He lay on the bed with his eyes wide open, his heart aching and his palms sweating. He tried to get up but his back stuck to the sheets. His head was pounding like a hammer. He fought the temptation of reaching out for another shot of whisky.

Time was 9.00am. By this time the rest of the world was abuzz with activity. Poor Ndoli lay back watching moles as they formed in the light rays from the ventilators.

There was something fascinating about the moles as they formed an unending pattern. Could this have meant that his problems were never going to end? His lack of sleep sent his mind racing into deep thought.

"But why me?” he screamed. The events of the last twenty-four hours had turned Ndoli into a shadow of his former self. His heart was bleeding.

He stretched, yawned and staggered to the bathroom. He lowered his head into the washbasin and splashed cold water on his head. Still feeling dizzy, he wondered how a daughter of Eve could wreck his heart.

"But you promised that you would never leave me. My love, what happened? Was I not man enough…how could you fall for my best friend?” The soliloquy seemed to have no end. It was like water pouring out of a fountain.

He paced to and fro. He walked around in circles with a cigar between his fingers. He was naked but for boxer shorts. He picked up a photo in which he and Shanice were holding hands laughing. This was during a trip to Gisenyi.

It was a clear morning, Ndoli tried to remember. The sky was clear and the weather gay. Everything seemed set for the journey. The anticipation of sunbathing at the beach greatly excited the two lovebirds.

The journey did not take long. Within two hours they were at the Kivu Sun Hotel making reservations. This marked the start of a long eventful day.

Ndoli loved nature; he had read about the Garden of Eden and he thought that the area around was a replica of this garden. He wanted to recreate the biblical time of Adam and Eve, but this time around it had to be Ndoli and Shanice.

Birds were humming and others flapping away and a monkey nearby was enjoying a yellow banana. The precision with which it peeled it was simply fascinating. Whoever said that human beings evolved from monkeys had to be taken seriously.

Ndoli picked another photograph. It was taken at the airport as Shanice was heading for the United States of America for her brother’s graduation ceremony. How she looked chic! Clad in blue denim with her hair tied ponytail style.

The white Fila trainers made her unusually tall. He continued to flip through the big envelope. Just under the Ebony magazine lay a full packet of letters from Shanice. 

Ndoli looked at one of them. She had written this particular one on the celebration of her twenty-fourth birthday.

The upper part was missing but all the same Ndoli read it loud. (To be continued…)