I carefully and slowly move my body, shifting further away from the tiger till I was out of the small space. Thank God.
I got up and saw Bel sitting on a bench wearing a life jacket.
"Are you alright?"
"I should be asking you that, Are you okay?"
"Yes I'm fine, who is he?" I look at the short Buffon staring at me paddling our canoe, no sorry, boat.
"I'm Jeff, your captain."
"I'm Axymah."
"Yeah I know, canvas filled me in on that."
"Great."
"So why were you being chased by a cop?" He asked with an amused expression.
"Its a long story."
"The woman sitting behind the counter in the hotel we were in thought she kidnapped me and called the cops, that's why." Bel explained.
"That about sums it up." So she knew, wow.
"You could have just told them that you are not kidnapping her or better still lied to her that she is your kid."
"I wasn't with her when I lodged in the hotel."
"Yeah you co—"
"Enough questions please, I'm exhausted." I cut him off.
"Here," he threw a life jacket at me "put it on." I did so and took a sit next to Bel.
"How long till we reach river Niger?"
"Three or four nights."
"What!!!! You've got to be kidding me."
"Nope I'm not." What now?
"Can you paddle any faster?"
"It's not as easy as it looks, quite difficult actually, why don't you grab the other paddling stick and join me, it'll be more faster that way?"
"No thanks, do your thing."
"Bitch." I heard him murmur.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Liar, the bastard just called me a bitch.
"Hey."
"Hi." Bel said ever so quietly.
"How are you doing?"
"Can I have my doll?" She completely ignored my question, who does that?
"Yes, of course." I reached for one of nylons and took out one of the two dolls I bought.
"Here."
"Open it." She said in a 'duh' tone.
"Sure." I opened it and handed it to her, she played with it while I just stared in space while Jeff kept doing his thing.
Ten hours later.
Bel is sleeping soundly clutching her doll, two more days and we'll be home.
"Time to hit the hay," Jeff said with a deep sigh as he put down his paddle and laid down "you should go to sleep too, you look exhausted."
"I will."
Thankfully I've never had to really deal with insomnia, it's been a while I heard from my parents, I should give them a call, I brought out my phone, damn it, no service.
I wondered around on the boat a bit hoping to find service but still nothing, its past 10:00pm now, the night is quiet and soft, the breeze is cool, wind brushes gently against my skin making me shiver a bit.
The stars shine bright in the sky, twinkling and smiling down at me, I smile back feeling a sense of peace, I closed my eyes and darkness consumed me but not for long.
I was harshly pulled away from the jaws of darkness as I heard a loud growl, I jumped up from my position, I saw Jeff do the sane thing, Bel woke from her sleep and rubbed her hands over her eyes.
I got into a defence position, with my legs spread apart, one leg in front the other at the back, bending my knees a bit with one hand in front of me.
"Are you planning on fighting a tiger?" He asked amused.
"This is a defence position not an attack one, fool." I moved back ever so slowly, the tiger moved closer to us showing off his newly flossed razor sharp rows of teeth.
"Stay back, stay!!!" Jeff said to the tiger who cared more about food right now.
"Who allows an unfriendly deadly ferocious tiger to tag along with him on a small boat?"
"Its not mine, it came with the boa—" the tiger growled and leaped forward throwing the boat a little off balance, Jeff and I fell back, the tiger leaped again completely throwing the boat off balance, and also Jeff.
I looked around to see if Bel is alright, I see her right next to the tiger, what?!!! Well it's not trying to attack her in anyway.
I see Jeff trying climb back on the boat "a little help please."
"Oh right." I went and lent him a hand pulling him back up onto the boat. Now the boat is no longer shaking and we see Bel and the tiger cuddling!!! What the hell?!!
"What are we seeing?" Jeff asked and I turned to him.
"If you ask me, who will I ask?" I sang to him, I just hope it doesn't hurt her.
"Bel! Are you okay?" I asked from where I was, a safe distance, six feet away from her and it.
"Never been better." She replied as she leaned closer to it.
"Okay...so this is happening." Jeff and I sat back down, watching them like a hawk, watching its every move.
"I can't do this all night, its been almost an hour, its not doing anything, I think it's even asleep, I also need to get some sleep."
"I hope we survive this storm that is rolling in." I don't want to die here.
Two days later.
Its been two days and we're still not there yet "its two days already Jeff, when are we getting there?"
"We'll be there by night fall."
"We better or you'll see the worst side of me."
"Don't think I'm scared of you cause I'm not." I threw a glare at him causing him to back away a little.
"Of course you're not." Bel grinned, rubbing the tiger's fur, we've been surviving on the snacks I bought while Jeff caught fishes for the tiger to eat, we are almost out of snacks to eat.
A storm is rolling in again, its 11:00am, my phone battery is really low, its three percent now.
"You like the tiger?" I asked Bel with a raised brow.
"Yes and its name is tiant."
"What sort of a name is that?" I asked and its growled at me, does it understand me?
"He finds that insulting."
"Oh I'm sorry....tiant...yo...you have a gorgeous name." It growled again.
"It knows you're lying, he hates liars."
"Did it tell you that?"
"Yes."
"How? It can speak?"
"Let's all not go down the crazy lane okay, the tiger is a wild animal, and it can't speak."
"Then how does she know its name is tiant, or all what she said?"
"She might just be making it up, she's a kid after all."
"Why does it like her and hates us then?"
"Animals love kids and it doesn't hate us."
"Oh yeah?"
"Watch." He moved closer to tiant, he bent down on his knees arm stretched out and was about to pet tiant, tiant the tiger turned to him and in the blink of an eye, it lunged at him ad bite his hand, blood gushed out and Jeff screamed out in pain.
The storm came in and the water started moving fast, the current was too high, the boat was shaking, thunder boomed, lightening stroke.
"Adeemah!!" Bel screamed as she reached for me, everything and everyone was in chaos, we all lost balance and was moving here and there, I just pray the boat doesn't turn over, my prayers are never answered, yup, the boat turned over, rain poured heavily.
"Adee—" Bel tried screaming for me but the water hushed her.
"Bel!!! Where are you?" I see her tiny hands out of the water, I swim towards her, the water flowed pushing her further away from me, I see Jeff struggling to stay on the surface and the tiger whimpering and also trying to stay on the surface.
I've lost sight of Bel, I can't see her.
"Bel!!! Bel!!! Where are you?!!!" Oh no, Bel, the water was not calm, I see Jeff trying to turn the boat back over, he succeeded with great difficulty and got on the boat.
"Axymah!! I think you should also get in the boat, there could be sharks and God knows what down there."
"Bel!!! Where are you?!!!"
"Bel is gone, get on the boat." I swam towards the boat and got on it, Jeff tore a piece of clothe from his shirt and wrapped it round his injured arm.
"You just had to prove that it doesn't hate us."
"It doesn—"
"Shut up!!! Shut the fvck up!!! Shut your dirty mouth hole, this is all your fault, you're an ass."
"That's harsh, I agree its my fault, and I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Sorry? Are you fvcking saying sorry right now? Are you for real right now?"
"Nope, I'm for fake."
"Bel is gone, she is gone, did you here me? she is dead all because of you."
"I'm sorry okay!! I'm truly sorry."
"She's been with me for barely a week and she's already dead."
"Look I'm really sorry okay."
"Sorry won't bring her back, sorry won't do anything, it means nothing, I failed."
"No! You did your best."
"I couldn't even protect and take care of her for a week."
"Its not your fault."
"You're right, its yours."
"I said I'm sorry, what more do you want?"
"I want Bel back!!!!"
"Bring Bel back to me."