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Episode 31

Final Episodeā˜†

From Teachers to Prisoners

[RECAP: Millsonā€™s wedding night was highly ecstatic. For the first time,he had sex with a woman,his wife Lovelave who was also a virgin.]

—*-

[ Third Personā€™s Point of view ]

ā€¢Ten (10) Years laterā€¢

Kwame Ankrah, Franklin Nuru, George Quaye and Ashong, the teachers who were imprisoned for impregnating Dzifaā€™s friends were transferred from Ankaful Maximum Security Prison to Nsawam

maximum Security Prison in an effort to decongest the prisons which had seen a surge in inmates.

Coincidentally, Dzifa was also imprisoned in Nsawam Maximum Security Prison. It had been roughly ten years now since Kwame and his maladjusted friends were arraigned before court for the death of the three school girls.

Kwame could recollect how the court pronounced them guilty and sentenced his friends to 35 years imprisonment with hard Labour and him to 20 years with hard Labour.

He recalled how they were handcuffed and pushed into the police van like hard- core criminals.The inside of the van was filthy and they were made to sit on a creasy spare tyre which slided from side to side as the van rumbled its way to Accra on the road filled with pot holes. They were dirty and infuriated by the time they reached the prison. Their anger was aggravated by the fact that they were made to sleep in the dirt with no food or water.

Ghanaian Prison do not only robs you of your freedom, it attempted to take away your human dignity and identity. Everyone wore the same uniform, ate the same food, followed the same schedule. It was by definition purely an authoritarian and restrictive institution that tolerate no independence or individuality.

The standard prison uniform was a pair of khaki shorts with a black star in the middle of the shirt. Senior Prisoners wore all blue, Both shirt and short.The dinner was a stiff cold salty porridge with a half teaspoon of sugar.


Kwame was sent to an isolated prison for a month when he shouted at a prison officer.

He was completely isolated. He did not see the face or hear the voice of the other prisoners. He was locked up twenty four hours a day. Hours seemed like decades. There was no natural light in my cell, a single bulb burned overhead twenty four hours a day.

Since he was not allowed to have even a wrist watch, he couldnā€™t even tell if it was night or day.

He had nothing to read and no one to talk to. His mind began to turn in on itself and he was completely roomed in the recesses of his own mind -world. After a time in solitary , he relished the company even of the insects in his cell, and found himself on the verge of initiating conversations with the mice and coackroaches.

It was therefore a great relief for him when he was moved from solitary confinement to his former prison, where he could chat with his friends and other Prisoners.

There were people he met in prison that would merely have been his acquaintances but prison was an incubator of friendship. Prison conditions have a way of tempering polemics and individuals see more of what unites them than what divides them.

In the depth of darkness, he laid on the bare floor with his Colleagues.

They were talking to busy themselves, not even aware of time or place. The prison smelled stale and dirty, a place he wouldnā€™t imagine any human being could spend even a night. However ,he got accustomed to the place and circumstance. Their conversation sounded weak, hopeless and sorrowful. Kwameā€™s voice was full of sadness and pain.

In the prison, they chatted.

?Kwame : God , Why should this calamity come upon me?

?ā€ā™‚ļøFranklin: leave God out of this. When you were busy enjoying the girlsā€™ creamy pie ,did you remember God and his laws?

?ā€ā™‚ļøGeorge: Are you trying to be a moralist. Were you also not doing the same thing.?

?Ashong : The school girls were temptatious. Itā€™s so difficult to stay clear of them without tasting their nectar.

?kwame: Hmmm. Not really. I was once a good role model until I allowed myself to lust after her gorgeous curves- I mean the assistant Girlsā€™ Prefect Crystalene who I later dumped for the Girlsā€™ Prefect- Dzifa.

?Ashong : Your case is a pity. At least you used to have a very good role model like Millson Lamptey to follow. Heā€™s your friend.

?Kwame: Itā€™s true but I allowed lust to break our friendship.

?ā€ā™‚ļøFranklin: I wish the years could be fast forwarded so that I leave this God- forsaken shit- hole. We are languishing here, dying slowly, spending day and night in a dark smelling cell, in the company of insects, with no real human dignity and freedom.

His voice sounded regretful and reflected the need of crying. Kwameā€™s own tears had stopped flowing long ago. The more they talked about the past the more they grew desperate and remorseful.

Ashong and Franklin even alleged they often see the souls of the dead girls crying and cursing them for their death.

Early in the morning

A plate was pushed with some poor food from a hole at the bottom of the door. The prisoners were not interested in eating the food.

Kwame was standing while Ashong was lying on his bed. ā€œTry to stand and move. Your body needs food to resist the imprisonment here.ā€ Kwame said, encouragely to his friend.

ā€œDo you really believe in that? This cell killed every desire of life in meā€ said Ashong.ā€Besides my body have suffered a lot. Torture, poor nourishment, few sunlight, no visitors, insomnia and nostalgia.

