Thank God it's Friday

[fredda]

"Please don't die my love", she said, with tears in her eyes as Duke bled profusely; "remember you promised not to leave me".
Duke had been shot on the evening he was supposed to see the love of his life, Barbara, whom he was to take out on a date. With a height of 5ft9, just a few inches shorter than Duke, she had the most charming features a woman could ever have but the distinct feature that always had Duke fall in love each single time he set his eyes on her was the innocence in her gaze which was what made his heart jump when he first met her at the photography studio.
Few days back, a special reservation for two was made at the grand opening ceremony of an exquisite seafood restaurant downtown. It was the perfect place to make his intentions known since he couldn't do it at sea, on a cruise ship. His dream has always been to propose to the love of his life, sailing on a cruise ship. Time was running out though, so he just needed to propose; "There is still a lifetime ahead of us so the cruise ship can wait", he said to himself. At least, the smell of fresh sea food would give him the feeling of a sea voyage, all he needed to do was just imagine.
On Friday, at 6:00pm, her phone rang, it was Duke calling, not necessarily to remind her of their date but just to check up on her.
"Hello my darling Barbs", he said.
"Hello my son, what's up?", she replied in a playful and happy tone.
"I'm so excited about tonight and I've been battling with what to wear because I want to look handsome for you", he said. "This tie is killing me", he continued, as he tried on the new tie he bought on his way back from work.
Duke hated suits and ties but wanted to " fulfill all righteousness" because it was a very special night for him. Barbara on the other hand, thought it was just one of those nights where her man missed her and just wanted to make up for lost time that week by taking her out. She was looking forward to their night out and didn't want to be late because she had watched the advert about the ceremony on TV earlier on that week and the restaurant was offering free dessert to the first ten people to show up for their grand opening ceremony. She loved dessert because it was mostly cakes and chocolates and if you think diamond is a girl's best friend, think again.
"You want to wear a tie?", she asked; "Wonders they say, never end. Well, I'm excited because I've always wanted to see you in a suit. I'm doing my manicure and pedicure now and you really need to see my dress. I'm literally dressing to kill you so please try not to get a hard on when you see me because there will be ladies there and that's supposed to be for my eyes only".
"Are you having a sugar rush or are you just being crazy?" he asked as he giggled. "Don't flatter yourself, that's my job. I have to hang up now, I'll pick you up by 8:30pm".
"Okay my love", she replied. "See you soon and don't choke on that tie".
He hung up, and while looking into the mirror, he screamed ecstatically, "Thank God it's Friday". Then he picked up the engagement ring from his drawer and took one more look at it, looked back at his nervous self in the mirror and said to himself, "You're the man, you can do this". After that showboat moment everybody normally has infront of the mirror, he sang and danced to the shower and just as he was about entering the shower, his phone rang.
"I thought I just to spoke to her", thinking to himself. "I know it's you, Barbara"; but when he picked up his phone, it was Francis, his friend and colleague at work.
Francis was considered Duke's closest friend in the office due to the fact that they graduated together from the same university. They were professional petrochemical engineers and they both ended up in one of the biggest oil producing and servicing firms in the oil sector and they became quite close. Oblivious to Duke, envy and hatred had slowly taken over Francis because of fear that Duke was going to triumph over him and become the next person to fill in a top vacant managerial position they were both vying for in their firm. To Duke, it was just a simple case of "may the best man win".
This was the conversation that ensued;
"Hello my man, how you dey?", Francis asked in vernacular.
" Splendid", Duke replied.
"Sorry to disturb you, are you free?", Francis continued. "I really need to see you now and discuss something very important with you concerning some work at the office, please it's very urgent".
" Are you okay?, Duke replied. "You sound like you just saw a ghost".
" I'm fine, it's nothing, just let me know if we can meet right now", Francis continued.
"Okay bro", replied Duke. "I have an engagement tonight with Barbara but I can spare a few minutes. Where do we meet?"
"Meet me at our usual spot", Francis answered. "I'm there now, please don't keep me waiting".
Their usual spot was the town's zoo a couple of miles away from Duke's residence where he normally went to when he needed to take a break from himself. Duke was the animal lover between the both of them. He had three dogs, a talking parrot, a monkey, few rabbits and guinea pigs. He got the rabbits and one of the dogs which happened to be a West Highland white terrier with Barbara in mind and the moment she saw them, she immediately got emotionally attached.
