Alright, been trying to finish this up before posting it here but i recalled that the only people that make me finish a story as soon as possible are my dear readers here on Nairaland. and so i decided to post the little i have written and hear what you guys have to say.

so if you like it, i will finish it up... for now i will send a post at least once a day or two. please take a little time out of ur busy schedule and peep into my new story and care to drop a comment. thanks.

meanwhile, for those who have not seen any of my works, below are some of the links, you can read at your free time...

https://www.nairaland.com/1139191/tenth-generation

https://www.nairaland.com/1273303/religion

https://www.nairaland.com/333610/cyber-lover

https://www.nairaland.com/1241509/lost-key

please read while it last because it might not b there soon. thanks

SECRETS OF THE GODS

Prologue
The shrieking and pleading cry of the little girl obviously didn’t mean a thing to the three young men. They couldn’t wait to get to the ritualist and get it over with. She was five years old and they were sure that she fitted every specification the man had asked of them. They couldn’t wait to reap the good of their hard work.

Clifford, the obvious leader of the three had ensured they carried out this task successfully. He was a determined young man believed that life in general was evil and dubious therefore he didn’t care when he did evil and dubious thing to survive. He didn’t care that he was evil.
Without any sympathy for the little girl, he carelessly dragged her along with him into the thick bush, the others followed behind, energized by his dogmatism.

They believed in him, not because he was a few years older than they were but because of his trepid nature and determination. They were sure that without him, they were nothing. How could they have been able to kidnap the little girl if he had not been with them? Now they were sure that they would soon be rich at such a young age because of him. They just followed behind in fear and in hope.

Soon they got to the enigmatic looking shrine and the two young men behind stopped. Clifford noticed their hesitance and looked behind.

“What?” he spat

“Nothing, should we go inside with you?” asked the younger of the two. He was just 18years old.

Not again, Clifford thought, “what do you mean by that? Don’t tell me that you are getting cold feet again. Do I have to start all over to convince you to come in? Well, that is your business, you can stand there and wait while I go in and ensure that the ritual is done with her. I hope you will also act like this when the money starts flowing.” Without waiting a second, he dragged the crying girl into the shrine.

The two younger men looked at each other and reluctantly walked into the shrine.

“Take of her cloths and make her stand in this triangle.” The fetish old man said as he pointed to the floor close to him where some cowries had been arranged in a triangular shape. His wrinkled eyes were closed and his face and body was painted and endowed with Ibibio traditional fetish materials.

Clifford quickly stripped the crying girl and forced her to stand in the triangle while the others watched.

The old man stared at her for what seemed like eternity for the three young men, and then he shook his head in disappointment.
“What is the problem great one?” Clifford asked, not liking the look on the wrinkled face.

“She won’t do,” echoed the croaky voice.

“Mnnn?” Muttered the second young man, he was just 19years.

“I can go ahead with the ritual but I assure you that you will never be any richer than you are now after I am done.”

“Why? What is wrong with her?” Clifford asked. He couldn’t believe his ears.

The old man remained in a thoughtful state for some time and said, “She has a very low spiritual energy. People like her rarely or never experience any spiritual phenomenon in their life time. That is, they almost never witness a ghost experience or get possessed by spirits. They spend their life time hearing about stories of other people’s spiritual experiences and only wonder what they are talking about.

If you use such person for this kind of ritual… you will never attract any form of spiritual favour simply because of their low spiritual energy.”

“Oh God! Are saying that we have wasted our time adopting her? Why didn’t you warn us about getting such people?” the 18years old asked.

“Warning you would have been useless as you couldn’t have been able to detect this energy with just ordinary eyes. You see, such spiritual energy is mostly found among twins. When two people come into this world together, one of them usually takes up all the spiritual energy while the other is left with little or nothing. That is the only way they can operate as normal humans and complement each other. I can’t go deep into that for now.” The old man lectured.

“Isn’t that a bit too late? So what do we do with her?” Asked the disappointed Clifford.

“Take her back, she is useless to me. Just take her away from here, she could be a bad omen as her presence could neutralize my powers.”

Twenty minutes later, the three were already heading out of the bush and were now almost out of it. The disappointed three were too dumbfounded to speak; the only sound that echoed the forest was the noise the cry of the little girl made.

Clifford couldn’t believe that the whole mission had turned out fruitless. He had expected that by now the ritual would have been successful and he would have been chilling and waiting for his mega cash just as he had been promised by the old man a few days before.

He hated his life; he hated poverty.

“When we get to the road, we will drop her and find our way, and then we must think of what next to do. One thing is for sure, I must make this money either by hook or by crook.” He said through his clenched teeth with a firm determination.

