THE LEAP YEAR Ep 1

Episode 1.

"After checking through this case, we realized that you are guilty as charged" the judge had said that afternoon. 

Immediately the judge said that, people started mumbling and grumbling but they were all called to order and everywhere went silent as a grave yard. 

This case has been on for 3 months as the court kept on pushing the days further and further which didn't stop the investigating teams from working and looking for more evidences to proof whether guilty or not.

"This is my judgement, you are hereby sentenced to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour" 

People started murmuring again as the chief judge took his leave after they all have been ordered to rise.

His family and friends who were present couldn't stop crying; the parents most especially as they saw their only son being taken away, handcuffed by the police.

"We tried our best possible to win this case but it's beyond us" Lawyer Ebun had said as she tried to console everyone of them. 

Lawyer Ebun is one of the young and vibrant lawyers, she has won very many cases and also won some awards of recognition based on her excellent performance.

The police pushed him into the vehicle with handcuff in his hand. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he remembered how much he had planned to make his parents proud.

"I will take you round the world and give you that dream life you have always wanted" and many more are the words he had told his parents. This kept replaying in his head and he wept bitterly and uncontrollably.

After a few hours drive, they finally arrived at Kakakhi Prison. This prison has another history attached to it and its name but that's not the story for today...

This prison yard is actually one of the oldest and its wall is so high that it can only take a miracle to climb it without falling. It has some iron-like design above it too as a guard.

The location is far from the main town that even if you have a means to go out you may not get to the main road or anywhere known for hours. 

"Take him to cell 3 where the hardened criminals are kept" the head of warders had commanded. 

The set of people in this cell are people with cases related to murder and all sort of serious crimes you can think of. 

The way each room was being built, it wasn't supposed to take more than 5 people but nothing is as surprising as seeing 10 people in the room, squeezing each other in.

They handed a green color prison short and shirt to him as one of the warders took the lead while he followed. 

As he was walking behind he noticed some rooms had more than 10 persons while some other rooms were not up to 10.

"You are lucky that the room you are being sent to is not totally filled up, you will be the 11th person in this room.

The biggest surprise was the fact that every room has a captain and an assistant that gives command, training and orientation. 

One of the welcome party they do for new inmates as they join the cell is by pouring water on them and taking turns in beating them.

He almost passed out that night when 8 people out of the 10 beat him mercilessly that night. The first person was the captain, he didn't join in the beating but he was commanding others to do so while the other person was a cell 3 member too and most quiet in the room. He never liked such experience and as such he never joined others in beating new prisoners.

Days started rolling by and there were occasions when meals were not properly cooked or not timely served.

There are days when the breakfast will be coming in around 12pm and he is the type that loves to eat his breakfast as early as 8am in the morning but he has no option than to start adjusting to the new life style he found there.

Sleeping is another problem as they barely found space to sleep peacefully. Most times you wake up to find someones legs on your body. Other times it is somebody's head on your back or tummy.

As time goes on, he was beginning to blend with the style and system of operation in the prison. They've allocated the work each and everyone will be doing. They only have a short while to eat and if they are not sleeping, they are on the field working tirelessly. 

There is this quietness around the man who didn't join in beating the new prisoner in that cell room that calls for questioning. He is not the talking type and it's difficult to even know what he is thinking, whether he is happy or sad we can't tell but one thing about him is that once there is work to do, he gets to do his work and love to get it all done. 

He has been noticing the man for about 3 weeks since he has joined them in the room till one afternoon, he decided to move close to him after a tiring long Saturday to ask him a few questions. 

The man here shouldn't be more than 40 years old though but it's certain he is the oldest in the room; a bit older than some and much older than others.

"Sir, I noticed your quietness and I've been trying to find a means to talk to you all along" 

"Thank you my brother, if there is no fire, there won't be smoke" the man replied.

"I will tell you what actually brought me to this stage, but before then, let's freshen up and take the dinner the cook sent" the man concluded.

They freshened up and curiosity was about to kill the cat.

What does the man has to say?

Watch out for the next episode.