Prologue

Did I tell you how my heart skipped several beats? Do you know how much my fingers quaked with your picture in them? That morning they struck. I do not know who they are, I do not wish to know.

I saw them kill him, mama, in cold blood. I do not know who they are. I saw his lifeless body drop on the floor, by his door. Remember how I never had the heart to kill a chicken? I saw them kill him. This is one sight I cannot erase. The cold blank stare in his eyes as the neighbours gathered. Say what you saw, they seemed to tell me. But how could I?

The policemen asked me some questions. Did I see anything? I said no. I lied mama. But how could I tell them about people I never knew? I know you understand, you have always understood me. Except the time you left us for good. Do you know how much I wept? How many nights I never slept? If you do, why did you not return?

Its all past. You are in a better place. So the pastor said. You can see me from heaven can't you? Still I must tell you how it felt. I saw the darkness in their eyes as they threatened me to say nothing. I quivered. Their knife reflected the sunlight on my face. They pressed the cold steel against my throat. They said I would be like him the moment I talked. They said the walls had ears, and mouths at their end. Then they left, as quickly as they had come.

Mama I'm scared.

Chapter 1

Ike belched and washed his hands. He had just devoured four large wraps of fufu. Who could blame him? Oha soup always brought out the glutton in him, especially when Adanna made it.

She sat near him on the elevated family sized bed that swallowed the largest part of floor space in the room. She had been watching him as he ate. The way he swallowed each morsel and licked his fingers gave her some sort of satisfaction. She was not hungry because she had eaten at home before coming, but she opened her mouth the few times he offered her some morsels and meat. She liked it when he fed her like that.

He looked at her, put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer.
"Thank you, baby" he whispered.

"Anything for you, onyenkem" she said as she leaned on his solid frame.

"Anything?" he asked suggestively. She understood, they had trod this path several times before. She liked how it ended every such time.

"Anything" she whispered, raising her face and leaning closer to kiss him. He kissed her back.

"I love you" he muttered as they paused to catch their breath.

"I know" It was a short impatient reply. She wasted no time in claiming his lips with hers again. His hands had begun to roam again. She did not mind the hand that had camped on the twin mounds on her chest, she liked the way it did its job through her thin blouse.

"Baby, please let me go and ease my self, I'd be right back" he implored as he broke the kiss.

"Ohooooh! Why did you not ease yourself since? Be fast o, I'm not done with you yet." she scolded playfully.

"Oh... I'm scared!" he brought both hands close to his face and made faces at her as he got up to leave.

"Go jor" she said as he hit him on his arm.

He lived in one room apartment. The toilet was outside, and so was the bathroom. However, that was not where he was headed. The inhabitants of that building usually used the nearby bush when they needed to urinate, to avoid the stench from the toilet and nearby bathroom.

As soon as he stepped out, Adanna sighed and leaned backwards on the bed. He had turned her on again with ease. Outside, dawn had descended. In the room, it was not so obvious because of the shiny 60watt bulb hanging from the ceiling above.

She looked at her left hand. She liked the way the engagement ring looked on it. Soon they would get married, it was just a matter of months. She looked around the room. It was small, fit for a carefree bachelor. He had gotten another apartment, a flat. They was where they would live after their wedding. Two of her pictures adorned the wall, along with those of his family members. She had met them all and they instantly liked her and were solidly behind their relationship. She was going to be a part of their family soon.

Ten minutes had past and Ike had not returned. It was ten minutes of sheer torment. What kept him this long? His phone lay on the floor near the socket extension. It was no use trying to to call. She got up to go find out.

It was dark when she came out, but not too dark to see how empty it was outside. In the absence of human activity, the crickets' chirp was very noticeable.

"Ike!" She called as turned toward the bush. The sight that greeted her froze her in her tracks for a moment. She rushed towards it in disbelief.

On the blood-soaked ground lay his lifeless body, a piece of rag in his mouth, and blood seeping out of the big hole on his neck and the other knife wounds on his body.

Her screams pierced the silence of the evening. She felt dizzy. Sound of feet running towards her was the last thing she heard as she slipped into unconsciousness.

