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The next update (The 13th Enemy) shall be posted next week Sunday. But if you can't wait till then, the PDF and other subsequent updates are available for sale at N50 only.

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LSD
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Happy Easter, guys.

Update 12

The 12th Entity

The door was opened before she knocked, and Madam Comfort stepped out to meet her; a broad smile plastered on her face.

“It’s such a pleasant surprised to see you once again,” said Comfort. She held the guest in the shoulders and hugged her. “How long has it been? Three years?”

“Five,” said Matron Nene grimly.

“How time flies!” giggled Madam Comfort. “I heard about the news of your success. You’re such a lucky woman. I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you,” Matron Nene replied grimly again. There was a short moment of awkward silence between them afterwards, as if they had both exhausted everything they had to say to each other. The two women were opposites of each other character-wise, and there was no chance that both of them would become friends. They knew that they saw things in different perspectives; there was no use hiding the fact that they were incompatible.

“Oh, do please come in,” Madam Comfort finally said. “It’s been a long journey, you must be very tired.”

Matron Nene followed the woman into the same room that used to be hers five years previously. On seeing the room, the first impression Matron Nene had of the woman was that she was lazy. Everything lay obliquely in the room. There were unwashed dishes of the meal she had in the morning, the carpet in the room was peeling off and the bed seemed to have suffered some significant compression. She sat in the only armchair in the room while Madam Comfort sat on the bed. The silence descended again. Then the host stood up again, went to the small fridge in the corner of the room and poured her guest a glass of cold water. Matron Nene collected the drinks and thanked her guest for the hospitality. She drank the water thirstily.

“The children over there are so lucky to have you,” Comfort said, trying to strike a conversation.

“I’m sure the kids here too enjoy your stay with them.”
Madam Comfort gave a short nervous laugh and said: “I’m only trying my best. I have been providing for them. They have never lacked anything under my care.”

Somehow, Matron Nene did not believe what the woman was saying. She wanted to ask her how she had been taking care of the children since there was no more visible farmland around anymore but she kept her peace. The most important thing was that the children were doing fine. Maybe the woman was getting donations from the government after all and they didn’t need to farm anymore. Matron Nene had tried to keep the excitement of seeing Maria off her mind for the moment; she didn’t want to give the woman the impression that she had only come because of Maria alone; the other kids might not like that if they found out.

“Where are the children?” she pleasantly asked.

“Oh, they’re in their rooms,” said Madam Comfort.

“Can I see them?”

“Of course, of course,” she said quickly, “Wait here, let me inform them of your presence.” She stood up and went out of the room, leaving Matron Nene in her lonesome.

After about two minutes, Matron Nene started hearing the shuffling of feet. It seemed like a group of people were walking towards the main door. A few minutes later, Madam Comfort returned to the room and informed her that the children were waiting for her outside. Matron Nene stood up excitedly and followed the woman out of the building.

The children were standing in a row and smiling warmly at her. She found this strange. Although the expression on the faces of the children was of glee, but it was obvious that they were keeping their excitements in check. She needed no sage to inform her that the children were scared of Madam Comfort. Naturally, she had expected that the children would jump on her as soon as they sight her; instead, she found herself shaking their hands. She was impressed by how much they had all grown; the little girls she had left behind five years ago were now young and mature women. She could hardly remember their names anymore. However, after greeting the girls round, she frowned.

“Where is Maria?” she asked the presiding matron. “I can’t seem to see her here. Did you send her on an errand?”

She noticed that some of the girls cast their faces downward as soon as she asked the question. She knew that something was definitely wrong.

“What has happened to her,” she asked worriedly when the woman did not reply her the first time. She was beginning to take the lady’s silence for terrible news. No, nothing bad must happen to Maria.

Then Madam Comfort broke into a broad smile; her eyes registered reassurance as she spoke. “Oh, Maria is fine!”

“Really? Then where is she?”

“Girls,” called Madam Comfort, “Tell Madam Nene about Maria.”

“She has been adopted,” about five or seven girls said in unison.

But Nene was not satisfied with reply. She cast some suspicious looks at the woman. It was obvious that she had coached the girls to make that statement.

“Is that true?”

Madam Comfort nodded vigorously. “She was adopted three months ago. A rich couple had visited the orphanage and had decided to take Maria with them because of her intelligence. They loved her the first time they set their eyes on her. We still haven’t gotten over the fact that Maria is no longer with us. She was the light of this home. I miss her, I miss her so much.” She was stifling back tears.

As much as she was happy that Maria had found new parents, she was sad that she had come too late to pick her. But things hadn’t gone so bad after all; from the way the woman was talking about Maria, it appeared that the girl was adopted by a good family. And she assumed that she could visit Maria in her new home; however, though, she didn’t think that might be a good idea. Maria might see her and decide to desert her new family; and she didn’t trust herself to leave Lagos without Maria if she set her eyes on the girl. The best thing for her to do at the moment was just to leave the girl to live her life. She took comfort in the fact that the girl had found a happier life. No, she was not going to seek her out; doing that would be unfair to the new family. She was sure that Maria’s new parents would love her deeply. Who wouldn’t love Maria anyway? Matron Nene doubted that there was anyone in the world capable of bearing resentment towards that delightful and adorable girl.

But still, there was a certain strangeness in the air, she could feel it, and it perturbed her. Was it possible that the woman was lying about Maria?? But what reason would she have to lie? But still, the air was weirdly thick. It appeared that Madam Comfort was the only person showing so much excitement about Maria’s departure from the home. The other children didn’t seem to be happy that Maria was not around. Their grimness, Matron Nene observed, was not borne of jealousy or plain envy; no, it was more than that. They were clearly not happy that Maria had been taken away but their unhappiness portrayed a certain kind of foreboding – it was obvious that the girls were afraid for Maria. The girls didn’t talk but in their eyes Matron Nene could read all the words of the world; they eyes were telling sad tales.

Slowly, she turned to face Madam Comfort and said, “Can I have the address?”

“What address?”

“The address of the place Maria is now living?”

“Wha-wha-what do you need it for?” Comfort stammered.

Matron Nene shrugged, “I just want to visit her before I return to Calabar tomorrow.”

Madam Comfort shook her heads. “Unfortunately, you can’t.”

Nene spread her hands. “Why not?”

“You know the rules. We are not allowed to reveal the location of adopted children to strangers.”

“But I’m not a stranger,” disagreed Nene, “I took care of these children from cradle before you came. I’m like a mother to them. I’m surprised that you are considering me a stranger.”

Madam Comfort crossed her arms over her chest and she assumed a resolute posture as she spoke: “Well, rules are rules. I am not allowed to break the rules. I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. But if she comes visiting, I’ll let her know you asked after her. That’s the best I can do, I’m sincerely sorry.”

Matron Nene stared at the woman’s eyes, then she looked at the children. All their expressions spoke one language, one word: Lies! Even Madam Comfort herself saw the expressions on the girls’ faces and she swore within herself to deal with them. But their punishment would not come now; she would have to get rid of this annoying woman first. She wanted her to leave the premises as soon as possible. Very soon, men would be driving in to take the girls. Comfort knew Nene must not witness that or she would be done for.

“Please tell me where you kept my daughter,” Matron Nene found herself begging. “I just want to see her.”

“I told you she had been adopted. Why don’t you just accept that fact and move on? she is happy where she is. Why do you want to cause another havoc by showing yourself to her? You know the implication of what you are asking me to do. We all know Maria is like a daughter to you, but she already has another family and she is happy where she is. You don’t have to ruin things for yourself and for her by searching for her.”

Suddenly, Matron Nene went on her knees. She knew all what the woman had been telling her were hogwash.
“Please…as a fellow colleague, just give me an address. I promise I’m not going to reveal myself to her. I just want to see that she is doing fine. Please, I’m begging you. Do me this one favour, my sister.”

Madam Comfort was beginning to get upset. The woman kneeling before her seemed like one who was unwilling to give up easily. She had never seen anyone love a child who was not hers as Matron Nene was. Even if Maria had come from her womb, she couldn’t have loved her more. And so, at this juncture, Madam Comfort knew that she would have to spin another yarn to get the woman away from the home. Time was running out.

“Okay, okay,” replied Comfort. ‘I refused to give you the address simply because I don’t know you.”

“What!”

“Yes, I really don’t have it.”

“How is that possible?” Matron Nene was frowning deeply. “Were you not supposed to have this information before releasing the child to total strangers? What if they are pimps, or rapists, or ritualists, or drug pushers, or robbers? What were you thinking about?” Matron Nene was appalled at the woman’s obvious crass stupidity.
But to her amazement, the woman was smiling warmly. She wondered what the silly lady found amusing in her outburst. She wished she could stick the woman’s head in a bucket of water and watch her drown.

