Pa Amadi sent his hand flying across to Amaka's face. It landed quite on the spot he had intended to hit. She held her burning cheeks as the tears flowed from her eyes. She was helpless and alone on this one. Her mother just stood by the corner, her hands supporting her half sagged breasts which had been dealt with by the years and Pa Amadi's constant sucking.

"Who is the bastard that put that thing in your stomach," Pa Amadi yelled again and marched forward with an intent to administer another of his cheek burning slaps. She moved back with pleading eyes.

"It's James, Pa Innocent Onochie's son," she cried out. She was just 17 and her father felt a lot disappointed at her unwanted pregnancy. Her mother was simply dumbstruck. They marched to the culprit's house with Pa Amadi clutching a heavy cutless, prolly meant for James's head.

Pa Innocent summoned his twins and asked Amaka to pick James from them. Apparently, he couldn't tell his twins apart neither could Amaka. James and John had both slept with her and it would be a great disaster if John gave James out or if James admitted he was James.

souloho19:
For the sins of my parents

"Madam has arrived, If I hear you say anything I'll kill you!" Oga shoves me roughly as he buckles his belt. I run out adjusting my gown and manage to enter the kitchen before madam. "Welcome ma"
"Idiot! hurry up and wash the fish then put it on fire!"
I already turn my cheek, expecting the slap. Madam isn't one to talk without leaving an exclamation mark on my face. I rush to the zinc as my face stings.

My name is Mosurat and I know you feel bad for me but don't. When I'm done and you see this on front page you'll hate me.

You see, I have a box of rat poison in the cupboard and I'm going to use it as an extra spice while preparing dinner.

My freedom was stolen when I was 8 and brought here by my poor parents with the promise of quality education. Instead I've been abused and raped everyday for six years.
Now I'm 14 and I plan to run away.
But they have to pay first.

I guess in every sense my innocence was taken from me.

I shake the thoughts and dish the melon soup into the bowl. It smells delicious and I add extra fish and poison.

They like eating together and this is their last supper. I start to smile as they begin to eat but my smile falters as I hear the words that taunt me to this very hour: "honey guess what? I'm pregnant"


Say NO to every FORM of child abuse

wow

marianneada:

WEEPING MOTHER

***** She was filled with joy and laughter as the makeup artist worked on her face, her joy knew no bound as she remembered the agony she passed through as a childless woman for twenty years. Today is her child's dedication ceremony.

Her mother inlaw had thrown her out of her matrimonial home countless times, but she never lost faith in God, she prayed and believed in him, and finally he answered her prayers , she wiped the tears that have clouded in her eyes.

Then she heard her mother scream, the make up artist dropped her brush and they all rushed to the nursery, only to see her husband carrying her lifeless baby crying.

"What happened?" she asked no one in particular

"Our baby is dead, we found him lying dead in his cradle" her husband said amidst tears

She collapsed and passed away.

God bless you as you read this.

so painful but with great creativity

adontcare:
so painful but with great creativity

thanks for appreciating my work dear.

Shooting star.
We escaped The Shrine in Femi Kuti's Benz that night Wiz was to get his first and only Headies although we came in a Limo but papparazi accompanies a Limo like egrets tailing cattle, you know. We succesfully ditched them.
We drove around Ikeja a bit to kill time and shake off any tails before we head towards the rendezvouz at Marina where a barger was waiting to take us accross to another Limo according to the original Banky W's detailed arrangement but the legendary Fatai Rolling Dollar and his wife Kel were on the phone hollering that we've got to stop by for a "quickie pre-celebration". Their words.
So we detoured to their place at Allen avenue where Kush, Palmy and Asun were waiting impatiently to be devoured. Merry went round merrily....
Baba Fatai and Kel retired to the other room as we left for the Oriental in their Cherokee and Wiz drunkingly joked about their weird union....
Out of the blue an impossible to miss immobile Sixteen wheeler apparently materialised on the road as we negotiated a bend !!!
Wiz who was reclining in the back seat screamed " Brakeeeee!!!!!!"
Surprisingly the brakes on the Cherokee were shot!!!
We crashed....