A Tragic, captivating and enthralling piece.

Please continue Bluesparkles...

Intelligent people abound aplenty in this literature section.......
Nice story **following**
The poster above me,how are you,I see u have a new wife ryt?

Nice one bluesparkles, I'm waiting.

Wow! See this babe o. So you write this good and... Oya come and continue now!

@Poster, it's a crime to keep your readers waiting o! How much more of this suspense are you going to subject us, mere mortals to??

You write beautifully and I can't help but wonder...Ike's demise - was this due to cultism?

Oh, questions, questions, questions!

Anyway, one small correction if you don't mind my saying so. Your last paragraph...include the word "the" between "pierced" and "silence".

Bluesparkles:

Her screams pierced the silence of the evening. She felt dizzy. Sound of feet running towards her was the last thing she heard as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Well done and keep writing, dear.

Wow! Never expected so many comments. Thanks guys @ Redmosquito, Movementish, Rooneyboy (happy new year to you too), Kandiikane.
Oahray
Efemena thanks abunch for the correction. Was an oversight. I appreciate.

[size=14pt]WHO CARES?[/size]

* * *

Corporal Richard stretched his legs. Now that he was sitting on two tyres stacked one on the other, he was not sure it was any better. He had been standing at the roadblock for some time with his colleague Uche and it was getting dark. They were both corporals, junior officers who did all the roadblock work. Three other junior officers would be joining them later.

Uche had stopped six vehicles so far that evening but had not bothered to check their papers or anything else. They were all free to go as soon as they squeezed naira notes into his hand. Infact one of them had told him he needed change as he gave him a five hundred naira note and Uche had come to Richard asking for change. The driver left him with the money when it became certain there was no change. The police was his friend.

Richard shook his head. They had gone over this several times before. It made no sense to him why his fellow policemen let motorists go at the sight of money, sometimes as small as fifty naira or even less.

"Dey there dey shake your head dey swallow spit." Uche mocked as if he had read Richard's thoughts, "You see say I force anybody give me anything? Something don dey happen before you join police sef, na you wan change am? Shey na you holy pass?"

"Uche leave me abeg. I no disturb you, if you like use roadblock bribe take build house."

"Who say na bribe? See Richie o. It is called tip, or are you a learner?" Uche querried.

"Whatever jare, you know say na their papers you suppose check and even wetin dey their motor"

Uche burst into laughter
"See this guy o. Na pastor you suppose be, shey you know? I wonder why God never call you yet. Oh, I know, you no get phone."
He paused for the effect, with a cheeky grin taking up the larger portion of his lower face.

"You know say my phone spoil just some days ago. I go soon buy another one. How e even take affect the bribe wey you dey collect? Eh?" Richie sounded angry.

"Calm down jare, na joke I dey. Based on who you be, we go share wetin I don collect fifty fifty. Na we we na" Uche was trying to appease him now. It did not work. Richard was silent.

"Ok take this motor wey dey come so" Uche offered.

He did not need to say it. Richie had gotten up already to flag down the car. It was a black kia optima. It stopped and Richie shone his torch inside. A young man occupied the driver's seat.

"Goodevening officer" male voices chorused.

"Good evening sirs" Richie replied. "Can I see your particulars?"

"Bros bros!" the driver hailed, folding a naira note in his hand and offering it to him, "manage this one take buy beer".

"Na wetin I ask you be that? Where you particulars?" Richie's flashlight beam moved and settled on the driver's hand. "Is that not dried blood?"

Uche had walked toward them now and stood beside his colleague.

"Em... Yes sir, we are rushing someone to the hospital. He is badly injured and bleeding" the driver said.

"Who? Let me see him"

"He is at the back, it is an emergency officer, please"

"Let me see him" Richie insisted.

Uche cleared his throat and cut in.
"Sir, we understand it is an emergency, but you suppose leave something. You know say we be two, double wetin you be wan give am"

The young man reached into his pocket and brought another note. It was a thousand naira, he smoothened the one he had folded earlier and handed Uche the twin notes.

