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Chapter 5
The Problem That Lasted
Stella shook her head dejectedly as she watched MTV base, and saw the demonic activities in play there. She smiled as she remembered that those American Witches high priests and high priestesses had been doing that for years, and only a few people have made a right guess about their numerous activities. They knew how to hide behind the TV scenes to control the heart of people, chanting deadly incantations at people. How convenient was it for them to play the music videos at midnight, when they knew that demonic activities were fully activated?

It was better the world didn't know about witchcraft or of its continued existence because the people might reverse to their old ways of handling witches, which was to kill them at sight, and burn them at stakes.

Yet, she smiled because it was a good thing to know the devil, to know he is a liar. It was a good thing to have read the Christian Bible. She knew that Lucifer was the father of all lies, and she knew from time that Heetah, her other small demons, and even Lucifer couldn't read her thoughts. Despite that, it wasn't easy thinking too much with Heetah inside her. It had intertwined its tentacles with her feelings to the extent that any feeling not produced by its incitement could cause punishment for her.
'Two thieves are about to enter', Heetah said joyfully.
'Why are you happy? She whispered. 'You are happy that I will be robbed'.
'Yes. Happy, you have what you need for Lucifer's sacrifice for the new moon'.

Stella smiled. She sat straight and nodded. They would be used for her sacrifice. And that was the reason she envied the witches in Africa especially Fortune City, they understood how to get things done. If only they knew the right incantations to invoke the presence of Lucifer. The thought of that made her slouch into the chair. She was supposed to be Lucifer's top wife in the world, but there she was, awaiting his world domination. Every time, he reassured her of her place in his life, but she wasn't ready to believe him anymore. The only thing he had successfully done was to hide her in hideous places, and make her live a long life, probably the longest life any witch had ever lived. But she wanted more, the glory, the fame and everything that came with being the wife of the supposedly richest person in all realms.

He had deceived her, and she would really make sure he suffered. All she needed was the information to ensure he lost a lot of things.
'What are you thinking about? Who do you want to make suffer?'
'The thieves?'
'Are you depressed about it?'
'No'
'That's a lie. I'm a demon. You don't lie to me'.
'I want something spectacular. I want...'
The door broke open. Two hooded thieves entered, equipped with fake guns.

'If you move, I'll shoot you', one of them shouted.
She scoffed. 'And do you think that gun even if was real can kill me? I'll show you'.
The one nearer to her was angry, and he removed the hood on his face. 'What? Do you think I'm afraid of you?'
'Heetah, show this thief what we do to intruders'.
She felt energy leaving her body towards the thief. He stood still, firm and unperturbed.
'Woman, you're mad'.
She tried different tricks in her book but he was unscathed. Stella was perplexed. 'Who are you?'
The thief moved closer and pressed the muzzle of his fake gun to her forehead. 'Bring out all the money on you'.
The other thief turned sporadically as if he felt other presence in the house.
'Heetah!' She shouted. 'The table'.

She watched Heetah make a smaller demon carry the table and fling it at the first thief. The thief crashed with a cry. The other thief squeaked in surprise and made to run away, but her magic got him. He writhed on the floor for a while and became unconscious. His still body reminded her of the body of every child she had ever given birth to. They laid, still and hopeless, in the same fashion. For years, Lucifer had tried to give birth to another Nephilim but they just couldn't. The sexual intercourse between the repugnant, foul-smelling, fierce demons and her always left her weak for days. Lucifer made her keep trying because, of all the witches they've tried it with, she was the only one that had ever given birth to a child that even cried, though they gave up the ghost almost immediately.

Stella was perplexed at what happened in the parlor. The crashed table laid scattered in different places. Now, she had to get a new table. That one cost her over 500 dollars to import. Yes, she was rich enough to import anything from anywhere in the world. But she couldn't flaunt it like most of those outside Fortune City. Even if she wanted to flaunt it, it had to be minimized. Foolish Heetah was always like an alarm, giving her signal for any extravagance in her lifestyle. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but commend its effort. It had kept her from dying a lot of times.

'Heetah! What the...What happened there?'
'He is stubborn. He is an atheist. His demon says his mind is so hardened that the only thing they can do to him is to make him hate God. The bible says that Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and Stubbornness'.
'But I thought Atheism is caused by the demon of hatred and pride'.
'That's the problem. He just doesn't believe in anything. Even if he wakes, his mind is made up'.
'But that's impossible'.
'Very possible. But he's still coming to the Lake of fire'.

A vision of the lake of fire brushed through her imagination. She had meticulously followed the writings about heaven and hell and the kidnappings happening at Greencity, but she wasn't interested in any of them- the kidnappings, the people. All she cared about was the visions they saw. She knew what she wanted. Though most of them were not fully true, she couldn't help but notice consistency in their visions of hell.

Lucifer promised her more of everything whenever she joined him in the lake of fire. She was totally tired of her continued existence. Eternal life was boring. Most times, she had nagged on why he kept making her spirit move from place to place. He replied that 'you're very efficient. You are unlike most others. You don't seek too much power and obey me regardless who I ask you to hurt'. Regardless of the fact that she had stayed alive for ages, she still couldn't fathom how it would have been if she was alive for so long in the same body, the same place. People would have died around her and she would have gone to their graves per time. At least in her new body, she was made to meet and love new people, which was painful on its own. But she had learnt how to live with men without much love for them.

On many occasions, he had promised her good things. She was his secret. He believed if anyone knew where she was, they might come for her. And that was the reason she had been given Heetah. He was the best demon at shielding itself. Even to the Christians and the witches, it was a spirit of light. She couldn't count the number of times witches had tried to kill her because they assumed she was a powerful Christian.
'I know that feeling?', Heetah said.
'But those Christians that returned from hell say that Lucifer denied some witches of their true home'.

'But you know they lie. They are meant to scare Christians to fear. Fear is the main tool of making those Christians commit sins'.
'How's that?'
'Job of the bible said, the things I feared has come upon me. And even Paul said the thing I don't want to do, I do'.
'What should they have done?'
'Why are you asking? You are not a Christian?'
'I pretend to be and if we want to bring them down, I need to know what I must do'.
She felt the intensity of Heetah's anger in her head as it began to ache badly. She screamed as she bent down, holding her head firmly. The headache increased.

'I know you. You are tired of living. After living for many years of serving Lord Lucifer, you want to give up'.
'No', she screamed. 'No. I swear to God'.
'Shut up! He doesn't know you. He doesn't know you exist. Remember times when your friends were killed especially Maria Parker. Have you forgotten Anne Pedersdotter, how she was burnt by those Christians? How you cried, that pain? He made Christians kill you, witches. Then, you had no second chance'.

'But we are celebrated', she screamed and held her head still. The pain surged through her body and was like wildfire. Tears were already streaming down her eyes as if they wanted to join the beads of sweat on her body, gathering like townsmen who were being summoned by the town criers gong.
'Shut up! We are in charge. We help them make a lot of money from witches. We. We, the demons help those Christians make money from demons. Idiot. Buffoon. They are making money and using them to bring people to their Churches. The Church listens to their testimonies and trembles, just like what is happening in Greencity. We are making those ones see visions just for fear. Fear. So you have to fear. Or don't you know we are the ones who run the world and make things go on smoothly, even for you? How will those ones work without us? We pretend to release those witches, and allow the Church use them and indirectly bring fear on the Church. We've made them do what God hates- being afraid. To survive with us like you know, you must tremble'.
'Leave me. I hate you. I hate Lucifer'.
'You are now talking'.

The pain eased off her. Hatred was a virtue in their kingdom. It excited demons and Lucifer. It was one of their best weapons against anyone. By this time, the only that reminded her of the pain was her mind. There was nothing again that pointed to the fact that she had just gone through an excruciating pain.
'That means you hate God too'.
'I hate all of you- Devil, you and even God. He created you'.
'That's a fallacy. God didn't create us. We were the product of his creation. Lord Lucifer is the only creation. Well and those big guys You know who now'.

She hyperventilated and reduced her breathing pace. Heetah was talking about fallen angels. She slowly rose to work and hissed. Every time, these demons would continually make her do works that she wasn't supposed to do. Yesterday, she had worked to clean the mess Nancy caused and now, she was to clean the mess by the thieves.
Stella panted as she returned to the parlor after she dragged the unconscious thieves to her underground room. She winced as she attended to her injured hand. Although the flesh over it had returned, the pain still lingered. The funniest thing about Lucifer was that his tricks were still the same, but his book of tricks was used all over the world and people still fell for them. All the demons have mastered them. Lucifer believed the witches didn't need them. Having access to them would make every witch in the world desire to control him. Demons are loyal to him, by force. God had rejected them and the fallen angel and had made them stay with Lucifer in the lake of fire. So they were bound to him forever.
'You are an idiot', she muttered as she began to sweep the splinters of the glass center table.
'That's a good observation'.
'I own you'.
'I know.'
'I command you and you do what I want'.
'Yes, I know'.

'So why did I ask you to lift him to the underground room and you refused? That's rebellion'.
'That's my nature. Meanwhile, I told you to never think of heaven. It's belittling your potential. Why will you think of a lovey-dovey place where there's no excitement?'
'What's exciting about the lake of fire, you dullard?'
'To me, it's fun. There, you break bones and tear at people's souls. You punish souls, not flesh that rots. That is pure torture. We torture the souls of bad people in the lake of fire. That's our job'.
'Has it ever occurred to you that God can decide to take away all those people from the lake of fire and take them to heaven?'
Heetah squirmed. 'That's impossible. He would keep to his word. He always does'.

Stella marched off to the underground room, grumbling about how he refused to help her, and how she was reconsidering changing him. Then she went out of the house, and cast spells on the compound. The spell was capable of deceiving Christians and witches, who came too close. Tomorrow, she would bring out the spell she had soaked and use it on the compound.
She returned to her room to change her dress into a robe, and walked slowly into her underground room. Just as she was about to lock the door, she felt a presence. She smiled and cast the spell. The night would be long. The bad thing about being a witch was that most of them started with dreams and astral projections, for those whose minds were always ready.

Christians too can do that, but it had to be done by the Holy Spirit, not them. Yet, it was just for those humble enough to heed to his leading.
She entered the underground. The room was filled with demonic activities. The stench and aura was rich in the room. They were always disgusting.
'Do you people not take baths or something?
'After all these years, won't you stop asking this question? There are better questions like 'what is the devil's latest trick?'

'Like I care'.
'You should'
'Get me out of this crazy earth to my part of the kingdom'.
She moved gracefully, taking her time as she grabbed her knife. The full moon reflected into the room. She had been waiting for the new moon since the month started. It was a portal and it meant anything she needed would surely come to pass. If she was a Christian, she would see to it that she made the most dangerous prayers those times.
The room was lit with candles that were arranged at the edge of the circle she made. The circle in the midst of a pentagram. She didn't want those demons crossing into her room to do anything without her permission. The ones that had infested her home were enough.

The pyre, on which she laid the first thief, was also in the circle. He had woken, but she didn't want to hear his scream until it was time for her to enjoy the sweetness of the torture. So, she allowed him to moan from the gag in his mouth. She made him lay there in the form he first was when he came to the earth. It was just unfortunate that she couldn't make him as small, fragile and fresh as he was when he was a baby. Since she couldn't do that, she would make sure his skin crawled with blood, his blood.

She sat in the middle of the circle and recited the first incantation. The recitation almost took forever, she heaved from side to side, and then changed her direction to the front and back. The heat in the room increased per time. The dread that followed the presence of demons increased and she longed for such power, to have the ability to command fear.
'Heetah, I need more power. To protect my house, and to start the destruction of the Church at Brown Valley', she said. Reports have been reaching her that some people were teaching the true Word of God in that part of their Island. She hated that she wouldn't be the one to finalize the total destruction of the Church.

'Give me the demon of utter destruction', she said and her mind blanked out. Many people didn't know that when they blanked out their mind, they unleashed evil on themselves. She always blanked her mind because that was the doorway to do that. But many people, Christians especially, blank out their mind in expectation to fall under the Holy Spirit.

The demon appeared, bearing fangs, then many more others came out. She gave them instructions to enter her. Their entrance into her body was painful and brutal. She screamed as their foul smell overshadowed her nose. They fought their way into her so hard that if Heetah wasn't serving as a source of strength to her, she would have died there.

Afterwards, still swaying from the power of the demons that had encompassed her, she rose, dangling from sides under their weight. Her eyes were now streaking with blood. She grabbed her knife and advanced on the thief. The other thief was unconscious, and laid in one of her cages. For strange reasons, she made sure he was lying face to face with the stone of Nancy.

However, she left the other thief on the pyre for a moment like this. She needed something sharp that could send vibes into her bloodstreams. The only thing that could do that at the moment was his scream. So, she removed his gag and shifted back. He screamed his head off and she watched him as if he was an experiment. Sucking in air loudly, she moved her head from side to side as she stared blankly at his heaving chest.

'No one will help you', she whispered, and licked her lower lips. With a force she couldn't fathom its source, she sank the knife into his heart. He screamed and screamed louder and screamed with all his mind, but she didn't remove it; instead, she twisted it until he gave up the ghost.
'Welcome Gladys', Stella said as she raised her head to look at Gladys' spirit-body dangling in the air. She was a fast learner.

***
The night had become eerier and birds chirped from every corner of the street. A strong wind passed where he was and rested on the house. Kingsley was freezing out in the open, and he was feeling bad for not following them into the massive house. But he was afraid to heed Gerald's plan in the first place. Yet, he followed him because they needed the money to save Gerald's mother, and there was no way he wouldn't be caught if anything happened to them.

He checked his timer. They had spent two hours in the massive house. That could only mean one thing: his friends were dead. Kingsley checked where he was hiding to be sure he was safe. At least, the woman living there would call the police the next day to inform them of the death of his friends, Kingsley and Rauf. Gerald's mother insisted that they should go to her Church 'Wild Fire of God' for help. But being an atheist, Gerald wouldn't hear anything about it.

'Patience, son of the soil', he muttered to himself.
Although he didn't hear any gunshot, Kingsley was sure that whenever the police came around, they would confirm his fear. But for now, he would keep waiting for them, hoping they would come out, praying he was only being paranoid. The storm around the house howled and made him withdraw into his hiding place well. He muttered as he found a perfect place to hide, 'son of the soil, you will get your reward'.