“You’re getting it all wrong,” Madam Comfort said calmly, “I took all the necessary information, of course. I’m not so daft.”

“Then what are you telling me?”

“I don’t know the address because the family has moved out of the address they registered here.”

Matron Nene could not believe what she was hearing. The nightmare was indeed becoming true.

“You don’t honestly expect me to believe that, do you?” She was giving the woman a suspicious gaze.

“But it’s the truth,” insisted Comfort, “The family has moved out of the country, and Maria has been taken with them.”

“Out of the country?” she thought about it; it was probable, of course, but the revelation still didn’t sit well in her. The woman could be hiding something, and she was bent on getting to the bottom of it.

“Yes,” replied the host, “They moved to United Kingdom not long ago.”

The girls had been quiet all along but one of them, Naomi, could not stomach the lies the matron had been spewing anymore. She was not in control of her speech when she said, “What a lie!” She had probably meant to speak the words inaudibly but everyone heard her. The girls stared at her as if she had lost her mind; their eyes were wondering whether she had a death-wish. Madam Comfort moped so angrily at the girl that the other kids thought she would burst into flame.

Matron Nene heard the girl’s speech and walked towards her. “What do you know about Maria? What happened to her? Where was she taken? Who took her?” About a thousand questions poured out of her mouth, and before the girl could answer one of them, Madam Comfort had stepped between them. She addressed the girls directly: “”Now girls, it’s time to return to your rooms. Greet Mummy Nene goodbye, will you? Naomi, kindly wait for me in my room.”

As the girls bade Matron Nene goodbye and filed into their rooms, they knew Naomi was done for. The unlucky girl would curse the day she was born after Madam Comfort was done with her. There was no telling the extent the woman could go to whenever she meted out punishments. She could decide to cut off the girl’s tongue so that she would have nothing to wag the next time.

“You’re obviously hiding something,” Nene accused as soon as all the girls had disappeared.

Madam Comfort spun around so suddenly that Matron Nene was taken aback by this swift action. The smile on the face of the woman had disappeared and she was now glaring at the guest as if she was ready to fight.

“How dare you come into my compound to accuse me? Who the hell do you think you are?” Her words were as sharp as a harpist’s plectrum. For a moment, Matron Nene felt threatened by this outburst. She was seeing another version of the woman, and she did not like what she was seeing at all. She naturally started fearing for the girls in the home. She could imagine how this woman would be maltreating them; no wonder they looked so scared in her presence.

“What are you talking about,” Nene fired back, “I built this place! My husband and I laboured night and day to erect this place. I decided to turn this place to an orphanage for humanity’s sake. So, don’t you dare treat me like a guest in my own home.”

Madam Comfort carried a smirk on her face. “Obviously, the house is not yours anymore. From what I heard, the government had paid you off. That’s why you could easily be transferred. You have sold your birthright for a plate of porridge.”

Matron Nene did not know when she lost control of herself. It was only when she heard the sound that she realised what she had done – she had slapped the woman. Her eyes were opened in shock. She didn’t believe she was the one who did this. She had always prided herself on her calmness, but this woman had cut her in the raw with her sharp tongue. And, of course, what Madam Comfort said was the truth. She had allowed the government to acquire the house and she had been paid off. She had believed the transaction was hush-hush. How the new matron got to know about it baffled her. She had made a grave mistake selling off her husband’s single property. She had been manipulated by the government and made to sign what she was not supposed to. She regretted her decision every day of her life; the regret had always eaten her inside-out. She couldn’t just stand another person rubbing it in her face.

For about ten seconds, both women stared at each other. Comfort’s eyes were burning with anger, and Nene’s were gravely apologetic. The former spoke first:

“Get out of here and never come back!” she seethed. “If I see your face again, I will have you arrested.”

Somehow, the threat gave Matron Nene her lost confidence. She said, “Not if I get you arrested first. I will return here tomorrow morning with policemen. I hope to God you would provide Maria by that time or you will be sorry.” She turned to leave; then she suddenly paused and turned back to face her adversary, “Lest I forget, the kids are not complete. Where is Titi?”

Madam Comfort remained speechless. For the first time in a very long time, her face registered absolute fear. This was everything she needed to confirm her conviction. It was evident that Madam Comfort was guilty of something. Nene prayed that nothing bad had happened to Maria. All the tales about adoption were balderdash, she was sure now. No one adopted Maria, and the girl was – sure as hell – not out of the country. The woman had better produce the girl tomorrow or she would face some serious trouble. Matron Nene was ready to devote all her resources to making sure that this evil woman paid dearly for whatever she might have done. If Maria was not produced, she would use her connections to destroy the woman. If anything bad had happened to Maria – or Titi, as the case might be –, at least she would be saving the rest of the girls from their oppressor.

As she walked to her car, she heard the woman speak behind her.

“She ran away two days ago. I swear to God. I don’t know her whereabouts. She just ran off and has never returned since then.” There was tremor in her voice.

Matron Nene didn’t bother turning around. “Maria or Titi?”

“Maria.”

“What about Titi?”

Comfort had nothing to say. She knew that Titi’s head was most probably sitting in one calabash by now. But Maria could still be saved.

She unlocked her door and sat behind the wheel.

“For your sake you better produce the two girls tomorrow or you will be sorry.” She pushed the gears into reverse and slowly backed out of the compound.

***

To be continued...

However, you can download the full story from the link below:

https://okadabooks.com/book/about/let_the_guns_speak/25950

09061754872

Happy Easter, guys.

***

Tobi reached the restaurant and ordered for food. He ordered for rice in two different dishes with covers, two table water and oranges. He thought Irele might like the fruit. All he wanted was to have his meal quietly and get the hell out of here. He didn't feel safe being here. Actually, nowhere was safe until he dealt with the problems circumstances had pleasantly placed on his laps. He was not scared. He had never been scared. Not since he lost Hannah two years ago. She had been shot dead by Abubakar and his crew of killers. They had come for him but had found his wife instead. He had returned her mutilated body. He had literally gone insane and had been committed to a mental institution for eighteen months. The home had been like a prison yard for mad people. When he finally regained his sanity, he had been calm. He didn't want to give the doctors any idea that he was still violent. In short, he had proved himself to be saner than even the doctors themselves. They had had no choice but to release him for his soundness of mind. His dangerous streak had returned as soon as he stepped out of the institution. He was on a revenge mission. They were all going to pay. For three months, he had hunted them down. He had managed to kill some of Abubakar's crew. But he wasn't satisfied; he wanted to kill Abubakar himself, but he had always been elusive. Abubakar knew how to cover his tracks well. Each time he tried to locate, Abubakar would have disappeared; he was always found one or two of his crew. Fortunately for Tobi, Abubakar had a little chink in his armour....his brother. Unlike the careful Abubakar, the baby brother lived a carefree life. He was nothing like his brother. And so Tobi had decided to use him to lure his big brother out of wherever hole he was hiding. But things had taken a different turn. Now the hunter had become the hunted. His hunters had been more dangerous enemies than Abubakar and ten crews combined. He had to avoid them by all means. The protection of Irele was more important than anything else.

As he turned to leave, he spotted a roughly-dressed man perched behind a table at a corner. The man seemed not to be aware of Tobi's presence but Tobi himself knew he was only pretending. The man was using a spoon to sip peppery sauce from a ceramic bowl, and dangling from his left hand was a pistol. There was no one else dining. Tobi knew it was time for action. The dining man oozed confidence; he seemed like someone sure of his relationship with triggers. He seemed to have an itchy finger behind a trigger.

Tobi sighed. He quietly placed the food on the table and gently reached for a pistol behind him. The man slowly raised his head and stared directly at Tobi. He gave a short smile and sprang up. He aimed his pistol at Tobi and squeezed three quick shots.

Tobi quickly ducked behind the table bearing the food he had dropped. The bullet flew past his left ear, the second shattered the plate that contained his food, sending pieces of rice grains and shards of the ceramic flying in the air. The third bullet caught the poor waiter in the eye.

Damn! This bastard is fast!

He knew what he had to do; he had to lure him out of the restaurant to the open. Irele might come here and catch bullets in her flat stomach. He was not going to allow that. If Irele had the sense God gave a mosquito, she would find her way far away from here.