Still thoughtful about the urgency and importance of Francis's call, he put on his track suit, grabbed his car keys and drove off to meet with Francis. He got to the zoo at 6:45pm and was shocked not to find Francis's car parked at his reserved parking space. Duke immediately picked up his phone and called Francis. He got no answer the first time and after trying for the second time, Francis finally answered.
"Oboi I don reach, where you dey?", Duke asked in vernacular.
"I'm inside", Francis replied. "Walk down to the reptilian section, you'll meet me in front of the chameleon's cage".
"Strange", Duke wondered. He was getting more uneasy. "When did you start liking reptiles and why didn't you park at your parking space?", Duke asked.
"You ask too many damn questions", Francis said with an unsual harsh tone. "Just meet me there,!".
Duke however, had a funny feeling in his gut that something was wrong and decided to take precautionary measures to counter any danger or mishap in the course of this meeting. He switched his phone to silent mode and hid it in his stocking. He normally came up with dumb ideas like this when he got nervous.
He got into the zoo but headed to the zoo's cafeteria to get a bottle of water because his anxiety made him thirsty and he was warmly attended to by his female admirer who happened to be a waitress there, Martha. In fact, he had quite a few but Martha was a good friend because despite her crush on Duke, she respected his relationship with Barbara and she was the one who told him about the new sea food restaurant that was set to open in town before he went to check it out. Remember?. All these took few minutes as he was still in a hurry to meet up Francis.
"Finally, you made it", Francis said with a firm handshake, as Duke walked over to the chameleon's cage and leaned on the railings in front of the cage. At this time, 7:00pm to be precise, the zoo was usually almost empty because it was getting to closing time.
"Sorry for dragging you out, I'm in serious trouble and I need your help". Francis said. I'm not who you think I am" and as Francis was about to explain what was going on, two tall, able bodied men wearing hoodies showed up behind them and pointed guns at them.
"Turn around slowly and you dare not make any funny moves or make the slightest noise if you still want to live", said one of the strange men with a deep, calm voice. It was then it dawned on Duke that what seemed like was going to be the best night of his life has taken an unusual twist. Duke recognized one of the gunmen as Francis's friend who normally comes to the office to visit during lunch breaks. Before he could think of an escape plan, he found himself outside the zoo where the gunmen men parked a black 2016 Honda Civic Sedan. Francis's phone was seized and was ordered to get into the back seat while Duke was searched. Tempers flared up when they couldn't find his phone on him but he was able to convince them that he forgot his phone in his car after which he was struck on the head with a gun that sent him into an unconscious state and then thrown into the trunk of their car.
Now, this is where I'm supposed to draw the curtains on this story and say "WATCH OUT FOR PART TWO", but I'm sure you are really interested to know what happened; like did Duke still get to propose to Barbara?, What was Francis involved in? Did Duke die?. Well I'm going to tell you, still in the course of this story just because I appreciate you for reading the story this far; you're the best and you deserve to know how it ended. I also really want to finish this story in one piece.
Pardon me for digressing, I needed to take your mind off the drama but let's get on with it. "STAY WITH ME".
After a while, the ride became bumpy and it helped to bring Duke out of his unconscious state. His head was hurting and as he struggled to gasp for air due to the air tight nature of the trunk, he tried to recall what happened and what he was doing inside the trunk of a moving vehicle. In a split second, his memory came back and in the midst of all the confusion, he remembered his phone.
" Oh, thank you God", he whispered to himself. He managed to reach for his phone but couldn't make a call for fear of being heard so he sent a message to the only person he could think of at the moment, Barbara, and the message went like this;
"I've been kidnapped. I don't know where we are headed because I'm currently in the trunk of a car. Please don't try to call me because I might be caught. Just inform the police and wait for further information and no matter what happens, just know I love you".
Just as he pressed send, he noticed the car came to a halt. He quickly put his phone back into his stocking but little did he know that they were out of town and there was no network coverage, so his message bounced back.