ERF:
Brilliant piece. .. kept me glued.. I hope there is more?

There is... The an book is avail able but if you're patient I'll post it here..

Timeline of Events in Your Story
There is a need to keep track of your event as a writer. Missing some details cause plot holes.
I used this in keeping track of all events that happened in my Book Series, Fortune City Series (which includes 'Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening'. 'A Dread in The Spine', 'Grabbing The Hot Gate'.

Get your copy here....

http://writertain.com/2018/03/08/timeline-of-events-in-your-story/

'Is she crazy?' Alexis shouted as she began to wear her clothes. She crashed into the bed while trying to draw her jeggings on. She was fuming and panting heavily. 'I would have shown her what fornication means. I would have shown her that her body will feel fornicated by the time I finish beating her to nothing. I will beat her to the extent that even compressed hot bread would call her its senior. Bastard of no generation. Who does she think she is? Me. Alexis. A prostitute'.

'Alexis, calm down. She...'
'Even if I'm a runs girl, she's not my class. I'll brush her anywhere. And I'm not a runs girl. I'm also a Pastor's daughter. How many bible verses does she have in that useless head? I won fifteen national Sunday school competitions'.

Japheth felt bad. He rededicated his life to Christ three weeks ago. Being saved from sins was exciting. That feeling of redemption from everything he used to do was sweet. But now again, like before, everything came crashing down. He couldn't explain what happened, but he allowed himself do what he had stopped: fornication. Yet, they said he was dead to sin. Maybe if he had a way of controlling his urge around Alexis, maybe then and only then would he have the chance to be called free. He was in bondage, and the most annoying part was that he loved the bondage. Alexis dumped the pin-up models clothe into her bag, and picked her other things.

He had sent her away for a few days, but Alexis had her way with his most trusted gateman; yet, he couldn't send the gateman away because it was his own fault. Even though the gateman allowed her to enter the compound, it wasn't his fault that she had the key to the main building. Until he deprived her of that, she would still have access to his house.
'Are you deaf?' Alexis shouted as she kept fiddling with the button of the lower part of her clothes, which kept popping out of its hole.

'And what do you want from me? See, I'm off to work. You need to start preparing for school. We would see later in the day, hopefully'.
'Jeffy, let your head remain on your neck. Be wise. I'm talking about us and that foolish girl, you're talking about one foolish lesson'.
'Well, she's right. You're just 19 and ought to be in the University, if not because you failed JAMB twice before getting this admission'.
'Why not become cable news- CNN or Sky News? Tell the world I failed'.

'That's not what I meant. I'm saying this relationship is not a good symbiotic relationship. It might look mutual, but I think it is more of parasitism. I'm only using you to satisfy my sexual urge, which is not ideal'.
'I've told you, times without number. We're in this together. Stop this Jack Robinson you're saying. If you break-up with me, I'll kill myself'.
'We're not supposed to copulate or even...'
'Do you see me with any other man? What's this fish saying? Are you afraid that I do the same with other men?'

'What? I'm saying you're too young to be led into the wrong path'.
'Like... I'm seeing other men?'
'No. I'm teaching you something unhealthy for you'.
She sniggered. 'You? I'm your trainer baby boy. See...'
She walked slowly towards him, her eyes fixed on him, her tongue sliding back and forth around her lips, and her clothes slipping off.
'Let's not do this today. It's detrimental to both our...'
'In fact, give me money, and I don't ever want to see your pathetic face for the rest of the day', Alexis shouted. 'Don't come for me today'.
'Try not to do anything rash at home', he said as he gave her money enough to cater for a lot of things.
'Like you care'. She grabbed the money and stormed out, still ranting about Gladys.

He went on his knee and prayed. 'Lord, I'm so sorry'.
Somehow, the people that got him saved explained the concept of God forgiving all his sins past, future, and present and that was why he joined the fold immediately he saw the chance. Mirabel had been trying to bring him to Christ for months before those ones finally did, but he guessed she only prepared the way for them.

His sorrow arose when his parents, his wife, pregnant with their child, died in an accident. Since then, his life had become boring. That was a time he needed expressions of love from people. His other family members had tried their best, but their effort wasn't enough to make him happy. Mirabel who would have helped, travelled to take care of her Aunt, who had now gone missing. Her mother ought to have gone but there was a little dispute between them that made her refuse to go. So, Mirabel took her place. Those times, she tried to call him per time, but it wasn't enough to help him.

He would have committed suicide that night, but a drunk Alexis staggered towards him while she was returning from a night party. She met him on the edge of a bridge, trying to jump into a river. She laughed at him and promised to follow him if he jumped into the canal. At first, he thought she was babbling, but when she began removing her clothes, he stopped. Immediately he got down, she went into a vomiting bout. That was how he brought her to his house.

The next day, when she was sober, she explained that she was another spoilt disobedient Pastor's daughter. Rather, her parents were strict, poor Church owners. She only wanted to escape their cage. And that was how she got stuck with him. From then, she started experimenting her fantasies with him at every turn. Being an unadventurous person, he did it with her, hoping that it would cater for the void in his heart.

When he became a Christian, he saw an avenue to restore her to Christ. So, he made her stay, as a friend. But she had her ways, terrible ways, of making him return to his vomit. All he needed at that point was freedom from her, and a good reason to make Mirabel happy. He hadn't even called her to check her state of mind after she discovered that Alexis was in his life.

He wanted to be free from his lustful desire, from Alexis. Japheth kept praying. Even if God had forgiven him, there was no way he could forgive himself.
Gladys said he should talk to someone. Who could he talk to?
The Pastor of the church had the same character as that of Gladys, who came back to him ranting as if she was jealous. He had only seen that trait in vengeful prostitutes and wives whenever he was dealing with them at the hospital.

He needed to talk to someone. No one had shown any form of care in that church except the follow-up unit members that came visiting. Matthew was spiritually naive. His words weren't as deep as that of Gladys. Despite her rant about confessing his sin, he still found her intriguing; beautiful yet modest, holy yet without the nerdy look of most Christians. Her dress sense was captivating on its own. But truth be told, she wasn't as beautiful as his naughty Alexis, whose beauty couldn't match Mirabel's. Even without her extravagant make-up, she still had that edge over them. Nevertheless, Gladys seemed soaked in God's word and that was what he needed at that time of his life. Mirabel had what both of them had, but how would he explain to the woman he wanted to start a relationship with that he was fornicating and that he needed her help?
Although the next day was Sunday, he would wait till Tuesday to talk to Gladys, and would boldly tell her his problem. He was sure that once it was shared, it would be half-solved like he used to tell his patients.

Just then, a WhatsApp message alert popped on his phone.
Jaf, tomorrow is another Sunday. Come to church for God, and a blessed wife *winks*. In case the Alexis is the one, bring her too. Come and experience the real power of God, and total freedom in the Holy Ghost'- Mirabel.
He smiled and slumped into his seat.

***
Alexis returned home to the rants and complaints of her overbearing parents, and the only thing that consumed her mind was how to return to Japheth's place. He thought she was joking when she promised to kill herself if he ever left her. He was like the control over her desire.
'She's changing a little', she heard her father whisper to her mother one of those days she was having issues with them.
'Yes', her mother said. 'I think our prayers and corrections are having effect on her'.
'I'm sensing something else'.

If only they knew that God would never answer their prayers on her the way they wanted. Japheth was the answer to their prayer. They had better intensify their prayers because he was beginning to drift. He seemed to have started having a liking for Church than for her. She hoped it was another foolish phase of his self-discovery, one that he always quickly returned from.

Chloe sat still, watching the news, stroking Joel's fur. She had the dream again. This time, she saw her children in hell. It was more horrible than the past ones. Most of those days, all she saw were the blazing fire, the big maggots, and the huge rats. However, this one was definitely horrifying and she wished she could get acid to wash it away from her mind because she also saw Irene. Despite all, she didn't see her father. Mr. Kings couldn't have made it to heaven, he was her father but didn't deserve heaven. He was a horrible man. He shouldn't have fallen in love with Chloe's mother, and she wouldn't have given birth to her out of wedlock.

Maybe the devil was playing with her mind. He must probably be somewhere else in hell along with her mother- they both deserved going to hell.
She was supposed to be out there searching for information herself but her father-in-law was around, she couldn't dabble into such, leaving him to himself without proper preparation. He wouldn't be deterrent to her desire to find what Mummy church was hiding, but she had nothing to fear because she had placed Segun on it.
The house was boring. So, she rose and tended to her flowers with Joel rubbing itself against her body. She had trimmed the edges of the leaves when Mummy Church came around. For some reason, a sort of rot was beginning to grow on the leaves and she had been trying to avoid such. As she fondled the blade of the flowers, she imagined how heaven could be. She had read about it in books by some authors. She would really love for people in Nigeria, especially in FortuneCity, especially one of those missing ladies to testify of it. Only God could really give a true picture of how heaven would look like, and one could only understand better if one was from the same tribe or the same area as the one who had the message.
She was very sure one of them would return from heaven one day to tell them about heaven. However, before that time, she would sit down to watch things unfold, and pray to God of heaven that he would send down a rain of righteous visionaries. She opened her jotter and went through it again. There were so many messages that she wished she could play a part in making these things work. If she could really help in building an army of God, it would really make her excited. However, the Bible stated that they should write the vision. How would she write the vision when the only thing she could see was the rotten evil of hell?
She picked up her phone and dialed Raphael's number. If she spoke with him, Nosa would be pleased and he wouldn't disturb her about not talking, not crying any longer.
'Stupid boy', she said as soon as Raphael called her name over the phone. 'Won't you come to mummy?'
He groaned as if he was busy, but she already knew his reply.
'I'll be there'.
They talked, abused one another in a mild way, and fixed the next day for a meeting. Then, Segun sent a message. 'I really need to shift post. Shayla needs me'.

She gritted, bit her lower lips, and stared into nothing. The only option was for her to go herself. She picked her phone and called him. 'Why are you doing this? You know I need you more than Shayla. She had just left with my husband'.
A regular wife should be angry at her husband for having an external affair, but if it would make him happy, she had no issue with it.
'But I need my life than even the money I'm getting'.
'I can help you get away from the authority's trouble if you want'.
'I don't want. Katrina is still with them. She doesn't know what I do for a living. And Shayla is banking on that'.
'Send me your location through WhatsApp'.
'I'm at…'
'Over WhatsApp. Remember the story of the man hanging from a rope'.
'I need to…'
'If he didn't wait longer, he wouldn't have gotten help'.
He sighed. 'I'll hang on. But please relieve me in time'.
'Before another bird flies over wherever you're, I'll be there'.

She fondled the rotten flower and knew there was no other option than to do the things that would help matters: she sliced the rotten leaf off its stem. She entered the guest room her father-in-law slept in, and gently tapped him.
'Papa, please wake', she said as she tapped him.
The tired old man wriggled in his sleep and turned to listen to her. He tiredly opened his eyes and took a few seconds to come to the realization that Chloe was the one in front of him.

'My daughter, hope all is well?'
'I'm sorry for waking you, but I think my Pastor's wife needs my help, and I don't know…'
'If someone is in need, you need to head there'.
'Thank you, Papa, but how we will… In case you need food, I've prepared food for you…'
'I'll wait'.
Chloe gritted. What if Mummy Church decided to do something else?
'Then, you can try the juice I and Joel did'.
'Joel? Who is…? Oh! Are you leaving us alone together?'

Chloe laughed and understood what he meant by that. Her father-in-law wasn't fond of her cat, and Joel too always had a reason to be disgusted by his presence. Chloe had always tried to make the two of them closer, but it was always a futile effort. Unfortunately, their enmity always had a heightened sense whenever Nosa was around since Joel would muzzle up to Nosa, who might choose that time to be away from his father or argue with him.

Upon driving outside, she knew what the rotten flower symbolized. The nosy woman was meandering around her gate. The funniest part of it all was that she always wondered why her husband wouldn't take care of her. She would cut her off.
Excitedly, the woman hopped towards her and flagged her down. Chloe hissed and stopped the car.
'Mummy kings, I saw your husband with a woman. She was hugging him'.
Chloe snapped at her. 'Woman, what do you want? The money?'

The woman, unashamed, nodded repeatedly. Chloe hissed, grabbed her bag, and unzipped it and fetched her wallet. The woman edged forward. Angry and hoping to never see her again, Chloe removed wads of one thousand notes and pointed it at her.
'Thief', a man shouted from afar. Chloe looked up and saw a fierce man rushing to meet her. The nosy woman looked at the man with fear and backed from Chloe. The man marched to meet Chloe.
'Please, what is she doing?'
'I'm just greeting her', the woman said and pulled her crying daughter nearer.

'I was just…' Chloe said as she stretched the money out.
'Please ma, don't ever give her money'.
'I wasn't begging for money. She just wanted to give me'.
'Don't give her, ma. I traveled…'
'Paulina's father, let's resolve this at home'.
'Don't give this woman any money ever in your life. I traveled and sent her money. But when I returned I got information that she had been going around, looking poor and begging for money. You're in for a hard time, Paulina's mother'.

Chloe drove off into the darkness of the day. Segun sent the address to an old church in a land she had recently acquired. The journey to the address of the old deserted church Segun felt like hours. She hoped he would stay there till she arrived. At that moment, she felt bad for expending her energy on poke-nosing and behaving like a weed in the affairs of her Pastor's wife, but if it would do good to her and the world, Chloe wouldn't back down. Her desire for FortuneCity was to see it come to term with God's way.
Immediately she got to the place they were, Segun pointed them out to her and complained as he drove away. She didn't know why he was still freelancing with Shayla when she could keep paying him for just monitoring her company. However, she had learnt that human desires were greater than their hunger for money.

After he drove off, she sat there and watched Mummy Church having a heated discussion with a lanky woman, who looked as if she had been bereft of food for months. From the way they kept glancing from one place to another from the dim light in the place, she could guess the woman was afraid. The problem was that she wasn't even sure if the woman really saw heaven or hell.
Mr. Kings, her father, had a belief that one must aim for whatever one wanted, and not seat behind wheels to expect it drop in her laps.
She drove towards them and came out of her car as her mind scanned for the best reason for her sudden appearance. Chloe always ensured that any land she bought was lightened up with a lot of street lights. Immediately, she got into the ray of the street lights, Mummy Church was the first to see her. She became pale and swallowed hard. She kicked the lanky woman, who caught the cue and saw Chloe.
'Mrs. Obaigbenwen… I don't understand, what are you doing here?'