He shot two bullets at the man. The thug ducked easily and he used that moment to dash out of restaurant. The killer ran after him. Tobi's adrenaline was overpumping as he ran. He lived for this kind of danger. He looked back and saw the thug appear at the entrance. The bastard was going to shoot him again. This time, he knew the bullet would catch him in the back this time. There was only one way to avoid that. He dashed to his left and somersaulted twice and hid behind a watertank. Bullets raised the dusts all around him but the tank was temporarily shielding him. He checked the chamber of the gun, he had just a bullet left in it. He poked out of his hiding and squeezed a careless shot at his attacker. The bullet flew wide. Now the gun was useless. He dropped it and picked the second gun from his back pocket. This one had just eight rounds left from the normal twelve. What would he not give to have an abundance of bullets right now. The thug was a specially-trained; he knew absolutely what he was doing. Tobi knew putting him down would not come quite easily. He kept avoiding having his feet at a place where the thug might possibly send a bullet. Dusts rose and bullets ricocheted against the steel tank.

When he thought he had reached the peak of danger, Tobi heard the sounds of hurrying footsteps behind him and looked back. There were about twenty armed killers coming for him. He knew his current situation; there was no use fighting it. He could not singlehandedly take on twenty-one determined killers. He was trapped.

Suddenly, like a holocaust, there were rains of fire. There were shattering sounds of gunshots from everywhere, and those shots didn't come from the twenty men. As a matter of fact, they were the ones under fire. Some of them slept eternally while others scattered towards safety.

What was going on? Tobi was confused. Surely, some people were fighting his battle for him. He looked up and saw a man at the upstairs window. That was the room he and Irele had lodged in. He was shooting at the men. What the hell? Who was this man? What has he done to Irele? Why is he fighting my battle for me. Before Tobi could make sense of what was happening, the twenty men scattered, giving him a view of the man shooting them from behind.

His eyes and mouth opened wide. He felt like he was seeing a ghost. The man shooting at the enemies, the man who had made more than half of them kiss the bulleted dusts, was the one man he had been searching around for since the past six months.

It was Abubakar...his number one enemy!

An eighteenth update (The 18th Speculation) is also available for N50 only.

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A seventeenth update (The 17th Fortune) is also available for N50 only.

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A sixteenth update (The 16th Foes) is also available for N50 only.

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To be continued...

However, you can download the full story from the link below:

https://okadabooks.com/book/about/let_the_guns_speak/25950

09061754872

Ambushed

They found a restaurant with few diners. Tobi had to scan the diners carefully to be sure they weren't enemies before he and Irele took a table facing the entrance. As he sat down, he placed one of the pistols on his lap. If any man tried to be funny, he would be ready. They ordered for pounded yam and vegetable soup. While Irele attacked the food hungrily with her fingers, Tobi requested for a fork instead. The cutlery wasn't only useful for stabbing morsels alone; it could likewise be used on an enemy's neck, weakening him, before he would finish the bastard off with a single squeeze of the legendary trigger.

“Young man,” he called the young waiter, “you make delicious food here.” He flashed a charming smile at the young man.

The waiter smiled proudly, “Thank you, sir. We're only trying our best.”

“You guys cook the most delicious food in this part of the country. I'm impressed. I wish I could always have my meals here everyday.” He said, breaking a sad face.

“You're not from around here?”

“We're not, unfortunately. My wife and I landed in Lagos this afternoon, but the taxi driver robbed us of our things.”

“I'm so sorry. That's so bad.”

Tobi shrugged indifferently, “Well, we're most concerned with spending the night somewhere safe. We're so tired.”

The waiter smiled warmly again, his eyes revealed that he was glad to be a messiah.

“The restaurant has lodgings too. You can pass the night in one of the suites. It's not five stars but you will find it comfortable; at least for tonight.”

“What's the security status of the suites?”

“Security status?” He looked confused.

“You know? A soldier or something; someone whose job is to make sure we would sleep safely.”

He laughed genuinely then waved his hand as if Tobi had said something utterly ridiculous. “I am the security. No one dares ever try to go past me. I'm quite dangerous.”

“Where's your gun?”

“I don't need any weapon.”

You're a dead man, my friend, Tobi thought.

“Okay, shall we see the rooms, please?”

As the young man led them away, Don stepped into the restaurant. He sat where Tobi and Irele had sat shortly earlier. He brought out his phone and called Abubakar.

“I know where they are. They are going nowhere. Come as soon as possible. I'll watch them all night long. Light just came on through their window. I know their exact room.”

Outside the restaurant, the killer remained in his car and made another call too, “Where's the calvary?”

***

At 6:33am, the plane from Port Harcourt touched down at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. Abubakar stepped down from the plane hurriedly. He had no time to waste. Don had called him at 4am and had informed him about presence of external enemies in the vicinity. They had come for Tobi but for some reasons, they hadn't struck. They had been passive but alert. Maybe they were scared of approaching him, or perhaps they were waiting for the right time to attack. Whichever way, Abubakar knew he had to be there before the show started. Don was not capable of taking them on, no matter how experienced he thought he was. They would kill him easily and move on. It was unacceptable, he didn't come all the way from Port Harcourt only to meet Tobi's corpse. He would be furious. He had to get to the location fast.

From the airport, he Ubered himself straight to the address Don had sent to him. How he managed to pass through airport security successfully was a mystery, for the backpack he carried contained ten guns and ten thousand bullets. From the ammunition, he set aside one gun and one bullet for Tobi. Like old coins, the rest would be spent on the intrusive bastards.

Don had been right; Lagos would burn, and there was nothing the firemen could do about it.

***

Tobi didn't have a minute’s shuteye throughout the night. A strange premonition from the back of his mind kept telling him an attack was imminent, but Irele had though he was only being paranoid. There was no way their pursuers would find them here. There was nothing to track them with. Their phones were switched off, the towel that might probably bear a tracking device had been discarded; there was nothing else for them to track them by. Tobi knew she was right but he still refused to let his guards down.

He would have loved that they discussed this issue of the red document but Irele was evidently too tired to stay up. While she slept in the bedroom, Tobi lay on the sofa in the living room, but the door adjoining the two rooms was kept open for Tobi to be able to watch over her.

He picked up the document and stared at it curiously for the first time. The laminated paper was indeed red, but there was no text on it. The document appeared to be folded before the lamination. The paper was obviously A3 in size and folded in half before burning a very thick nylon over it to keep whatever it contained hidden. And with the way things were going, they might have to tear it open and find out what it contained. He was almost tempted to discover what secret the FAN members were trying to protect, but the fear of regretting the knowledge held him back.

Irele slept too deeply. It was either she was a lazy sleeper or she was totally confident about Tobi's protection. She didn't even toss or turn; she maintained the same position until dawn. The morning sunlight shone through the blinds of the window and roused her awake.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Tobi was smiling over her. She noticed that he looked fresh even though he was still wearing the same clothes of the previous night. He was shaven and brushed. Somehow, she wished he could kiss her right there. She dismissed the thought immediately. What was she thinking about? She knew nothing about this man.

“You seem to have cleaned up,” she commented.

“Yes, I have,” he replied casually, “It's time to have your bath too. There's another new brush in there. Brush those beautiful pearlies while I go out to get us some breakfast.”

“And what do we do after breakfast?”

“We'll find out what makes this document so important that a thousand killers are dying to take it from us.”

“How do we do that?”

“We may have to break the seal.”

“Break the seal?”

“Tear open the damn paper.”

“What do we do after that?”

“We'll get the hell out of here.”

“Where would we go?”

“It depends on what information we gather,” Tobi replied, “Now go and clean up.”

He placed the two pistols in his back pocket and headed out, locking the door behind him. Not that his safety measure mattered to determined killers, anyway. They would break down the door in no time. But that would only happen over his dead body. As he turned the lock, he heard water rushing from within and he smiled. She was in the bathroom already, naked again.

About thirty seconds after Tobi left for the restaurant, Don came out from the room opposite theirs, quietly worked on the lock for about five minutes, opened the door and stepped into the room.

Irele was still in the bathroom.

***

firebaby:
I already did I didn't get your reply.

I replied all my mails.

The next update (The 12th Entity) shall be posted next week Sunday. But if you can't wait till then, the PDF and other subsequent updates are available for sale at N50 only.

Contact me via WhatsApp or call to know how you can make payment. Thank you and God bless you.

LSD
09061754872
larrysundynasty@gmail.com

Update 11


(The 11th Commandment)

VII

Many days passed but Titi didn’t return. Maria was worried about her, of course, but she never lost hope. She believed that one day Titi would return. She wondered why everyone she cared so deeply about kept leaving her. First, it was Matron Nene, now it was Titi. Even the stranger she met on her way to school had suddenly died just as soon as a connection between them was beginning to bud. She now believed that there was something about her that kept people away from her. It was like she carried on her a kind of plague or something. Still, Maria believed Titi would return sooner or later. She had to maintain this conviction or she might lose her sanity. No, Titi would not do to her what Matron Nene had done; her mother had forsaken her; she had left her in the lurch and not returned, leaving her to fend for herself alone.