Kwame said, ā€œitā€™s really a miracle we can still move. Our bodies didnā€™t give in and our souls are stronger. We will die like eagles with our heads looking high and never bend.ā€

ā€œI wish I have your faith but the darkness surrounds me from all sides and it had dampened my soul for ages. I see everything dark and I stopped longing for a new sunrise,ā€ Ashong lamented with a feeling full of bitterness and disappointment. There are only two different approaches for coping with compulsory imprisonment. One is longing for the sun and the second is, feeling already buried alive in the darkness of pessimism.

If you are cut off from reality for long, illusion becomes the new reality. A beautiful illusion gives meaning to a fantasic life.

One week later

A stern looking officer materialised at the exit.He really looked stern, ruthless and sadistic. He stared at the prisoners and sarcastically said,ā€Itā€™s work time fellas,letā€™s go. Ashong was still on his bed. Kwame went to call him.

ā€œAshong,Ashong , Ashong!!!!!!ā€

Realisation dawned on him, Ashong was dead.!!?ā˜  .

A deep silence and pain descended on their souls and they became speechless.

Ashong was taken away and buried like a dog. Then the officer returned.

Kwame, Franklin, and George were

crying heavily but the prison officer remained unconcerned.

He said,ā€ Letā€™s go. Life must go on.ā€

At that moment Kwame knew it was going to be another hell .

A long winding routine of farming,

breaking stones and cutting logs.Honestly, Kwame regretted the day he had sexual intercourse with his female students. Now, he must face the consequences of his action for another decade. At least his own situation is quite better.


{Dzifaā€™s Point of view}

In prison

Ten years later


Come to think of it. I had a very strong passion for my teacher Sir Millson. I wanted him to have sex with me but he rejected my proposal countless times.

Was I really in love with this teacher or was it just an adolescent crush ?

What of if he were not to be a good teacher?

He would have slept with me and left me. He wouldnā€™t have married me anyway, so what was the point in going that extra miles for him?

Today,I realised I only made myself very vulnerable to him in the name of what I thought was love then which in reality was mere INFATUATION.

Besides, I wasnā€™t aware that I was jeopardizing Mr. Millsonā€™s career by forcing myself on him.Today in Prison, I realised I have been very foolish in school by falling in love with a teacher I knew I couldnā€™t date or be in a relationship with. Even if I could get him,what would be the end game?

I regretted allowing paedophile teachers like Kwame take advantage of my innocence.

I should have have been more careful. Iā€™m lucky to be alive because I nearly die from that dangerous abortion I had for him like my colleagues Vivian, lucy and Irene.

Mr. Millson had proven to me that his ā€œNOā€ is a no. I envied Miss Bansah Lovelace. She had gotten a very good man.

I sat beside my cellmate in the prison room. Had I not been in prison, I would have taken my WAEC and even completed University and be working by now. I hated the prison. The food wasnā€™t good. It wasnā€™t something I would have liked if I were free but here I have no choice. It was my birthday but there was no party in prison.

I have to quietly wish myself a happy birthday. I still continue to think of my mother, what is happening to her now? Had she decided to move on with her life? Or was she crying everyday because I have disappointed her? Or was she cursing the day she gave birth to me?

I never thought of praying because I donā€™t believed in God. To me prayer is just nonsensical activity.

My cellmate Sika nudged me and asked , ā€œare you still thinking about him?ā€

I turned and smiled at Sika. She knew what led to my imprisonment. I told her. I wished I could turn back the hands of time in order to right my wrongs but I couldnā€™t .

I resigned myself to my fate. I knew I was doomed to spend another 30 hears in prison. Im not sure I could cope with the hellish condition in Nsawam Maximum Security Prison for another 30 years.

Turning to Sika, I replied her question, ā€ No, Iā€™m NOT thinking about him. Heā€™s too good for me.


ā˜†ā€¢ā˜†EPILOGUEā€¢ā˜†ā€¢ā˜†

Mr. and Mrs. Lamptey initially gave birth to Twins- Jack and Jim. Three years later they had another baby girl named Sunshine.

They continued lecturing in Canada until Millson rose through the ranks to become the Vice -Chancellor of the University of Toronto.

Lovelace later divert into Broadcast Journalism.

Lamptey Millsonā€™s father,Edward was extremely happy with his sonā€™s success. Millson bought his father a brand new car; the Cadillac

ATS-V.

He also bought a luxurious 4 bedroom house at East Legon with 1 out house, security post and swimming pool. All rooms are en-suite, fitted kitchen laundry machine.

Millson believed his fatherā€™s advise had been the reason behind his current success story. If he had given in to those SEXY HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS, he would have ended up in Jail like his Colleagues and wouldnā€™t have had the chance to travel abroad or marry Lovelace.

He kept blessing his father day and night.

Kwame and the rest of his colleagues are still in Nsawam prison serving prison terms for sleeping with Under-age female students.

Sadly ,Dzifa committed suicide in prison after been in prison for twenty years. The pressure in prison was simply unbearable to her.

Fellow Readers,pray for her soul.?

For it is written, in Romans 6:23

ā€œThe wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.ā€

?

?ā˜†THE ENDā˜†?


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