In no time Lotanna walked up to Chuks. She grabbed his hand a second time but this time forcing him to lead the way outside; talk about a host doing the opposite.
Still harboring his confusion like Thomas, Chuks thought to humor Lotanna by doing as she implied. The two walked outside amidst the heavily guarded security personnel lined up, to where Chuks’ Toyota Carina was parked. It was in an awkward space but then one couldn’t blame Chuks for not parking by the mansion or the normal parking lot, seeing as too many cars were already lined up.

Chuks looked into his car based on Lotanna's insistence, not because he wanted, but to gloat at being right. But just then, he found he couldn’t. She was the one right. There was a girl; a child. Chuks turned to the security men to know which had done this.
“I need you to act normal” Lotanna commanded.
Still siding with Thomas, Chuks looked at Lotanna then the car. He nodded as he found himself inclined to obey his boss. “Ok. You can go back inside” he struggled to say before getting into his car.
Lotanna took some steps backwards to allow him start his engine and drive out. She went back inside that minute hoping none was the wiser. Standing by the door, she sighed in relief as she heard nothing from the security men outside. “That was a brilliant plan you had” Yusuf’s voice caught to her in a shock. She had to shrive to regain balance, “How did you know I was around?”
Lotanna sighed again, first to remark how humorous the sound of the question was or how, no matter how fast he was; was rather too predictable. She smiled to herself reminiscing on her thoughts of how Yusuf reacted to her conversation with Chuks in her imaginations. “I heard when you ran in” she said, “…and your heartbeat was like someone about to kill someone. I had to find a way to send Chuks away” Lotanna jibed.
Yusuf smiled once he understood what she meant, “I have to keep it that way” he acknowledged.

He too sensed it, “Let me guess…” Chuks opted to start the conversation, “It’s either you are having problems with her or you don’t like her” he said, raising a finger as if to point something out.
“You are a bad predictor” Lotanna chided, moving from her position to where ever she felt comfort was. Chuks too followed, “So what was so urgent you had to come down here to talk about when my uncle is not around?”
“I came to see you” Chuks restated. He took a stop at where the cushion chairs were as Lotanna took her seat. “That’s why I came at this hour” Chuks turned to glare at the entire room once more and the clock a second time. The weather in the living room was indeed very cold compared to outside, he noticed before sitting.
“Why?”

The question struck Chuks that he took his time to look at Lotanna, he allowed his mind to be lost within himself, “…How are you?” he said slowly but not letting his voice get in the way.
“Fine” Lotanna solely replied then paused seeing it wasn’t the perfect response, “It’s been long. Why didn’t you come after that time?” she looked on.
“Work…!” Chuks stuttered scratching his head, “…work. Work….Work” he repeated, “I couldn’t bear to lose my job” he turned to the dining then to Lotanna meeting her smug expression.
“Your job?” her voice didn’t make it sound like she believed or was ready to.
Sensing that, Chuks returned to his seat, “Actually, that’s why I came” he rushed to say. Another lie, Lotanna thought. “There is something going on at the office. The company” he rephrased.
“What? Is Uncle alright?” Lotanna realized she had let her mind to be caught off guard not knowing it was the only reason he would be there acting all giddy and all ‘I came to see’ when normally he came when her uncle was around.
“Yes” Chuks answered, “Actually nothing is wrong with him. He is fine. He is alive” he added, giving the lady a reason to calm her nerves. A ray of hope peered into Lotanna, “Thank God” she said.
“But, he is the problem…” Chuks let out, deciding it was best breaking the bad news. He paused to rate Lotanna's expression but seeing a blank slate and a suspenseful heart longing for more, he continued, “He’s been firing employees, people who have dedicated their lives to the company, helped moved it forward and those your father trusted” Chuks said, instantly feeling panic more and more as he found Lotanna's eyes scrubbing the floor metaphorically.
“My father’s dead. It’s my uncle’s company now. So if he wants to fire anyone, he has the best reasons and it’s his decision” the lady replied, straight with no sense of attachment.

