Gerald Ewa

From: Nigeria