Chloe looked surprised as her mind raced with the best reply to Mummy Church. 'Mummy, I should ask you the same'.
'We…' Mummy Church said and stuttered.
At that moment, Chloe felt like a cat, which had just cornered a rat. She stood straight and hoped her stance would send the fear of God into Mummy Church. If that woman was truly a visionary, she should really get off the hiding spree, and pass the message to the world. The world needed to know what God had in plan for the world. Although many of the messages were almost the same, they still needed to tell people how and what God wanted the rapture to happen. And also what they needed to prepare for in heaven.

'We're scouting for land', the lanky woman said and glanced shyly at Mummy Church, who nodded as if it was a lesser sin and can be easily forgiven.
'Yes', Mummy Church said and nodded repeatedly. 'We are scouting for land'.
'Well, the land is sold out or would soon be'.
'How do you know that?' Mummy Church
'This land would soon be mine', Chloe said as she pretended to stare at the land that was being overgrown with grasses. She had just paid some people to cut the grass some weeks ago, but she was surprised at the way the grass had grown so big especially in the harmattan period. Although the whole area was dark, she still saw the shape of their height.

The woman fidgeted and glanced at Mummy Church, who looked rattled also.
'But I thought you just bought three of recent'.
'Yes, I told you why already'.
Mummy Church nodded.
'So, the land wasn't in your father's name?' Mummy Church asked.
Why will she ask such question? 'I told you already. I bought it in my name, not his name'.
'By the way, why did you people come here in the night? There are vigilantes here'.
'This is the only time she can get the chance to come'.

'This is serious', the lady said and shook with fear.
'Let me talk to her', Mummy Church said and used her good hand to drag the frightened lanky woman away. The lady kept glancing at a building at the edge of the land. The house belonged to the guard she paid to watch over the place. She did that for her other lands, but this particular one had been reported to be a haven for a lot of evil. So, she paid him to make sure nothing of such happened there.
Chloe pretended to walk towards the house. She didn't need to see the man because he wasn't expecting her. But if it was to keep up with her desire. She heard the woman argue with Mummy Church in low tones for a while. Despite desiring to listen to their conversation, she knew she just had to keep walking.

'Leave me', the lady shouted. 'I will meet her. I will tell her. This is the perfect place'.
She turned as it was expected of her, seeing she was near them. Mummy Church tried to pull the woman by the hand, but she evaded her and hurried towards Chloe.
'Sister Obi... Agnes… I'm Agnes'.
Chloe walked towards her with caution as it was expected of her. She had to keep pretending to be unaware of her plight. 'Yes? Sister Agnes, I hope nothing is making your peace rot away'.
'There is. I'm dying or might die soon'.
'I said it', Chloe said and glanced at Mummy Church, who held up her half arm in despair. 'I said I was perceiving something evil'.

'It's not evil. We're not doing anything illegal'.
'Like trying to steal something from my land?'
'Steal? Of course not. It wasn't anything illegal'.
'Then, what were you two doing?'
'Sister Agnes, we can still solve this. You are not ready', Mummy Church said and glared at Chloe as if she was suspecting her of something ominous.
'Mummy Church, let us solve this together. A problem is like a sour soup; one doesn't get sympathy from others until they've also tasted it. Let's taste this problem together. Expose this bottle of urine'.

'I'm ready, Mummy', Agnes said and turned to Chloe. 'I need a place to hide'.
'Hide? Are the police looking for you?'
'Police would have been better. I saw visions', she said, whispering.
Chloe looked at her in a queer way, pretending to disbelieve her. She chuckled and turned to Mummy Church. 'Are you people trying to joke with me on a cold December night?'
'Joke? In this daring period. Please o. I saw a vision of heaven and hell'.

'Seriously?' Chloe said as she tried to imitate Nosa's way of showing he was surprised. 'Heaven or hell?'
'What does it matter? All that matters is that I don't want to die?'
'Nobody will kill…'
'The kidnapper', Mummy Church chipped in.
'The kidnapper', Chloe said in fake realization.
'Yes, the kidnapper', Agnes affirmed.
'Wow. The Kidnapper. How do you intend to hide?'
Agnes glanced at Mummy Church, and at the bush. 'I really need a place to relay the message to the world'

'See this woman, what message? You need to tell the police', Chloe said surprised.
'Just kill me now. I told Mummy Church but she said no. Who do I listen to?'
'She can't', Mummy Church said and glanced at the bushes that were being blown by the cold air.
'Why? They would help her'.
'No. They won't. I told one of them, and the next thing I know was that she was calling me that someone was trying to break into her house'.
'I told her it was coincidental'.
'Coincidental my foot'.
'That's strange. What will happen now?'
'I want to relay the message from this place. They won't be able to track us down here. It would really help me, and I can hide here'.

Chloe glanced from Agnes' pleading eyes to the frightened gait of Mummy Church.
'You will be here, but I will monitor your progress'.
Agnes jumped happily, while Mummy Church could only give a weak smile. She was definitely having an ulterior motive. Chloe too had her own ulterior motive. Immediately she got back to the public, she would tell the police. Agnes couldn't hide forever. She needed the strong hands of the authority, and with her money, she would ensure she got it. All she needed to know at that time was whether it was heaven or hell the woman saw.

5 Tests
Carl watched Diana walk away as if she was a robot. He was sure she was a robot because he couldnt understand how she could get such swift, strong, flawless body. They followed her sheepishly as they passed through so many doors that Carl had to rethink his plan. If he got the chance, he might just run away immediately, probably hide anywhere in the train till he got the chance to escape into the real world. Being the first in the queue gave him the utmost advantage of seeing things ahead before anyone else. The last door opened to the most beautiful park Carl had ever seen. He stopped in his track and the person behind him pushed into him and was going to complain, but had to stop when he noticed the reason Carl stopped. The beauty of the place was too much for him to easily comprehend and keep off his mind. The sky was dark but there were various colors of light beautifying the arena.
There were a lot of flying cars dotting the blank sky. They were not the size of any car he had ever seen. They were smaller, slimmer, longer, and swifter. People gasped and murmured as they swirled beautifully, orderly. They dropped gently a few feet away from the place the Peacelearners stood, with a hushed hum.
A big banner was draped in the sky as if it was printed there, created with beautiful calligraphy and various colors, and it read Welcome, Peacelearners to Etyes. The sight of that alone made one of the Peacelearners walk on, with his mouth agape. He didn't notice the others had stopped walking but he kept staring at the sky. Carl was one of the very few to see what was happening to the guy. He smiled. However, what he saw next wiped his smile away. The boy took another step forward, and the ground opened. The fall was extremely noiseless and fast. The only thing that made others aware of his fall was the way Carl screamed for him to stop, which wasn't as loud as the voice of the boy.
Seeing this, many of the Peacelearners' voices rambled as they huddled together, disregarding people's complaint that they were being squeezed and stepped on. Many of them whimpered and screamed as they tried to avoid being pushed forward. People avoided the place at all cost. Their wide eyes and continuous banters were enough to send fear into the mind of anyone there.
Diana brandished her hideous smile, and placed the P.A system in front of her mouth. 'Even when something fascinates you, never lose focus on your surroundings. You would be having more of this exciting experience. Where they have gone is a place no one has ever come out of. Well, no one the system is aware of'.
Carl stood still in the realization that their training had begun. The little seed of fear Diana planted in him had really grown into a huge tree within a few seconds of meeting him. He wouldn't wait to see it bear fruit. There was no way he wouldn't escape from that place. The problem now was how to find the right time to do so. It would be very irrational of him to follow through his plan of staying behind on the train. He would rather bid his time, make a perfect plan, and see that he followed it through. They couldn't be picked like stones, and dumped in an unknown place. They were humans for crying out loud. They ought to have a better means of punishing people, not just this gruesome method of passing instructions to them.
'Now, you know. The ground is a trap, from here to the place you will be dropped. Meanwhile by tomorrow you will not come near this place until after your fifth year here; by the time you would be going on a field trip or killing expedition', Diana said.
Carl loved that part: killing expedition. And the only person he had a desire to kill at the moment was Diana. She whispered into the button in her hand. Immediately, the cars moved towards them and dropped softly in front of them. Someone made a shout of admiration. Carl was also surprised, but he knew he had to keep his emotion in check, especially in a place like this.
'Your journey wouldn't take long. All you need to do is to cross this trap to the other side. But because we want you to have a good time as Peacekeepers, the cars have been made to travel very slowly. In fact, you would have the feeling you weren't moving, and the essence is for you to be acquainted with your mates. Remember, Peacekeepers are orderly'.
The car had no driver, but he had to comply, being the first. He cleared his voice and climbed into the first car, and was followed by another teenage girl. She slouched into the fairly comfortable chair, and stared at him as if he was a wonder of the world as the car rose and moved very gently. When Carl had tried to no avail to understand its movement, he had to assure himself he was hallucinating about its movement. Except the initial lifting, there was no movement of any sort. At least, when one was in a car, one would have the feeling it was moving. He swallowed hard as he tried to get his mind off the reality that looked like a virtual one.
Sensing the opportunity to talk to the girl with the hooded eyes, and extremely skinny body, he rubbed his hands expectantly. Normally his first thought about her would have been how she coped to survive the various wind that had ever passed by her, and he might have blurted it out to her, but they were instructed to discuss, not to castigate each other. He wouldn't want to be another scapegoat, so he flaunted a big smile.
'This will really take a long time', the girl said and glanced at him. 'Don't you think it ought to move faster?
'I think the first thing we need is an introduction. That should be the first thing. I'm Carl Cokers.
'I caught your name the other time. I'm Regina Matt, and for the record, I detest being flirt with. I hate guys who woo ladies on first meetings. I am not '
'Calm down, typewriter. For the record too, I have a girlfriend. I have ladies outside this place, wherever it might be now, that love me. So, I don't have time to dote over any lady'.
'But none of them is here. And you're a guyWon't you?'
'Calm down, typewriter Regina. Are you not a bit inquisitive about where we are? That should be the priority at this time'.
'I guess I know'.
'Good! That's what I need at the moment'.
'I guess it's a secret world with highly sophisticated weapons, and cool control system. The train that brought us is sleek, even if it didn't move at the time we woke, and their control system is dope. Who can believe that this thing is automated and can be controlled by people with the authority, of course? But it's still cool. From the way we or should I say I was kidnapped, I guess we would be trained to do something big. I mean, you know something big that the police can't do'.
'Government corruption?'
She stared at him with a big sneer. 'Are you for real? It's something like world-war, or a bigger war. The latest research shows that the world has begun to come to a certain scientific realization that would become more than the power of the world leader. The scientists or philosophers, who are suddenly missing now, claimed that people are beginning to come to a realization to the extent that factions would soon rise. There would be a whole lot of breakouts in the system of things'.
Carl stared at her. He followed the news regularly. Although if it were up to him, nothing like news would have ever existed. However, his overbearing mother always ensured he listened to the news. 'I've never seen that in any news'.
She observed him for a while and said, 'come nearer'.
Carl was skeptical about that, but he saw no reason he shouldn't move nearer. At least, he was stronger than she.
Moving very close to his ears, she whispered, 'I got it off the blacknet. Like the death and evaporation of people'.
Shocked, he withdrew. 'You knew about that?'
'Yes. But no one knows why? I think I was about getting to that when I met myself here'.
'Then, they should have recruited us instead of kidnapping us'.
She shrugged. 'The world doesn't need to know. It would disintegrate the system'.
Regina removed her shoe and fixed it in a hole. 'Just like they don't need to know that I brought my game box'.
'But I thought we...Didn't we all... We blacked out, right?'
'Yes, but I built my game in such a way that How do I explain this? I have a fake tooth. It's a remote control. So, the game sort of hovers over me till I call it out. I made it invisible. And both my tooth and my game have passed the cloaking tests of all time'.
Carl stared at her for some seconds and grinned. 'I love your joke. That's really good for this mood'.
He slouched back into the chair as she kept fiddling with her tooth. The information he gave her was too much. He had to make his plan very well. He needed this girl in escaping from this place, but he had to take his time. All he needed was to keep a low profile. She finally removed the front tooth, and dangled it before his eyes.
'I'm not giving you false information'.
He sat up. 'But... That's impossible. They would have made us go through a test, that's even if your claim is true. But... '.
'Not in this world. What are you? Were you born yesterday? Technology is our baby'.
'So, where is it? Where is the game?'
She dipped her hand into her mouth, and croaked as she removed the false tooth. There was no way he would be accosted by another member of that man's gang. Carl rose from his seat as he backed away from her, with his hand in front of him. There was no way he would allow her to put a filthy thing in his hand or mouth like that man.
'Don't try rubbish?'
'Hey, Calm down, Carl. Why are you acting weird? You're freaking me out'.
'Not the way you're freaking me out'.
'The game box is here', she said and pointed to her chest. 'Put your hand here'.
He licked his lower lips, hoping she was joking again. 'You're out of your mind'.
'Seriously'.

Carl stretched his hand slowly and she gave him a reassuring nod. He proceeded. Suddenly, she pulled his hand and slammed it on her breast.
'What?' He yelled as he snatched his hand and jumped back. 'Are you insane? Hope this place is not a mental facility? No wonder that guy was acting weird and Diana...'

Regina fell back, laughing hard as if she would burst from laughing. 'Sorry, I'm so sorry. I just wanted to have a feeling of your hand, that fine hand'.
She winked, sat up and pressed a bulging part of the fake tooth. A small box that had the same size as the battery of a small android phone appeared above her.

Carl hissed. 'What's all these?’
'Watch and see', she muttered as she flipped the grey phone-battery-size box in her hand. Then her eyes brightened as she saw a small button. 'Ah ah'.
Noiselessly, the box unwrapped and expanded. Three screens emerged from it as well as different pads. Carl had to curl up on the small chair in the car to avoid it ramming into him. The games began to hum.

'How did you do this?'
The car began to descend. Regina pressed the button, and the game wrapped itself immediately within the count of five. He glanced up and removed Regina's shoe, that was when he saw a small camera placed there.
'Your shoe. How did you see the camera?
She winked. 'Thanks'.