Every time a car drove into the compound, Maria would come out, hoping to see Titi come out of one of them, but she was always left disappointed. Maria was angry at the girls of the orphanage. They acted as if Titi never existed. Madam Comfort had announced to them that she had been taken to a foster home and she was now living with rich people. All the girls, except Maria, had swallowed the woman’s lies hook, line and sinker. Even the matron herself knew that Maria didn’t believe what she said, and she didn’t care. There was nothing the girl could do about it; and Maria would not dare question her about Titi’s whereabouts.

Now that Titi was no longer around, Maria knew that the pendulum would swing towards her. It was only a matter of days now. Titi fetched her the highest amount of money; and, of course, she had a good replacement. But the huge money she had been given was still not yet exhausted. The men who had come for Titi were not Madam Comfort’s regular customers; she knew they were most probably ritualists but she didn’t mind anyways. She had been searching for ways to punish the girl for going against her rules, and handing her over to murderers seemed to be the perfect way to make her pay. Titi had stolen from her, and she had also saved Maria – the same Maria she had always wanted to get rid of. But now that she had kept Maria from dying, Titi had literally sacrificed herself without knowing it.

The cycle would continue. Maria would take her place and life would go on. Titi had served her purpose and left; now it was Maria’s turn. Maria, too, would serve her own purpose until other men came with another huge sum of money and it would be goodbye. However, Maria herself had a plan of her own; she was not going to go down easily. The woman had not been able to get rid of her easily four years previously, she wasn’t going to do that now – no, Maria would not allow that to happen. If she had learnt anything from Maria, it was how she could take good care of herself.

A few months later, the money given Madam Comfort had been squandered on booze, jewelries, cream and clothes. Now the little returns all the other girls were bringing her were not enough for her to sustain on anymore. She was desperate to make another huge sum of money – the kind she had made when she sold off Titi. Selling off the girls was a lot more profitable, acknowledged the madam.

On a certain Friday afternoon, Madam Comfort dragged Maria by the ear and took her outside. This was the first time the woman would have a direct confrontation with her after many months. Prior to this moment, the two had always managed to stay off each other’s paths. Maria did her job well and minded her business. She was no longer interested on whatever the matron was up to, as long as it didn’t directly affect her.

This sudden confrontation, however, perturbed Maria. As she was being pulled outside, she wondered what she had done to the mean woman again. She was sure that this was beyond an attempt to introduce her into prostitution she had always dreaded. This was more than that; Maria knew how the woman would have approached her had it been whoring business, she knew how she had related with the other girls when she was about to give them out to men. There were men who only desired virgins; they could pay any reasonable amount to be the first to break down that door. That was their own personal fetish.

Maria wondered what today’s attack was going to be about; but hell, Madam Comfort didn’t need any reason to beat the children up, she just enjoyed doing it. Whatever the woman planned to do to her, Maria was ready to take it; she was not going to humiliate herself by begging to be spared like all the other girls usually did. Madam Comfort had always considered her to be an egoistic girl, but Maria didn’t believe that was true. She was only maintaining her dignity, giving herself the kind of class she believed she deserved. If madam Comfort would spare her by flogging, she would by all means plead for her mercy. But Maria knew the woman was never one to forgive a wrongdoing – you don’t even have to be wrong to fall on Madam Comfort’s dark side. So, she would not beg when she knew that the woman would not bother to listen. Somehow, Maria believed the woman enjoyed being begged; it seemed to always give her a feeling of superiority, yet she would not spare.

The fact that Maria would not beg always rubbed off on Madam Comfort wrongly. It was always as if the girl was insulting her – humiliating her – even though she was the one unleashing the punishment. She had always been scared of the girl. As a matter of fact, she still considered Maria a witch, no matter how beautiful and innocent-looking the girl was. Each time her eyes met with Maria’s, her heart would suddenly beat fast. She always tried as much as she could to keep the fear from her eyes, and whenever she was incapable of maintaining a passive expression, she would look away, defeated and ashamed of herself.

It had taken the matron a lot of courage to approach Maria this afternoon and drag her out. She had pounced on the girl suddenly, not giving her any chance to look at her with that stare. She knew that if Maria had stared at her while approaching, she would have stopped in her track and then run back in fear. That would have been so disgraceful, Maria might even have the upper edge over her. If the girl knew that she was scared of her, she believed the girl would take her position in the orphanage. How weird would it be if Maria was giving Madam Comfort out to men instead of the other way round? Surely, the world would be a lot safer place with people like Maria in charge. Even if Madam Comfort was her slave, Maria would not subject the woman to the same inhumanity she dished out to all in her care. She was a lot different from the mean lady. Maria didn’t have any hatred in her. Regardless of everything done to her, Maria couldn’t bring herself to hate the woman; she only opposed what the woman stood for. And because Madam Comfort was not a woman she trusted, Maria tried as much as possible to stay away from her. The older woman had nothing to offer her besides bruise and abuse.

Unfortunately for Maria, madam Comfort didn’t drag her out to be beaten, her intention was a lot worse. Maria was going to suffer the same fate as Titi, but she didn’t know that. All she knew was that the woman was handing her over to a man just like she usually did with other girls, but she would be leaving here too without returning. Madam Comfort was just all too happy to finally get rid of the girl, and paid handsomely for that by the way. Even if she would not be paid, she would gladly give her to anyone who would promise to terminate her existence. She didn’t just want Maria out of the home, she wanted her out of the same earth they shared. Luckily for her, a man had paid her a lot more than she received for Titi.

“Here she is,” said Comfort, shoving the girl towards the grinning man. The man received Maria and held her in a hug for a few seconds before releasing his hold.

“She’s perfect!” said the man who couldn’t be any younger than sixty years old. He was short and dressed in a flowing agbada that seemed to cover him up entirely, bust barely leaving the neck and the head. The local cap on his head seemed to have been knocked askew as an intended fashion statement. And most importantly, and obviously worst, the man reeked of garlic.

Maria stared at the two elderly people with dread on her face. She noticed that Madam Comfort didn’t even give her a glance. They were talking about her as if she was not there. The only person staring at her was the man turning his face to assess her shape and lick his lips. She could also see a few of the children peeping through windows and the door. To them, this was a very unusual thing in the home. Finally, Maria would be leaving with a man. Finally, she would become a woman. Finally, fate was balanced.

“Don’t forget what I told you about her, Chief,” said Madam Comfort.

The man nodded vigorously. “Of course, of course, I can’t forget.”

Maria wondered what the elderly people had discussed. What did Madam Comfort tell this man about me? she pondered sadly. Whatever it was that they had discussed, it didn’t seem like they had been planning on how to host her fifteenth birthday for her, which would be coming up in two days’ time anyway. The elderly man and Madam Comfort actually shook hands before Maria was guided into the car and was driven off, out of the compound. This was the first time Maria would come out of the compound after five years since Matron Nene had left her. Madam Comfort stopped them from going to school because she feared that one of the girls might blab to the school authority about what had been going on in the orphanage. Instead, she employed teachers who usually came to teach them in the home. She was not going to leave anything to chance. And she had gravely threatened the girls that they wouldn’t dare say anything they were not supposed to say. Besides, all the teachers that came were in Madam Comfort’s pocket; if any of the girls told them anything unusual, Madam Comfort must know. How the woman was able to gain the confidence of the teachers was a subject of careless speculations.

Maria sat helplessly beside the driver as she was being driven out of the compound. She turned her face to the other side to hide the tears that had gathered in her eyes. She didn’t want to show weakness to the man; she knew the man would feast on her weakness if he discovered that she was crying. She would manipulate her tears for his own gain. Some men are as crafty as that; there is a way they will use your weakness against you; while they comfort you and make you feel safe with them, you will gradually begin to lose your guard. They will make you believe they are the good guys, that they truly care about you, that they are not the monsters you think they are – until you generously give them that thing they want. And as soon as they get what they want, they toss you away like a used tampon. Titi had taught her a lot of things, and she would continue to be grateful to her. Because of Titi, Maria had had a good idea about the psychology of men, even though she had never had a personal experience of them.

But had she not turned her face to the other side, Maria would have seen the driver of the car that pulled into the compound as they were pulling out of it, and she would have been saved.

***

Matron Nene never forgot about Maria since the moment she left in that hot afternoon of 1983; she had always looked forward to the day she would have the opportunity to bring the girl with her to Cross River. She had thought that she would be able to come back to take Maria within six months of her arrival in the new orphanage, but things hadn’t turned out the way she thought. The situation in Calabar was even worse than Lagos. The children there were like victims of war, and there were not enough resources to cater for their needs. It was indeed not a place she would want to bring Maria; she would have to restore sanity first before thinking of bringing her daughter over.