"Be fast o, so they can take care of him at the hospital, take care" Uche said with a big grin on his face, waving them goodbye as they drove off.

"Uche, wetin dey do you ehn? You no see blood for that guy hand? E say one of them get injury, why you no let me see am? You know whether na robbers wey get gunshot wound?"

"Richie, may God deliver you from being a learner forever! Say amen." Uche said with a grin as he added the two notes to his growing evening collection, "You no know say na where man dey work, na there e dey chop? No worry we go share this thing later"

Uche's phone rang and he picked the call.
"Sir?...... Yes sir!...... No o, no car like that yet sir..... Today? Okay, we are on top of it sir"

"Na DPO" he informed Richie without waiting to be asked, "E say dem report a murder case and another case of stolen vehicle, say make we check cars wey dey pass"

"Wetin be the make of the car?"

"Kia Optima. Car like that don pass since?"

"I no sure, except the car with the emergency. I no check the car model. Look ehn, from the next car, we go dey check o"

"Ok sir" Uche mocked as he reached down to feel the slight naira note bulge in his pocket.

* * *

NoContract: [size=14pt]WHO CARES?[/size]

I do

Lovely lovely, me likee plenty.

...and the plot thickens.

More pls Bluesparkles, more! More!! MORE!!!

Jokes aside, this is really good. Kudos to you girl.

Bluesparkles:
Uche burst into laughter
"See this guy o. Na pastor you suppose be, shey you know? I wonder why God never call you yet. Oh, I know, you no get phone."

rotflmao!

Interestin....

See as I just dey peep this thread with every new post notification kai!

^^ Two idle policemen at a roadblock and you want action? Na comic strip? Comot from road jare The babe dey make sense.

@bluesparkles, write your story the way it feels right to you and at your pace too.

@Efe thank you
@Redmosquito, thanks for the suggestion.

CHAPTER 2

There was no time to make up and Vivian Okoro knew it. It was the same feeling she had years ago before her mother's death. Sleepless at night, sleepy during daytime and loss of concentration when she managed to stay awake. She knew something bad was about to happen to someone she cared about. She shuddered at the thought as faces of loved ones chased each other in her mind. Her unease was also partly because of the secret she had kept for days. The secret that was now threatening to eat into her sanity. She needed to talk to someone about it.

Her tensed fingers trembled as she picked her mobile and opened her contacts, scrolling down the list of names until she got to Nneka.

If there was someone sure to understand, it was her childhood friend. They had played in the sand together as children, discussed their dream guys and crushes as teenagers. Each had experienced the pain of heartbreak from failed relationships or loss of loved ones and the other was always there to lend a shoulder.

There was no answer. Vivian dialled a second time. Still no answer. She decided against dialling a third time and sent an sms instead. Grabbing her handbag, she stepped outside.

It was a sunny saturday afternoon where she lived at the outskirts of Enugu city, but cool breeze carressed her cheeks softly as she walked briskly out of her street to the tarred road. She felt uneasy, as if she was being watched. A quick look around calmed her nerves temporarily. The road was hardly ever busy, and at the moment maintained the status-quo.

She waved down an empty cab and got in. She wanted to be taken directly to Nneka's address. It would cost more, the driver had warned. She did not mind. It was only a slight increase anyway.

As the cab zoomed off, she wore her seatbelt, closed her eyes and let the images play in her head. The frozen stare piercing into her conscience, the scary look of death... She knew she had seen one of the men before, but was not sure where.

A loud explosion brought her back to reality. The front tyre on the passenger side had suddenly burst and their car skidded off toward the nearby bush. The driver fought to steer it back onto the road and braked in panic. The car sommersaulted, ending up on its side.

Before the darkness descended, her life flashed before her eyes. Faces and events she had long forgotten brushed past her consciousness, so did Nneka's, and mama's ever smiling face... She was going to meet mama.

Several metres away, a figure in the nearby bush removed the silencer from his gun and dialled a number on his phone. The person on the other end picked as soon as it began to ring.

"He... Hello... Yes boss. She has been taken care of..." he laughed softly before adding, "we made it look like an accident."

* * *

hmmm... intriguing...

continue pls...