The car stopped and the door slid open. She sighed loudly as warm air gushed in. 'I love this place'.
Immediately, two of the soldiers rushed into the car to the camera. Regina threw a glance at Carl, who smiled and immediately made a straight face.
The sky was surprisingly dark at that time. He moved back as other cars began to drop with a thud near him. He moved near one of them and checked to see if his hair wasn't ruined, and luckily it was still as perfect as he had left it. He exhaled in relief.
Carl was captivated by Regina and felt like listening to her all day especially as she never ceased to talk, even when they climbed what looked like a hill. Within the few times they had spent together, she had divulged a chunk of information to him, one that he found intriguing.
'Carl'.

Perplexed, he looked sideways to see Fred running towards him. 'Freddy'.
They hugged amidst Fred's heavy pant. For some awkward reasons, Fred's glasses were gone.
'They brought you here. I'm so glad I'm not alone', Fred said as they separated.
'Yes. Me too'.
'Your glasses?'
'I don't know. I think those that brought us here did something to my eyes'.

Carl looked skyward for the first time. They were in a very large field. The road was plastered and was brightened in such glamorous way that still made Carl wish they were recruited into such exquisite arena, and not abducted. A replica of the banner that greeted them at the train landing area was draped in that area of Etyes, also. However, something else caught his attention. An enormous screen indicated: Peace Learners Gather Here. Other people looked about and wandered about in the field. Most of them seemed to be strangers to each other, and hadn't really connected with the others as he had connected with Regina. They moved about like zombies with no leader and no focus. Those whose eyes weren't focused on the unmoving train, walked towards the big screen, slowly, cautiously, while a very few others looked about, exploring.

'If I ever died here, and you escaped, help me take care of Weaver'.
'Well, only my mom knows how to take care of fishes'.
'How I wish Sonia was here?'
Carl shut his eyes and gasped. 'Not again. By the way, Freddy, meet Regina. She's good'.
Regina stared at Fred for a while, transfixed. 'I know you'.

'I'm not sure. I've never left ourour side of the world. Okay, except the day we did that dreadful earth tour'.
'I've never left Ghana also', Regina said.
'You never said you were from Ghana', Carl interrupted her, spinning to face her.
'Yes', she said as she lowered her voice to a whisper. 'I sort of hacked into the exam board's website, and I saw the face of the person with the highest score, you?'
'Yes, you scored 499. Who scores 499 out of 520?'
Fred's face was smeared with a big smile. Carl looked at the sky as he tried to avoid laughing at Fred. Maybe later in life, but ever since he met him, Fred didn't know how to handle criticism and praises.

'I'm Fred and it's nice to meet you, despite the ridiculousridiculous way they brought us with the usage of Xfinus syrup to sedate us, which according to Professor Jones McWidell has caused the memory loss of over 2000 people and the way...'
Carl's mind wandered off again as he marveled at the way the two of them could bond on a level beyond his. He still wondered what he was doing there. Maybe there were others that were like him, but for now, he was the only one that wasn't really a nerd. There must be something else that made him one of the chosen ones. He looked around and at the screen. That was when he saw some very terrifying words on the screen.
'Erm... Geeks'.
The two of them kept discussing nonchalantly.
'Geeks, we have a situation'.
The screen read: 30 SECONDS TO BE WITHIN THE CLOSING WALL.

The seconds began to countdown. Without any logical explanation, a glass wall materialized from the sky, and gradually slid down. Carl ran and heard Fred grunting behind him like a mad pig. Although he wasn't one of the fastest runners, he had an edge over Fred. Despite looking for a way to escape, he preferred to be within the wall and its tyrannous rules than to be outside to know what would happen to those that didn't make it into the wall. Still panting, he ran into the circle, shifted back to avoid those dashing toward him as he fixed his gaze on the two geeks racing into the circle.
Immediately they were within the range of the falling glass, Regina turned to a panting Fred, and they burst into laughter. She held her knees to support herself.
'I told you we would get here withinwithin the next 12 seconds. We made it'.

'Yea', Regina said excitedly as she stood straight and raised her hand for a high-five. Fred gave her a heavy one that made her stagger and chuckle. People ran in from different directions.
'Where are those ones from?' Carl asked.
'There are other trains or the thing that looked like it. I think the train was continental', Fred said.
'Yes. I noticed we were mostly blacks in the compartment of our train. They seemed to pick people from different countries; I could hear the accent of other countries'.

'Yes. How come I never noticed that? You're good, Regina', Fred stated as if he was thinking.
'You too', she said and blushed.
They exchanged glances. Carl shook his head at them and turned to watch in horror as the wall closed off. People ran into it and hit the wall. When the wall was firmly locked, the people outside kept hitting it, while a few others tried to make sure their noses were pressed against the glass.
***
Diana watched the whole sides alongside other yellow-uniform supervisors. She only smiled when she saw Carl entered the circle. He was extraordinarily attractive, maybe because she always loved calm people. She clicked some buttons and the computer printed the information.
People within the wall:148
People outside the wall:243
Competition rate:91%
Chances of those to finish the program:15



Diana smiled. The number of people, who made it to the circle this year was 65 more than last year's, and only 5 of the last ones got to the end. But this year there was an extra person.
'Peacetrackers, who is the extra one and from where?'

The computer printed the information, and she smiled grandly. She had totally forgotten about Joyce Felix, the girl who had several factors that brought her down there.
'Peacetrackers, did she make it to the wall?'
The computer printed her information on the screen. Diana shook her head.
'Okay. Plunge those outside the wall into the trial room, and push those within the wall into the welcome room'.

A rectangular wall cut out of the round wall, and began to close in on those within the walls. A door at the far end opened. The Peacelearners hurriedly filed into the welcome room, some other people of their age range or a bit higher were waiting for them.
Meanwhile, the ground had parted ways under those outside the wall. They were plunged into a soft ground, into a thick darkness. No one had ever returned from that place.

Diana smiled. This was the life she wanted for her protégé, but the naughty girl chose a different company-man-like path. She placed her hand over her mouth and stared at the computer screen. 'Why do I still love her?'
No one needed to tell her that her Protégé was her weakness. She knew. But it was a secret.

queenitee:
Thanks for inviting me. The place of no return, Hmmm.

Yes. the place of no return

Godwinfury:
The starting point and storyline is great, but Divepen, I think the word "Computer" should be given a name cause it's an Artificial intelligence, and it shouldn't be just called "Computer".

Yes, there were some artificial intelligence that were given names in the a story. But the world leaders want it to remain computer since the same computer is being used everywhere in the world.

HORLADSTAR:
present sir

You're so welcome

4 The Place of No Return
Carl opened his eyes sluggishly, and took a long time to understand that he wasn't in Joyce's place. He tried to accustom his eyes with the thick darkness he was in. His eyes fluttered as he rolled his neck, trying to figure out where he was. At least if one was in a dark place, there was no way the darkness would be so thick, but the place seemed impenetrable by any ray of light, making him assume he was finally dead. One of those philosophy teachers in his school once theorized that when they died that everything might be dark and they might remain in the darkness of the abyss, useless and for nothing. But how could he be dead?
All he remembered was that he was coming out of Joyces house to get ready for his own part of the plan. He was being careful to check if the street was empty, when he saw a head materialize out of the air. He was so stunned that he couldnt shout before the man covered his mouth. The man wore one of those chameleon types of uniform. They had a bit of struggle, but before he could get hold of himself, another head materialized and stabbed him with a syringe. Whatever was in the syringe made him lose consciousness immediately, but not before he saw the other man putting on a sort of cap that made him become invisible. His fear now was that the uniformed men he witnessed the other time later saw him after they killed the old man. If it were so, he had to find a way to escape from the place he was.
With every part of his body blaring an alarm, he decided to stand, but was stopped by something that held him down. The thing was metallic. It held him in place. There was also metal chains holding his hands and legs firmly to the chair. Staring about to check for any ray of light, or anything to help him know what part he was sitting on, he was sure he might finally meet his demise in this place. The thought of being there was infuriating on its own. His eyes roamed in its socket as he hoped his eyes would blend with the darkness. Everything was silent.
He wondered what could have happened, and why they must have wanted him. He wasnt from a wealthy family. He wasnt exceptionally brilliant. He wasnt a geek like Fred. So, he was so sure the person that kidnapped him would see his worthlessness and return him to help Joyce. There was no way she would even believe anything he told her, but he would still give it a trial. She must have been expecting him. No one could tell him how many hours he had been out. If he had been gone for long, then someone other than him must have gone to her rescue, and that meant they would have alerted the police.
Suddenly, someone yelled, where am I?
Carl almost jumped out of his skin, and might have probably jumped out of the metal chair if the metals didnt hold him in place. He never assumed anyone was there with him.
Who is there?' Another voice yelled.
Where are we?’ Another voice shouted. He would have calmly watched them scream and not flinch, but the darkness was making him falter in his calmness. Everything made him edgy. The noise retrogressed to murmur, then sprung into a full-fledged hysteria. Noises diffused into the dark hole or room or whatever they were in. Carl was very sure the people in the place were insane because they were all getting on his nerve. He held his breathe with a little assurance that the humanity ingrained into them would soon resurface, but none of them seemed to waver. He was so annoyed and vexed now and was sure that the frustration was getting to the 100% of his breaking point. He assumed he would keep his emotions together until a lady began to shriek. That was the crux of the whole matter.
He screamed, Shut up! Shut up! Shut your trap! Shut your trap! Shut it!
Everywhere became silent. He cleared his voice as he tried to stabilize his voice. He still always wondered why humans have to behave like chickens whenever they are in terrible situations. They all kept quiet as if they were expecting an instruction. He wasn't the speech-giver type of guy. He never loved climbing the podium to address people. He was always the background type of guy. There was no way they were getting any word from him again, other than for him to yell, if they mistakenly reverted to their former noise.
Someone got tired of waiting and shouted, 'where are
The light came up, making the person's voice fade. Carl closed his eyes, and tried opening it again, slowly this time. His eyes widened in surprise as he glanced about in surprise. Like he suspected, they were in a train-like vessel. The top was rigged with strong black metals that stretched from the place he was to the end. There were several air ducts under every fifth seat. The air ducts looked more like an exhibition than a real thing. Their chair was made from the same type of silver metals held them in place. Everyone in the place wore the same grey silver uniform that had semblance with swimming trunks; and the color stretched down the line until what looked like the end of the train, which looked as if one was staring at a tiny bird in the sky.
He could see the same look on almost everybody in the room. They all looked surprised, and he was sure he wore the same look too. The people that were shouting seemed too shocked to utter a sound. Before anyone could make a comment about where they were and before Carl could try to fathom what that place was, the door beside him slid open. Despite the silence with which the door opened, most people glanced towards the door, and those that didnt see the door open were informed by their neighbors or they noticed what everyone was doing, and did the same.
A young lady strutted in. She was wearing the same uniform as theirs, only that hers was red. She was followed by two people with the yellow uniform. They held guns and looked fierce. The lady was slim and could pass for a model. Her curves weren't too pronounced but she definitely had a shaped that a lot of women would kill for. Only that she had an unusual gait and balance that would make anyone continually scared of her. And despite her beautifully packed blond hair, something was eerie about her. She had a diamond shaped face, which looked like that of a robots. And her eyes were very tiny, black, lifeless; another reason to be afraid of her. Someone whimpered in front of Carl. He hurriedly glanced at the fearful person, and back at the lady.
Good morning, my name is Diana, and I welcome you to Etyes, the home of Peacemakers, she said into a public address system.
Then, she pointed a remote control at them. Let's start with the first lesson to peacekeeping. We follow the pattern of the ants, not the rowdy ones. But the workers among them. They move in a straight line. Even when an intruder tries to scatter them, they are known to always return to their initial positions. In that regard, youd follow me orderly. The person at my She shook her head as she dangled her hands as if she was weighing the idea. Okay. The person on my left should come first'.
She pressed the button, and the chains holding them in place slid off and disappeared into the chairs as if they weren't there initially. Carl sighed and brushed his hair as others murmured and rose. He rolled his wrist, and rose to follow her. He hoped the hair wasn't ruined.
Suddenly, someone screamed from the end row. Why are we here? Why did you kidnap us from our place, you nincompoops?
Diana rolled her eyes as if she was dealing with another insolent little child, and that she knew just the right way to show her power. She turned towards them, and Carl couldnt help but hold his breath. Diana stared at the wall and said. Computer, who spoke?
She stared at a point not visible to any of them and sighed. Take the offender to the punishment room.
Immediately, person shrieked, and her voice faded, but was soon substituted by a brief shout of surprise mingled with fear. Then, the noise transformed into silence.
Now, lets go, Diana turned and the guards moved sideways, out of reach. The Peacelearners followed her out of the train and kept going. The place that led outside looked just like the place they had just left. The only difference, this time, was that there wasn't any chair there. Diana didnt look back, but nobody dared do anything stupid. Or so did Carl think until someone came out of nowhere, and overtook him. His movement was so silent that it surprised Carl.
Whats this? Carl whispered. The guy turned and gave him an icy look as if he was daring him to do his worst. Carl gritted and wished to land a heavy punch on his stiff back, but he only stared and hissed. The guy moved on majestically, but didnt get to move far before an alarm blared. Carl hurriedly looked at his feet and brushed the dust that might have stained his silver cloth.
Diana turned and her dark small eyes scanned the room as if she had a laser in them. She raised her hand, and everyone stopped. Carl felt his heart pound so hard that he could feel the warmth of the fear in his mouth.
Diana looked up and said, Computer, what happened?
A robots voice replied, Peacelearner with the code number 7429 swapped places with Peacelearner 7428. Body temp showed that that Peacelearner 7428 was angry, but controlled his anger immediately. Meanwhile, Peacelearner 7429 was ready to fight if 7428 decided to pick one.
Diana stared at the stern looking guy for a few seconds, then her face cracked into a phony smile. She stroked his chin. I like your guts.
Immediately, her face reverted to the form it was as her eyes roamed to Carl. He was sore afraid the moment she pointed at him. She brought the P.A system to her mouth and said. 'Peacelearners, learn from this and let it be planted in your consciousness because this lesson would be used to punish people till the last days in this place. Young man, what is your name?
Different television screens shot out of the wall. They made sounds like that of a marching army. Carl glanced at them. The Television screen spread from where he was to the far end, where the Peacelearners might be. One of the screen was also at their side, so Carl could see himself from the corner of his eyes. The screen showed Diana as she placed the P.A system in front of Carls mouth. Stuttering, Carl said, CarlCarl Cokers.
People, be like Carl Cokers. He is the epitome of a true Peacemaker. Peacemakers dont fight in the public. They mingle with everyone and are never controlled by their emotions or overzealousness. They are controlled by their need for peace. And as for Whats your name?' She asked with her phony smile and placed the mic in front of 7429.
Jeremy Jephthah.
I want you to remember Jeremy Jephthah, the name. I want you to remember it and this lesson attached to him, she said as she stepped back, and glanced up. Computer, dump Jeremy Jephthah in the punishment room.
Immediately, an iron shoe pierced its way out of the ground and held Jeremy's feet to the ground. A laser drew a square shape around his feet, and the ground under him parted into two. He yelled as he dropped into the hole, while frantically trying to hold on to something. His noise kept reducing as if he was still going to a very far place. Carl swallowed hard as he watched the ground close, and become normal as if nothing had happened there. The lasers brushed over the place Jeremy fell and continually did so, to and fro, until there wasn't a crack on the floor anymore.
For the first time, Carl knew there was someone he was afraid of and a place he wanted to leave at all cost. His eyes batted repeatedly as others gawked at Diana. She winked at him and turned. Lets keep moving, Peacelearners.
If no one was afraid after the first encounter, they became afraid after this one.
***
Joyce kept moving the moment she entered Carls street. She was supposed to be angry at him, and was supposed to never confront him. But she needed him to be bold enough to present the truth to her that he ran with his tail between his legs. He had left for over three hours, and hadn't returned to check her. She wasnt supposed to demand an explanation from him.
She had lived alone for years, and had lived in different orphanage homes. Or where did he think she got the name Felix from? She could live without him. She would make him know that even the most invisible part of life worth more to her than he.
The crazy paintings made by Grousters, defacing the walls, only aggravated her anger at everything. Why do the people, who were meant to be close to her, always run away from her? The only way she would believe Grousters' claim would be if their invisible thing could find her parents. They kept disturbing her to join their team, but she had a better life to live than to fool herself with the dream of a man, Groust Fleming. The world had turned upside down since the man published a fiction based on his dreams. The world leader had him killed, and banned the book from existence. The world leader's foolish act aggravated some lovers of the book, who saw deeper meaning to the book, and the act.
Joyce turned sharply from going to Carl's house before her emotion took over, but her thought of Carl disappeared immediately because she saw someone scrambling to hide at the back of a house. That was curious. Something was certainly wrong because that was the second time she would be noticing such movement. She wrapped her sweater around her body, and knew it was time to show her evasion skills.
She moved into a corner, and waited patiently to see if the person would come after her. But nothing happened. So, she moved into another part of the road, and made sure no one was following her. She entered another crescent that would make it nearly impossible for the person to move unnoticed.
Just as she turned two streets away from her house, someone came out of the shadows, and pushed something hard into her ribs. She groaned as she noticed that it was a gun.
If youre cooperative, nothing would happen.' The man growled into her ear. He pulled her back into the shadow. Within a few seconds, a black sedan drove up, and parked five feet away. Someone opened the door, the man pushed her into the car and the car drove off.
What do you want from me?
Someone is watching you, Joyce Felix.
Of course. Were you not the one watching me?'
The man raised his gun to show her he didnt plan to harm her, then he slowly dropped it. I'm here to help you, but I also need your help.
And you expect me to believe you, a man with the Smiths.
Hey! Look, I'm the good guy here.
Joyce nodded sarcastically. I believe you. A good guy who abducted me at gun point.
We dont have time. Im a P.I
Private Investigator?
Joyce calmed a bit. She should have known. She had always wanted to be a Private Investigator herself, and had only one company in mind, Blanj. They had branches worldwide. Although compared to the map of the previous world, she would call it countrywide. The whole worlds population had shrunk to the size of a country. Their teachers had shown them how other places of the world looked like. And they have been taken in planes to sightsee the other parts of the world. It was desolate, and was looking terrible that it would take a very great resource to rebuild it. The only thing that surpassed the former world was their sophisticated level of technology.
I work for Blanj.
She held her breathe. His statement piqued her interest. She sat straight and tried to figure out if he was lying. She glanced at his hand and sighted the small signature on the smallest time ticker of his wristwatch. She knew it anywhere. She had always dreamt of having one. Everything in her mind and body was ignited as she watched him with awe.
What What do you want from me? She asked after trying hard to conceal her happiness. 'Just mention it... I mean you could have just asked'
Were recruiting you.
Me?
And you have to start your work immediately.
She blushed and sat up. That implied they had been watching her for long, and they must have noticed the training and drilling she had subjected herself to.
Weve been following a series of kidnapping around the world and we've discovered a pattern. They take two people from each country'.
She bit her lower lip as she tried to show how excited she was about the case. The case had been included in the numerous unsolved kidnappings. If she could be the one to come out with the real information, Blanj would make the world know she did it. So, how does that concern me? I mean I can do it But why me?'
We dont know their criteria for picking people, and where they are taking these people to. And we think youre the next from Nigeria.
Whoa Whoa... Me? I'm the next?
Yes. A boy that came out of your house today was the first.
Carl? Wait Did Carl send you to plead on his behalf?
On what or whose behalf Who is Carl? The man stared at her for some seconds. The boy Carl? He was kidnapped by some mysterious uniformed men, one of those watching you. Our investigation made us know they are not in any organization and they are only found at every disappearance. But the problem is that we always meet a dead-end as to where they go'.
That means you want me to spy on them? Allow myself to be kidnapped, Joyce lamented. Her heartbeat raced faster and she exhaled loudly.
Yes. We will plant a signal into your body. It has been known to work anywhere. Even in dead ends, the signal is always strong. You will activate it only when you are fully into the system.
Joyce stared at his black mouth and felt like ramming her fist into it. 'Thats callous. Instead of protecting me, youre sending me into their den. No
I thought you always wanted to be a spy, to work with us. Remember. Only when you're into the system.
But not without proper training or backup. What if What if they want to kill me... to kill all the children?'
Why? Who kills children irrationally? The law of the world, this berserk world, even commands us to be married to populate the world. We have men around the world ready to help you. All I need is your consent.
Let me think about it.
You dont have that luxury. It is either now or never. If you step outside this car, that's the end for all of us.
She stared at the dark, well-trimmed P.I. In a case like this, she loved the odds to be in her favor. No matter what, those people might still come for her. She gave him a curt nod with pinched lips.
'This would be painful', he said as he opened a small black case, and injected something into her body. She groaned as the pain surged through her body, and subsided in a little second.
'You're jumping down in 5, 4, 3'
Joyce was perplexed but braced herself.
'Go'.
The car stopped and she came out of the car, and headed home with trepidation. As she began to climb the staircase towards her the door, her phone rang to show Carl's mum trying to reach her. If that man was right about the disappearances, then it wasn't right for her to pick the call. The moment she inserted her key into its hole, still staring at the ringing phone, the expected pain came and she blacked out.