At least there was still hope of making money just as long as Clifford was determined, the others thought.

They got to the road ride, shoved the crying girl away from them and disappeared into the bush opposite them.

She continued to cry. She was all alone in this world with nothing but bushes and silence around her. She was almost chocking in her own cry. But for no reason at all, she continued to walk along the road crying and shouting, “mummy!!”

Then a Honda Accord came driving towards her, it stopped beside her and a male drive came out, picked her into the car and drove away.

Chapter 1
“Hey, watch where you are going!” Mfon David exclaimed to the male student that was in her front and almost colliding into her.

Saint Offiong was startled by the feminine voice as he quickly turned to face her. He had been so carried away by the sight of pretty Linda that he had not been aware that someone was coming towards his direction.

The girl opposite him could be described as a perfect angel. Her wide eyes and sweet smile was causing ripples in his blood. He almost felt like hugging her as her fleshy bosom pointed invitedly at him. He was quick to notice that the long braided hair was newly made and the colour of her smooth skin was like a light brown chocolate. Saint couldn’t help but wonder if she was sent from heaven.

She had stopped moving and was starring at him. And then she looked towards the direction that seemed to have gotten his whole attention. She made a helpless gesture that was followed by a funny but beautiful smile.

“You like her?” she asked as she starred from Linda to Saint.

“Sorry for colliding into you,” he apologized, obviously not intending to answer her question.

“She is quite beautiful you know.” She added.

Saint wondered why she chose to open up a discussion with him, knowing fully well that they were both strangers to each other. That was unlike the pretty girls in University of Uyo. Yet he knew he couldn’t just walk away from the pretty damsel who clearly wasn’t ready to let him go just yet.

He smiled, “do you know her?”

“Just know that she is one of the hottest girls on campus, nothing personal.”

“One of the hottest girls? If you call her hot, what will you be called then? But how come I don’t know you?” he said.

“You can’t know everybody on campus.”

“No, but it is easy to know all the pretty girls on campus,” he replied, surprised at himself for being so calm despite the effect her beauty had on him.

“You are not serious,” she made to walk away even though she thought he was quite an interesting guy. “Well, be careful on how you look at pretty girls, next time you might fall into a ditch.”

He followed her, “I am Saint.”

“Saint what? Peter or Andrew”

“Saint… just Saint. Are you an Angel?”

She smiled again, causing his heartbeat to stop for a second “No, I am Mfon, is your name really Saint?” she inquired as they both walked slowly towards her direction.

“Yes” he assured, “Offiong is my surname and honestly, it is really a pleasure talking to a pretty girl like you. Losers like me don’t get such opportunity everyday.”

“You just stare at them? Why don’t you just approach her?”

“Hey, that is not fair. Anyway, I used to know her”

“Weren’t you going somewhere?” she asked.

“Oh, good looking girls like you always make loose focus. Alright, I will go but how can I see you again? Or can I have your number?”

“Just tell me your department and I will check on you.” She rather said.

“Ahh, you won’t do that,” he was sure she was trying to do away with him.

“I will, just tell me your department and I will come once I am through with my lectures for the day.”

“Are you serious?” he looked at her, trying to study her face.

“Try me… will 3pm be okay for you?”

“Yes… the department is psychology”

“3pm then, I will see you.” With that she began to walk away from him.

He stopped following her and watched her pretty figure walk away from him. He just hoped that she would make it as promised. He didn’t know how possible that would be since he didn’t even have her number.

He suspected that she was smiling even as the distance between them increased.

** **

**whistling**

hi Frank

Saint Offiong was a 24 years final year student. Despite his good looks, intelligence and knowledge in human psychology, he still had a very low self esteem even though he lives in denial of this fact. He was a little bit taller than average with broad shoulders and very well structured facial features. Even at his age his side beards had refused to shoot out, leaving him with long straight chin hairs and soft mustache. His complexion was such that, some people describe him as fair while others describe him as dark, he believed he was mid way between both.

The young man had spent most of his adult life wondering why he had low self esteem despite his obvious good looks. The fact was that Saint’s main reason for his poor self esteem was because he was from a very poor background. Saint knew he wasn’t man enough to rule his world but he tries so hard not to admit to this, hence he always needed the encouragement of people around him to achieve the little he does achieve.

While he waited for Mfon after his lectures, he decided to write down some thoughts in the new story he had been trying to write for some weeks now, but he found himself thinking about Linda instead. Linda was another reason why Saint didn’t feel good about himself in recent times. She was a 3hundred level Economics student who had accepted dating him a year ago. Despite loving her with all his heart, Saint had had the worse period of his life all through the period they were together.