Chuks jolting backwards at the response and the sound of it, relaxed once he knew where it was coming from. He was only a quarter way through his speech, so there was still hope. “You don’t understand” he paraphrased, “These are key employees. They haven’t done anything and he’s retrenching them without warning, buying maximum number of shares. These are board members, Mr. Dickson, Augustine, Maku and…Itodo” Chuks continued as he halfway paused to mutter ‘Itodo’.
That instance he knew a lot were at stake. And that it wasn’t going to help going by words he had memorized or lines from a script. “If he was firing them for a reason or buying their shares or estate for a good cause, why replace them with board members, shareholders, trustees of a competing company? An offshore company…? White men…why do that?” Chuks relaxed to say, counting his words carefully to be sure reason went along. He paused, looked at everything, then Lotanna.
She remained indifferent, irresponsive and worse, awfully quiet. In that quiet moment, the wind ushered itself in, albeit in a silent manner to avoid anyone knowing it had intruded. The flowers upstairs leaked the secret, giving early warning as Yusuf walked passed them to a pillar above Lotanna and Chuks. He stood behind it.
“I think he is about to sell the company. Your company” Chuks affirmed bringing his right hand slowly and rubbing it against Lotanna's lap. “His company” Lotanna corrected,
“It’s your company too” Chuks insisted, raising his pitch. He wondered why the girl was so withdrawn that he started thinking of being irritated. He had to calm down though, and he did by readjusting himself.

From where Yusuf was, he found the respect of anger watching Chuks.
“Why would you come here to say all these?” Lotanna questioned, taking Chuks off guard, “The man has been good to you” she said hoping to incite guilt in her guest; whom now was more of an intruder, to drop his case.
From upstairs, Yusuf felt the same way. He leaned against the pillar, citing the boredom the visitor had brought to the house. “Yes. Yes he was” Chuks started, looking at Lotanna in the eye to prove he wasn’t what she was thinking of him, “And so was your dad. Am only repaying his kindness by not letting all he worked for go down in the blink of an eye” he said, “I think there is a conspiracy going on. Maybe your uncle is trying to drag the company from you or your money…but something doesn’t feel right” he continued, with his heartbeat becoming tenser than normal. This was his last chance, he felt.
“Mr. Itodo Stephens” he began, once he had cleared his throat, “…he was the Chief Finance Officer. Has two daughters and a son. He came to the office that day to be met with the shock. Twenty five years of service just gone and unacknowledged. He couldn’t believe it so he left for the Silverbird galleria. Maybe to drown his sorrow or to see if he could wake up from the dream which he saw everything as…but then the armed robbers attacked. They killed everyone including him” Chuks said, taking cue along the way from the file he brought. It was the first time he had opened it and when he did, a photograph of a man hung within. “Maybe if he wasn’t fired, maybe he wouldn’t have gone there. Maybe he could still be alive. Am not saying anything but the fact that the man did no wrong”

Chuks raised his head from the script to look at everywhere before looking at Lotanna. He grabbed her hand to which Yusuf rose from the position he stood on seeing it. His heart rate torpedoed as he moved further from the pillar to where the flower vase was. “He and your father were both good men. Everyone in the company loved them. They deserve justice” Chuks notified.
Sensing the agony that was in Chuks through his voice along with something else, Lotanna mimicked Chuks’ action by grabbing hold of his hand with her two palms. “Am sorry” she said.
Yusuf’s heart hitting heavily on seeing this; went into dilation when it realized it couldn’t take it anymore. And in a moment’s effort to regain his footing, he kicked off the flower vase from the corridor.

In his own quest for comfort, Yusuf unwittingly set in the rage of Mother Nature into motion as she intervened at the last minute. Yusuf’s eyes bulged to literally see everything stop; including the vase and the flowers that had made their way towards Lotanna, but now hanged in the air.
Seeing this as the only moment to make things right, Yusuf jumped off the balcony of the second floor to the side of the pillar holding the 2 floors. But by then, gravity had set in, slowing the vase for a free fall once again on Lotanna. Yusuf picked chase with six paces, taking a running stride on the pillar. The winds cheered, but Yusuf found himself rather less concerned with the glory and more with the vase landing on Lotanna.
Stealing a glance on his nemesis before reaching his hand for the vase and flowers, Yusuf found Chuks’ eyes widening. He knew then it was a cue to run back to his position. The winds cheered again once he achieved this feat but by then he had already praised himself. He held the flowers and vase to his chest like a trophy.
Yusuf turned to look at the clock downstairs to know if anything had changed. A second had barely passed, the vase hadn’t shattered nor had the flowers fallen. The only thing that was affected were Chuks’ eyes which he had not failed to look at while running. He knew they had lit up and was only waiting for his voice.