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Chapter 4

First Touch on the Hot Gate
Gladys, as well as Matthew, waited patiently for Japheth at the door. His compound was beautifully adorned with various flowers and had about three palm trees; yet, the compound was neat. The dry leaves that were supposed to litter the ground had been packed to a side of the house. The flower that first caught her fancy was the bird of paradise. It was well-trimmed and the arrangement was beautiful. He had placed the Bird of paradise beside the Ixora flower. When she was younger, she used to make garlands from them to her mother's chagrin, but to her drunk father's joy. According to him, it made her look like Indian ladies. He loved to watch a lot of Indian movies because of their beautiful women. Her mother always ensured that she never stayed with him alone. Those days, she always cried to stay with him, but her mother never allowed it. She wouldn't tell her why either.
Japheth said he was coming, but she could hear the way he was running about in the house. She shrugged. Despite the neat, beautiful compound, Japheth must have a disorderliness issue. If God made them be together, she would make sure he became better.
'If God...'She muttered.
With a recently dried face and a big smile, he opened the door. They stepped in. His apartment portrayed wealth. Although he dressed well, his clothes never depicted him as someone with such great wealth. He must be a lover of flowers because a purple heart flower laid in a vase on the beautifully designed center-table. Her heart bubbled.
'Come in'.
'Thanks', Matthew said, limping into the room. Gladys felt for him, and wondered why God had refused to heal him. Even her, she had prayed about her ear to no avail. She had the power she desired, but it wasn't enough to heal anybody. It only helped her bring things to pass, and not to do some divine things. That meant she needed more in-depth knowledge of God. And one of the ways to do that was to fellowship with the right Christians.
She was surprised as she entered the parlor. It was neater than a recently cleaned room. He wasn't rough after all. His large stereo players stood at the four corners of the room and his air conditioner was also placed in a corner, but he didn't put it on, probably for the little cold that still lingered around from yesterday's rain.
'You have a good taste in flowers', she said aloud before she could stop herself.
'I wish. My friend, a female, did all this'.
'Oh!' She said and made a face.
'No', he said, laughing. 'She's just my friend'.
If he wasn't rough, then something was wrong. There was only one way to know. She had to learn not to close her eyes to things regarding him. While he went to get them refreshments, she controlled her spirit, and navigated it through the house. She felt alive. It was exciting. Using the gift of the 'holy spirit' like that was deep and exciting. Then, she saw what he was hiding and held her breath. She became sullen.
She felt irritated even when he returned. Matthew did most of the talking, giving her a chance to remove herself from the pile of irritation that was forming in her head. After a while, they decided to leave him.
'Thanks for the visit', Japheth said excitedly as he waved to them and turned towards the house.
The seed of anger had been planted in her, and she felt he must see what she saw: how disgusting his actions were. The second annoying thing was that when he saw them, he should have told them about his sins, for them to pray with him. Even James said that they should confess their sins one to another.
'Sister Gladys, I'm happy that God wants to use that Bro. Japheth. I feel he should be a member of the Bible Study unit for a starter'.
'Ehen?'
'Yes. He looks excited to do something for God'.
'Hmm', she said absentmindedly, and her mind wandered off the thought of him. She had imagined that with his sullen look, that he would be a person without any sin. And even if there would one, it would be something that wasn't really deep.
'Wait. When did he become a Christian?'
'It's hard to say. I think he said in his final year in school. He only rededicated his life last month'.
She scoffed. Japheth was playing them. How will someone whose life just got rededicated be sent to the most vital part of the church? It's not done. It's not proper and should be kicked against like an infested plant.
'That's not right'.
'What?'
'Him. He's a new convert. You can't just put him in front of the church to teach them. How will you allow a baby feed babies? It's like asking a cub to feed its fellow cub. It has to either get its food from lions with strong teeth'.
Matthew glanced at her, shrugged and continued ranting about how exciting it was to have people return to Christ, especially in this perverse generation. Matthew was a tree; he wouldn't stop howling until the wind of excitement died down.
When she was sure Matthew was out of sight, after they had said their goodbyes, she returned to Japheth's house. When a child is sick, herbs can resuscitate him. Japheth needed spiritual herbs. But before she would first present the heat of the herb to him, let him soak the aroma into his olfactory lobe. Then, she would later point him towards the right spiritual herbs he needed to reshape his shape-shifting life.
She knocked, waited and they exchanged pleasantries, and he asked to know if all was well.
'Bro. Japheth, the lord is telling me that you've committed the sin of fornication. You've sinned against God and yourself'.
He looked down. 'Will God go about telling people what I've done?'
She was trying not to explode. Despite the hold on her fear, she had to spit it out. She couldn't explain what was wrong with her. What he did disgusted her.
'While I was here earlier, the Lord showed me how you have turned your room to Sodom and Gomorrah, how the ways of the heathen still embody your way of life. You brought a LovePeddler to your house, to soak in the goodness of her being. You better pray to God for forgiveness and cleansing', she said and walked away. The relief of saying that was good. It was really good. She felt good.
She had begun to hope something would happen between him and her. But there he was, defiling the temple of God. That was the problem with choices. When she was looking for the perfect husband, he came out to be a whoremonger.
She hissed. At least, even if God would have said no to his request of asking her hand in marriage, Japheth should have made her have reasons to go to God to know if he was the right person for her. Now, nothing in the world would make her love him the way she intended to do. She froze. She had never acted like that before. There was a sort of edge on being the one to bear the truth, to be a prophet of doom, angry and holy. The feeling was exciting but bad, extremely bad. She walked home. Why did she even allow Matthew talk her into walking to Japheth's place? She couldn't cope with the journey from his place to her home. When she got home, she met Elizabeth in the house watching TV. She rubbed her little friend's hair.
'Have you gone inside to check on your mother?'
Elizabeth nodded and gestured at her own clothes. She was putting on something different from what she was wearing earlier. Gladys slumped dejectedly beside Elizabeth and drew her closer.
'What happened?'
'She vomited everywhere in the house, on the bed.
'Yuck'.
'Don't worry. I've cleaned it up'.
Gladys sighed as she stared at nothing and rubbed the unplaited hair of Elizabeth. 'This life knows how to throw things that are not deserving at us. We suddenly love them and want them to become better. We would use all our energy on them and hope they would love us in return. You know you should follow me to church tomorrow'.
'Will she allow me?'
'She will. After that, you'll plait your hair for school'.
'Okay. My Daddy didn't deserve my mummy. She is in this mess because of him. He left her alone'.
'I know Baby. I know'.
She fixed her gaze on the movie playing in the TV. Life was the real movie and movies were wrong about life. At least, most things in movies have logical explanations, but life has an illogicality planted in it. You have to watch this illogicality grow without much access to change how it was doing. They all were part of the stunted growth.
That evening, she made sure Elizabeth was safe, and tried to enter their house, but Elizabeth told her it was inadvisable. The next day she would visit her mother after service. Stella would have equipped her with enough word of God that would last her for the week. She would equip her beauty with the clothes that were delivered to her mother.
***
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vickyluvspices:
i no vex again.

ehen... Popcorn is coming

vickyluvspices:
though Divepen1 didnt invite me but i go kukuma find seat for myself .

Don't kuma vex, I'm inviting everyone... oh! And Slimberry

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3 Deserted in the Quagmire


Carl stumbled out of the bush after he had confirmed that the men were gone and that the drone had gone into hiding. He had never seen that type of Uniform before. The men's uniforms had the pattern of a chameleon's skin. Its color changed to that of anything near it. And these men were not only Nigerians, there were also Europeans among them.