In memory of Dagrin (RIP)

He is gone.' Rhoda announced to the shock of everyone in the room.

Maybe Ehi wasn't shocked.

She has always had this feeling.

Only she wasn't expecting being dumped on this day....her big day.

Who could have imagined being told her groom would flee on his wedding day, leaving his 'wife-to-be' in her sparkling white dress, to grovel with the reality?

Ehi stayed at a spot, silent. To people around her, the reason for her sudden tied tongue was easy to deduce.

Some of their eyes spelt pity.

And others she couldn't tell what it was in their eyes.

Mockery, excitement or shock?

'Ehi,' Rhoda called comfortingly.

'I'm fine.' Ehi replied, smiling brightly to the amazement of everyone.

'I need to tell them.' She added, dropping and crushing the bouquet with the pointed heel of her silver shoe as she stepped out of the room.

Ehi could sense pairs of eye follow her steps to the podium. There were murmurs from different parts of the room. The murmurs graduated into a big noise and it doesn't take an Einstein to eventually come to a conclusion that everyone was aware.

Everyone knew her groom called the wedding off.

How fast news travel!

'There isn't going to be any wedding or wedding party or whatever today' She started. Stopping to ascertain that she caught the crowd's attention and also making sure they all digested her words.

'But that doesn't mean there won't be a party. I'd also be here all the whole time. So, Enjoy!' She announced with glee.

Everyone stopped talking as her sight suddenly attracted their gaze. She wasn't surprised they all were stunned, it was expected.

Her eyes caught Rhoda's on the other end of the room. And they stared, completely oblivious of what the other was thinking.

I have a question to ask? Whats the basis for counting the words, Sorry to say but 200 words is quite small, and some stories here are quite too big

PAINFUL REUNION
“You can’t marry Joe; find Tony, the Lawyer.” The words of mother in her diary flashed severally in my head while staring at Joe and suddenly, my emotions stirred up a river of tears flowing down my cheeks. One maybe forgiven for thinking it was tears of joy.
“What if mother was wrong? Why would Joe lie to me? What is life without Joe? He had promised to father the child I had with Tony.”

The look on his face became suspicious, as I demanded truth from him. “I killed first, your dad, then, your mum. I don’t deserve you, yet I love you.” Joe insisted, leaving me in shock. I couldn’t believe such words coming from him.

Silence engulfed the room for some minutes as she left him without further words. “Say something baby,” Joe pleaded to no avail.

“Mother was right after all,” she concluded after meeting Tony. Tony had assured her that everything would be fine, but Tony and Joe turned out to be twins. They had separated at the age of six when strangers invaded their community, killing and displacing people.

What a “painful reunion!” someone exclaimed. "Correct," the storyteller smiled as he waved his audience.


Thank you for reading

LEAP OF FAITH
Mama's loud prayers woke me. Even bedridden, mama wouldn't miss her midnight prayers. Prayers that couldn't halt the cancer that now ravaged her. With no drugs, she'd worsened. To get the drugs, we needed money, lots of it. The seminary I taught physics at didn't pay enough.
So I went to my cousin, Emeka. He lived with his mum opposite our flat. Emeka, after ditching school, had gone into business. He sold and bought everything. If you wanted a human head, fresh from a neck, Emeka could get for you. Mama despised his 'take it by force' methods. She'd said she'd rather die than have me beg Emeka for the funds for her drugs. But she was dying already, slowly and very painfully.
Emeka had a plan, unsavory, but still a plan. When he said the job would be on a bridge, I swallowed my phobia for bridges and water. All that mattered was mama.
** *** ***
We'd quietly robbed ten vehicles, stuck like the rest in lagos midnight traffic. Then the driver of a black jeep confronted Emeka. Emeka, angry and impatient, shot him in the face. From ahead, I saw soldiers materialise, brandishing rifles, jogging towards us.
I hid behind a van and watched the gunfight that ensued. I saw Emeka's burly comrade fall, caught in the chest by a bullet. Emeka lay on the ground, cursing and bleeding from a leg wound. I shuddered at the thought of mama seeing me jailed. It'd break her. Turning, I made for the bridge. If I was lucky, my death would be quick.
**** ***
My eyes flew open. A siren blared, worsening the ringing in my ears. The smell of fish hung in the air. My lungs hurt as I tried to breathe. My hands were cuffed. Confused, I glanced around. I was supposed to be dead.
''Oga Musa, the criminal don wake up! '' A gruff voice said.
I turned to see a huge man, his military uniform soaked. He glowered at me.
''I no gree you drown, so you go fit suffer well well '' he said, rolling up his sleeves.
My heart broke in bits.

