Click https://www.nairaland.com/4148474/how-began-speak-isabella-day to read part 1.

***

"You're dead? What are you...." I began

"Just go!" she screamed, her voice bursting out in a frightening shriek.

At once I knew it. I had to run away from this woman. I had no business with her anyway; didn't she say she was dead? A dead woman! Was she a ghost? I've heard of how ghosts roam about town to trap unsuspecting people into a corner and then kill them. For a moment I felt genuine fear wade over me. Was this woman a ghost who had successfully lured me into the bush to kill me? Oh no!

I took two steps backwards in fright but at that moment something happened which left me quite confused about what to think of her. Right there, I watched as her reddened eyes gathered moist and allowed a tear roll down her left cheek. She was crying and her face drawn into several wrinkles.

She turned and walked away from where I stood watching and in spite of myself, I couldn't help but admire the way her perfectly rounded behind bounced lusciously as if struggling for breathing space in her tight jeans. She kept walking away until she disappeared behind a thicket.

My heart continued beating at three times its normal rhythm. I didn't know what to make of the entire scenario. One minute she had looked like a complete weirdo who just emerged from a tomb to haunt my soul forever and the next minute, she appeared to be a helpless young woman in urgent need of redeeming. I didn’t understand that!

What if she needed some help and urgently too? What if she was trapped and needed saving? But what if she was a demon who had been sent to kill me?

I didn’t have the answers but with each passing thought, I desired to find out what was really going on.

The air was charged with the scorching heat from the sun and I was sweating profusely under my shirt. No one was in sight and there were no sounds except for the chirping of birds in the trees. I wondered how I managed to follow the girl this far into the bush. What was I thinking? Was I under a spell?

I knew Joseph would laugh at me if he ever got to find out what I had done. How could I follow a girl I didn’t even know into the middle of nowhere? It was unbelievable. But then wasn’t it worth it? At least I understood the hard way that not all that glitters is gold after all. I felt disappointed at the girl.

But where was she going to? What was she going to do? And why would she tell me she was dead? Was it a ploy to frighten me away from her? But that would be foolish. All she needed to do was tell me she was not interested and I would turn back. Why say she was dead?

And what if...what if...what if she was going to the bush to romp with her boyfriend? What if that man I saw with a suit the other day at McDons Restaurant was waiting for her in the bush preparing for them where they would meet and have sex? Was that rope she was holding supposed to be used for building a booth for them? No, no way! A girl like that would not go into the bush to romp. It was not possible. She would be in her house or in her boyfriend’s house to do that. What then was she up to? And that rope she was carrying...

I didn’t know what to think.

I turned to where Isabella had walked to. There was no movement there at all. No sign of her.

Suddenly I had this overwhelming urge to go after her and see for myself what she was up to. I may even be able to talk her out of her pomposity and woo her over. Man, if I succeeded in wooing her, I would take up an enviable place in record books for my persistence and unrelenting spirit.

I don’t know how to explain the urge I felt to go and look for her. All I know is that I found myself going towards the thicket she had disappeared into. Maybe it was because of a deep-seated feeling I had that she needed help or maybe it was because my heart was beating so bad that it shot my feet forward with every pounding or maybe it was even God who pushed me to go forward. I don't know, but I every step I took saw me moving with steady steps towards the thicket.

"Hey!" I called out and scanned the area carefully when I got to the thicket. In front of me was a wide expanse of woodland; a vast stretch of thick green and brown bushes and tall trees.

There was no sign of the girl anywhere. I wasn't expecting to see her anyway. I knew she must have walked far into the bush by now. I moved further inside. My heart beat rose with each step. I wondered if I was doing the right thing or just being the proverbial monkey that got a bullet in his brain because of his curiosity.

I kept moving deeper in. I was now surrounded by tall trees and grabby thickets which made my movement quite hard as my pair of trousers was made of 100% wool. Every now and then I had to stop to pull my trousers from the grip of the thorny weed.

“Hello” I called out again. My heart was pounding less furiously now. All I was wondering was where she could be and what she could be doing. I wondered if I was intruding on her privacy. What if she was having a private, passionate moment with another man? No, that couldn’t possibly be. But was going through her mind at the moment?

“Hey!” I called out again “Are you okay? Do you need...?”

I was rudely cut short because a sudden cry rang out through the bush. It was the bitter moaning of a frustrated woman. At once, I knew it. That was her voice and she was obviously in danger. She needed help.

Without thinking twice, I raced towards the sound, scanning the area. I didn’t know where she was and she was nowhere in sight but I knew she was close by.

The sound of her voice was not far away. I only had to search some more and I would see her. I listened carefully but no sound emerged again.

“Hello” I called out and listened. There was no sound. “Can you hear me?”

I stopped running and started peering into the bushes and up the trees. I was frantic. I could feel it deep down that she was in dire need of help.

Moments later her cry echoed through the bush again. This time, I heard it not far away from my right. I turned towards the direction and raced there.

I had barely run for a full minute when the most bizarre sight I had ever beheld stared back at me. For a moment I couldn't believe what I had just seen. I rubbed my hands across my face to make sure then I looked again.

I saw the girl standing there on a rock in front of me with her rope tied to a tree. The free end of the rope was made into a noose which was hanging right in front of her head. She was crying bitterly with suppressed sobs.

She had not seen me yet but she was holding on to the rope as her shoulders shook with her tears.

At that moment, everything came to me in a flash; this young woman with a beauty so charming it could bring any man to a standstill, was actually about to kill herself by hanging and I was there to watch.

I ran towards her.

"Please!" I screamed at her "Please don't do it!"

She seemed startled and shocked when she raised her head at me. Her face was drawn into a grimace as her tears flowed down her cheeks forming several watery lines.

"Go away from me" she said. Her voice, filled with her tears, spoke volumes about some deep wound in her soul. I wondered what must have hurt her so bad to make want to kill herself.

She slipped her head into the noose.

"No! Please, come on..." I was speaking hysterically now "Think about what you're doing. Please”

She didn’t say anything. She just kept weeping, touching the rope around her neck as if trying to get one last feel of her neck.

“Come on” I cried out trying not to go too close to her. That may prompt her to jump off the rock and hang by the neck. “You're young and beautiful, there's so much to live for"

She looked at me again, her head still in the noose. Her body vibrated with a new round of sobbing as her tears streamed from her eyes.

"Leave me alone" she screamed at me, tightening the noose around her neck but in her eyes I could see desperation. I knew she wanted to jump off and die and yet she wanted be saved. She was standing on a thin line between life and death and only she could decide her fate now.

I could sense hesitation in her eyes and in her hands.

I pressed again.

"Listen to me", I began slowly, careful not to make her jump from the stone she was standing on. "I know I don't understand what you feel right now, I can't feel the boiling waters gushing through your heart neither do I know about the apparent and deep-seated pain in your soul right now but there's one thing I know; taking one’s life has never been the best option out of a traumatic situation. It in fact makes matters even worse. Think about your family, your friends, your life. Think about the things you could have achieved in five, six years from now. You’re destined to do great things. You can never tell... "

My speech was cut short again because Isabella whom I thought was listening to me, suddenly jumped from the stone and in one shocking moment, was hanging from the rope by her neck right before my eyes.

***
To be continued

Written by Samuel Daniel, Editor and Content Writer at TORI.NG
Email: danielsamuel366@gmail.com
Twitter: @iamsamdan

waiting 4 d third part!!!where art thou

I no dey like dis kind story

Good job sammydanny. Continuation please

Sorry it took so long guys. I'm posting the third part now.