The first thing on Carl's mind was to spit the filthy micro card from his mouth. Even the thought of it being there made him feel like puking. He spat it out, and hurriedly wiped his mouth. That man should have given him the choice of accepting it with something neater. Carl dusted his clothes to rid it of any dust or soot he must have encountered in the bush.
With trepidation, he bent to touch the ground. After the uniformed men shot the old man, they searched his body and were angry that they found nothing. So, they poured a liquid substance on him, which immediately melted his corpse to become dust. The uniformed men scattered the sand with their feet, and scrambled off.

Whatever the man wanted Joyce to know must have been a very vital information or else he wouldnt have been killed for it. And whatever was wrong with Joyce could be worse, so he rose to leave but first he had to hide his micro card. He peeled a small hole from the sole of his shoe and hid the micro card there. Joyce had always wanted to be a detective and one of her goals was to haunt him with security tips. She built that small hole herself, and ensured she did it in all of his shoes.
The moment he knocked on Joyce's door, she rushed to the door, looked both sides and dragged him into the dim room. For some absurd reason, she had all her windows locked and the window blinds pulled down. Joyce wouldnt have raised all the window blinds; yet, she was an advocate of good ventilation.
'What's happening, J?' He asked the moment she locked the door.
'I'm in trouble...'
'Calm down'.

Joyce walked up and down the room as her hand vibrated vigorously. 'No, you don't understand. I was just returning from work, and I saw Mrs. Jefferson who was singing that I didn't belong in this generation because I got support from the government. Was it my fault that I lost my parents at childbirth?'
'So, what happened?' He asked and wished to hold her down, but she explained things better whenever she was in that state, and his imagination was still filled with the dead man's red eyes. He removed the micro card from his shoe, gently placed it on the arm of the chair, and waited for her to finish talking before giving her.

'But I overlooked her rant like a rest on a musical tone, and entered the house, and he knocked, and I opened the door'.
'Who's the 'he'?'
'Matthias... You know him'.
'Matthias, what does he wants from you?'
She had told Carl about Matthias' numerous advances, and she had warned him several times to stay off her, but he was adamant and kept coming again.

'He started by deceiving me into allowing him to enter my house. I saw nothing harmful about it'.
He watched her carefully, and held his breath as he began to deduce what she would say. He was sure Joyce had finally broken her faithfulness, and had slept with Matthias. Carl gritted.
'Then, he made an advance towards me, this time he came right at me. I pushed him away and I think that made him upset...'

'So...?'
'He came towards me and tried to rape me'.
'What?'
'Yes. I fought him. And while we were at the struggling stage, I grabbed my trumpet. You know that new one you gave me on my birthday. I was rehearsing with it before he came. I hit his head with it'.
'That's good. The idiot deserved more than that... How come nobody came to your rescue?'
'In this area? You know how Mrs. Jefferson had poisoned the heart of many after her son was taken to prison because he tried to rob me. So, I didn't cry out'.

'Then, you're good to go. Wherever Matthias would be now, he would learn to never try rubbish with you'.
'Carl, he's dead'.
Carl froze as if he had just been hit on the face with a plank. He blinked several times and swallowed hard.
'The trumpet... I don't know. He just stopped breathing. I tried different methods, but he was dead. I'm in serious trouble'.
'Where's his body?'
She pointed at her room and whispered, 'he's in the wardrobe'.
Carl was perplexed.


***
Joyce stared at Carl as he made the plan as if he was merely eating, as if he was writing another song like Kenny G. He always made plans with such calmness that she always wished to be him, to have the same confidence he had. That would make her one of the best detectives in the world because she had all the tactics needed to be exceptional. She looked at him and nodded after he asked her if she understood him.
'Good, let the plan begin'.

They carried Matthias corpse into the parlor, laid him roughly on the ground and Carl went out. After about five minutes, she screamed. That was the plan. She screamed again and began to scatter the chairs in the room. Then, she tore the cloth she wore. She screamed for help. Then, someone barged in. It wasn't Carl. It was supposed to be Carl. The plan was that he would pretend to be in the estate when the rape began, and would claim to witness the person being hurt, that he fought with the person and that person whom he would later discover to be Matthias crashed to the floor at a shove from him.
Mrs. Jefferson trailed the steps of the person that entered.

'I didn't want to come but...' Mrs. Jefferson said and looked down. 'You've killed him. Is that not Mr. Paul's son? Is that not Matthias? Help! Joyce Felix has killed Mr. Paul's son'.
Joyce's eyes dashed to the door, and she realized what had happened: Carl ran away. He left her to face the music herself, even with a bad plan.
'Mrs. Jefferson, it was a mistake. He tried to rape me, and I hit him on the head with my trumpet', she cried and knew she sounded like a broken record, but she couldn't do better than that at the moment.
'Shut up! Hey you, what are you waiting for? Call the police. Call them'.

The gentleman that came in first scrambled out of the house and returned almost immediately as he fished out his phone from his pocket and dialed the police. Joyce felt the world crumbling under her feet. Carl had just deceived her and had hung her out to dry. He must be in a corner, laughing at her foolishness. If she had stuck to her own plan, maybe the police wouldn't be involved.
The police came in, took her statement but refused to arrest her despite Mrs. Jefferson's incessant rant that she killed the man. For some unexplainable reason, the police felt bad for her and assured her they wouldn't press charges.

Joyce took her phone and deleted Carl's number. Nothing in the world would ever make her know him again. Whatever love they shared was over that instant and had got to its place of rest. No verse of it would ever be revisited. And from that day, her heart was locked away from every man. No one would ever get the chance to cross that line with her again.

She stormed to the frames that held the picture of the two of them and tore the pictures, and also deleted all his pictures from her phone.
'Carl, we are done', she whispered as she crawled into her bed, tears streaming down her eyes. 'We are so done'.

2 The Filthy Micro Card

Carl looked about him to check for any sign of struggle and found none. Maybe Sonia had really made Fred angry. But if it was so then Fred has just confirmed his belief. How would he leave like that? Carl hurried off to Joyce's house.

'Are you leaving me here?, Sonia called after him. He turned his head sideways and hissed.
Joyce rarely called whenever she was in trouble, no matter what might have happened. She always had a way to solve it. That means if she called him, she was indeed in big trouble. The estate she lived in was made specially for people the government decide to sponsor. They got their stay at this estate because the government had brought harm their way, one way or another. The process of getting such house was a grueling one. Yet, he was surprised at the ease with which Joyce got hers.
Just as he got to a street before her estate, someone rushed out of a bush. The man was bald and his skin was wrinkled. He looked pale as if he hadn't eaten for days. The oversized blue, worn polo he wore made him look like a skeleton. And his eyes, big ones, were red as if he hadn't slept in days.
'We're not alone in this world', the man whispered as he firmly held Carl's shoulder. The man glanced around, looking skyward. Carl wriggled out of his filthy touch. The man was panting heavily, and Carl had to cover his nose from the man's foul breath.
'We are not alone', the man said louder this time. From Carl's look, one could fathom that he would give anything in the world to scramble away from this man's presence. He was in trouble with another Grousters. Many of them always looked as if they were searching for the thing that was living with the humans on earth.

The man dug his fingers into his own mouth, and rolled it, making his eyes bulge. Carl looked away hurriedly as the man groaned as if he would pour out vomit anytime. The man groaned irritatingly.
'What's...What's all this?' Carl asked as he retreated from the man. However, the man's firm grip held him in place.
'Leave me, old man', Carl said as he yanked the man's hand off his arm and tried to leave but the lanky mans grip returned to his cloth. Carl yelled as he stained his cloth. The man vomited a micro card.
'Take'.

Upon seeing it, Carl gasped for breath. It was really irritating especially when the man pointed it at him. The micro card was covered with spittle. A security drone flew over their head. The robots were in color and they had a way of flying by without one noticing them, but this one was too conspicuous, as if it was reckless pursuing something.
'Leave me' Carl shouted as he pulled his arm away from the man's. The security drone honed on them. The man glanced up and back at the Carl.

'Shut up! They will kill you. They will kill us both. Give this chip to Joyce Felix. When the time comes, those that would tutor her on how to use it would get it'.
Carl batted his eyes and took a quick glance at the part of his cloth the man gripped. It was stained already. There was no way he wouldn't unleash his madness on the man. He would beat the man until the only thing people would see would be his grey hair. Suddenly, twigs began to break on the path that led from the bush as heavy feet hurriedly landed on the ground. Carl opened his mouth to shout. But, as if the man had anticipated it, he pushed the micro card into Carl's mouth, covered it and pushed him into the bush.

'Hide', the man whispered. 'Give it to Joyce Felix'.
Carl was angry. His cloth was stained and his body might have been scratched. Whoever the man thought he was, he had no right to push him into such messy place and to ram that filthy chip into his mouth. Carl rose to accost the man, but the man was faster. He pushed Carl further into the bush and covered the part of the bush. Stay put.
The moment was like a dream. That action was definitely insulting. He must show the man what stuff he was made of. As he began to fight his way out of the bush, someone shouted, 'stop'.
Carl froze, but as he looked around, he saw the order wasn't for him. He looked through the thickets of the bush and saw three men pushing the lanky man to the floor. The man tried to rise on his feet, but one of them kicked him in the mouth. The man groaned, and that seemed to aggravate his assailants' anger because the three of them took turns to hit him with their heavy boots. He groaned, and when he tried to scream, the only sound that came out of his mouth was like the croak of a frog. Blood poured from his wounded lips.

'You're an enemy of the land, the world and its leaders', the tallest among them said with a guttural voice said. His hand gripped the gun he was holding as if it was a pillow.
'Your leader is making a grave mistake. We are not alone in this world. All Grousters know this and would prove it'.
The shortest one, who hadn't made any sound since they caught up with the man, cocked his gun, and stood firm, and said, 'It's no longer news but nobody must know because a little knowledge would be the foundation for World war 4 or its equivalent. Even your founder, Groust, is dead and would remain so'.
He shot the old man in the head. It took Carl a great effort to stay sane. He batted his eyes repeatedly. The drone gradually rose into the sky. The world seemed to spin around him as he watched blood splash to the ground and the only thing that kept him from screaming was the filthy micro-card.

1 Opposite Love


Fred was stupid. Carl always knew, but he could never believe his stupidity would be heightened to this state. He was ranting about a girl that would never love him. Carl looked around with the hope that he would find anything or anyone that could be stupider that Fred. There was nothing to compare it to. Even those fanatics, Grousters, that had taken it upon themselves to face the world over a crazy existence of something that wasn't there, weren't as stupid as Fred. Many of them had been crying that humans weren't the only things living on earth. They believed the aliens that destroyed the world were back. But, they weren't as stupid as Fred. At least, they were fighting for a cause. Fred was blabbing and scattering Carl's line of thoughts on the surprise gift he would get for his girlfriend, Joyce.
'Can you keep quiet already? That's what you should be doing at this time', Carl said disdainfully as they walked down the usual lonely road towards the mall. Fred had insisted that they get a flash drive for a background check they needed to do about the earth. They had been meeting obstructions while trying to discover something about the world, and it had made Carl tired, but made Fred curious. Carl was a seventeen-year-old guy, whose body and sense of fashion could deceive anyone into believing he was in his late twenties.
'That's being stingy', Fred said nonchalantly as he typed rapidly into his phone. His baggy trousers danced around his fat body. A fly buzzed around him, he slapped it away but missed; instead, he hit his earpiece. He jumped after the rubber protection that fell off as if the earth would swallow it.
At this point, Carl felt like slapping him repeatedly until his numb brain came back to life. 'I'm just saving you from falling into a pond'.
'So you'll say'.

'So it is. You know me. That's what you should know already'.
Fred stopped and faced Carl. 'I've seen the joy that radiates from your face whenever you see Joyce. I want to have that joy also and I won't let you deny me of that.
Carl stared at his fat friend whose face always looked awkward without his glasses. 'My friend, stop deceiving yourself. Sonia doesn't and would never love you. That's a fact'.
'That's just jealousy. Pure jealousy. Tell me you love her'.

Carl stopped in his track, and burst into laughter, brushing the dust off his trousers. 'Me?'
'Yes. You do. I've seen the way she rallies around you the same way fishes swim around a worm. Well, that was since she returned from... from wherever she was kidnapped to'.
'Can you hear yourself? How many times do I need or have to tell you that no lady can take my eyes off my Joyce? Joyce is the real deal. That's the only thing that should ring in your head'.
Fred gave him a mocking nod. 'Then, you must have forgotten the saying that goes silence means approval'.

'What are you insinuating?'
'When she came to you, teasing you ...and...and doing, you know, doing sexy things to you, why didn't you resist or stop her?'
Fred's phone rang.
'That's because...' Carl began to say but stopped when Fred frowned and placed a finger to his lips to stop him from talking. Carl felt like slapping him for such act. Sometimes, having a friend like Fred was bad in itself. Although there was no doubt he was the best in anything called Knowledge”; he breathed knowledge; lived on it; knowledge was his food, but still, he was stupid.

'She said she's just around the corner', Fred told Carl excitedly after he had finished talking to whomever he was talking to on the phone. He looked at his oversized striped-shirt and began to dust off imaginary dirt from it. 'How do I look?'
Hey! Stop, you are raising dust, Carl moaned. He felt like shaking his fat friend to come out his virtual reality into the real world, where the only girls that liked him were the animations in the papers he stuck to his computer.

From all indications, Sonia never loved Fred and there was no way she would ever love him. Some things couldn't just happen. Before her sudden disappearance, he had watched Fred do everything to catch her attention, and he felt sorry for him. But, she didn't care about anyone except Carl, only him. He avoided her like plague. And her disturbance only stopped when she wanted to take the exams into the University. At that time, she was a class ahead of him. Now, he was awaiting his own results. He couldn't stand his mother's nagging if he ever missed going to the University that year. She would lecture him on how she worked herself up to make sure he had the best of everything.
'I said how do I look?'
'You know what I will say'.
Fred nodded. 'Yes, you will spill out the truth without thinking of my feelings'.
'You look like a cow... A goat... No… A Mule. But that's not news'.
'Whatever! I will have my joy'.

'Oh, My! My friend will disgrace himself. He will fall into the mud and roll there like a fat pig. Hope youre not holding that filthy can of yours? Carl said and tapped down Fred's body.
What can?
Fishing rubbish.
Fred shook his head, disgusted.
Wait! Why does she want to see you?' Carl said, biting his fingernail.
'How will I know? But of all the 395 reasons my head is processing, I'm sure it's to give me an answer'.
'An answer to what question?'
'I texted her'.

