SECOND CHANCE

‘My name is Joker, I am a hitman. I am paid handsomely by the movers and shakers of this country to assassinate their enemies. Do you know what happens when you meet a hungry animal?’ ‘It will eat you’ ‘Why do you sound so terrified! You are right and you know what? My uncle used to call me an animal and right now I am hungry ha!ha!ha!’ ‘So you kidnapped me because you want to kill me and yet I am not an enemy of anyone?’ ‘How can you be so sure? Anyway, I don’t want to kill you I want to tell you a story but before I do that I need you to take this gun to prove that I don’t want to kill you. I have already corked it so don’t worry just hold it firmly.’ Jane looked so frightened and I could guess she had never seen a gun in her life let alone handle one. Jane was the daughter to a popular pastor in the region and I had kidnapped her. No one knew about it because I allowed her to receive her calls and I asked her to act normal. So she wasn’t really a hostage. We were seated in a dark room facing each other and she now had the gun. I didn’t tie her up so she could easily kill me.

‘I was born just like any other kid but at a time when my parents were going through a very tough time. They struggled with me till I finished my primary school and then they decided to commit suicide. I was from playing with my friends and when I entered their bedroom I found them dangling from the ceiling. At the time I was just 14 years old and I didn’t know how to react.’ ‘I am so sorry for your loss!’ ‘Don’t be sorry. I was just very confused and the events that followed went too fast that I didn’t even get to mourn properly. I was immediately taken by my uncle and the moment I set foot in his house he fired their maid. I became the new maid and my pay was just food. He beat me up always, I was never allowed to go and play, I was forced to stop schooling and I was never allowed to idle around. Everyday I used to ask myself why I was even alive because my parents betrayed me and my uncle did not care and no one else did.’ My voice was now heightening, my chest was moving faster than usual and my heart was fluttering. I had provoked my wounds! ’I wrote a suicide note and I stuck it at the back of one of my books but deep down I knew I would never commit suicide. I kept reading the note everyday and I just laughed with tears streaming down my cheeks.’ I saw Jane put the gun away and I commanded her to hold it firmly because I was an animal and at that moment I could do anything. ‘I went through a lot of turmoil and the scars you see on my body are as a result of my uncle’s beatings.’ She carefully looked at the scars and was so shocked because they were very creepy. ‘I lost family, friends…everything! I gradually became an animal. I lost compassion for humanity, hate grew in me and finally I turned into the animal my uncle used to call me and I got hungry.’

‘I woke up one morning and killed my uncle, his wife and all his children. I did a very clean job but one person saw me, he blindfolded me and took me away. When my eyes were finally opened, I saw many other children in a very large room. In the midst of all that confusion we began an induction into assassination. We went through rigorous training day and night. Any incompetent fellow was put to fight with one of the best in the group and it was a fight to death. We were abhorred from making friends and we were always shuffled in our rooms to prevent such from happening. The punishment for that was to be put to fight with your friend till one of you died.’

‘One night I sat in in a dark corner in my room and resolved to be the best hitman the world has ever seen. I had nothing to lose, I had already lost everything and no one cared about me so the only way I would be happy is by becoming a hitman and earning money through it.’ Jane looked at me pitifully and I could see she was so shaken. I named all the big names I had terminated and the hundreds of thousands I had earned from each kill. I showed her the tatoos on my hand which represented everyone I had killed. These were like my ratings!

‘I’ve done this for years and I have never felt any guilt but when I saw you my eyes opened and I started regretting everything I have ever done. Do you practice witchcraft because for me to start regretting I think you have some supernatural powers.’ ‘No I am just a normal human being ha!ha!’ Silence reigned in the room for a while and I looked down. ‘Do you think I deserve a second chance?’ She laughed and then held my hand and looked at me straight in the eye for some minutes. She then lifted me up and gave me a warm embrace and whispered, ‘There is someone who always loves you and will never leave you no matter who you are. He is ready to give you a second chance.’ Those words gave me the thirst to know and look for this guy. I have never heard of anyone who loves me! For the first time I stopped thinking like an animal and I became a human being!

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