Finally on a break from school
I have been wanting to write, to wrap my head and thoughts around something concrete and I figured writing this book would be ideal.
It's still a draft, but I absolutely welcome criticism.
Ps, it's 18 plus
I will try to add more as the day passes by
Thanks



“One more bowl!”
“I can’t hear you”
Achi hissed, called out something that sounded like an idiot to Isaiah turned away.
Isaiah blinked away tears from his eyes. He was sweating profusely.
His hands and eyes itched. His body shook uncontrollably and he thought he might slump at any moment. Hot sweat formed fiery beads in the area just above his eyes so he had trouble seeing. His eyes itched again and he thought about scratching it.
murder. He thought. I would be killing myself.
His hands were soaked in peppery water and he couldn’t bring them out for the time being.
“one more bowl!” Someone screamed behind him, close to his ear. He turned his head slightly to save his eardrums. Achi.
Ogbanje
“What did you say?”. He asked.
Achi glared at him for him for a moment and then proceeded to get what she wanted by her self.
“useless human being”
Isaiah glanced at his hands, coated in Reddish fiery pepper, his fingers were on fire, regardless he held on. Twisting the fish between his palm slowly and carefully in the pepper sauce.
If I don’t become rich in this life. I will commit suicide.
The girl that had gone to retrieve the bowl turned and looked him over.
“Better rub the pepper in well, the last ones were not properly done.” She said and then added “ you never do anything right” in a tone that suggested that she would not be averse to having him sacked.
Isaiah looked his critic over, just employed last week, Achi already thought herself the most important staff in Madam Shina’s pepper soup, what with constant praise from the madam herself. With oversized facials features that looked like a bloated watermelon and an attitude similar to that of a worker bee. Devoted and hardworking but with a nasty sting.
“You no fit make am for this life, isiaki,” she said, not looking at him.

Isaiah had a sudden mental debate as to whether it would be a good idea to throw the bowl of pepper in her face. He would be thrown into kirikiri, sweaty and beaten, but atleast he would have done something horrible to Achi.
Isaiah!
Someone called his name.
Which kind of life is this
“Yes ma” he answered and added mentally “stupid woman”
The woman. Madam Shina was stoutly built with a face that could be described as ‘once beautiful’ and breasts that had refused to fall in their Fifty years of existence.
Juju
“Tell Orji to come to my office”
Isaiah nodded and squinted his eyes.
He would not tell Orji to go to madam’s office. He would wait an hour and then go to madam’s office himself.
Madam would ask him about Orji and he would say he hadn’t seen him in a while, perhaps he had gone out with Ade and then Madam would have no choice but to Bleep him instead. He thought about Madam often now, about her breasts and her unusual loud moans that would ring through the entire shop. Moans suggested that he was doing his work well and he also thought about the look Achi and Nnenna would have on their faces when he finally came outside.
He had grown now.
Twenty years is not child’s play. Ade would say to him and then add. You must be wise and some other things he didn’t want to think about. His body scraped the table and he looked down and discovered he had developed an erection. He remembered the first time Madam had taken him to her office, he had thought he was to be commended for excellent work, he thought so because Madam was smiling sweetly at him. And so when she had taken him in and asked him to remove his clothes, he had stared, confused. She didn’t waste time and walked towards him, commanding and wanton. The sex had lasted hours. Madam was surprised at both his stamina and libido. Her moans rang through the entire building. From that day, he became madam’s boy. Revered and somewhat adored by madam's friends. That was till Orji came last month. Orji was bigger down there, according to madam and was more experienced. He was twenty five after all and had been a prostitute during his days in the “ministry”.
Smiling, he leaned back and downwards to put his erection under the table, to hide it from curious eyes. Not that anybody would see him, he was in the kitchen, which was the only place in the entire shop where customers couldn’t and wouldn’t enter. Directly outside the kitchen was the bar, where he was sure, The cassette player would be blaring with Dele Olaseinde's rock. And drunk men and Hot prostitutes would be swinging and squeezing their bodies in a frenzy. The air would reek of sweat, smelly armpits and vaginal fluids.
He had no time for that, at least for now. Ade would be back soon and together they would fulfil their plans. But before that, he smiled as he thought this. Madam’s vaginal fluids.
He put the last of the fishes in the huge pot behind him and went to the bucket beside the stove to wash his hands. Afterwards, he would soak them in detergent and water to wash away the heat. The last thing he wanted to do was to put a peppery finger inside Madam.

I am sorry, I can't post full chapters at once
I think I am suffering from writer's block
Does anybody know how to get beyond it?