The kindly woman saw the situation of the Calabar orphanage as a challenge; she promised herself to save the kids. She would do what no other matron had been able to do. Every person the government posted there usually requested for transfers within days of her appearance. They couldn’t bear the horror; the dying children, the diseases that dominated the whole of the orphanage, the terrible smell that permeated everywhere. The orphanage was less of a home but more of a prison – a prison for kids whose only crime was not having parents. Matron Nene, on arriving there, understood why she had been forbidden from bringing any child with her; it would be unfair to that child, no matter how close she was with her – and she had agreed.

And so she worked hard. She refused to bow down from the challenges of the orphanage. Once again, she was going to prove that everyone was worth saving. No child would die under her care. Like she did in Lagos, she started growing things. She farmed ceaselessly and encouraged the grownups among the kids to help her out. They worked night and day; Matron Nene plucked leaves and grounded stems, she boiled roots and soaked barks – she made local herbs and gave the sick, since they were so impoverished that they could not afford western medicines. And the herbs worked miraculously; the children began to gain their strengths. In three months, changes began to occur in the home. The maize they had planted was now ripe for harvest. Food began to come in good supply. The maize they harvested were roasted, boiled and even ground into pastes to make new kinds of meal. Soon, the skinny children began to gain their health; the flesh they had lost to hunger and sickness began to return. It was a thing of joy to Matron Nene to see the children back to life; she would smile proudly whenever she saw them skipping ropes, doing hide-and-seek and playing other games common to kids.

Within a year, there was food in abundance: yam, cassava, maize, vegetables, beans, rice, onions, carrots, cocoyam, sweet potato. Trees were planted, too, for fruits. But unlike in Lagos, Matron Nene could not afford to send the kids to school; the government here was even more irresponsible, there was no grant whatsoever, no donations, the churches, the mosques, the non-governmental organizations – none of them cared about the wellbeing of the girls. Matron Nene and the girls had to sell off some of the excess farm produce they had for them to get money. The matron could not single-handedly home-school the girls, and so she used some of the money to employ the services of teachers to come and train them. The rest of the money was always saved for rainy days; a time would come when the children would have to go to higher schools, she would need to be financially ready.

After four years, however, things turned out beyond Matron Nene’s expectations. She didn’t know how the news about her success in the orphanage became suddenly viral. Perhaps one of those who visited the orphanage had seen the wonderful changes and had gone off to relay the news to the public. The matron and the children just woke up one morning and saw reporters outside the gate. They came with their cameras and began to take pictures. They had come from a television station and had requested an interview with the matron. The interview had skyrocketted her popularity and the home. It was like nobody had heard about the orphanage before until then. The news about Matron Nene’s good job circulated the media. First, the government donated a huge sum of money to the orphanage, and Matron Nene herself was also compensated with an equally huge sum of money for her wonderful work. Then other organizations, too, started pulling in resources. Donations came in here and there. Masons volunteered to build a new structure for the kids, plumbers did their parts voluntarily, carpenters, electricians, painters, welders – they all worked in the orphanage. And within months, the disgusting, poverty-wreaked home became a beautiful palace. Now the children could attend the best schools. Newspapers carried the captions of Matron Nene and the girls, articles were written about them, television and radio stations broadcast them for many days. Above all, Matron Nene became a household name. She was a kind woman, and she was duly repaid with kindness. Everywhere she turned, she was treated with respect. Money and goods came in so much that they wanted no more; they had enough to last them a lifetime. Matron Nene and the kids would never have to do any hard labour in the home again. Indeed, the home itself had been turned to an amusement park.

Matron Nene was gifted a brand new car for her birthday. Everyone told her she deserved it. Even the kids had baked her a cake and had acted a play in her honour. The whole community attended her birthday and showered her more gifts. It was joy at last. Her good heart and dedication had paid off at last, in the most unusual way. After five year years, after the success, after the transformations, after everything – Matron Nene knew that it was time for her to bring in Maria. This was the time for her to host the best birthday party the girl had never had. Matron Nene had been counting the years. Bringing Maria here would be the perfect thing to do. Maria would be the light of the orphanage, and the girl might even take over from her whenever she was gone.

And so two days before Maria’s birthday, Matron Nene drove her car from the orphanage in Cross River to the orphanage in Lagos – she was going for Maria. She had started the journey very early in the morning and had arrived her destination late in the afternoon. She desperately wanted to see the girl. It had been five long years! Maria would have become a very beautiful young woman by now, and a lot more mature. Oh, how she had missed her daughter. Her life had never been complete without Maria with her. Now that was going to change.

As she drove into the orphanage, she noticed that nothing much had changed about the home since the day she departed five years ago. She noticed a car drive out of the compound as she was driving in. she waved a greeting to the driver and the man nodded in response. She thought she saw the silhouette of a woman beside the driver but she was not sure. She drove inward and parked in the compound, momentarily forgetting about the driver and his passenger. She had assumed that the man was one of the sponsors. As she stepped out of the car, she looked around and shook her head. She was not impressed with what the presiding matron had done with the home so far.

She had a strange ominous feeling as she stepped towards the building. Something seemed to be wrong somewhere. Her heart was beating fast; she suddenly began to worry about Maria.

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Update 10

The 10th Generation

VI

Titi continued to secretly feed Maria from her personal ration. Indeed, she thought the matron of the house was unaware of her actions – she was gravely mistaken. And for some reasons best known to Madam Comfort herself, the good Samaritan was not confronted; at least not for the moment. Madam Comfort continued to watch her every night as she snuck into her room to take the key to where Maria was locked up in. She would smile each time the girl left her room with the key, and also whenever she returned it. When the woman had checked on Maria the following morning Titi nursed her, she could see some signs of care about the girl; Titi was not the most subtle girl in the world. And, of course, the matron had pretended ignorance and had locked the girl up again as if nothing had happened. It was obvious to her now that the girl was not going to die anytime soon, not with Titi bringing her food every night; even though the food was meagre and only came once every day, it was enough for the poor girl to sustain on. And Titi herself was comfortable relinquishing her supper to Maria; she could easily manage with her breakfast and lunch, except on some rare occasions when Madam Comfort would deny them of lunch, especially when one of the girls fell on her bad grace.

After about a few days, however, the woman was no longer anxious to see Maria pass away. Somehow, it had occurred to her that she could benefit more from the girl alive than dead. She released Maria from captivity after a week and allowed the other girls to nurse her back to health. But no matter what the girls did, the burn on her toe left an ugly scar, and the headache she had didn’t totally subside. On various occasions, she would be struck by the headache and it would seem like someone was working a hatchet in her skull. Also, Maria had lost a lot of weight within the first week of her incarceration. The initially plumpy girl was now not much different from a scarecrow. Her bones were so pronounced that it seemed like they were threatening to break out of her sallow skin. There was no dry eye in the orphanage when she was finally brought out of the goat-shed she had been locked in. There was an ugly gash at the side of her face where she had hit her head. And she reeked terribly because she soiled herself the same place she laid. She was dirty; her disheveled hair came over one side of her face. She could barely walk and Titi had to support her; she didn’t mind that her friend was not smelling nice. Maria was taken to the bathroom and washed; the dirt on her was scrubbed off vigorously; everyone tended to her as if she was already a corpse that must be dressed presentably, and by the time she was guided out of the bathroom, her bathwater had turned black.

Maria was slowly becoming her normal self after about two weeks. Gradually, she was bringing light back into the home. But something seemed to be amiss about her. While in the middle of an important discussion with the other girl, she would just shut off suddenly. She would have a faraway look, like she was thinking about something sad, something eerily sad. The girls would have to call on her a couple of times before she would look back at them and smile.

She was still the cheerful girl they used to know but it seemed like the punishment had broken something in her; a part of her appeared damaged beyond repair. The girls didn’t know what they could do to help her. They might be able to help if they knew what was wrong with her. They had tried to ask her but she always told them she was fine. She would break into a smile again and continue playing with them once again. Even though it had been a month since she was released from the prison Madam Comfort had subjected her, Maria didn’t entirely gain her body size back. She had improved from the underfed child she initially was, but she still didn’t recover her full self. All indications suggested that she would never become that plump girl again. Something had happened to her metabolism; she was not going to be as promisingly endowed as she had initially been prior to the abuse she suffered, even her handy bosoms had reduced noticeably – it was almost unbelievable. Instead, she was growing into a slim and graceful young woman. Evidently, a lot of things about Maria had changed; her growth, her initially unblemished skin, her adaptability to pain, and her emotions.

