Chapter 3: Accidents

“It was just for drinks, that was all it was, nothing more. It doesn’t matter if it had been going on for some time now. It’s not like I slept with any of them. Besides, they’re way too old for me to consider that. I can’t believe that Yaw would think of me this way, after all we’ve been through.”

Alberta had just had a fight with her boyfriend over some issue that to her shouldn’t have been an issue at all. Just because she went out more often than he did shouldn’t make him so insecure about what she does. She knows that if they were like any normal couple he should have every reason not to trust her but they weren’t. They were the couple that talked about everything, from what kind of external hard drive he’d like to buy in the next 2 days to what colour of heels she’d like to purchase the next hour.

People didn’t understand how a nerd like Yaw; overprotected and overemotional would be able to land a hot smoking babe like her, not that she’s saying she is but come on, if you’re getting 18 friend’s request on Facebook per day to 3 ‘hi, what’s your name, can I have your number’ almost every 2 hours then either you’re smoking hot or the people are freaking blind and you’re the one with the one eye.

When they met she found him very weird, in the sense that though he hung out with the average, drinking, smoking, partying crowd, he didn’t do any of that. At first it was kinda nice, like a breath of fresh air after being inside an overcrowded pub for over 3 hours and finally stepping out to see a full moon on a cool night. He was like that night with the moon, emphasis on the ‘was’. But things changed.

Last night she met a guy, like every other night but this guy was different. He was very suave and sophisticated. He tried doing the whole, ’oh I’m a gentleman and I’m not trying to hit on you but I am if it’s working’ thing on her and it was entertaining up to the point where he dropped her off at her house and tried to kiss her. Yaw had stayed up late to wait for her and unfortunately saw all that drama. A normal guy would come out and probably punch the guy before going all hill-billy on his girl, but no, not Yaw. He just stayed in the window, made sure she saw him and waited for her to try and fight of the ‘gentleman’s’ attempts before ambushing her at the door and accusing her of cheating and disloyalty. Sometimes it felt like she was in the relationship all by herself, warding of girls and guys, ratio being 1:20. The fight carried on to the morning and she had not being able to concentrate at work. Normally she’d let the driver go and get her lunch but not this time. She needed to get out of the office and clear her mind.

She went to the Accra mall, got something to eat and decided to leg it for a while up the road to the Shangri-La bus stop before getting a cab to the office. She had just had just gotten to the overhead that the railway tracks pass when a truck sped by in an attempt to beat the traffic light. For a minute it looked like it might just make it but with a second look it didn’t seem possible. There was a second truck, smaller than the first, that was about stopping at the light but suddenly started speeding up, as if the two were in a race. What happened afterward was like something out of a Hollywood movie.

The first truck was going too fast to stop at the light and there were people on the pavement shouting at something, presumably the driver. At the rate he was going he would have crashed into a car that had already stopped at the light so he swerved to the right but lost control. Instead of a minimal displacement towards the right, the truck started to tip over due to whatever load the truck was carrying. It looked like it might end up on the pavement where all those people were but something beyond what you’d normally see happened. The second truck rammed into the first causing it to change course into the middle of the road. Due to the impact the second truck also lost control but the driver managed to steer it back into shape. Something flew out of the back of the second truck as it swerved to the right.

The scene was strange, apparently there was someone in the middle of the road that the first truck would have hit had it not being for the second truck ramming into it. The second rammed in just in time for the two to miss the pedestrian who had somehow wandered unto the street. The situation would have been worse had the second not gained control to steer itself back unto the road. Whatever that flew out of the truck seemed pretty heavy because it flew straight at the pedestrian and knocked him out cold.

Blood started oozing from head and people where rushing to the trucks which had both come to a halt, the first being overturned and the second managing to fuse itself into a wall. Alberta began to run towards the scene without knowing why. She was like that; she’d drop whatever she was doing if she felt she had a chance to help someone. She had worked with Red Cross for over 8 years and it was because of this trait that they gave her excellent reference anytime she asked. It was a bit confusing, the scene, because it all happened after the traffic light and vehicles coming from down the road wouldn’t see anything until they get up the road. Luckily, that day most of the vehicles that plowed the road had good drivers who were dodging the mess left and right before pulling to the side of the road to see what they could do to help, except for one.

Just when the pedestrian who had been hit with the object began to gain consciousness and got to his feet that car that wasn’t driving as well as the rest just saw him. Too late to stop and too unprepared to swerve to the left or right. What Alberta saw was a man managing to jump just in time for physics and a speeding car  to help him defy gravity for about 5 seconds before landing face first on the hot asphalt without breaking his neck.

Within seconds Alberta had traversed the distance between she and the man and was beginning to turn him over delicately while whipping out her phone to call the ambulance. As she turned him over she recognized him. He was one of her new friends she’s been hanging out with. He was Charles K. Takyi, the guy running for president.