THE MAN WHO KILLED ME IS STILL ALIVE-PART 1

2019 — Lagos, Nigeria

There are some nights you remember because they were beautiful.

There are others you remember because they changed your life.

And then there are nights you remember because, no matter how many years pass, you still wish you could go back and make a different decision.

For me, that night was all three.

I didn’t know it at the time.

I didn’t know that a few minutes on a dark Lagos road would connect my life to a woman I had never met.

I didn’t know that a secret from four years earlier was about to come back to life.

And I certainly didn’t know that the woman I was about to find was supposed to be dead.

It was late.

Very late.

I was on my way home, walking along a quiet road in Lagos. The usual noise of the city had faded into the distance. There were still a few vehicles passing occasionally, but the road was nowhere near as busy as it had been earlier.

I checked the time on my phone.

11:42 PM.

I sighed.

I wanted to get home.

Nothing about that night seemed unusual.

At least, not at first.

I continued walking, thinking about everything I needed to do the following day.

Then I heard something.

A sound.

I stopped.

For a moment, I wasn’t sure what I had heard.

It sounded like a cry.

I turned my head toward the side of the road.

Nothing.

The streetlight above me flickered.

I stared into the darkness.

“Hello?”

Silence.

I waited for a response.

Nothing came.

I shook my head and continued walking.

Maybe I had imagined it.

Maybe it had been the sound of an animal.

Maybe it had been the wind.

I took another few steps.

Then I heard it again.

This time, there was no doubt.

Someone had cried out.

I stopped immediately.

My heart began beating faster.

I looked around.

The road was almost empty.

There was a narrow path leading toward a darker area beside the road. I stared at it for several seconds.

Every sensible thought in my head told me to keep walking.

But something inside me told me to check.

I slowly moved toward the darkness.

“Hello?” I called again.

No answer.

I took another step.

Then another.

And that’s when I saw something lying on the ground.

At first, I thought it was a bag.

I couldn’t see clearly.

I moved closer.

My stomach tightened.

It wasn’t a bag.

It was a person.

A woman.

She was lying motionless on the ground.

I froze.

For a few seconds, I couldn’t move.

I looked around.

There was nobody there.

No one running.

No one calling for help.

Nothing.

Just the woman.

I swallowed hard and approached her.

“Madam?”

She didn’t respond.

I crouched beside her.

There was blood on her clothes.

My breathing became shallow.

I looked at her face.

Her eyes were closed.

She looked completely lifeless.

My first thought was that she was dead.

I slowly reached toward her neck.

My fingers were shaking.

I searched for a pulse.

Nothing.

I moved my fingers slightly.

Then I felt it.

A tiny movement.

I froze.

I checked again.

There it was.

A pulse.

Weak.

Very weak.

But real.

“She’s alive.”

The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them.

I immediately pulled out my phone.

I called for emergency assistance while trying to keep myself calm.

I had never been in a situation like this before.

I didn’t know who she was.

I didn’t know who had attacked her.

I didn’t know whether the person responsible was still nearby.

But I knew one thing.

I couldn’t leave her there.

I leaned closer.

“Madam, can you hear me?”

Her fingers moved slightly.

I stared at them.

“Madam?”

Her eyelids slowly opened.

Her eyes were unfocused.

She looked frightened.

“Stay with me,” I said.

Her lips moved.

I leaned closer so I could hear her.

“Please…”

Her voice was barely audible.

“Who did this to you?” I asked.

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she looked past me.

Her eyes widened.

I immediately turned around.

Nothing.

The road was still empty.

I turned back toward her.

“Who are you looking at?”

She tried to lift her hand.

It fell back down.

Then she whispered a word.

“Run.”

I frowned.

“What?”

“Run…”

Her voice was weaker this time.

I looked behind me again.

Nothing.

My heart was pounding.

“Why should I run?”

She didn’t answer.

Her eyes closed.

“Hey!”

I touched her shoulder carefully.

“Don’t sleep. Please.”

She didn’t respond.

I panicked.

I shouted for help.

I didn’t know how long I had been there, but every second felt like an hour.

Finally, help arrived.

The woman was taken to the hospital.

I followed.

I couldn’t explain why.

Maybe I should have simply given the information to the authorities and gone home.

Maybe I should have walked away.

But I couldn’t.

I had found her.

And somehow, I felt responsible for making sure she survived.

⸻

12:07 AM

The hospital was bright compared with the darkness outside.

Doctors rushed the woman into the emergency room.

I stood outside.

My clothes were stained with blood.

I looked down at my hands.

They were still shaking.

I had never seen so much blood before.

I sat down.

My mind kept returning to one thing.

Her eyes.

There had been fear in them.

Not ordinary fear.

It was the kind of fear that comes from knowing exactly who wants you dead.

I stared at the emergency room door.

Who was she?

Who had attacked her?

And why?

A nurse walked past me.

I stood.

“Excuse me.”

She stopped.

“Are you the person who brought the woman?”

“Yes.”

“She is receiving treatment.”

“Is she going to survive?”

The nurse didn’t answer immediately.

“She lost a lot of blood. The doctors are doing everything they can.”

