RESTLESS
Restless-Episode 16( Still Restless)
Story By
Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
“I need to make them pay, all of them!”
Sheila sniffed in and took a look at Henry’s face. Her face was soaked with tears as she listened to Henry who she now knew as Carl tell his story. She had only known the pain of loosing a person- her mother – when she just got out of high school and she tried to imagine the pain he felt losing his wife and only child on the same day, making it worse was that he had to watch them helplessly burn to ashes in a house.
“I can imagine how you feel,” she said in a shaky voice, sniffing in tears again. “The Doctor said you woke up making threats to kill some people, I believe you were angry at those men who took your wife and child.”
“I was mad with myself, I watched as my wife and my son were dragged, I saw them tied and locked in that house and I watched the house being set ablaze.” Henry recounted, the flashback playing in his mind as he mentioned each word.
Tears rolled down Sheila’s eyes uncontrollably again and she quickly tried to wipe her face dry.
“I need to return to Bexford as soon as possible, find the killers of my wife and child, and also find out what happened to Rex and his family.”
“I understand you,” Sheila sniffed in again as she spoke. “But you’re injured and you need to recover first.”
“I’ve not got time Sheila, five months have gone without any activity. I can’t afford to waste more time because the more it lingers, the less easier it will be to trace the killers.”
“I understand you but I still insist that you have to get well first.”
Henry did not reply immediately, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts again.
“First, I need a phone.” He said, looking into Sheila’s eyes with some urgency.
“You have a phone,” Sheila replied.
“Oh! Yes, I do have a phone,” he recalled that Sheila had gotten one for him. “I need to reach someone as quick as I can.”
“Who do you want to reach?” Sheila asked.
“Someone I trust can help me, Agent Paul Edwards.”
“Who is he?”
“My Boss in the FOX, he’s the only one I can trust.”
“Are you sure you want to start with this already? You want to start work immediately? You need to recover!”
“No, I’m not starting with work immediately. I just want to contact him and let him know I’m alive. The FOX would make arrangements to come pick me from here.”
A sad look appeared on Sheila’s face. She felt sad that he had his regained his memory and all he could think of was leaving so soon but she also considered the pain he was feeling from his loss.
“Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Are you going to start investigating the killers of your wife and son immediately in this condition?” Sheila asked again.
Henry was short of words to reply with, he remained silent for a while and avoided her eyes. He did not want to look into her eyes for two reasons; there was something in it which made him feel guilty for thinking of abandoning her so quick and there was also this calmness he felt when he looked deep into her eyes, the only one who had made him feel so was his wife.
“You’re right,” he finally said and looked briefly into her eyes. “I have to give myself time to recover first before I show myself to the FOX and here in El Deols is the best place to do so.”
Sheila squeezed his hand warmly in hers, staring at his face passionately while he stared at the ground.
“I’m happy that you’ve finally regained your memory and that you can have your life back,” Sheila said in a calm tone. Deep inside she was feeling so sad because she knew his days with her in El Deols were numbered.
“Thank you Sheila,” Henry replied with a smile. “I’ll forever be grateful to you for saving my life. I owe my life now to you and I’ll never forget that, thank you for not giving up on me.”
“Henry, you need to stop thanking me for that…” she stopped and smile with a side of her lips tilted up. “I should learn to call you Carl from now.”
“No, please call me Henry, I think I like Henry and I’ll consider keeping the name for now.” Henry replied. “But I’ll never stop thanking you for what you did for me,” he added and he squeezed Sheila’s hand softly this time around.
“Thank God you are alive once again and awake, you’ve survived a lot and I’m sure you would survive more and overcome all the battles in your way.”
“Thank you,” Henry smiled.
“It’s okay,” she patted him on the hand and stepped down to the ground. “I got to see the doctor now, please make sure you follow their instructions so that you can recover quickly.”
“Yes, thanks.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” Sheila said and then proceeded towards the door.
“Thanks Sheila,” Henry said under his breath. He knew she did not hear him because she didn’t turn until she stepped out through the door.