Even when Maria turned twelve years old, she still suffered occasional headaches, and no matter the medication she took, it would still come back after a few days. She had tried to live with it but the ailment seemed to get worse every year or so. But Maria was tired of being the centre of pity; she didn’t want to be seen as the pathetic one in the home anymore; and so whenever she had a bout of this headache, she always tried her best not to make it show. She would be chatting with her peers when the pain would suddenly struck. She would only pause a second or two and continue the discussion without giving them the hint that she was in pains. She didn’t want to worry the girls unnecessarily. The headache was hers to battle, no one else had to be involved. Besides, it was obvious that there was nothing anyone could do about it anymore. Once the pain had been so excruciating that she had lost consciousness. Thankfully, she had only collapsed in the bathroom and had been out for only a few minutes. She had picked herself up, had a second bath and had left as if nothing had happened. Nobody knew about it; and that was the first time it happened. But it was not going to happen again for a long time.

***

Titi was one of the oldest girls of the orphanage. Usually when a girl was beyond fifteen years old, she was supposed to be taken out of the orphanage and given to foster parents who would take care of her and give her necessary education, but nothing in the country seemed to work right. Madam Comfort never stopped giving her out to men, including the other girls. But still, she didn’t pick Maria. Even the other girls were beginning to be envious of Maria; they considered her the lucky one among them, for there was no reason why the matron would just single Maria out from the lot. As a matter of fact, Maria, at thirteen years old, had matured more than many of the other girls. She was a textbook representation of the word ‘sexy’. Her scarred body soon faded with time and the smooth glowing skin returned. The only minus was her deformed toe. Her hair had grown longer and darker and richer. She was growing taller than her age, and her long legs were straight and even.

Various men had seen her and had requested for her but Madam Comfort had turned them down. She had told them point-blank that they could request for any other girl but not Maria. If the girls had not known better they would have thought Madam Comfort considered Maria a favourite; but they know how much resentment the woman had for the girl. The mysterious thing now was that she seemed to be protecting Maria – something quite unusual. The girls had wondered about her intention; they all knew the woman had no good plan for Maria, still, her demeanours towards the girl was strange.

Maria herself lived in constant fear of Matron Nene. She knew the woman had attempted to kill her three years ago. Although the woman hadn’t abused her as she did three years previously, Maria knew she was looking for another way of getting rid of her. She knew Maria was not that ten-year-old girl again; she could not just lock her up again and expect that she died. The girl was a lot more matured, such technique might not work again. Besides, it didn’t work the first time; if it had, she wouldn’t, perhaps, be thinking about another plan. To Maria, her inactions were scarier than her actions; she didn’t know what method the woman was going to employ this time around. But whatever plan Madam Comfort had, it was something Maria would not be able to escape.

Titi, at sixteen-year-old, had become the pride of Madam Comfort. She was the sexiest girl in the woman’s prostitution racket; she fetched Madam Comfort more money than any other girl in the block. Men requested for her more than any other girl. The men had confessed that Titi was a true professional; she knew how to handle them. She did to them what their wives were incapable of doing, or any woman for that matter. One of the men had begged Titi to be his second wife; he had promised to build a house for her, credit her bank account with a huge sum of money and buy her a new car. The girl had considered the offers so ridiculous that she informed the mistress. Madam Comfort had forbidden the randy man from ever coming to the home again. Another man had brought a bag filled with money and asked Madam Comfort to sell her off to him. Again, the woman had declined the offer. She planned to use Titi all her life. She would not allow the girl to be married. Even if she became forty, Titi would always be her girl. She would continue to dominate her life, and the lives of the other girls in the home, and fatten herself up. There was nothing anyone could do about it.

But as Titi grew older, she also grew wiser. She decided to always keep a part of the money she made for herself. Whenever she went out with any man, she would return with only eighty percent of the extra money given to her and keep twenty for herself. This was a dangerous game she was playing, she knew; if Madam Comfort knew, there was no limit to what she might do to her. But she was sure the woman was never going to know. She thought she had gotten away with sneaking out in the nights to feed Maria three years ago. If she could get away with that, then she would surely get away with this one. But like what she did three years ago, Madam Comfort knew what she was doing now, too, but still pretended ignorance. She was probably giving the girl enough rope to hang herself, or she was just leaving her to live freely. Perhaps Titi was her favourite after all; but just that the woman had no favourite person. She was simply incapable of liking anyone; and if any person became useless to her, she disposed off of the garbage and moved on to the next available person.

Madam Comfort was probably keeping Maria to replace Titi. Someday, she might have to let the girl go and put Maria forward. That was what Maria thought anyway. She was most probably being kept as a substitute prostitute. That was the only logical explanation for why she had not been given out all these years. Maria was the only girl in the home who still had her hymen intact. At this time, however, Maria had had a pretty good idea about what the men who took the girls away were doing to them. Besides the fact that Titi had educated her about sexual intercourse, most of the girls usually came back to narrate their sexual experiences with the men they were given. The word ‘sex’ had become such a household name in the home that Maria hated it so much that she wished she could set fire to every bed in the world. All their descriptions were downright disgusting; and some of them seemed to enjoy what they were being subjected to do – something Maria found highly disturbing. Whenever the talk about sex came up, Maria always wisely excused herself without giving the girls the hint that she was uncomfortable with the topic.

Now sex was her nightmare. She prayed every day that Madam Comfort continued to protect her against those men who always looked at her with doe-eyed-interests. And most of them seemed like raving lunatic. One had threatened Maria; the man had told her that sooner or later he was going to cross her bridge, and when he did, he would destroy that bridge so much that no other person would enjoy crossing it. He had spoken in metaphors and Maria had understood him clearly. She had cringed with disgust and shuddered with fear. While few of the girls considered sexual intercourse painful, others had found it rather ecstatic. She also prayed that the men continued to find Titi delightful; if they didn’t, the matron might end up picking her up and offering her on a platter of gold. She would be sacrificed on the altar of rape, molestation, sodomy and bodily assaults. She knew praying for Titi’s success, in this case, was a selfish thing to do. But Titi was one capable of taking care of herself; and besides, she seemed to be doing well for herself in the situation.

Almost every time Titi was taken out of the orphanage, she always returned bearing gifts for Maria. She always managed to hide the presents from Madam Comfort, of course. She tried not to buy anything conspicuous like a new dress. She was subtle. She would return with ice-cream, chocolate, cakes; she had even brought Maria a new pair of pants, but she had made the girl promise that Madam Comfort would not see them. Maria never wanted any of Titi’s gifts, knowing the source of such gifts, but she didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings. She knew there was no way she would refuse the gifts without Titi suspecting the real reasons for her refusal. She knew Titi would feel very terrible, and she might lose her friendship with her. Titi was the only girl in the orphanage she was truly close to; she was a girl on whom she was not willing to fall out of grace. Titi had considered Maria as the little sister she never had. She had taken it upon herself to always protect the girl. And Maria genuinely appreciated that. She knew she owed her life to Titi; if she had not done everything she did three years earlier, Maria would most probably have died.

Maria had promised Titi that she was going to pay her back for everything she had done for her. She would grow up to become a successful woman and take good care of her. Titi would not have to do the shameful things she did anymore. She would get married to the person she loved and they would reproduce like rabbits and live happily ever after.

One night, Titi went out with another strange man and she never returned.

Madam Comfort had been offered a huge sum of money she could not just refuse.

To be continued...

However, you can download the full story from the link below:

https://okadabooks.com/book/about/let_the_guns_speak/25950

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***

“Walk faster,” Tobi urged. They walked under the glare of the streetlights. Everywhere was quiet now. They had walked past the bridge and were now walking towards a street. Tobi had to do something fast about Irele's situation. He must find her something to wear; he could see that the towel and her barefootedness were making her uncomfortable. Her feet must be blistering for the long time she had spent walking on a hard ground. He knew that she was not totally comfortable with being almost naked around him. They were walking in gloomy corners; animal lust might possess Tobi's mind and cause him to rape her. These were all that was going through her mind, not even the fear of getting killed. Tobi wanted to tell her not to be scared of him but he couldn't; no word might assure her now. She was afraid and suspicious.

It was dangerous to expose themselves to the publicity of the roads. The enemies were everywhere. They would scour every street, every corner, to find them. Apart from that, they couldn't just continue trekking forever. Sooner or later, they would have to stop and pass the night somewhere. They walked past different slums before they found different clothes spread on line in front of a bungalow. Tobi selected a pair of ladies jeans trousers and a shirt for Irele. They went to a quiet spot for her to change.

“Turn around,” she said when she realised that it hadn't dawned on the killer to give her privacy. He was staring at her as he waited for her to change.

“Why?”

“For goodness sake, be a gentleman. You can’t expect me to dress up while you watch.”

“But I've seen your unclothedness already. What else are you trying to hide?”

“Stop acting like a pervert. I'm never going to be naked in front of you again. Turn around now!”

Tobi stared at her for a moment. Women. He shrugged and turned around. “You have just thirty seconds. We have no time to waste.”

“I'll know if you peek.”