danielnmerengwa:
LEAP OF FAITH
Mama's loud prayers woke me. Even bedridden, mama wouldn't miss her midnight prayers. Prayers that couldn't halt the cancer that now ravaged her. With no drugs, she'd worsened. To get the drugs, we needed money, lots of it. The seminary I taught physics at didn't pay enough.
So I went to my cousin, Emeka. He lived with his mum opposite our flat. Emeka, after ditching school, had gone into business. He sold and bought everything. If you wanted a human head, fresh from a neck, Emeka could get for you. Mama despised his 'take it by force' methods. She'd said she'd rather die than have me beg Emeka for the funds for her drugs. But she was dying already, slowly and very painfully.
Emeka had a plan, unsavory, but still a plan. When he said the job would be on a bridge, I swallowed my phobia for bridges and water. All that mattered was mama.
** *** ***
We'd quietly robbed ten vehicles, stuck like the rest in lagos midnight traffic. Then the driver of a black jeep confronted Emeka. Emeka, angry and impatient, shot him in the face. From ahead, I saw soldiers materialise, brandishing rifles, jogging towards us.
I hid behind a van and watched the gunfight that ensued. I saw Emeka's burly comrade fall, caught in the chest by a bullet. Emeka lay on the ground, cursing and bleeding from a leg wound. I shuddered at the thought of mama seeing me jailed. It'd break her. Turning, I made for the bridge. If I was lucky, my death would be quick.
**** ***
My eyes flew open. A siren blared, worsening the ringing in my ears. The smell of fish hung in the air. My lungs hurt as I tried to breathe. My hands were cuffed. Confused, I glanced around. I was supposed to be dead.
''Oga Musa, the criminal don wake up! '' A gruff voice said.
I turned to see a huge man, his military uniform soaked. He glowered at me.
''I no gree you drown, so you go fit suffer well well '' he said, rolling up his sleeves.
My heart broke in bits.

I think its more than expected

THE OLD MAN'S BANANAS


The blind old man sits ever still and waits patiently for the next buyer. He usually had one every fortnight, but today it has been seventeen days, and his bananas were naught but rotten. His sooty lantern finally gave out yesterday after eighteen years of loyal service, so today he sits in darkness adrift what is left of his bunch of five bananas. He would soon make a dinner of one banana, and the maggots lurking within its flesh would make the perfect ingredients. He has done this for eighteen years, and though born blind he has managed to sell two bunches of bananas every ten days, and cut his toes on his way to the nearest goat shed where he would pass the night. The blind man with a bunch of bananas sits by the road, and all we can do is plunge dust into his nostrils as we jet past in our luxury cars.

It’s 2.15 am.

The alarm didn’t ring, but I wake up.

Shortly, I hear him coming towards my room.

He drags his feet in a way that I recognise. How did we both wake up at the same time?

The deep calls to the deep. He says that when he holds the microphone and speaks in that powerful voice in our church. He talks about a natural connection…but I don’t understand.

Is there a natural connection between us?

Today is six days after I became six. Daddy said we will celebrate in a special way. He said he will teach me something. He says I am so beautiful. He says he can kill Mum for me. I feel good hearing that.

