Welcome To Port Nambunis

Port Nambunis stopped feeling like home before Lokun and his family moved here. I was always dreaming of when I would finish school, move away, and travel the world. Then Lokun and his mysterious family changed all that. At least for a while.

Nambunis is known for its nightlife and beach parties. "This must have been what Shunbunmi was talking about when she said she wanted to party," I thought to myself. 

"I'm going to have to ask my uncle for permission to attend Alani's party though. You know how these old people are," Zaynab said.

"Well, I don't have to ask for anybody's permission. I guess this is one of those times I have no problem with having a father who is never around," I replied

"Here you go, talking crazy again. You know I'm always here for you."

"Yes of course I know," I smiled and hugged her for a moment then let go.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at the party."

"What if Papa Fatomi does not give you permission to come?"

"When has that ever stopped me?" She laughed and started walking away.

I stayed behind in my car until it was getting late, then instead of going home, I went directly to Alani's house.

Alani's Dad was a local politician and a very popular man in town. Alani was studying in an out of state private school but got expelled for attacking a teacher with a knife. He was able to gain admission to our school due to his father's influence but that didn't stop him from being as crazy as ever. He was a just a hot headed bully, there were some rumors that his father was exactly the same...a hot headed bully.

I got to the house and it was too quiet for a party. I knew my way around because my mother and Alani's mother were friends and I used to hang out at the house when we were kids. I was friends with Alani's sister for a while too, until she became the most popular girl in a school of course.

I made my way through the gate, it was open and to my surprise, I was early for the party.

I went straight to the backyard and sat by the pool, gently moving my feet through the water. It was a full moon that night and the moonlight was hitting the pool. I felt so peaceful for a moment.

"Hey Bisi," a voice came from behind me and interrupted my peace. I turned back and it was Lola, she stood there with a glass of wine in her hand.

"Hey Lola," I didn't think anyone was around.

"Yeah, you are early as always. One would think you had nothing better to do with your time'" she sipped the wine slowly.

I turned my face away from her and ignored her. She stood there for a moment in silence. The silence was interrupted by Zaynab's voice:

"Hey, Bisi! You're here already?"

"Losers," Lola murmured as she turned to leave.

Zainab removed her shoes and sat beside me. She stared into the sky and said:

"It is a beautiful night!"

"Yes, it is a beautiful and peaceful night, "I replied.

The peace only lasted a little while before people started pouring in from all directions and the party started.

Drinking, dancing, shouting, and the loud echoing of music was hitting from the house but I sat at the edge of the pool with Zaynab.

"Let's go inside," Zaynab finally said.

"Go on, Zaynab. I'll join you later."

"You're doing it again. Coming to this party was your idea, remember?"

"I'll join you, Zaynab. I promise."

"You better!" she walked into the house, dancing.

I sat there thinking about everything and anything that crossed my mind. I thought about my mom and my brother, James. How he would always make me smile. He was the nicest person I ever knew. I thought about leaving Nambunis and traveling the world, Italy and France were on top of my list.

"God I can't wait," I whispered.

"For what?" a voice asked.

I quickly turned to my back, looking startled and he was there leaning his back against the wall of the house and starting into the moonlit sky. He was dressed in a black round neck, a body-hugging shirt, and a black jean. The shirt hugged him so tightly, revealing his muscular figure.

"Lokun! When did you get here?" I asked.

"I've been here for a while, watching you talk to yourself," he smiled still staring into the sky.

"I was talking to myself?"

"Yes you were, I found it...fascinating, you are fascinating." he started walking towards me.

"Errrm, thank you... I guess," I murmured as I got up from the edge of the pool

A sound of people shouting interrupted us and he stopped. Alan ran out of the house into the backyard and screaming "To the fucking pool!" as he jumped into the pool. He was followed by others and before we knew it the party had been moved to the backyard. Zainab came back to the backyard too, dancing as she did before.

I see you guys found each other. See who I found, Zaynab screamed excitedly as she pointed at Shubunmi and Kunbi. 

They walked in slowly, carefully staring at everybody they walked past as if they were analyzing them.

"Hello, Bisi," Shunbun said in her soft voice.

"Hello, Shubunmi, glad you decided to come," I replied.