She had openly shown she had no regards for him and made it clear to him that he wasn’t capable of meeting up with her needs. Linda had made it obvious that being a prince charming wasn’t enough to make her respect her man, money was also a key factor.

He had been able to accept her rudeness because of an unconscious belief that she was doing him a favour by dating him. He didn’t believe he would get any girl as pretty as her if she left him.

Just the beginning of this semester, she had dropped a bomb; the relationship was over! He would never forget her words.

“You know I like you Saint, but this relationship obviously cannot work.” She had gently said.

“You can’t do this to me Linda, you know I love you.” He pleaded.

“Love is not my problem Saint. There is not much I can do with it right now.”

“If you know how much I cherish you, you will never dream of letting me go.”

She gave out a short laugh. “Seriously, I have managed to put up with you all these while and I think I have done you enough favour. Do you know what it feels like putting up with a loser like you? You might be good looking but that is not what a girl needs right now…”

She called him a loser? Saint was thinking, he couldn’t believe his ears. Had the girl he loved so much called him a loser?

It was so embarrassing, because her friends were there giggling in delight.

He determined that he wouldn’t allow the incident weight him down; neither would it stop him from being the gregarious fellow that he was.
Yet deep down he knew that his insecurities had increased and his self esteem had been dampened.

Now he had no woman in his life but his one and only poor mother.

He stopped thinking and continued with his write up. After a few minutes, he stopped and looked at his wrist watch.

20 minutes past 3pm.

Then he looked out of the window. She won’t come, he thought to himself. He felt foolish. How had he expected that such a pretty girl would waste her time with someone like him? Why was he still thinking about girls after what Linda had done to him?

“What are you thinking?”

Saint was brought back to reality by the beautiful female voice. He looked up and there she stood. He couldn’t believe both his ears and eyes. She had actually come just as promised.

“Forgive me for coming this late, I didn’t even think you will still be here, I only took my chance.” She continued.

“You came,” was the only thing the surprised Saint could say.

Mfon found herself smiling at his genuine astonishment, “Of course I did, I don’t make promises that I can’t keep. So what are you doing?” She asked as she sat beside him.

He felt his breath stop for a while. There was something decent and easy about her personality that he truly liked. But he wasn’t yet sure if she was for real. He found himself really desiring to be her good friend and even something more.

Stop that! He cautioned himself. Stop getting your hopes high.

“It’s nice seeing you,” he said and his heart stopped for a moment when she looked into his eyes.

Mfon suddenly felt a strong attachment towards him. She knew that those words came from an emptiness inside him. She liked him.
“I am just doing some writing while waiting for you.” He continued

“Your assignment?” she asked

“No, I am just trying to write a story…”

“Wow, that is interesting, can I read?” she ask, looking up playfully at him.

“Yes, but I am yet to go far into the story. Maybe I will let you read once I am through.”

“So what is the story all about?” she asked.

Who is this girl, he thought. How could she be so free with him? “If I tell you it will kill the suspense, wouldn’t it? Well the title is…Secrets of the Gods. It is about a golden medallion that was stolen from a strange group of monks in Ibibio.”

Her eyes opened wide in wonder, “Interesting, that is insightful of you. I can’t wait to read it.”

He began to fold up and pack up the books on the table.

“Why do you write them on papers?” she asked.

He looked at her with surprise written all over his face, “Where should I write them?”

“In a computer, don’t you have a lap top or something?”

He stood up, “Nope, I don’t have one. Let’s go and hang out somewhere interesting.” He began to lead her out of the classroom.
She followed him, thinking that it would have been best he typed his story into a computer instead of writing it on pieces of paper.

** **

The Ibibio monks gathered together. They all stood in silence watching their leader and expecting him to speak up any moment from now. They knew the situation was dicey and the fact was that none of them had expected this will happen in their life time.

They had dedicated not only their life, but their soul in protecting the golden medallion. Now that it has been stolen, their souls will never find rest. The fear they felt was not just for the fate of the world, but for the fate of their souls.

“We have failed. We don’t even deserve to live. But our deaths and soul cannot atone for the missing medallion.” The master monk finally said. Like every other monk in the territory, he was bald headed, wearing nothing but a red robe. “We have to try our best before giving up. For now everyone should go into his chamber. We will eat no food or speak a word for three days. Remain in your chambers for these three days and meditate. It is our responsibility to rescue the world; it is our responsibility to find the medallion and save our souls. We must have faith… the medallion must be recovered before it is too late.”