“I'm not peeking. I have no reason to. I know you aren't armed.”

“Okay, I'm done. You can look at me now,” she said, “The jeans is a little bit short for me but it's part of fashion, anyway. The shirt is perfect, I wish I had a bra on. My chest feels heavier.”

“You look nice with clothes on.”

Irele flushed hotly at the statement. She knew an insult when she heard one, and she felt insulted; Tobi thought he gave an honest compliment.

“What's that supposed to mean?"

Rather than answering, he bent down, unlaced his shoes and gave them to her.

“Here, take,” he said, “wear these.”

“You can't expect me to wear your boots. They're too big for me.”

“You have to do with that for now.”

“What are you going to wear?”

“Don't worry. I'll be fine. Now let's get out of here. We've got to find where we'll pass the night.”

“But I'm hungry.”

“What are you two doing here in the dark?” An elderly man suddenly appeared. Tobi turned swiftly and, almost magically, his pistol was aimed at the man's head. The elderly person shrank back in fear, “Please don't kill me! Please don't! I beg of you. I have a wife and six children. Please!” He shut his eyes in terror.

“Who sent you?” Tobi asked sharply.

The man opened one eye, “Who sent me? Nobody! I'm just passing by.”

“You're a FAN, aren't you?”

“No, no, I'm not a fan. I don't know any fan. The only fan I know is the one in my room, and it's a handfan. I don't have standing or ceiling fan. Please don't kill me.”

“You're lying!”

“No, I'm not! You can come and check my room, sir. Please, I beg of you–”

Tobi, with his other hand, ripped open the man's shirt, buttons flew around like pellets. The man's chest was clean; there was no tattoo whatsoever. He was just an innocent man. He wasn't a frat.

“What's your name?”

“My name is Jeremiah, sir.”

“What are you doing here at this time?”

“I'm just returning from work.”

“What do you do?”

“I'm a welder, sir.”

“Pull off your shoes.”

The man obeyed immediately.

“How much do you have on you?”

“Sixteen thousand, five hundred and twenty-five naira.”

“Bring it out now.”

“What are you doing?” Irele asked him, whispering.

“I thought you said you were hungry. I'm just finding us some food money.”

“You're robbing the man. We're not thieves.”

“We've got to eat, don't we?”

“Don't you have any money on you?”

“I have none.”

Irele was appalled. “Who leaves home without any money?”

“You and I,” he answered her then collected the money from the man. “Now run away without looking back. If you dare look back, I'm going to shoot you in the eye. You may call the bluff of my marksmanship and end up dead.”

The elderly man, now barefoot, ran down the quiet street like an athlete.

Tobi smiled and turned to face Irele, “That man is a runner. He should participate in the next Lagos Marathon.”

“You're a monster.” Irele declared. She was disappointed in him.

He shrugged, “Call me whatever, I won't allow you to sleep hungry. Now let's find a restaurant. I'm hungry too.”

***

Jeremiah was still running when someone driving a car stopped him.

“What's wrong, sir,” the driver asked, stepping out of the vehicle, “Why are you running?”

Jeremiah was breathless. He had to wait a moment to catch his breath before answering. “Thieves,” he said, “They robbed me. A man and a woman.”

“Blessed Virgin Mary,” the driver made a false cross sign, “I hope they are not coming towards this way.”

“No, I don't think so. I think they were going the other way.”

“Where did you see them?”

“In the middle of the street when you take the second turning. Please don't approach them; they are dangerous people.”

“I understand. Thanks for the information, and the warning.” He stuck a knife in the elderly man's throat, wriggled it for a moment before taking it out. The innocent man collapsed to the ground like a cave of sand on a beach. The killer cleaned his hands and headed back to his car. He was going after the two, after the document.

[quote author=Ochyglowsglows post=77146978][/quote]I didn't receive your mail. I'm sorry about the unpicked calls. I was most probably busy. However, you can resend the mail, message me on WhatsApp, or call me tonight because I'm in a noisy place right now.

Once again, I'm so sorry.

Cheers,

LSD

rukidanty:
thanks for the update

Thanks for your patronage, sir. May God bless you abundantly.

The next update (The 10th Generation) shall be posted next week Sunday. But if you can't wait till then, the PDF and other subsequent updates are available for sale at N50 only.

Contact me via WhatsApp or call to know how you can make payment. Thank you and God bless you.

LSD
09061754872
larrysundynasty@gmail.com

Update 9

The 9th Cloud

V

Titi waited for everyone in the home to sleep off before she took action. For the past couple of days she had been watching how Madam Comfort was treating Maria. She suspected that the woman was doing everything she could to get rid of the innocent girl; perhaps because the girl was somehow threatening her business. They didn’t know why the woman had suddenly attacked the girl. What could Maria have done to deserve such kind of brutality? Did she steal Madam Comfort’s money? That was highly unlikely. It was hard imagining Maria to be a thief. Such a thought just couldn’t fly. Had she insulted the woman? That was also as hard to imagine as it was with thievery. Maria was the most polite girl in the home. She would never insult her peers let alone an elderly person. Titi and the other girls had all made various guesses but none of them made sense. Maria was a girl who was simply incapable of any wrongdoing. She would never steal, insult or do anything that would put a stain on her reputation. As little as she was, Maria respected herself more than anything else and if you can respect yourself, then there is no way you can disrespect others, or would there be any reason for others to disrespect you. But Maria’s case was different; as much as she respected herself, Madam Comfort did a lot more than disrespect her – she nearly killed her in their presence. Even now, Titi doubted that Maria was still alive, but she was willing to find out. Unlike the other girls in the home, she was not going to sit back and not help someone she liked so much.

That night Titi was to check up on Maria, she kept her meal uneaten. She knew that if Maria was still alive, one thing that would be threatening her survival would be starvation. She, Titi, could go a night without eating; there was someone who had not been fed for four days straight. At around midnight when all the girls had slept and Madam Comfort had retired to bed after handing over some girls to the men who usually came in the night, Titi snuck out of her room. She stood in front of the matron’s room and listened. There was only one way to know if the woman was sleeping. She didn’t need to place her ear against the door to know, for Madam Comfort was snoring heavily. The girl was glad. Now she could easily open the front door and step out; but she needed the key to the shed. She had studied Madam Comfort and she knew where the woman always kept the key.

She held her breath as she placed her hand on the door handle and turned as silently as possible, then she carefully pushed forward. She was hoping that the door would not be locked from behind. Sometimes Madam Comfort would go to bed without locking her door, since she knew that none of the girls would dare step into her room if she didn’t call them. As Titi pushed the door forward, she prayed that this was one of those rare nights that the woman got careless. Lo, it was true, the door was unlocked. Before stepping into the room, a dangerous thought occurred to Titi; she wondered if she could end everything permanently. She could liberate herself and the other girls right now. All she had to do was go into the kitchen, grab a knife, return to this room and stab the woman in her sleep. She would stab her as many times as she could until she was sure that she was dead. If Madam Comfort died, they would all live a much happier life. But Titi didn’t have the courage; she could only think it, she was incapable of carrying out a cold-blooded murder. She was not a monster; she was better than Madam Comfort. All in all, she prayed that someday the woman met with misfortune. She might be going on the road one day and get run over by a truck, or she might be felled by an incurable illness. The only thing Titi could do was wish the woman evil. Madam Comfort was evil, she deserved nothing but evil. Unfortunately, Titi was old enough to know that life was not fair; evil people usually thrive while the good ones suffer. The world has been mould in a biased fashion.

At this moment, she had gained enough confidence. She stepped into the room boldly. If the woman caught her, she was ready to bear the consequence; she wouldn’t mind being beaten for trying to do the right thing. She was the only girl among all the girl of the orphanage who had enough courage to act against what she considered wrong. Besides, she would not be like Maria if she was caught. She would not allow herself to be subjected to such unkindness. She would just run out of the orphanage, escape, be independent. She didn’t know what she would do out there but anything or anywhere would surely be better than what the woman would do to her. If it meant selling her body to survive, she would gladly do it. It was something Madam Comfort had been forcing her into anyway. The only difference this time around would be that she would get paid for it and get to keep the money for herself. She would not have to deliver to anyone. She would be her own boss. She had no skill whatsoever; the only selling point she had was her sexy body; that was enough to bring her comfort.

The room was dark, of course; Titi had expected it to be, and she was prepared. Switching on the overhead bulb was risky; the glare of the bulb might awaken the woman. She was not willing to take that risk; that was why she had come with a torch. She knew switching on the torch could be as dangerous as flicking the wall switch, so she covered the face of the torch with her palm before flicking it on. Then slowly, she allowed a little ray of light to pass through her fingers. She scanned the room slowly until the light shone on the wall close to the window. Titi knew exactly what she was looking for and where she could find it. She could find the key in the dark but she wouldn’t risk on tripping on something that would alert the sleeping woman; hence the torch. The key was hanging from a nail in the wall just beside the window. If that part of the window had been open Titi could have easily picked the key from outside. But it wasn’t; and the louvres made a hell of a noise when drawn; they were old and rusty.