I nodded.

“Thank you.”

She walked away.

I sat down again.

I checked my phone.

The time was now after midnight.

I should have been home.

Instead, I was sitting in a hospital beside a woman whose name I didn’t even know.

I closed my eyes.

Then I remembered what she had said.

Run.

Why had she told me to run?

Was she warning me about the person who attacked her?

Was the attacker still looking for her?

Or had she been warning me because she knew something I didn’t?

I had no answers.

Hours seemed to pass, even though only minutes went by.

Eventually, a doctor came out.

I immediately stood.

“Doctor.”

He looked at me.

“Are you family?”

“No. I found her.”

He nodded.

“She survived the immediate danger.”

I released a breath.

“She’s alive?”

“Yes.”

I closed my eyes for a moment.

“Thank God.”

“She is still very weak, though. Don’t keep her awake for long if you are allowed to see her.”

“Can I see her?”

The doctor hesitated.

“Briefly.”

I followed him toward the room.

My heart began beating faster again.

I opened the door.

The woman was lying on the bed.

Her face looked pale.

There were medical tubes connected to her.

She opened her eyes when she heard me enter.

For a moment, she simply stared at me.

I pulled a chair closer.

“Hello.”

She didn’t respond.

“My name is KCash.”

Her eyes remained on me.

“I found you on the road.”

She slowly turned her head.

“You…”

“Yes.”

“You saved me.”

“I tried.”

She swallowed painfully.

I leaned closer.

“What is your name?”

There was a long silence.

Then she whispered:

“Amara.”

“Amara?”

She nodded.

I looked at her.

“Amara, I need to ask you something.”

Her expression changed.

“Who attacked you?”

She looked frightened again.

I waited.

“Was it someone you know?”

She closed her eyes.

I thought she wasn’t going to answer.

Then she whispered:

“Yes.”

My heart sank.

“Who?”

She opened her eyes.

“He…”

Her voice broke.

“Who?”

She looked toward the door.

Then back at me.

“He was supposed to have killed me.”

I stared at her.

“What do you mean?”

Her breathing became faster.

“He thinks I’m dead.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“You’re alive.”

“I know.”

“But why would he think you’re dead?”

She looked away.

“Because that’s what he wanted everyone to believe.”

I leaned back.

Something about her story wasn’t making sense.

“Amara, what happened tonight?”

She remained silent.

I waited.

Finally, she looked directly at me.

“I discovered something about him years ago.”

“Years ago?”

She nodded.

“Four years ago.”

My eyes narrowed.

“What did you discover?”

She shook her head.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because if you know…”

She stopped.

I waited.

“If you know too much, he’ll come after you.”

I stared at her.

“You’re telling me someone tried to kill you because of something you discovered four years ago?”

She nodded.

“Then tell the police.”

Her eyes filled with fear.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know who I can trust.”

I didn’t respond.

For the first time, I realized this wasn’t simply an attack.

There was something much bigger behind it.

Something Amara was terrified to talk about.

I looked at her.

“Then why did you tell me?”

She remained silent.

“Amara?”

She finally whispered:

“Because you saved my life.”

I didn’t know what to say.

Then she reached toward me.

Her hand trembled.

I held it.

Her voice became barely audible.

“Please don’t tell anyone that I’m alive.”

I frowned.

“What?”

“If he discovers that I survived…”

She stopped.

“Then what?”

She looked directly into my eyes.

“He’ll come back.”

A cold feeling moved through me.

“Who is he?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she whispered:

“You should leave.”

“Why?”

“Because if he finds out that you saved me…”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“He will come for you too.”

I stared at her.

I wanted to believe she was only frightened.

I wanted to believe she was confused.

But something about her expression told me she wasn’t.

She knew something.

Something dangerous.

Something worth killing for.

I stood slowly.

“I’ll come back tomorrow.”

She grabbed my hand.

“No.”

I looked at her.

“Don’t come back.”

“Why?”

“Because the moment you found me…”

She swallowed.

“…you became part of this.”

I didn’t understand what she meant.

Not yet.

I left the room.

As I walked down the hospital corridor, I kept thinking about her words.

You became part of this.

I didn’t know that somewhere else in Lagos, another person was thinking about the same woman.

A man who believed his problem had already been solved.

A man who believed Amara was dead.

A man who had no idea that she had survived.

And he had no idea that I had found her.

Not yet.

But that was about to change.

⸻

12:41 AM

Across the city, a phone rang.

The man picked it up.

“What happened?”

There was silence on the other end.

His expression slowly changed.

“What do you mean?”

Another voice answered.

The man stood.

“You’re telling me she’s alive?”

He listened.

His jaw tightened.

“How?”

Silence.

He slammed his hand against the table.

“Find out who took her.”

He ended the call.

For several seconds, he stood completely still.

Then he whispered one sentence.

“She was supposed to be dead.”

He didn’t know my name yet.

He didn’t know who I was.

But he would soon find out.

And when he did, my life would never be the same again.

Because I had saved the woman he had spent four years trying to silence.

And I had no idea that the biggest secret of my life had just begun.

End of Episode 1