Yes! Our Frank is back!

(scrambles for front row seat).

alright chapter one ends here... would continue tomorrow. thanks for reading

VanTee20: Yes! Our Frank is back!

(scrambles for front row seat).

lol, nice to see you

frank3.16:


lol, nice to see you

So I am not allowed a hello back?

Clap for yourself ooo

Yikes!
He s bk again... Da booomb
Though av not strted readin buh cnt elp commentin cz hs stories r always promisin,intriguin,suspense filled n..... Knt say it all so cnt miss d train.




Grabs a seat,popcorn n La Casera


Lets go there

frank3.16:


lol, nice to see you

Same here sir

Mynd_44: **whistling**

hi Frank

whewwww... i missed ur post. your are highly welcomed. thanks

Candis009: Yikes!
He s bk again... Da booomb
Though av not strted readin buh cnt elp commentin cz hs stories r always promisin,intriguin,suspense filled n..... Knt say it all so cnt miss d train.




Grabs a seat,popcorn n La Casera


Lets go there

thanks sweerry.... i already feel good knowing i have you around

frank3.16:
alright chapter one ends here... would continue tomorrow. thanks for reading

Change U̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣ 'Gods' to 'gods'.

don_salvy:

Change U̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣ 'Gods' to 'gods'.

Why?

don_salvy:

Change U̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣ 'Gods' to 'gods'.

I don't that's necessary, thought u would have even asked me to change my 'The' to 'the'

Thanks though

don_salvy:

Change U̶̲̥̅̊я̲̣ 'Gods' to 'gods'.

I was about to point that out, bros Frank abeg na, we have a lot of gods but only one God. Thanks.

*walks to the front row to join Vantee*

Hey Van, what's up

yeah our Frank is back!!! i am so following...





#grabs n drags a chair to d forefront wit a bowl of popcorn n orobo coke#

Bravo!!!

#sits in the tiny space between Vantee and HBG#

thank God I came in early..phew...
#wipes sweat#

errm...My oga @ the top, Frankly speaking...I'm loving this...welcome back!
Personally, I missed u...I mean ur stories

BukkyDan: #sits in the tiny space between Vantee and HBG#

thank God I came in early..phew...
#wipes sweat#

errm...My oga @ the top, Frankly speaking...I'm loving this...welcome back!
Personally, I missed u...I mean ur stories

lol, see this girl *makes space for her*

**following**
..
All izz well!

He's back! Not finished this but will soon be back, lemme refill my guguru nylon.

Yippee!!
Welcome back Frank!
*rushes to VIP section*

Ahhhh, now this was why I thought it best to start posting, these comments are al a writer needs to finish up his work. Thanks everyone, sorry I couldn't post another this night, promise to definately update by ten am tomorrow.

Meanwhile congrats to man u fans, I forsee u guys wining ur game tonite.
Br3nd4, repogirl, Kslib, HBG, BukkyDan, timpaker, Cheripet, and al the silent readers, u guys are the booomb. Thanks all for making my night with ur comments.

*carrier chair and puts it in front of van and co,*
next time, ask me where the front row should be, i assign seats. This row can only contain 1 chair and that mine
OGA FRANK, YOUR MANAGER IS NOW HERE O.

Franky,welcome. Me i don camp here oh, waiting for more.

Hmm!.. The Suspense game begins!

#thinking..#.. DS one that everybody is grabbing popcorn and coke-- lemme grab my groundnut and zobo drink!.





Its been a while Frankie!

Damex333: *carrier chair and puts it in front of van and co,*
next time, ask me where the front row should be, i assign seats. This row can only contain 1 chair and that mine
OGA FRANK, YOUR MANAGER IS NOW HERE O.

lol Damex333, have been looking out for you, log time. sorry for the silence for some time now, we will soon chat.

I feel good, now that my manager is here. thanks for being there

IZUKWU: Franky,welcome. Me i don camp here oh, waiting for more.

and more you shall get thanks.

iebanehita: Hmm!.. The Suspense game begins!

#thinking..#.. DS one that everybody is grabbing popcorn and coke-- lemme grab my groundnut and zobo drink!.





Its been a while Frankie!

ya... its been a while, nice to you are still around in good health. thanks for being here

Chapter 2

Saturday mornings was usually less hectic, academic wise, for Saint but much eventful because of his house chores. Today’s weather was a bit dull; it seemed the sun wasn’t going to shine too bright. Yet the gloomy atmosphere didn’t affect how Saint felt inside which was the exact opposite of how nature presented itself this Saturday morning.