______________________________
“Miss Sheila, are you okay?” The doctor rushed to her immediately she stepped out. He had been waiting and listening patiently in the corridor.
“Of course, I am.” She rolled her eyes. “Why did you say he wasn’t well? He’s quite better than the last time I saw him, all that’s left is healing for his injuries.”
“Are you serious?” The doctor asked. “He was mad at everyone few hours ago, but I believe the drugs administered worked on him.”
Sheila shook her head, she was about to reply him when she saw Angela at the other end of the corridor, coming towards them. “I’ll be back soon Doctor,” she said and then walked past the doctor.
“Sheila! I’ve been worried about you, I didn’t meet you at your place when I returned there. I asked you not to leave the house without me,” Angela said in a sharp tone.
“I’ve gotta get home now Angela,” Sheila said and continued walking without replying Angela’s query.
Angela turned and continued walking with Sheila. “How is Henry now?”
“He’s fine, he’s awake, we spoke few minutes ago.” Sheila answered.
“That’s good!” Angela replied sharp in a short high pitched voice, almost running after Sheila to catch up with her fast pace. “Why are you walking so hurriedly?”
“I need to do something at home as soon as possible,” Sheila replied.
“And what’s that?”
“Something personal.”
________________________________
Forty minutes later,
Sheila had gotten home and was busy with her laptop in the room. She left Angela in the living room alone.
She scrolled through the search results on the webpage, she scrolled back up after reaching the bottom of the web page and clicked on the first search result which pointed to the FOX corporation official website. She switched to the second tab while the first tab loaded, her search results for Agent Carl Winston was loaded already. She clicked the result from Wikipedia and then switched to the first tab again.
The FOX corporation official website was fully loaded. She rested her back and slowly scrolled through, reading every detail on the website.
It wasn’t her first time of hearing about the FOX corporation but she had not for once had a reason to search more concerning it, all she knew about the agency were the things she read or heard from the news concerning them.
She continued reading everything on the FOX website, even though she wasn’t sure of what she was looking for there. After reading the information displayed on the homepage, she switched the browser tabs again. The Wikipedia webpage was fully loaded.
Agent Carl John Winston was a nine ranked agent of the FOX, known to be one of the deadliest and most brutal fighters in the world. He is believed to have died on March 31, 2015 in the Bexford sea after a battle with the invisible terrorists also known as the Red Wolves. It is believed that he was caught unawares by the Red Wolves a day after he declared the defeat of the terrorists. He was shot thrice and thrown into the Bexford Sea. Till date, his body is yet to be found and it is believed that it was swallowed by the species of giant fishes discovered at the sea during that period. The remnants of the invisible terrorists were wiped away by other agents of the FOX a week after his death.
Carl Winston was known for his skillfulness in handling of guns and other weapons, he was a fast shooter and a swift swordsman. His real age at the time of death is unknown though he was rumoured to be between the ages of 35 and 40. His family and origin are also unknown to the public due to his work as a secret agent.
Most of his battles and operations are mostly believed to be carried out alongside his partner Agent Rex of the FOX corporation who also died the same day he died under the same circumstances and the same manner.
She searched through the Wikipedia page for images but saw none of a man except the FOX Corporation’s logo.
___________________________________
Two Days Later
Magic Complex,
Bexford, Bethanna
Hutton stood looking outside through the large transparent glass door of the balcony. He was in a room at the fourth floor of the building. His eyes followed a car as it drove out through the gate of the compound.
Richard was standing at the center of the living room, waiting for Hutton’s response to something he had said. Hutton had delayed the response for more than five minutes but Richard was patient. He knew Hutton as a man who was also slow to reply. Hutton always took his time to think before speaking, it was part of his character and that was why he was called the strategist.
Hutton finally turned after drawing the curtains close. “So…” He walked towards Richard and sat on a sofa facing Richard, he crossed his legs. He picked up an empty glass cup from the footstool and held the teaspoon in it. He stared into the cup like he was seeing something inside.
“So, Eddy is yet to convince the organization?”
“Yes,” Richard replied in a calm tone.
