Guilty or not? II

Lightning flashed, thunder struck, rain poured. One would think she would be dragged out of her thoughts. But she wasn’t. She stayed, glued to the ground as the scenes of the night danced in her head, like she was seeing a movie. But it wasn’t a movie, it was her pathetic life. Cheta had called her practically all day, she didn’t know how she’d face him with what she had done. She prayed to be struck by lightning, but of course, it only struck people who still wanted to live. She looked at her hands, the blood stains had been washed by the rain, but it hadn’t washed her guilt.
                                                    ***
                                              6 hours ago
Simi took out the last stick of cigarette from the pack and lighted it. She walked to the window of her cheap hotel room and looked out. The streets were busy and the clouds were getting dark. Lagos and it’s unpredictable weather. She let her mind drift to the more pressing matter as she continuously took drags of her cigarette. By now, the stupid girl Cheta was dating should have her money. She smiled as she remembered their conversation. It had been more than easy to convince Phoebe she knew she stole money. Simi had come to see Cheta some months ago in the guise that she had changed and wanted a life with Cheta, she wanted Ada, their 4 year old daughter to grow up with her father. Of course, Cheta wasn’t as gullible as Phoebe, he had seen through her and knew she wasn’t sincere. His only mistake was mentioning Phoebe and the problem of her sick mother which was more important to him than what she, Simi wanted. He walked out of her after a call and promised to get Ada back. The foolish man, who cared about Ada, she was just a means of getting money from him. With the help of her brother Gbenga, who worked as a security guard in an eatery close to Phoebe’s office, Simi found out where Phoebe worked, her possible salary, her mother’s ailment and how she thought Phoebe had gotten the money for a surgery on short notice.
Of course, she had no proof whatsoever that Phoebe had stolen the money, she only guessed and decided to play mind games on the girl. Hopefully she’d get money from it. And just like that, the poor thing fell for it. She laughed loud, at least her degree in psychology wasn’t in vain. Once she got her money, she’d process whatever she needed to leave the country and dump Ada with Cheta. She looked at her wrist watch, it was 6:36pm. It was time for business. She dropped her cigarette in the plate she had converted to an ash tray, picked up her phone and dialed a number.
Phoebe took joy in watching the sunset on Sunday evenings, the orange glow in the sky was always beautiful. This Sunday’s sunset wasn’t so different, it had dark clouds around but it was still beautiful. The only thing different was her state of mind. Cheta had called her the previous day to know how she was, she lied again she was still sick and he had kept calling the entire day. She chose to ignore his calls this time, for all she knew, he lied to her about Simi and was still married to the vindictive woman. She hadn’t left her house all weekend, even that Sunday, she didn’t go to church. She was paranoid about the fact that the money would be stolen from her house. Oh God! She hoped her soul wasn’t heading straight for eternal damnation. Her phone rang, bringing her back to her room. “Hello”, she answered. “I hope you have my money, come to the address I sent you and come alone”, said the voice on the phone, “we have much to discuss.” Knowing it was Simi, Phoebe simply said, “I don’t have anything to say to you.” Simi laughed, “I call the shots here, sweetheart, now get your ass moving and be here at 9:00pm.” She hung up. Phoebe exhaled, the address was on the island. It was going to be a long ride.
About two hours later, Phoebe finally located the place Simi asked her to come. She packed her car in front of a small bungalow, almost at the end of the deserted street. She noticed the lagoon at the end of the road. She took the bag of money and stepped out of her car. The wind kissed her cheeks ferociously and she shuddered. She could smell the rain in the air already. She walked to the house and knocked on the door. A young lady, about her age, with dark lips and even darker eyes opened the door. “Phoebe, right on time, come in”, the lady said. Phoebe stepped inside the house and noticed a small chair at the end of the room and a glass table at the center of the room. “Simi?” she finally managed. “Yes”, Simi said. She locked the door and walked ahead of Phoebe and stood in front of her. “Now hand me the bag.” Phoebe gave her the bag and watched her look into it and touch the Naira notes. Something malevolent coursed through her blood as she stood still. “Well, I can’t start counting it, but I’m sure it’s complete”, Simi said, dropping the bag on the floor behind her as she walked to the center of the room.
“We are done here”, Phoebe said and was about to leave when Simi laughed. “Oh, but I want more money, omo Igbo.” Phoebe stared at her with disgust, “you are completely crazy and out of your mind if you think I’m going to go through all this again.” “You will, if you want to stay out of prison. I’ll also talk about this extra one you stole”, Simi eyed her. Phoebe just stared, she wasn’t going to steal again, she was done, whatever will happen will happen. “Do your worst, Simi.” She turned to leave but Simi dragged her by her hair, turned her around and slapped her. “You can’t walk away from this, even if I have to beat you up, I will”, Simi spat. Phoebe touched her cheek that was slapped and felt blood at her lips. The sight of her blood on her finger enraged her and with strength she didn’t know she had, she pushed Simi. Simi tripped over the bag of money on the floor, fell backwards and hit her head on the edge of the glass table, slid to the floor and didn’t move. Phoebe was still fuming, “get up, Simi, you want to fight okwa ya, stand up, we’ll fight.” Still, Simi didn’t move. Phoebe stepped towards her, that was when she saw the blood coming freely from Simi’s head and Simi staring at nothing.
Phoebe put her hands over her bleeding lip and bent low. She placed her fingers on Simi’s neck hoping to feel a pulse. Nothing. “Oh my God, Oh my God, she’s dead, oh no, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean it”, Phoebe stuttered, shaking violently. She stepped back and stared at Simi’s lifeless body. “Get up, Simi, just get up”, Phoebe begged. A moment ago, Simi was full of violent energy, ready to beat her up, now, she was just… dead. Panic took a hard grip on her as she stood, glued to the floor. “Dear God, I killed her, I’m a thief and a murderer”, Phoebe hugged herself. Just then, thunder struck and the sky decided to empty its bowels.