I got a special toy last week. Mummy shouldn’t see it. It’s a plastic stick, and sounds like angry bees. He said I should put it into my wee-wee anytime I want to remember him.

I tried it. It was very sweet.

Today.


Daddy opens the door, and smiles at me. His teeth are lovely. I smile back.

He covers my body with his own. His heart beats softly.
It stops.

He doesn’t rub my lap.

Its 2.21 a.m.

THE DEPRESSED,THE IMPRESSED

There was a young man jacks who had low self esteem as a result of his body size and this made him to always feel depressed and not being part of anything done by other young men and women in his community,though nobody made jest of him at the initial stage but later on they began making jest of him.
The young man jacks was determined to succeed against all odds so he continued pushing forward engaging in money making ventures, while other young men wasted their time making jest of him.
In school Jacks made sure he performed excellently.
It came to a stage in his business where he was almost at the verge of giving up because of mockery but instead of giving up he repented and became a true Christian.
In no distance time Jacks began prospering than before and got link with a foreign. company to distribute their cars.
Jacks deals on petroleum and car distribution and became the highest car distributor in his country and one of the richest men,all those who mocked him came back and begged him and he forgave them and helped them.
Finally the depressed became the impressed.

GeoSilYe:
Foolish Lover


The smell of petrol is breath taking
The tyre round my neck chokes me
And the ground shreds my knee
Blood begging to be released.
For you I did things
A fool wouldn't dare to do.
But the eyes of the people
Surrounding me
Are not sharper than the daggers
That I feel in my heart.
If I received the call
Of your betrayal
A minute earlier
I would not have come here
To pluck where I didn't sow
The shouts of the women pierce my ears
And the kicks from the men deform my soul
For you I stole
And now for you I die
The fire tearing me apart
Is not worst than your lies
Deceit and greed
My soul will haunt you down
Till your last breath.

u try

Marianneada you are in line to win,kindly review your word count. Chipappii did a great job with his...

200 words.

Wanderlustafrik:
Marianneada you are in line to win,kindly review your word count. Chipappii did a great job with his...

200 words.

Thank you

Wanderlustafrik:
Marianneada you are in line to win,kindly review your word count. Chipappii did a great job with his...

200 words.

ok dear, i'll do that right away. Thanks

Wanderlustafrik:
Marianneada you are in line to win,kindly review your word count. Chipappii did a great job with his...

200 words.

Good morning,I have reviewed my work, u can check it nw.

thanks so much

Wanderlustafrik:
Marianneada you are in line to win,kindly review your word count. Chipappii did a great job with his...

200 words.

You already called out the result before the time. Quite undiplomatic. And the standard on which the winner is declared isn't completely proper, though you're the organizer, but I wish to voice my observation.

Krissconnect

The competition is still on and open to new contestants,no winner yet. Only pointing out things that could get them disqualified.

On the standard of picking a winner,I'm open to your suggestions cos the next competition will be bigger.

I chose to use the likes From the reader's cos as a standard cos it eliminates partiality,which May have been an issue if I decided to have a panel of judges.

Wanderlustafrik:
Krissconnect

The competition is still on and open to new contestants,no winner yet. Only pointing out things that could get them disqualified.

On the standard of picking a winner,I'm open to your suggestions cos the next competition will be bigger.

I chose to use the likes From the reader's cos as a standard cos it eliminates partiality,which May have been an issue if I decided to have a panel of judges.

You specifically stated that contestants should not campaign for votes. The person you tipped to win and a few others either flouted that rule or didn't read the instructions.

Does that amount to disqualification?

marianneada:

WEEPING MOTHER


Suddenly, he saw someone whisked passed the veranda, he ran after the stranger, but he was late, she had entered the car, he then saw her face, it was his ex fiancee who he abandoned at the altar years ago.




God bless you as you read this.

Nice one..

Wanderlustafrik,

I am totally elated by the platform you have created here and I think if you intend to organise another competition, you should contact the mods for their help.

I also humbly suggest that the entries be sent by mail and then transferred to a closed thread without the authors name on it. Nobody would be allowed to post links to their stories or campaign in any format.

