Mary's Diary (The final part)

“Hey sweetie", one of them said as he put his arms around me and gave me a kiss. This must be James, I thought. He continued, "Sweetie, meet my twin, John. John, meet the best thing that ever happened to me, Mary." "Pleasure meeting you MAWY", John said as he reached out and shook my hand. Why on earth didn’t James tell me he has a twin? I later questioned James about this when we were alone and he simply told me that as far as he was concerned, John was dead to him. James described John as the black sheep of the family, who always got in trouble.

James told me that on a night, exactly six years ago, John came home with bloodstains on his shirt. He packed his things, left home and never came back. John neither called, nor left any messages until yesterday, when he called and asked James to pick him up from the airport. That explains why I didn’t meet him at home the previous day, I thought to myself. “How come you both have the same scar?" I asked. Or is that a birth mark? James laughed uncontrollably and even though he was staring at me, I knew he was lost in thought. He told me how he and John loved each other when they were kids. They were so identical that it was difficult for people to tell them apart. James said that their mother was the only one who could tell them apart. Their father, like everyone else, was also unable to. They loved it when people mistook each for the other.

James talked about how John once stepped on a nail and got cut so deep that it caused him a lot of pain and made him limp. The limp made it easy for people to tell them apart and this greatly annoyed them both. James laughed again before continuing. “Would you believe I had to walk with a limp too until John’s leg was completely healed so as to confuse them?” I looked at him in shock. “Yes, we loved each other that much.” “So, what about the scar?” I asked again. “Well, I did that for him too. He was engaged in a fight in school, got himself stabbed in the process. I told him I wanted that scar too, so he helped me out.” "You're crazy", I said and shook my head. "Nah, he was gentle. Mine isn't as deep as his.”

While he spoke, I looked back to when I lost my whole family exactly six years ago. It was obvious that John was the murderer. I felt a kind of relief knowing that James wasn’t a killer. Now, I would avenge my family’s death. The main problem I had was being able to tell John apart from James. There was no time for mistakes, I had to get it right. I decided I would take my time and study them. I noticed that John had a problem pronouncing the letter "R". He pronounced it as “Aw". I remembered he called me Mawy the first time we met. This didn’t help me much as on the day my family was murdered, the only thing he said was "Where is the money?"

Over time, John and I became very close. Although I wanted to let go of the past, I couldn’t. He acted and sounded very nice. It was hard to believe he is a murderer, or in this case, was a murderer. We spent most of our time playing monopoly. Monopoly and scrabble were games that I loved to play, but before John, I could not find anyone who knew how to play. I was ecstatic when I learned that John could play both. James was very happy that his twin and I were getting along well. He sometimes teased John, telling him he shouldn’t snatch his woman away from him. However, it was obvious he trusted us because he was hardly ever there when John and I played. He was always out for one reason or the other. There were times I felt he was having an affair, but I knew he loved me too much to want to hurt me.

"I'd see you guys soon", James said as he hurriedly closed the door behind him. He was late for work and I was once again left with John. "I'm sorry the wedding was postponed", John said, looking at me with pity in his eyes. I glanced up at him in surprise. How does one postpone a wedding that hasn't been fixed? He probably misunderstood my expression for embarrassment, as he added, "James told me everything." “It's okay”, I said, trying to act normal.

About a week later, John and I were home alone, watching TV. He was engrossed in the soccer match that was on, that he didn't speak to me at all. I was very bored and lonely. Where the hell was James? It was almost 9 p.m. and he still wasn't home. Just then, I heard a knock on the door.  Finally!! I thought. I was so happy that I threw caution to the wind and opened the door without first checking to see who it was. The door swung open to reveal the nozzle of a gun, which was pointed at my chest. I shivered as I opened the door wider for the four of them. "Now, place your phones, jewelries, ATM cards and wallets into this bag.” One of the men bellowed at us. John showed no fear as he dropped his phone and wallet into the bag.

"Oga, dis your babe fine no be small. You dey enjoy o. We sef go like enjoy, abi na only u sabi enjoy?" "Oya, begin comot your cloth, abi u go like make I com comot am for u?" Just then, the tallest and ugliest of the four strode towards me and started pulling at my top. I cried and pleaded, but it all fell on deaf ears. The beast tore off my top and John got up and said, “You've gotten all you want. Why don't u take the phones and everything else and leave?” The man retorted, "You dey mad ni? Na u go tell us wetin we go do?" He then snatched me and threw me over his shoulder as he headed towards one of the rooms. John walked hurriedly towards him and struck him on the head. That’s when it happened. One of the robbers shot John. All four left afterwards. John had been shot in the head, so I knew he wouldn't survive it. I rushed him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. John was really dead. I felt a pang of guilt. Although I wanted vengeance for what happened to my family, I wasn't happy John was dead.

James got to the hospital few hours later. He was devastated and his tears flowed freely. "My only brother, my blood, my twin. This isn't fair. God why?" James couldn’t stop crying and I felt such pity for him. I loved him very much and I hated to see him in so much pain. While I was doing what I could to console James, I received a text message from my friend, Kemi, asking that I call her as it was important. “Baby, please can I use your phone to make a call? Kemi just asked me to call her and I don’t have airtime on my phone." James never liked Kemi because he knew she was an "Aristo" girl. However, the news of John's death was too much for him to start an argument with me, so he handed me his phone.

I had never touched his phone before now as I didn’t like the idea of going through his phone and risk seeing messages that might hurt me. Besides, I wasn't a fan of touch screen phones. I touched a symbol on James’ phone, thinking it was the menu button. Instead of taking me to the menu page as I expected, it opened up a chat page between James and someone with chat id, “justme”. It was then it hit me. I realized I’d been a fool. James was the one who murdered my family six years ago. He must have argued with John over his whereabouts when he got home that night with blood stained clothes. I figured James left the house angrily and never called John.

John must have tried to reach James several times before finally leaving the country for America. I figured he sent James an email and text message, advising him he had relocated and providing him with his phone number in case James felt like talking someday. John had come to Nigeria from America on James’s request. James claimed he was getting married and he wanted John to be his best man. It was all part of James’ big plan. He had found out that John named him as his beneficiary on his life insurance policy. James’ longtime friend, “justme” worked in the insurance company where John took out his policy. It was this friend who told James that he was named John’s beneficiary. James knew what had to be done. John had to die. That was why he contacted John with the story about getting married. The supposed robbers who came to the house were to act like they were going to rape me. James knew John would try to stop them and he would be killed in the process. John was a good man who stood up for others. 

“What the hell is this?” I asked, glaring at James. Before he could utter a word, I took the pin off of my neatly wrapped hair and stabbed him in the neck. Few months later, I was sentenced to death by hanging. I also learned I was pregnant, so my execution would be carried out after the birth of my child.

Tomorrow is the day I die. The day I get to leave this wicked world. I weep for Sandra, my princess. I know the world would torment her as both her parents were murderers. Sandra my darling, you need to grow a thick skin. The world would call u names, but remember that what you are called doesn't matter. Rather, it is what you answer to that does.