'You textedSo? What's new about that?' Carl hissed as he sighted a public toilet. He hurriedly hatched a plan. The toilet was the best place to hide from her incessant tease, that accidental touch, that flirty look. He wanted to be away from her by all means. The gate of the toilet had gotten its own share of being defaced. One of the Grousters had scribbled the mumble jumble that “the humans weren't alone”. Each man should be with his belief, but trying to force it down people's throat was as disgusting as anything. Yet, he wouldn't blame the Grousters alone. He would also blame the people that agreed with them. The world leaders have sent the aliens away.
'I've told her I love her'.
Carl inhaled a mouthful of cold air, roared with laughter and pointed towards the toilet. 'I'm in the toilet'.

He doubled up, laughing again as he pushed the gate into the toilet's compound, and closed the gate behind him. The reason the toilet had a compound was still unexplainable. And the fascinating part of its awkwardness was that there were flower beds on each side of the compound's walls. Most times, it looked as if one was going into an orchard. The ground was floored with beautiful tiles. The robots cleaning the ground stopped the moment he placed a foot on the first tiles.
When he entered the toilet, he checked his hair in the mirror and patted it. He shouldn't have to worry about Sonia now that Fred assumed he was in love with her. December 2nd was the World's Revamping Celebration, and he ought to buy something that would mean their world of love was being revamped.

He patted the hair again and hope to have a robot brushing his hair too. Nothing must ruin his good looks. That hair cost him a fortune, and he wouldn't want anything to ruin it. He looked around, stared into the mirror and wondered what the creator of the mirror was thinking about before he created such a useful item. It probably was water because when you stare into the water, you are certainly going to see a clear reflection of yourself. The human mind is just too complex. He loved it. He loved to see how many of those beautiful minds existed in the former world.

According to history, aliens invaded the world in the year 2020 and few experts were saved around the world, children were also saved. But he couldn't wrap his mind around the ridiculous history. There was something fishy about it. Even the story about their creation was too ridiculous and he would go to any length to make sure he discovered what happened. All he needed was the right motivation, and Fred was doing that.
'The way I see life is that a man can always love two women equally. According to cultural history, Nigerian men were known for marrying more than one woman', Sonia said behind him. Carl could recognize her cracking voice anywhere, and the effect it always had on him. He couldn't stand for long in the room because her voice always got him on the edge.

Several ladies had boldly thrown themselves at him to no avail, but she was the only one who knew how to make him remain speechless. He stared at her and knew he was staring at one with the qualification of a model. If she was beautiful before being kidnapped, she was now stunning. Yet, he couldn't be her boyfriend as she had wished. His mother had constantly warned him about women. She said his generation had that problem in their blood, that the love of women killed his father and grandfather. So, he had made a promise to himself that he would stick to one woman. He loved Joyce, just Joyce.
'Fred is outside', Carl said as she strode towards him, her eyes fixed on him.
'Okay'.

'Okay, what? That means I'm not doing this today. Sonia, no', Carl said as she blocked the way.
'Tell me you love me'.
'No'.
'It would last me for another year. Your love kept me burning when I was kidnapped', she said as she moved nearer and blew him a kiss. She smelt different, like water, but pleasant.
'You know what? You're insane. This is the last time I'll have this conversation with you', Carl said as he pushed past her, out of the toilet, out of the gate.
'Fred', he called.

Fred wasn't outside. The street was empty. Carl turned towards the toilet just as Sonia came out.
'Where's Fred?' He asked, biting his thumbnail.
'He was right here'.
No matter what happened, Fred would have stayed behind. Even if there was an emergency, nothing could make him leave without Carl. Except, he was angry.
'Did you make him angry?'
'Me? No', she said as she pulled her nose.
'Sad'.
'Erm... I can't say'.
'What do you mean?'

'He told me he loved me. That he wanted to have a relationship with me'.
'He said that?' Carl asked with an amused look. His curiosity overcame his fear of being around her. 'Hope he didn't stutter?'
'No. This time, I think you've really encouraged him'.
'Well, I guess you said no'.
'Of course', Sonia said, rolling her eyes and pulled her nose. 'I mean Who says yes to a cow?'
'I'll find him'.
'It takes one to know one. Carl love me. We were made for a greater purpose. Greater anything in the world. Me and you'.

He has gone home, Carl thought, disregarding her ramble, and spun towards their house. They were next-door neighbors. The most painful part of it was that Fred had just proven him right: he was stupid. Now, Carl would have to return home to drag him back to the mall. However, the moment he turned, he saw one of the rubber protection on Fred's earpieces, lying on the ground. Fred listened to music regularly, to Carl's chagrin and he wouldn't have left without the protection, even if the world was crumbling. But before he could think much of it, his phone rang.
J.
Carl, Im in serious trouble.

Read First
'It's simple', Ashley Peters said into the microphone in front of her. 'We would simply lie to them that the world was destroyed by the aliens'.
'Yes, their God and gods are all alien', someone suggested from the audience.
'Yes. These gods of their, as well as the various languages of the world, brought factions, religions and this turmoil', someone else agreed with the first speaker.

'World war 3 would see everything go into extinction. Humanity, religion and our language. We just have to do it', Ashley said and looked about. 'We would ensure we save the English language and fresh mind and humanity. Our work now is to make sure that we start removing items that has God or gods off the net. Remove all vocabularies or anything at all. Remove God, remove worship, remove prayer, remove every damn thing. We need humanity in its original form'.

Someone from the back raised his cup and shouted something inaudible. She looked about with the hope of catching the phrase, but didn't until the people around this person took it up and they all began to say, 'For English language, For Peace'
She smiled at the English loyalists, who were also atheists. There was no way they would allow the pure form of English to die. She raised her hands, and there was silence in the underground hall they were using. Her eyes roved over them and she was happy she handpicked them, right.

'We have four years to make everything in this plan. Micah, contact Chioma of Fortunecity, Nigeria. Tell her to initiate her plans on the World war 3. For English Language, For Peace', she said and raised her cup.
'For English, For Peace', they all chorused and raised their cups.

It is the year 4041, and the world has only one language- English. To preserve the peace of the present world, the world leaders believe that religion is the cause. And to stop the world from practicing any religion, they set up a secret army- Peacekeepers in a location, Etyes. Carl was kidnapped to be one of the secret army. No one knows why young adults are being kidnapped. And those kidnapped cannot come out to tell the world the secret they know. Follow the Mad awakening happening around the world.



Genre: Science fiction
Subgenre: Utopia and Dyposia; Speculative Fiction

The full book is available
Okadabooks 250 naira

https://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/purified_tomorrow_the_mad_awakening/17712

Smashwords (Epub, Pdf, Txt, Online): $1 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/797234?ref=Writertain

To get a free copy, drop a review of the former books (if you've not posted it online) here...

http://writertain.com/2018/03/01/drop-reviews-for-akintayo-akinjides-books-here


Nairaland is removing some quotation marks, I'm still trying to correct them.

Last day of free download

Last day of free downloads

BOOK TITLE: ANIKE
GENRE: Fiction
Book description:
Anike is a story about a young 19 year old girl. Circumstances of life caused her to make decisions that turned her life around. At 22, she met a wealthy, influential 52years old man who loved her to a fault. She was stucked with a man old enough to be her father. Will she end up marrying him or not. Find out in this book.
ANIKE is available on Okadabooks. Click on the link below to get your copy.
http://okadabooks.com/book/about/anike/14264

#LiterallyWhatsHot: When Prostitutes See Heaven, Death follows – A Review of Akintayo Akinjide’s “Dread in the Spine”


- OkadaBooks —

The story is set in Fortunecity, a fictional private island in Nigeria that seems far more developed and more organized than what we have in our current Nigerian setting.
The Private Island is divided into Greencity, Brownvalley, Blacktown, and Suncity. But major events take place in Greencity, a place where nothing really seems like it is.

The story starts with Nosa Obaigbenwen finding the hideout of his longtime sweetheart, Moriah , one of Fortunecity’s best geek who prefers to be seen as a prostitute, or, is she forced to assume that identity? And as Moriah sees him, she shrieks in fright and runs back to the safety of her home to avoid him. Nosa however, is determined to be with her again after 8 years. He succeeds, briefly, before Johnson Owojobi , head of Eagle Eyes Security, calls him away on assignment.

It so turns out, that as much as the city seemed more developed and organized, the police department couldn’t crack a case, which leads to some rich people coming together to pay huge sums of money to Eagle Eyes Security to investigate the disappearance and deaths of certain prostitutes who claim they saw heaven. One by one, their bodies are discovered. And because the payment is huge, Johnson only wants the best hand on the case. Nosa. Being a private detective, Nosa makes it a habit not to go after crimes in the city. “The law should handle it”, he says. He only gets involved as long as he is paid privately to do so. And this was indeed a big case to crack.
Unfortunately, those around Nosa are in one way or the other, tied to the crime and he, being ignorant of their involvement, is kicked around as they are always a step ahead of him.

The plot thickens after Nosa interviews one of the prostitutes who saw heaven, Joana, and discovers he is being watched, as the person behind the kidnap has a clear voice recording of their conversation. And because of that, Joana becomes the next target. But even then, Nosa throws caution to the wind and acts carelessly.
I couldn’t help but be angry at Nosa’s character because, as good as the writer made him seem, he couldn’t solve the case. Instead, he got caught in it; he let himself be manipulated by emotions, his lovers, and their demands.

Moriah, is madly in love with Nosa, despite him being married to Chloe. But she cannot be with him as she’d want to because of a past mistake that is now used against her. Like that isn’t enough, she is forced to work with the people who do not want Nosa to crack this new case open.

Shayla, Fortunecity Police officer now suspended, highly trained, no-nonsense assassin, Nosa’s mistress, soon to be mother of his unborn child and the major bone in Chloe’s throat.
Chloe, Nosa’s wife, gentle, easy going, loves the scent of flowers and gardens, and the one person showing real concern for the kidnapped women in Greencity. But still, she holds all of Fortunecity in her hands.

Raphael, Nosa’s best friend, until accused of raping Moriah, the woman Nosa is most crazy about. But then, their job brings them together, and more secrets are revealed.
Other Characters include Agnes, Lila , and
Victoria, some of the prostitutes. Then we have
Mummy Church, a crazy woman who has no control of her tongue, and Nosa’s father, a pastor, and disciplinarian.

Dread in the Spine reads like a Hollywood crime movie. Strictly Entertainment. But not as tight, as there were few loose ends which, if tightened, would give the story a better chance at being a Hollywood blockbuster. But still, I thoroughly enjoyed this.
I like the way the author built the Nigerian characters into the story. It gives a feel of home and Hollywood mixed together. The characters were well developed. The flow of the story is smooth and intriguing.

Sincerely, I’d love to see what this story looks like on the big screen. It’s worth making into a movie.
Will I recommend this book for good company?

Definitely, because it is a page-turner.


https://www.bellanaija.com/2018/02/literallywhatshot-prostitutes-see-heaven-death-follows-review-akintayo-akinjides-dread-spine/

4 Compromising
After Nosa left her in a haste and she was about to join those praying within the house, she received a call that would have cracked her up on a normal day or might have incited her joy. The number belonged to one of her former customers, who worked as a customer care agent with Glo Fortunecity. The last time they met, they fought- that was the day before she gave her life to Christ. He would assume she would still be in the business of prostitution.
'Joany, how far?'
'Raphael, how are you?'
'Sorry, I want to speak with Joana'.
'I'm the one, of course'.
'Why are you going all formal with me?'
She smiled warily. 'Don't mind me. Things have changed'.

'I guessed so because there is serious trouble'.
She shook her head. Raphael would never change. He always took his desire for pleasure as a problem she could help him to solve. 'Raphael, I'm now a serious believing Christian. I'm not into that business again'.
'Forget that side. Am I not a Christian too? At least I go to our church every Sunday. They know me when I carry the bell and begin to sing. Most times, I go into trance. I fall and stain my white prayer gown. But, I still do what I do'.
'Raphael. You need Jesus. Celestial Church of Christ will not help'.

'Ah see this girl-she. If I'm not a Christian, then how will I now have visions? It was one of the visions that made me do Igbele. You know what Igbele means?
'Yes... That one that your pastors would tell you to stay in the church because something bad wants to happen, and they want you to avoid it by staying in the church. I know Igbele'.
'Yes. My own was even two months. But, that's not the reason I'm calling you'.
'What are you talking about?'

'There is a serious trouble. A big bottle of urine has been opened. Some very influential person asked our office to run a match of your voice'.
'My voice. Why me? How do you know it was me?'
'I don't know why you, but I know that you were talking to a man. I wouldn't have known it was you, but because I heard you say you were once a prostitute and you mentioned your name'.
'I don't get...Who brought the voice match?'

'I don't know. But the person had the power to pull strings. Our boss selected a very few people. As in, how will they ask us to start running a trace on your voice from all our call files? In fact, you were talking about going to heaven or seeing visions'.
Joana stared into oblivion. Nosa had just deceived her.
'Why will they want your voice?'
'I don't know. I don't know...'
'Be careful'.
'Have they discovered it was me?'

'No. Not yet. I've told my friend Thompson to delete every of your file from our database'.
'Is that not a sin? I don't want you to sin for me'.
'Idiot. If it's true you're seeing heaven. Then, the person is looking for you'.
'How will you know?'
'How won't I know? People have been disappearing. I meanDo you listen to the news? You better go and glue your ear to the news. They are kidnapping people. Joany, please, hide your head'.
'I don't know where to hide'.

'I know. But for now, be safe. I'll see how I can help'.
'Raphael, thanks'.
'No worries. No worries, babe. It will be fine. You're surer than Bet9ja'.
Joana wondered what would happen now that she trusted Nosa. Surely, Nosa couldn't be the one. He knew who she was. Maybe, something was wrong. He must have recorded their meetings and someone would have heard it all. She dialed his phone number.
'Hello'.
'Nosa, please help. There's trouble.'
'What happened?'