He was actually singing out loud while fetching water from the borehole station nearby. Saint usually normally took it upon himself to ensure that every empty water can or drum in the house was filled to the brim with water during the weekend. Udobio Street was one of the many streets in Uyo that didn’t have access to pipe borne water.

His mother ran a small bukka just opposite three bedroom flat. Attached to this three bedroom building were four one room apartments that were rented out to tenants. This was the only landed property the poor woman inherited after the death of her husband. The bukka and the poor rent had helped in providing her son’s education bills and also cater for all house needs. She was glad that he was now in his final year and would soon graduate, get a job and become a man of his own.

She was glad to see him act so happy this morning. Nothing made her gladder than to see her only son, her last hope, wake up on the right side of the bed. Mrs. Offiong knew her son had not had the best life had to offer and always felt it was this situation that had taken a negative toll on the boy’s emotions. Yes life had not been fair for both of them but she knew her son could be happier of he could always focus on the positive side of life like he was doing this morning.

Saint on the other hand was expecting Mfon in his home today. He was sure that she was going to make it because she never failed to keep to her promises. In fact he had been a happy student since the day he’d met her. She had light up the light of his heart and given him reason to smile every morning.

Saint had been very skeptical about inviting Mfon to his home, but she had insisted that if this relationship must be taken seriously, he must allow her visit his home. Left for Saint, he would have proffered taking to one of his friend’s home where the environment was a little bit more affluent than his. He just hoped the wretched old house and poor environment wouldn’t make her reconsider the obviously blooming relationship.

It was almost noon when he was through with his house chores which also involved cleaning up his room. He decided he was going to continue to do some write-ups on his story once he was through with having his bath. That way he would be less impatient in waiting for her.
Saint was still in the bathroom when Mfon came visiting. She wasn’t surprised to see his mother in a small space outside the building attending to a customer. Mfon could see the resemblance between mother and son. She found herself wondering what an attractive woman she must have been during her youth.

Mfon was yet to understand why she had a strongly attracted to Saint. But she was sure that his good looks had not been the reason she always want to be around him since they met two weeks ago. He was funny and easy to talk to. These two factors had made being around him so much fun.

“Good afternoon ma, I will like to see Saint please.” She politely said to the older woman. Saint had asked her to approach his mother for his where about when she gets to his home.

“Welcome my daughter. Saint is in the house” Mrs. Offiong tapped the little girl that helped her with her business chores, “Eka, go and inform Saint that he has a visitor,” then to Mfon, “have a seat my daughter.”

“Thank you ma.” Mfon made herself comfortable on a stood nearby. “How is business?”

“We thank God my daughter. Are you my son’s classmate?”

“No, I am his friend,” Mfon replied. Talking to Saint’s mother was like she was talking to a female Saint. She was a likeable woman.

“You don’t know how happy I am to see you. My son hardly brings his friends home. I sometimes feel he is as lonely in school just as he is always at home.” She also looked lonely. Perhaps the loneliness she saw in her son was actually how she really felt.

“Saint is not as lonely as you think ma. He has his school works and friends to occupy his time; you just have to stop worrying about him.” Mfon advised.

Mr. Offiong smiled, “Yes, he is lonely and unhappy. He had been like that since he lost his sister.”

“His sister? I only knew he lost his dad.” Mfon thoughtfully said.

“His dad was bedridden for a very long time before he died five years ago. When he finally died, my son and I knew it was the best for the three of us. We took his death in good faith and thanked God for his life, but it was the loss of his twin sister that made my son a lonely and depressed person.”

Mfon sharply looked up at the older woman, “twin sister?”

Mrs. Offiong smiled. It was a weak smile that made her look prettier and younger. “Yes, his twin sister. Saint lost her to kidnappers when they were both five. She was his best half… they were so close to each other and so when she was taken away… he lost part of himself.”

Mfon didn’t just know what to say, but she was glad that the older woman looked like she could handle telling the story.

“You can’t imagine how the whole family felt when my daughter was taken from us. I think that was the day my husband started dying and my son lost his strength.” She looked at Mfon, it was a serious look. “He has been very happy since morning and in past few days; I want to guess it is all because of you. You bring out a new him. I just want you to be there for him and take care of my lonely son.”

Mfon could just nod her head in acceptance to the older woman’s request. She had succeeded in making her see Saint from a different point of view.

“Madam, food dey?” a customer interrupted them in an uncouth tone.

Coincidentally Saint opened the building’s main entrance door and signaled to her.

Mfon stood up, “Alright ma, I will be inside.”

“Ok my daughter.” Mrs. Offiong replied without looking up.

** **