Kunbi kept scanning the place as if he was expecting to find something that would make him decide they had to leave. He had the look of someone disgusted by everything going on at the party.

"Hello, Kunbi," I greeted him.

He nodded his head and turned away. I thought Kunbi was weird then but I did not know just how weird he was. I didn't know just how weird they all were.

"My brother is always angry, don't mind him. Now we are at the party, what else?" Shubunmi said.

"First of all, let's get you messed up!"Zainab screamed.

She grabbed Shunbunmi's arm and dragged her to a table packed with all sorts of booze. She started pouring booze from the bottles into a cup and passed it to her. She first smelled the stuff in the cup and poured it down her throat at once, she gave the cup back to Zaynab and said: " "More."

Alani came out of the pool and screamed "Flip Cup!" Everybody at the party started to gather at the table and started chanting "Flip Cup! Flip Cup! Flip Cup!"

There were two teams competing against each other. Both teams stood on opposite sides of the table and kept their cups with drinks at the edge. Everyone must finish their drink and flip the cup with their fingers to the upside-down position before the next member begins. The first team to complete would win the game.

Zaynab explained the game to Shunbunmi and Lokun and they immediately got it. 

"We drink and flip cup to win? It is a stupid game but I like it," Shunbunmi said.

We kept winning over and over again because Lokun and Shubunmi kept drinking and even when everyone at the party was drunk they never showed any sign of being drunk.

"You guys must drink a lot where you're from," I said.

"Yes, something like that," Lokun replied.

"So what is the meaning of your name?" I asked.

"Oh, it's a shortened form of the Yoruba word, Olokun, which means.."

"Owner of the sea," I interrupted him.

"Yes...owner of the sea. You probably think it's a strange name."

"Well, people give strange names to their children all the time," I replied.

"Yeah our mother was from the Yoruba tribe and our dad is from somewhere else, she died when Shubunmi and I were born and Dad just gave us what he thought were Yoruba names."

"Your father must love the sea."

"Oh you have no idea," he smiled.

We were interrupted by an argument between Alani who was very drunk and Shubunmi who was trying to ignore him.

"Leave her alone, Alani. She's not interested!"Zaynab screamed.

"Come on baby, come to the pool with me," Alani said as he struggled to stand.

"No pool...no water," Shubunmi said, looking away from his direction.

Alani suddenly grabbed her and dropped her in the pool, he laughed drunkenly as others shouted excitedly. The cheering and shouting disappeared when Kunbi suddenly appeared from nowhere, grabbed Alani by the neck with one hand, and raised him into the air with such ease. Lokun quickly placed a hand on Kunbi's shoulder and whispered something into his ears.

As everyone stared in amazement at the scene, Kunbi dropped Alani into the pool, extended a hand to Shunbunmi, and pulled her out of the pool.

Alani gasped for air as he gulped up the pool water and some of his friends quickly got him out of the water. 

"We're going home...now!" Kunbi screamed at Lokun and Shubunmi and they both followed him as he stormed into the house through the back door and then out of the house through the front door.

"That Kunbi is so scary," Zaynab said.

"Yeah he sure is," I replied.

"Did you at least exchange numbers with Lokun?" she asked.

"No, we didn't."

She grabbed me by my arm and dragged me to the front door. She wanted me to get Lokun's number just like she had pushed me to do a lot of things in the past, mostly good stuff but sometimes crazy stuff too.

As she opened the door and screamed Lokuns' name, we saw him and his brother engaged in a heated argument. Kunbi was the first to turn his face to us and as he did, his eyes glowed bright red in the night. Fear struck me, Lokun and Shubunmi turned their faces too and their eyes glowed bright blue. Their faces appeared to be scaly and their mouths were half-opened, filled with incredibly jagged teeth. Their tattoos also glowed bright blue and the patterns seemed to be moving and sometimes changing.

They stood there for a moment and then in a swoosh Kunbi came at us. I thought I passed out because everything went dark after that moment and I woke up in my bed. I was woken up by one of the maids, Some minutes past two on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

I rushed to Zaynab's house and she was okay, but I was surprised when she could not remember anything just before we saw them. She instead asked if I got Lokun's number, smiling as if nothing happened.