'I...I', she searched her head and tried to figure out what so important she wanted to tell him. At that time, she hated ever being involved in the accident that made her have the memory issue. 'I've forgotten it. Oh! It's dangerous. I've forgotten'.
'Don't worry. You have no fear. You still have till tomorrow'.
'I hope. I will write it down. I always remember again'
'That's good'.
'Can you text me the address of your house'.
'I'll do'.
'Immediately you drop the call, before you forget'.
She nodded. She sent the message with trembling hands. Regardless of the fact that she was in the public, she went down on her knees to pray. She was sure wouldn't be able to sleep that night. She needed something to hold on to. What if she slept and saw another vision? Although the angel told her she needed a lot of rest, for now, she still had that nagging feeling that she might be carried away. The feeling haunted her like her late grandmother's forever-nagging voice.

***
Nosa sped off to the house and drove into bends without fear that he might encounter little children or animals or even other cars. Shayla was about to make his light of happiness burn out quickly.

One of three things was sure to happen if he continued barking at Shayla over the phone that she shouldn't enter his compound- Chloe might hear Shayla's voice or Shayla truly barged in as she threatened or he got so angry that he would finally break his record of never beating a woman.
As much as he cherished the love she had for him and understood what she felt at that moment, he wouldn't allow her to defile the serenity of his compound, especially with her sassiness. Chloe was still grieving, but none of the death of her loved ones would be as hurting as discovering that he had been deceiving her all these while, that their marriage had been in the virtual reality like that of the film, 'Under the dome'.

'Just wait', he mumbled as he stepped on the accelerator. The wind and the darkness had truly cleared the path for him, however, if Moriah was seated in the same car as he, she would have lamented about his recklessness. Although he was prepared for any sudden appearance of another car or somebody, he couldn't reduce his speed out of fear of hitting someone or bashing another car.

He couldn't fathom how it happened, but their calls got disconnected, and the phone brought up the TV series he was seeing on his way to the places he was making his investigations before she called, but he wasnt in the mood to watch it right there. He stopped it and poured all his concentration on the roads that looked as if one was entering a cult, and the trees on the side of the road were hooded figure, who kept swaying from side to side as they hummed a mantra.

Shayla called again, he picked up the call and put her on speaker phone.
'I swear I'm counting to five. If you don't come outside, I'll barge into this shabby thing you call a house. I'll be rough and talk and scream and win you away today'.
All he needed to meet up with her was for her to keep ranting. He had the best formulae for that.

'You know I'm not lying. You mean the world to me. But my wife is grieving over the loss of our child'.
'That implies that you are ready to lose another child because I'll keep shouting till my baby pops out to the hard ground'.
'Shaylee, don't you dare do any stupid thing. I'm not far from home. Trust me'.
'I don't trust you. I don't give a heck. Not a single bit of it. I'll scream till the street bare their ugly, rotten, brown and black teeth to see you leave this house'.
'I'm near the house. I will block you at the house soon. I'm at the fullest speed'.

'You liar, you tyrant, you madman. You are in the house. I can see your car. One'.
'Hold on a bit'.
'No. You are a deceiver, pretender and you said you'll always choose me over her. Two'.
'I'm in the estate. Please just stall your attack'.
'No. I'm knocking on this door, and I'll not wait for a second after my fifth call. Three'.
'Baby, hold on, my car will be there soon. You're more trustworthy than any bulletproof'.
She laughed. 'You're a making mockery of me. I guess you and your wife would be laughing at me right now or do you think I don't know you people laugh behind my back? I won't allow you do that to me today. Four'.

'Please, I went with my wife's other car. If you scan the end of the street you will see me speeding up to meet you'.
'And this is the end. Tell the rest to your friends and the likes of them that laugh at me to no end. Five'.
'Please don't ruin a good evening with your thirst for my blood. I'm here'.
She went to the gate and banged just as he parked by her side. 'I'm here'.
'You devil. You weren't at my level, but I adored you like heaven. Now you want...' She raised her hands as she shouted and turned then rushed at him.
'Shhh', he whispered as she tried to make him see that she was really angry. She struck at him with her fists, but he didn't resist her; instead, he took both hands and drew her nearer.
'I'm sorry. Ive offended you'.

She cried and crashed into his chest. 'You left me and deserted me and refused to see me. Have I offended you? What's my offense in loving you?'
'Nothing'.
'I love you'.
'I know... So you came this night to see me?'
'Yes. I couldn't live without you any longer. I was tired of being in this state without you by my side. You're all I have.'
'I know you like I know every part of my gun'.
She giggled, stared into his eyes and buried her head into his chest. It was his love for crimes that made her love him at first.
'Let's leave here'.

'Let me meet my wife. I'll stay with you tonight but I have to be back tomorrow'.
'Why?'
'We have a big case...to solve. Mr. Johnson called me in'.
She nodded. 'But you're not leaving early'.
'At least ten'.
'I know you. You would hurry'.
'My appointment is by ten. If I tried to do that before ten, shoot me'.
'You're pulling my leg'.
'I'm not joking'.

She nodded as he entered the house. He was joking, but if it would make him have a happy family, he would let her have that hope. She was that part he never saw in his wife, who was never interested in the criminal aspect of his life. She only wanted him to be a celebrated P.I. He and Chloe were good together. But things had stopped being rosy after she lost her father. Regardless of his love for Moriah, he still had a little connection with Chloe, and he had always banked on that until she lost her father. That day, she prayed for three days unending, but Mr. Kings didn't even bat an eyelid.

Since that time, he had lost Chloe to her inner grief, to her Chloeset. Those days were so lonely for him that he had to resort to visiting a club, where he met a first timer, Shayla. Despite the disturbing fear of his father coming all the way from Edo state to Fortunecity to find him with someone else, he went ahead with the relationship.

Just as he was entering the house, Joana called, saying she had information for him, but she couldn't remember. That statement in itself was infuriating. Why would she call if she had nothing to give him? He felt like yelling and telling her how stupid she was. In fact, a thought briefly came to his mind as he put the phone into his pocket. With the way she was suddenly warming up to him, maybe she was beginning to like him. He rubbed his face and brought his hand to his bald head. All he could tell her was to send him her house address, that he would visit her the next day. Her paranoia was becoming extraordinary. At Victoria's place, she kept crying that she was in trouble- from God and Devil. How was that his concern? Everybody that wants to be a Christian must be ready for trouble from any of the two of them.

When he entered the room, Chloe didn't even flinch as if she noticed his presence.
'Chloe'.
She turned and smiled at him. 'Shhh!
He stopped on his track and did a few seconds prayer to God. Why was she acting in a weird way? Chloe mustnt be mad at this period. The world would blame him for being nonchalant with his wife.
'Papa is inside'.

Nosa was now 50% sure. His fear becoming reality. 'Which Papa?'
'Papa now. Your father is'.
'He's here? Oh, God! Another bottle of urine'.
'Don't bring that here. That's reckless as Moriah would say'.

'What What is he doing here?
'He is here to rest and for the Christmas'.
'Why? Is that why he came down here? Couldn't he have stayed in his Idumwurgha forest?'
Chloe looked up at him and sighed exasperatedly. 'No. Nosa, they are looking for him. Some sect...er... Cults. They blame him for something odd his Pastor friend did. They want...'
'God punish all of them. Now, they've brought a burden to me. They don't know how much I love to put my bee out of his miseries. One bullet to the heart, another to the brain. So quickly'.

Chloe groaned to show him that he was either being rude or was shouting. 'But I dont just understand you. Why are you? Why have you not stopped being angry at your father? And lower your voice My cat and Papa are sleeping'.
'I'm not angry at him', Nosa said between closed teeth. 'I hate him like Satan hates God'.

Chloe shrugged. 'Maybe you're the Satan'.
Nosa brushed the air away. 'Hope he is still sleeping?'
Chloe nodded. 'Meanwhile, my WhatsApp has expired and'
Yes. Good. Tell him I'm not coming home till tomorrow. Probably in the night'.
'That's a lie'.

'It's not a lie. I'm leaving, truly. I have to get to a place near the riverbank as early as possible'.
'If it's not because of your father, that's good.
'What? Me? Him? Impossible. By the way, did you hear someone knock the door?'
'The door...No'.
'Erm... I mean the gate'.
'No. Did you see anyone?'

He shook his head. 'Meanwhile, I came inside, I saw you all morose again. You should talk to someone'.
'I'm talking now. See me, talking to you. I'm fine and okay. Talking. See me. Happy. Talking'.

He shook his head. 'This is not talking. After you lost your father, you didn't recover for months. Then, we lost our babies. It was disastrous. You should let out your anger at God or something grievous. You cry or grieve or do something. Just do something'.
'But we talk. We talked about the weather'.
'That's the problem. You don't cry about it. You zone out'.

'But, I'm perfectly alright. See me. Instead of zoning out as you assert, I watch T.V, bury myself in something ideal and unconventional for a grieving woman. I know you don't see them as good, but I'm alright'.
'No You're not alright'.

'I'm perfectly alright like a fresh flower', she said as she sat straight, rose, spun and sat again. 'I'm fine. I tend to my things. My father's companies are running fine. I get information regularly from my managers. In fact, I would have started work, if not for the contract of my overbearing father. See, do you see me having any speech defect? No. I'm fine dear'.

'What of Irene? Your friend from Columbia. Can I get her number? I will inform Raphael also. When last did you talk with any of them?'
'Irene, a day before she died - yesterday. My friend is dead. Raphael, we still talked this week', she shrugged.
'Oh my God! Oh my God!' Nosa said and dragged her nearer. 'I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?'
'Because I've erased the dead from my mind. I don't want to keep grieving for anybody. God knows where they are - heaven or hell'.
'I'm sorry'.

'Don't be. You didn't kill them. I, really, am fine'.
'I need to go for more investigation. I'll be back, tomorrow morning'.
She nodded and faced the TV.
'Let me pick some clothes inside the house'.
'And please, find these kidnappers. They are reasons to grieve on their own. They make us lose contact with the ones with the true visions of heaven'.
'I will', he said and kissed her forehead. She stiffened. His wife was grieving and he was following his mistress to her place- there must be something he could do to avoid all these. Not that he really loved Shayla, but he was obliged to follow her because of his unborn child.

'Give me your phone. As I was saying the other time, my WhatsApp has expired', she said as he stood. He handed over his phone to her, his mind still fixed on the bad news she just shared. How come she didn't talk about Irene's death yesterday? He should find a way to help her regain her humanity and start responding like any normal human being.
After he had picked some clothes, he returned to the parlor for his phone. She returned it and said,' you had a message. I'm sorry I mistakenly opened it. It's a message about one address'.

It's nothing', he said and kissed her forehead. She was worth to him than rubies, than their two dead children.
'I'll call Raphael to come tomorrow if it will make you happy'.
'It will'
'Okay And don't you dare climb my grass.'
'Yes, mummy'.
'Your bald'
'Yes, mummy'.

He smiled and went out to meet an agitated Shayla. She skipped to meet him and had to stop herself from hugging him as if she was afraid he would never return. 'I was beginning to fear'.
Out of nowhere, came a woman, whom Chloe had always complained of her nosiness.
'Good evening sir', she said as she rocked her crying baby. 'I want to see Mummy Kings'.
Nosa sighed. 'She is not around'.
'But she said I should come to meet her this eveni'
'Woman, are you deaf?' Shayla shouted and pulled Nosa towards his IVM G20.

Review By
humbledbygrace

In the society where we take people at face value, where we want more of what we can actually get from the good book, our bible, we seek it more into people because we think they are blessed than us when God loves us uniquely and uses us in different ways for different purposes...a young upcoming African author took it upon​ himself to shed light into the truth.

Reading Grabbing​ Hot Gates had me sitting upright after closing it, just evaluating my life as a Christian. It kept me on the edge from start to finish and I didn't want it to end, I needed to know what happened to Stella then. After a lifetime of being someone else tool, how would life be after finally accepting Christ into her life.

Well done boss, you are indeed reaching higher heights and living up your dream, please allow me to say, this is God's purpose for your life.

AvatarMode:
Nice work man. kudos!

Thanks man.... please help drop this review on the websites..

Fazemood:
Same here, I've been scolding myself for being reluctant and doubtful of this story and the author. But I'm glad I did read it after all.

And please can you drop a review on the sites.
But I would prefer the one from okadabooks

Okadabooks

https://www.okadabooks.com/book/about/grabbing_the_hot_gate/17382

Smash words

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/787480?ref=Writertain

Fazemood:
*in hausa intuition*
Walahi broza Depfen1, I hap neba see any stori wey I sweet like diz one walahi, all za pucha puchi wey senior winch stella is doing por where is bery bery samthing walahi, dan allah kwom an gib us anoza one, I wan 2 enta za oza room and sleef diz one hap carry my enargy and gwo.

All these meaning : brother devpen1 This story is a masterpiece more ink to ur pen and more ideas to your brain. Keep it up

Thank you very much...

That means you shouldn't miss
' A Dread in The Spine'

https://www.nairaland.com/4322851/dread-spine-mystery-novel-akintayo


Queenitee , you too

When we test our worth
In the eyes of the storm
And our worry, we allow tick like the clock
When fear wraps its coldness around our dark heart
And our hopes dry off like brooks in the desert
.

Then, we would proceed to look for hope
In its littleness. Oh!
The rose that blooms in adversity
The weed that peeps from the cracks of our wall
We will hold on to the memory of these little things
.

Hence, our sours songs and tiring talks
Would begin to taste better and sweeter
Our sore eyes and running noses
Would begin to see clearer and breath faster
We would have something to hold on to

.
With its littleness standing out
We will leave our creaks and march off
Step up, look up and never give up
Because a tiny ray of hope
Stands on the specks of a girl's eyes
Dances in the tiny flavor of our food
Plays on the smile of a baby
Sits on the sweetness of a lady
.


We would owe ourselves one favor
To forge on
We would labour all day long
Rest assured, still in awe
That we were like an engine propelled
By those little things


.

Wrote this for a magazine...

queenitee:
And I was reluctant to read this story *cries*
Thank God I did not miss it. My kind of story, I just love this supernatural stuffs.

Divepen, thank you *wipe tears* Thank you

I'm really happy you didn't miss it too oo

jagugu88li:
First page done........slowly doing this.

No updated on second page? Okay.......done

I am watching that Stella lady......and do congraculate yourself for reminding ne of the hate I have for this "speaking in tongues" fake thing they do.

Just download the PDF. it's still free

lady25:
Intresting piece. Couldnt drop my phone until i finished it

Finished the one on nairaland or the pdf