It was already 8:55pm and the event was 9:00pm. Barbara, who was already beautifully dressed to kill her man had already been calling since 7:35pm but couldn't reach Duke. She had already gotten acclimatized to the fact that there'll be no free dessert but wasn't bothered because Duke would still buy her anything she needed as long as it was within his reach.
"But this is unlike Duke", she thought to herself and deep down in her heart she could feel Duke wasn't okay because he always kept to time and she could always rely on him. The tension kept building up when she still couldn't get through to him 30mins later and at this time, she had forgotten about the date. She tried calling Francis and he also wasn't reachable. It was then she decided to drive to Duke's house to find out what was going on.
Meanwhile, Duke had been dragged out of the trunk and was ordered to lie faced down on the bank of a lonely river oustide town, while Francis was being tortured.
"Please I need more time", Francis screamed in excruciating pain as he was been brutalized by the deadly fists of his abductors. "I will get you your money", he continued.
"We've given you enough time and your time is up", said one of the strange men, "You either return our package or the money to us, or go to hell". As they made their threats, they continued torturing him and then, their focus and agression was transferred to Duke.
"Who is this?", they asked Francis, "Is he the one with our money?".
"Please spare me, I don't know what you're talking about", Duke answered. He was already trembling in fear but the strange men had no compassion on him as they walked to where he was lying and started kicking him all over his body with their steel toed boots. " Francis, what is wrong?, what have you dragged me into?", Duke appealed to Francis but he was too weak to say anything at the moment. They continued with their cruel act until they ruptured his ribs. He pleaded with them to no avail as he was brutally battered.
"Una no wan talk abi?!", the men exclaimed in vernacular as one of them pulled out his baretta, and pointed it to Francis. "For the last time, what did you do with our package?", he asked and as Francis tried to solicit for more time, he was shot twice in the head and tossed into the river. At this point, Duke realised it was over and as he watched the man who pulled the trigger on his friend walk slowly towards him, his life didn't flash before his eyes but he cried instead and shit himself. Yes, he cried and shit himself! Full of anger, the gun wielding man screamed, "Screw you!", as he shot Duke twice on his chest. Duke laid there in the pool of his blood and his shit, as his abductors rushed into their car and drove off.
All these happened, while Barbara was still at Duke's residence. She got in with her spare key hoping to see Duke probably sleeping oblivious of the fact that his car wasn't even in his garage. She met an empty apartment unfortunately, but found his neatly arranged suit and she became very restless.
"Maybe I should call the police and report", she thought to herself, but she quickly realised that Duke is an adult and he was only gone for about 3hours, so he couldn't be declared missing. "This could also be one of his pranks", she said and at that moment, there was nothing else she could do but sit down in her worried state and wait for him to come and explain what the joke was all about or at least call. As she was about to sit down on Duke's favourite couch, her phone rang.
"My Duke; please let it be my baby", she said, as she hurriedly rushed to her bag to get her phone. Pulling out her phone from her bag, it was her wild and nosy neighbor, Elizabeth, calling her to invite her for a cocktail party at one of the popular clubs in town.
"Please, I'm not interested", she replied with a disgusted tone, "You know I hate noisy and crowded places. Thanks for the invitation though, goodnight." She hung up and put her phone aside. Still wondering what might have happened to her sweetheart, her phone rang again and this time, it was Duke.
Fortunately for Duke, the bullets that went through his chest missed his heart, neither did it damage any internal organ so he was still alive but was loosing so much blood and his time was running out. What gave him strength to fight on was the desire in him not to leave Barbara alone in this world. It was going to break her in so many ways that will also make him roll in his grave. So his love for Barbara made him muster up whatever willpower he had left and dragged himself on the ground. He was soaked in his blood and his shit didn't make things easier either because it was weighing him down. He was still trying to figure out where he was because it was dark and he was dizzy, but with one little hard-fought step at a time, he saw the headlight of a car and was able to follow the lights and come out to a road.
On reaching the road, he had lost energy and slumped but something immediately caught his attention as he collapsed heavily to the ground, it was a billboard that said, "Drive safely...Your family needs you..." Duke could recall that there was an identical billboard like that close to the river bank that he normally took Barbara to at the earlier stages of their relationship and also, a few times when she still needed to go there. He was immediately relived because that was exactly where his abductors brought him to. Again, he drew strength from the joy that he wasn't really lost and remembered his phone was in his stocking. "Finally, my dumb idea has given me a lifeline", he thought. He reached for it and there was network coverage. "God is watching out for me", he said as he put a call through to Barbara.
