Guilty or not?

The rain didn’t stop. It poured like a child crying for its mother’s breast. It pounded on roof tops so fiercely, threatening to bore holes in them. The wind complemented it, the leaves on the trees kept whispering sweet nothings in the cold, dark night. The sound of running water couldn’t be left out, as the gutters overflowed with it. Still, the rain didn’t stop. Not that it mattered, she could care less. She didn’t mind the rain drenching her, soaking her clothes and the cold sinking dangerously into her bones. She clenched her teeth and stared at nothing. If people died of frostbite like this, she’d gladly die. She was standing all alone in the middle of the night hoping that the rain would wash off her guilt. What had she done? She cried silently, without tears, for even her own tears had deserted her. What had she done? Normally, she would have watched the dark clouds gather, she would have gasped at the flashes of lightning and shuddered at the sound of thunder. She would have laughed at it, then made hot tea and buried herself in her blankets while watching late night movies. Or she would have stayed with Cheta, it was always nice with him. Maybe she could have enjoyed the world cup finals with him, after all, she told him France would win. But those thoughts felt like eons ago. What had she done?
                                                ***
                                          66hours ago
Phoebe’s day started normally. She got up at 6:00am to prepare for work, as always. She said her morning prayers, did 50 sit ups and some squats to keep in shape before she proceeded to the bathroom. Apart from using her toothbrush to hit a spot in her gum three consecutive days, leaving the gum sore and a little bloody, she felt her day was still going normally. She quickly had her bath and dressed up. She had a quick breakfast of oats and 3 slices of bread, then left her 2 bedroom apartment at Ogba. She had a simple KIA Sorento, courtesy of the car loan the bank always gave an Executive Trainee at the end of the school of banking, that’s if you got the job. She loved her job at Access bank. After graduating from school as an economist and staying jobless for two years, she finally got this job. She had her own small office. Life felt good. She got into her car and drove the 30 minutes journey to the bank at Ikeja.
Phoebe was a likable person, everyone who came across her liked her. Her smile could make you smile and the security guard always looked forward to seeing her drive in every morning. This day wasn’t different. “Good morning Idris”, Phoebe greeted with a smile as she drove in. “Good morning ma”, Idris responded with a bigger smile. It was a Friday, last working day of the week. She’d end it by going out with Cheta. Cheta and Phoebe had been dating for about 6 months now. They had met at an eatery when Phoebe decided to have lunch outside. “Hi, I’m Cheta”, he had said after taking a seat at her table and trying to talk to her. “Well, if you buy me another plate of rice, I might tell you my name”, Phoebe had responded jokingly. Cheta had laughed and still bought the plate of rice just to know the name of the beautiful, funny lady. “I didn’t think you’d take me seriously”, she had said, when the plate of rice came, “I’m Phoebe.” “Well, nice to meet you, Phoebe.” They talked while they ate and exchanged numbers at the end. From then on, they met up for dates and a relationship sprang up without them planning it. Phoebe really liked Cheta and hoped things would continue to stay perfect, even with their pasts. So much for wishful thinking.
Phoebe was engrossed in her work at about 1:00pm when a call came through her personal phone. “Hello”, she said. “Is this Phoebe Uzondu?” came the voice at the other end of the line. “Yes, who’s this?” Phoebe asked. The person chuckled and replied, “I’m Simi, Cheta’s wife.” “Excuse me?” Pheobe asked disgusted. She knew about Simi, but Cheta said they were divorced. “You are very well excused, husband snatcher.” “OK, Simi or whatever you call yourself, I don’t know how you got my number, but I’m very busy right now and not in the mood for games, so I’m going to hang up now”, Phoebe said. “That would be a bad idea, Phoebe”, Simi said, “you see, I have something on you and I could easily tell the whole world you are banging my husband and…” “Your ex husband you mean”, Phoebe cut her off. Simi laughed, “Is that what he told you? Ah, you are so gullible omo Igbo. Cheta and I are still married but that’s by the way, that’s not even what I have on you.” Phoebe was agitated already, what was this crazy woman talking about. Cheta wouldn’t lie to her.
“I know you stole money from the bank”, Simi said, jolting her from her thoughts of Cheta. “Who told you that? What are you talking about?” Phoebe tensed. “You stole money from the bank about 3 months ago.” “I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it and I have been returning it” Phoebe replied, she held her phone tightly to her ear and stood up to check if anyone was close to her office. She locked her door and went back to whispering, her sore gum started to throb. “Oh, so you admit you took some money from the bank, without permission, so it’s stealing”, Simi said, “no one would care to know if you returned the money or not, you will be punished for stealing, I have proof to show what you did.” “What do you want?” Pheobe asked. “Now, that’s what I’ve been waiting to hear”, Simi said, “I want you to stay away from my husband and I want you to give me #500000 just so that no one will know you stole.” “Are you out of your mind? That’s even more than the money I took, where do you expect me to get that?” Phoebe fumed. “The same place you got the other one, Phoebe. Don’t even joke with me oh, you know better than to go to the police. I’ll send you the address where you’ll drop the money, I want it in cash since you are a banker. You have from now till Sunday or else, I’ll open your nyash to the public, ole." Simi hung up. “Hello, hello, damn it!” Phoebe dropped her phone and saw goosebumps rise majestically all over her body. What had she done, what had she gotten herself into? She only needed that money to pay for her mother’s medical bills and she had been returning it. Simi was right, she didn’t ask for permission, she stole it. Why hadn’t she just asked for a loan, she would have paid back. Now she had to get half a million Naira.
Two days, she only had two days and no work on Saturday. Damn that Simi. Phoebe lost track of time as she strategically planned wiring #500000 to her unknown account. She had to withdraw it before bank closed. She took an excuse to leave the office and went to another branch to withdraw the money. She had a little disguise so that she won’t be recognized as an employee of the bank. After the horrible process, she drove home in the Lagos traffic to drop the money. She looked at her watch, it was 3:45pm. She didn’t need to go back to the office because she lied she was ill. She sat down on the floor in her room and cried, she was a professional thief. It had taken her less than a day to steal money just to prevent someone from telling the whole world she stole money. Imagine the irony. What was she doing? She called Cheta to cancel their date with the same lie that she was ill. A text came in and she saw the address she had to go to on Sunday night. She half prayed that no one would steal the money she just stole in her house. It was going to be a long, terrible weekend.