“How many more days do you think he needs to do so?”
Richard was quiet, he did not know what answer to give.
Hutton recognized that Richard was out of ideas.
“What success have you made with the video Eddy sent?” He asked, not waiting anymore for an answer to his previous question.
“I’ve gone through the video more than ten times and I’ve spotted that man only twice.” Richard replied.
Hutton chuckled and looked up at Richard’s face. He himself had also gone through the video, but only twice and had spotted the face of the man five times.
“Did you make a search for the image?” Hutton asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“What were your results?”
“No results sir,” Richard answered in a shaky voice. “The man was sitting at the very back of the conference Hall, the camera only picked far visions of him and they were so blur. The image is unidentifiable when I zoom it.”
“You’re right,” Hutton replied and bounced to his feet at once. He had also tried to search for the image and got the same result. “He must have chosen to sit at the back to prevent the camera from having a good picture of him…”
“Sir…” Richard interrupted with stammering lips. “Ermm, I think it’s the camera quality. The hall is big truly but a camera of good quality would have picked the image clearly even though he was participating far the camera.”
Hutton stared directly into his eyes. “Do you think such organization isn’t capable of affording quality or multiple cameras? There were several cameras in the hall.”
Richards lips trembled at the question, he couldn’t give an answer.
“That conference was a high classed one and there were also accredited secret developers and agents in attendance, not every one who attended would have loved to feature in the video. The organizers understood this and made arrangements, the secret developers had somewhere special to sit and Carl chose to sit with them. That is the same reason they hesitate to work with us and grant us access to the database from the attendance in the conference.”
Richards stood still as the strategist walked round him. He did not bother to argue his poin. The strategist was always correct and he had never seen him not made any mistake in his judgements.
“We need to help Eddy convince them to provide us that database or we help him take it forcefully.”
________________________________
September 4, 2015
Sheila’s Apartment
El Deols, Anthanna
“Can you let me move on my own? I can walk,” Henry asked in a cheerful tone as he approached the main door.
He had a crutch positioned under his left armpit to support his movement, especially the left leg. Sheila had been supporting him at the right side all along, from the ward in the hospital to the car and now at the house. He had asked her not to worry several times like he just did again but she always found herself going back to support him.
“Okay,” she smiled and stepped back for him to pass through the door on his own.
Henry moved into the house and advanced slowly to the sofas in the living room. He settled on a one seater with Sheila giving close attention to him.
He took in a deep breath. It felt good to be out of the hospital again. His eyes wandered about the living room for a while and fell on the long sofa. He remembered that sofa, it was the one he had found Sheila and Tom in a romantic mood months ago.
“Where should I take these to?” Dennis, Sheila’s new bodyguard asked. He was new in the house and did not know where Henry’s room was.
Sheila’s father had not only forced her to take another bodyguard, he had put several other security officers to watch over her secretly.
“Take it to Lesedi, she knows where to keep them.” Sheila answered Dennis.
“What about Miss Tayo? When can we resume our lectures?” Henry asked, seconds after Dennis was out of sight.
Sheila shook her head and stared at him with unbelieving eyes.
“You need to rest Henry, you can’t resume lectures now.” She replied him.
“Of course, I’m not planning to resume immediately,” he lied. “I only want to plan the resumption.”
“I’ll tell you when you’re fit to resume,” Sheila replied. “What you need now is rest.”
Henry faked a smile and looked away as he rested his back. A worried look appeared on his face. Before they left the hospital, the doctor had kept on echoing that he needed to rest for the meantime and not carry out any strenuous activity, Sheila was also repeating the same but he doubted if he could comply.
Every night since he regained his memory, the cries of his wife and child always echoed in his head and their pictures kept flashing through his mind. It was the why he stopped Sheila from calling him Carl. Whenever he heard the name, he also heard the voice of his late wife. He seemed to have lost the little peace he had before getting his memory back. Since then, everything that happened around and everyone that came close to him always pointed to the past unconsciously whether through their words or actions. Deep in his spirit, he needed peace for deep down in his soul, he was RESTLESS.
To be continued
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