This is the continuation
Ur comments would be so much welcomed
Thank you




The bar was exactly as he had imagined it would be, except Dele Olaseinde was playing. A new song, one he was not familiar with was playing. Two glances towards madams office showed him that she was alone. Thinking this would be a good time, he blew on his palms which had eased and began walking towards her door.
Ade walked into the bar at that moment and made straight for the cassette player. He picked up the Dele tape and slotted it into the tray. Immediately it began playing, A woman screamed in delight and jumped up pulling her partner with her, a few seconds later, bowls of pepper soup were abandoned and the dance floor became occupied. Isaiah glanced towards Ade who smiled and pointed towards his head. Isaiah nodded towards his best friend and pointed towards Madams office, knowing what his frand had in mind, Ade shrugged indifferently.
He knows what he is doing.
Ade told himself.
He sat on a low stool and sighed heavily.
At last.
Orji had agreed finally. Everything should go smoothly now. He expected everything to work perfectly, although from past experiences he knew nothing ever went perfectly in the direction he wanted. His finger traced a line through his thigh to a scar from a bullet injury months ago. He had thought he had everything in control and then was painfully taught that he was wrong.
He glanced towards the dance floor, the frenzy had died down a bit, from the corner of his eye he spotted Nnenna walking towards the kitchen.
Beautiful. He thought.
As she walked, he caught sight of men turning towards her and either sighing or licking their alcohol-laden lips. Who wouldn’t look at her?. Pretty, light-skinned, Tall and gifted with a bosom and buttocks that could make a man cry. He had made so many advanced advances since she was employed two weeks ago, and by God, she had turned him down. He had never been turned down before, women pled to have him in their lives and their beds. Not this girl from God knows where. Her resistance inspired him, made him more determined. And how in the world would she prefer Isaiah, he knew his friend was handsome, he had taken notice of how many times girls preferred to look at Isaiah than him. But Isaiah was ludicrous. So how would girls prefer him?.
Ade stood up and began walking towards the kitchen and that was when he saw it..
A deck of Thuni cards.
He thought to approach the players but then remembering what had happened the week before, he shelved that thought and instead proceeded to turn off the music. It would draw their attention towards him and at the same time make room for madams high moans to be heard. But that was nothing compared to what he knew would happen and had happened.
He remembered the blood, the tissues and bandages and the surprised look on the face of the boy that had been murdered. He had seen the face of the man that had brought the boy in, claiming he could and would beat anybody in the game and he was willing to pay a huge sum to anybody that could beat the boy. A gamble he would lose. Needless to say, there was a fight, knives were drawn and the poor boy was stabbed in the eye and then in the stomach. There had been so much blood and screaming that Ade had sat down helpless on the floor watching and doing nothing. The police came later and took away the boys limp body. Men were arrested and detained for weeks. Madam had banned the game in her shop, but here now, someone had brought the game and Ade felt his gut tighten.

Back again
Tough week.
Please comment, it is very important to me.
I would like to know where this is headed.

Continuation is below.


He thought of going to madams office to tell her, then he remembered Isaiah had gone in there.
Achi. She must know how to handle the situation, it was at times like that she showed her resourcefulness. These people would listen to her. He walked outside to the outhouse where the cooking was being done. She and Nnena were bent over a large steaming pot of God know what.
“Achi” he called. In her usual fashion, she turned menacingly as though to chide the person who dared interrupt her.
“they are playing thuni”, he said.
And as he had predicted, she stood immediately and walked past him towards the bar, fast and uncaring, watching her, he had the briefest impression that she was going to scold those customers or worse yet punish them. It sounded foolish but nothing was ever beyond Achi.
“Ade”
He turned round. Nnena was starting at him.
God, this girl is beautiful. He thought.
“Come and help me stir this pot” she said smiling.
He smiled and went towards her, thinking but not saying that he would also help her do anything, not excluding untying her wrapper or piggybacking her so her gorgeous feet would not have to touch the earth.
Achi was not successful in her quest to prevent thuni being played in the bar. According to orji who had had to intervene to prevent her being beaten over her running mouth. She had walked up to the players and all but grabbed the cards without so much as a word to anybody.
The customers had stared confusingly at her and then confusion slowly gave way to realisation and then anger, and before long Achi had found herself swearing and daring somebody to touch her. Needless to say, she was touched, slapped actually. After the slap, she no longer made a fuss, she couldn’t actually, her eyes had turned red and her cheeks had swollen up from the impact. Orji in self-defence admitted he had come in late and so could not have prevented the slap. The game had continued after some compromises on his part.
Now, that compromise had involved Ade seated as a judge in front of the players, to prevent cheating or a fight from breaking out. He hated this new post he was assigned to and deep down he felt Orji had wanted to be with Nnena hence the post. He sat nonetheless, watching absent-minded as the players began their game. And in this state of detachment, he failed to notice when the players began to stake money on the games, when he finally noticed, it was far too late. A large sum of money had been staked and the entire bar had gone silent. The creaking of the ceiling fan had lessened as well.
Ade knew there would be a fight, someone would win, another person would become discontent and angry and then a bottle would be smashed and blood would be spilt. He knew it all to well, but he couldn’t do anything. The spectators were casting him side glances warning him to keep quiet. And so he didn’t say a word.
Not a word was spoken during that period, man and woman were enveloped in a silence none could understand. Moans and groans from Madams office had quietened to an all time low. And as expected, It was in the state of silence that it happened. A hundred pounds had been staked between two players. One of the spectators, the one Ade had identified as the man from a week ago had staked fifty pounds on an older man. The old would win in no less than fifteen minutes, it was now fifteen minutes and a second more and the winner could not be decided. There was a blinking of an eye, a shake of the head. A groan. And the sound of someone shuffling to stand up and then being grabbed by the collar. A plea and a shout. And before long, the unmistakable sound of a bottle being smashed on somebody’s head.
Ade screamed and rushed outside to where Orji was busy fumbling with Nnenna's panties. He stood momentarily, paralyzed and confused as they untangled themselves. Panting and lustful.
Hard bitten, Ade stumbled back into the bar, dodged a first aiming towards his head and dashed towards the rest room to where his street clothes and bags lay. Isaiah ran in immediately. Eye contacts were made, no words were spoken, both understood what needed to be done.
Isaiah grabbed the bags and jumped through the window, Add raced back into the bar to the cash register and grabbed the closest nylon of money.
A body dropped to the floor, bloodied and battered. Another dropped. A table was hurled three feet across the bar, smashing more bottles and spilling drinks. Men and women jumped out of the bar and into the street. Madam screamed.