She crossed the room and unhooked the key from the nail, making sure that she did not shine the torch on the face of the sleeping woman. She quietly stepped out and shut the door behind her. She knew she would have to return it but she must not leave the door open. What if the woman woke up with the intention of relieving herself and found the door open? Surely she would know that someone had come into her room, and she would immediately take drastic actions. Tit wouldn’t want that.

She returned to the kitchen and picked up the food she had kept for Maria. It was a plate of rice and stew with little fish she had salvaged from the pot. She had found a sachet of a powdery painkiller and had taken it. Then she filled a cup with water and left the kitchen.

She had no problem with the front door; that one was usually unlocked, what they always did instead was push the bolt in place and go to bed. There was no turning of keys or clicking in padlocks. And it was a silent door, too; the only door in the whole of the building that made zero noise. She opened the door and stepped out into the compound. She walked straight to the goat-shed, unlocked it and stepped in. the shed was even darker than Madam Comfort’s room; thankfully she still had the torch with her. What she saw shattered her. She broke down and cried. No human being deserved this kind of treatment; this was the height of savagery. Maria was naked and looking like a child torn by war. Her long hair was caked in blood and dirt, and her body parts were torn in various parts; even her beautiful round breast had torture marks. The most unsightly parts of her body were her back and her burnt foot. How the girl was still alive after all that was nothing short of amazing.

While she wept, she reached for Maria. The girl withered in her arms like a dead flower stem. Her breathing was shallow and her swollen eyes were shut.

“Maria,” Titi called in a whisper, “Maria, wake up. It’s me, Titi. Wake up.”

Maria stirred faintly but her eyes were still shut.

“I’ve brought you some food, Maria. Please wake up.” Another stream of tears was flowing down the older girl’s cheeks. She felt like she was talking to a rotting corpse.

“Please open your eyes, Maria,” Titi begged, “Please don’t die.”

Slowly, the eyes began to open. Titi was sitting on the floor of the shed, her back was against the wall and she had Maria’s head on her laps. She untied the scarf on her head and wrapped it round the girl to cover her unclothedness and protect her from the cold. Maria was finally able to open the eyes to a slit.

“Titi,” she whispered tiredly. Her word was so faint that Titi could barely hear. She dropped the torch on the floor and supported the girl’s head with one of her hands.

“Yes, Maria. I’m here.” She quickly spooned a rice from the plate and brought it to Maria’s mouth. “Open your mouth, I’ve brought some food.”

But Maria turned her face.

“You have to eat something,” Titi pleaded.

“Water,” Maria whispered.

Titi quickly reached for the water and put it to her mouth. The girl drank the water hungrily. She would have finished the whole cup of water had Titi not stopped her. She was so parched that she could drink herself to death.

“You have to eat something to regain your strength,” Titi said, “Please take some morsels.”

She started feeding Maria who could barely open her mouth. She was having pain all over her body. Even chewing was painful, swallowing was an agony, but she was wise enough to know that eating would probably save her from dying. She managed to eat five spoonfuls – she could take no more. Titi urged her to take at least two more spoonfuls but Maria lacked the strength to even take one more. What she would take was water. Titi gave her the painkillers and more water.

She stared at the girl’s bruised body and gently laid the head on the ground. She rose up and dusted herself. “Please wait for me, I’ll be back.” She quickly returned to the building and opened the first-aid box. She got a bottle of spirit and embrocation, took a roll of plaster and bandages. Then she returned to the shed. She began work on the girl immediately. She cleaned the wounds with cotton wool doused with spirit. She was surprised to see that Maria did not wince in pain. She had initially been scared that the girl would cry out in pain and wake up the evil woman. She cleaned the wounds carefully and applied medicine on them. Then she went to her toe and worked on the burn. She applied a bluish liquid that was meant to heal the wound fast. As she was about to apply the bandage, Maria stopped her.

“Why? What’s wrong?” asked the befuddled Titi, “The bandage will protect the wound from getting infected further.”

“She will find out,” said Maria, her whisper was loud this time. Titi knew the girl was referring to Madam Comfort; and she was right. There was no way Madam Comfort would not know that she had been helped if she saw the bandage. It could cause more problems for both Maria and the other girls in the home. Titi knew Maria did not want to put her in trouble. She would have loved her wound to be plastered and bandaged but it would not be the wisest thing to do in that circumstance. Titi had no choice but to stop.

“Why are you helping me?” asked Maria; her voice was getting clearer. “Madam will hurt you if she finds out.”

“You’re right,” replied Titi, “We have to make sure she doesn’t. I’m sorry it took me so long to attend to you. Madam has been watching us like a hawk, daring any one of us to help you. We couldn’t take the chance. We are all so scared of her.”

“I understand,” said Maria, “The pain is too much. My head is splitting apart.”

Titi returned to her initial position in the shed and cradled the girl’s head in her laps. She rocked the girl. All night long, she comforted the tortured girl.

“You know I wasn’t born an orphan like you. I knew my parents. We were a rich family; at least very comfortable. My parents could afford what they wanted. I attended one of the best schools in this country. You see, my father was a politician. I was too young to understand how he made his money; all I could remember was that the government froze most of our assets. We were asked to vacate our house as soon as possible because the bank had placed it for sale. Overnight, everything we enjoyed stopped. We left a flat to live in a less comfortable home. My father’s appointment with the government was terminated. I remembered that my mum had cried so bitterly when my father relayed the news. His name appeared in the papers as a corrupt person who looted and stole from the government. My father’s name was dragged in the mud; his reputation was soiled. He barely escaped being jailed. But we suffered dearly for what he was accused of doing. I was taken out of the expensive school I attended and placed in a public school with unrefined pupils. I was bullied and abused in school. Every day, I dared going to school because I was seen as the daughter of a man who stole public funds. Everywhere I went, I saw people look at me with judgemental eyes. I thought I was the only person suffering this hatred, I never knew what I suffered was nothing close to what my parents experienced. My father could not find job anywhere. My mother could not walk in the street. Whenever she went to the market, she was always booed by the market men and women. People avoided them in the streets. They were ostracised.

“It got so bad that they broke under the weight. They gave up – they gave up on themselves, they gave up on me, they gave up on the world. The entire family suffered depression. Then one morning, my father put us in the car and we drove off. I was put in the backseat while my mom sat beside him in the front. Somehow, even as a seven-year-old girl, I knew what was happening. We were going on a suicide trip. I thought that was the best way to avoid the wickedness of the world. When we got to the bridge, my father drove off into the lagoon below. The water rushed at us immediately. I struggled but there was nothing I could do. I had been tied down with a belt. The water rushed into my mouth and nose. I couldn’t breathe; soon, everything turned white before I lost consciousness.

“The next time I opened my eyes, I found myself in a hospital. I learnt that my parents were dead and there was no extended family member who would take me. Apart from that, no one was willing to take in the child of a man who had a terrible reputation. So, to save my identity, my name was changed from Chioma to Titi, and I was given a new surname, too. I was brought here after I fully recovered in the hospital.”

Maria listened quietly to Titi speak. She did not interrupt her for once; she didn’t have the strength to be chatty anyway.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Maria said when Titi finished her tale of woe. She wished she could say more to comfort the girl, but evidently she had her own pains to battle.

“I need to go now. I’ve been with you for hours. It would almost be five by now. Madam must not wake up and see me here. I have to return the key.”

Maria nodded in understanding.

Titi left the girl and locked the shed after her. Then she quietly returned to Madam Comfort’s room and hanged the key where she had picked it; this time around she didn’t bother turning on the torch. She knew the exact steps to take in the room. She maintained the same stealth she had managed when she was taking the key. Afterwards, she left the room and returned to their room. All the girls were still sleeping. She breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was perfect.

But nothing was perfect. If Titi had switched on the torch when she was returning the key, she would have seen that Madam Comfort’s eyes were wide open.

Rosemary33:
I always await your updates

Updated.

moseph:
so loving this.

I'm delighted.

princessadeola:
Enjoying it

I'm glad.

Blackween:
thanks for the update op


This is getting hot, now I'm waiting for irele herself to take up the gun

Loooooooool! Let's wait and see.

Kaycee9242:
wow!! Larry thanks so much for this unexpected update, I always hope on only Sundays

You're welcome, boss.

Treasure17:
The battle between Tobi and Abubakar go hot... Thanks for the update man.

LOL! You will be surprised. Thanks for following.