You could have a panel to proofread the entries to ensure they comply with the instructions before posting them on either the voting thread or the disqualification thread.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but to be completely transparent, the competition has to be moderated. That way, nobody would scream partiality, and budding or unpopular writers on Nairaland won't be discouraged.

Profuhrer

Yes,It amounts to disqualification.

I think you and divinepen1 should help me select a winner by Monday through elimination process.

Checking word count and originality of the works
Then disqualifying those that campaigned for likes. The leading contestant left with the most likes after the scrutiny will be our winner.

I loved some people's work better than others but some happen to be more popular than others ... so it's just not a level playing ground like you mentioned. Pm me so we can exchange ideas cos the next competition comes up soon after this one. Want to ensure everyone gets a fair chance.

Thanks for your input.

ProFuhrer:
You specifically stated that contestants should not campaign for votes. The person you tipped to win and a few others either flouted that rule or didn't read the instructions.

Does that amount to disqualification?

Exactly, that's what I wanted to say earlier. People canvassed for likes, and a story that's below par might win the prize cos of the standard of judgement.

Wanderlustafrik, alright.

Hmmm... me I didn't canvass for votes.

I was hoping my story will speak for itself.

Every writer that posted is hoping to win.

May God give you wisdom to choose a worthy winner

@wanderlustafrik

BATTERED


Years after years I endured batterings from chuks because i couldnt divorce the father of my three children and unborn child.
In Africa, a woman without an husband is considered irresponsible and is not respected. I endured his insults, slaps, and beatings daily just to protect my children ad earn societal respect, my mother also encouraged me to endure my marriage because my father had always done the same.
Chuks never had a reason to hit me, it was little issues we could talk about that always led to terrible beatings.The hospital became my second home and my children became unhappy kids.
I requested for money to pay chioma,our third child's school fees on that day but he insisted that he had no money and as an understanding wife,i tried to negotiate with him but he didn't want to hear me out,rather he slapped me hard. With tears gathered all over my eyes, I asked, "chuks why?"
"Are you questioning me?" He shouted and removed his belt from his trousers.He locked our room door,overpowered me and gave me the beatings of my life.He knew I was pregnant but he threw caution to the wind,he pushed me hard to the ground.
Then I knew my life was all over.

MY PLANTED PARENTS

Miss Juliet, my primary two teacher used to tell us that a farmer will reap whatever he plants.

But it has been two weeks since my Daddy and Mummy were planted and they haven't germinated.

Is it because those who planted them are not farmers? or because daddy and mum closed their eyes when they were been planted? Or the tears that dropped from grandma eyes when they were planting them have defertilize the soil they were planted on?
Though the farm they were planted on, is very far from grandma's house but I will go and wet them today. I am tired of staying with Grandma I want my parents to germinate quickly so that we will return back to the city and I will tell Miss juliet how my parents were planted and harvested.

The unfading beauty.
Stan! Did you see her? As shola points at a keke napep
What?
That girl I told you about. You missed again.
You and this your beauty ideology… Stan exclaims. There are lots of them here!
I know her, Kola cuts in.
What is her name? Stan inquisitively asks.
mj. Her friends call her mj, with that mysterious beauty of hers.
Kola rarely talks, an intelligent weird fellow, he decided he is bored being alone without friends. Its just a month he became friends with the duo; shola and stan. He did be in a better position to describe mj, having crushed on her since year one.
Kola, how do you know her please? asked Shola.
How! Kola replies smiling.
Kola I don’t trust you, why are you laughing? Stan curiously inquires
Because that’s Maryjane. My crush, no! formal crush, weirdly beautiful just like you confirmed, intelligent too and always smartly dressed. Have you heard her speak? Kola giggles, Don’t even go there. Her command of spoken English is something else but she lacks a vital aspect of beauty, the heart beauty, that aspect of beauty that never fades…
What is heart beauty again? As Stan and Shola anxiously asks.






Hopeful the message is passed across. God bless as you read and understand.