Achi!!. She screamed and then realizing that Achi was a girl and may not possess the strength required to handle the situation began calling Isaiah. But Isaiah was gone.
At least that was what he thought, he was already out of the vicinity of the Restaurant, the bags were safe with him. Safe. How much was in bag, he hadn’t the slightest idea, but he didn’t care. The important thing was that the bags were with him. He smiled as he remembered cold stinking days under dirty excrement littered bridges. He remembered Mary and her Onika. Maybe they were finally married, he wanted to wish them a happy marriage and a life away from robberies for onika, he couldn’t however. He would see Nneoma again. They would be a happy family again, the three of them. There would be no Edmund. He could see their victory, their happiness but most of all he could see Nneoma with her sight restored. She would see him with her own eyes and she would no longer have to walk with a stick or beg Ade to take her to the toilet. He remembered the toilet now, it would be cold by this time of the year, the Earthworms would be back and the holes on the floor would have grown wider. Hopefully Nneoma hasn’t fallen down on that stinking floor yet.
I must enough packets of salt. He thought.
That was when he heard the shot and the scream. He continued running at first till he finally recognized the voice. Ade.
For reasons he would never know not until Orji shot him from behind. He wondered why he hadn’t continued running. But while he lay there in the sodden earth in his own pool of blood not too far from Ade, he understood that there were things that were thicker than blood and that thing, whatsoever it may be, had drawn him from his flight towards his best friend and ultimately to his death.
*******
Ade jumped through the window, Two more bags were slung over his back, bouncing with each step he took. He looked around momentarily and tried to make out Isaiah’s form in the darkness. He couldn’t spot anything except from some market sheds and a limping dog, so he continued running. He trusted his friend to be making his way to the canal. They would ford the stagnant dirty water to the next town and then buy some new clothes.
Freedom, Money, Happiness. He thought as a thin smile spread against his anxiety stricken face.
And then there was the shot which whistled past his ear. He almost lost his footing then. Another came and buried itself in the earth where his left foot had just stepped. He felt fear creep into his very soul and in those few desperate seconds while he dodged this way and that, desperately trying to throw off the aim of his assailant before the next shot took him in the small of the back, he wondered if Ade had been shot too.
He hadn’t known he would die today, but here he was, in the pool of his own blood, sweaty and drained. His death was upon him and every breath he took felt like it would be his last.
He remembered then, his very existence. He had to get home. Nneoma, his mother, she would be waiting for him. The tears sprang to his eyes and as helpless as he was, he couldn’t wipe them away.
There was a shout behind him and he would have died then from the shock in recognition of the voice that spoke. He rolled over on the wet floor on which he lay. Orji stood in front of him, panting and drenched. It wasn’t Orji’s Presence however that drew surprise from him. It was the gun in his hand. Isaiah knew then that he had thought wrong. The promises, the bargains, Orji had never bought into his idea. He was and would always be Madams favourite.
“Please”. Ade pled. ‘my mother'
He sighed, coughed and tried to blink back tears.
But Orji was having none of it, he raised his arm and shot his friend, Then grabbed the sack of money and ran.