"Sweetheart!", she exclaimed and as she was about to start nagging how worried she was, she was interrupted by a subtle voice. She hardly heard nor understood what she was hearing. "Duke are you okay? it's that you?", she asked trying to listen more carefully and then she heard him say, "Barbara, I've been shot and I'm dying. Come and help me".
"OMG! JESUS! My baby, where are you?", she asked as she burst into tears. At that point, he had lost so much blood and with a faint voice he said, "I'm at the entrance to River Barduke" as he felt the phone falling from his hands. That's the name they gave the river; they were so much in love when Duke first took her to the river and their foolishness kicked in.
Barbara pulled herself together, picked up her car keys and rushed to the scene. The river was closer from his house than it was from the zoo so she was able to get there in 10mins. As she approached the entrance, she saw Duke still lying on the ground. She parked close to him and seeing him almost giving up the ghost, she was supernaturally filled with strength and she lifted him up and put him into the back seat of the car.
"Please don't die my love", she said, with tears in her eyes as Duke bled profusely; "remember you promised not to leave me". This words gave him strength to hang on. Few minutes later they got to a nearby hospital and he was stretchered to an emergency ward and immediately operated on. Barbara wanted to stay with him but a nurse adviced her to go home that she needed to clean up and afterwards she could come back. The nurse went ahead to assure her that Duke was in good hands. Barbara wasn't assured though, but she saw reasons because Duke would need clean clothes and provisions after his treatment.
She drove back to his house, cleaned up and put on one of his numerous track suits. As she went to his drawer to get a few clothes for him, she stumbled on something that tried to put a smile on her face but she was too broken to smile. Nevertheless, she went along with it to the hospital.
Two days later, as she laid beside him on his hospital bed, she felt movement and behold, Duke was awake. She quickly alerted the doctors and when they came and found out that he had gained consciousness, gladness filled the atmosphere. Duke opened his eyes and as he saw Barbara, he was filled with joy and he just burst into tears. She hugged him softly because of the bandage around his ruptured ribs and with tears in her eyes she whispered into his ears, " Thank you for not leaving me".
As days passed, Duke grew from strength to strength. He was still very sad about Francis's death and was still trying to figure out what really led to that terrible incident so all he could tell Barbara was how he and Francis were abducted by strange men and shot. Although, he was constantly being visited by the police and was questioned. She consoled him and suddenly he got into a playful mood and said, "I'm sorry I stood you up in respect to our date, a gentleman like me never stands a lady up."
Barbara chuckled and said, "YES, I WILL."
Surprised at her reply, he asked, "Are you high? What the hell are you saying?"
She smiled again and said, "YES, I WILL MARRY YOU, I saw your vows you wrote and I saw the beautiful ring you got. You've really not lost your sense of style". She immediately reached for her bag, brought out the note and the small black box containing the ring and gave it to him. "Let's just get over with it", she said and waited, as she left him blushing and flabagasted. Still in slight pains, he tried to get up and go down on one knee but Barbara told him to forget the drama and just get on with it.
He cleared his throat and as he was about to read his vows, the dream about the cruise ship struck him. He sighed, shook off the thought and started reading, "I never thought I was good enough to be loved by someone but you came into my life and changed that perception. There's no one I want to do life with forever and grow old with and I promise to be the very best I can always be for you. Will you accept to answer my name and be the mother of my babies?, Will you marry me?"
"For the third time, Yes I will", Barbara answered as she stretched out her arm and received the engagement ring.
Few days later, Duke was discharged, preparations were made and he finally got married to the love of his life.
If you're still wondering what happened to the strange men and Francis, it turned out that the strange men were drug lords wanted by the police and were apprehended few weeks later after the heinous act that led to the shooting and killing of Duke and Francis respectively. Francis was involved in drug trafficking and his last deal went awfully wrong and that led to his execution. Duke was just a victim of circumstance. Francis's body was later washed up back on the same river bank and discovered by the police.
THE END!