“What…” it came, “did you…did you?” Chuks stammered standing up as he pointed at the pillar that Yusuf hid behind. “I saw something” he rephrased, looking at Lotanna then back at the balcony upstairs. If he wasn’t hallucinating then he had just seen a flower vase fall from the balcony and a flush of wind; no a blur run down and catch it.
Chuks looked at himself again sure no one would believe him. But that didn’t stop him from glaring all over for signs of prove that he wasn’t hallucinating. There was a piece of flower on the floor, dusts on the black tiles, but most obvious were the cushion cloths that were now scattered on the floor. “Is…is someone…” Chuks stuttered.
“Chuks I need you to do me a favor” Lotanna interrupted. She knew what had happened even without seeing it happen, “Did you come with your car?” she asked, trying to put him off his inquisitive mode and more, change the subject.
Confused, Chuks turned “Yes. Why?” he said, wondering how one could possibly remain calm after what he saw. “There is a young child, a girl in coma right now. She is at the back seat of your car and in dire need of help. I need you to take her to a hospital. I will pay the bills, but someone would meet you there” Lotanna stated, coming off weird.

Chuks looked at her only to realize he needed no one to tell him something strange was going on, not only at the company but the Achebe house. He hoped it wasn’t the crazies.
“There is no child in my car” Chuks said, first to remind himself then to tell the lady, “I came alone” he insisted. Mocked by irritation, Lotanna stood up, moved to where Chuks was, “You need to listen to me” she commanded, halting, “I need you to do this for me and not tell anyone. I will help you out with your problem. I will speak to my uncle and then if I must…my lawyers” Lotanna explained.
She was somehow making sense; Chuks thought only to think back and remind himself he hadn’t made any sense out of what she said. Yusuf looked down to realize Lotanna was formulating a plan, he smiled. The winds followed in similar fashion but then came off weird as in their efforts to mimic their master, pulled him away. In a millisecond, Yusuf was no more. The only thing left as evidence he was ever there, were the flowers that rattled.

Yusuf’s eyes sailed through space as he stood staring at the flowers and plants surrounding the entirety of the green house. And as he watched, he saw the winds moving in slow motion that he felt he could race up to it and hold it in its tracks. But the problem was, his mind wasn’t even with the winds itself but rather, at the make shift bed in front of him that was beside the cupboard. It wasn’t the bed he was concerned of, but the person on it. Yusuf stared down at himself to see he was no longer in his green skin-suit. “Your heartbeat is slowing down” a voice came up immediately, beside him. Yusuf swung around to see Lotanna standing in front of him. It was morning, and as Yusuf sighed, he looked at the syringe in front of him on the table among the flower vases. He picked it up and stuck it to his right arm injecting the fluid in it into his veins.
“How long can we keep this up?” he asked trying to hide the pain that came from sticking the injection into his skin and the fluid entering his system.
“What…?” Lotanna moved closer to him like she hadn’t heard the first time, but it was obvious she was only trying to cover up the gap between them; no matter how awkward it was she did it.
“She’s showing no sign of improvement. It’s been 5 days now, she hasn’t opened her eyes. Nothing we’ve done has worked. She hasn’t eaten…” Yusuf pointed, directing his index finger at the position he was previously looking at.
“What would you have us do?” Lotanna asked only to end up finding interest in something else as she inhaled the morning breeze. “Maybe we should take her to the hospital” Yusuf suggested.
“We can’t do that without letting Oluchi know. And that means exposing you” Lotanna rebuked, reminding Yusuf of a fact with her last statement. “Or how else am I going to explain finding her when am not allowed to step outside?” she explained as Yusuf stared on. For one, he noticed how beautiful she looked yet saw how awkward her eyes were stylishly directed at him. “We can’t keep this a secret forever. Maybe we should tell Oluchi, reason with her. Maybe she would understand” he suggested, trying as much as he could to be realistic to the situation. He turned to look at the girl on the mattress again then returned his eyes to Lotanna for her response.
“No!” she barked out.

Confused, Yusuf found himself glaring at everything while trying to keep his heart rate in one piece. “Why?” he returned. “There is something wrong with the girl. I don’t quite get it but I don’t think it has to do with someone she is scared of or running from but what is chasing her” Lotanna explained, reversing the subject in a whole new way. She faked a tensed look afterwards which Yusuf on his end couldn’t tell if real or fake. “…the night you brought her I heard something” she continued, with Yusuf looking around to notice the winds blowing again but back to full speed this time. “…it wasn’t clear but it was obvious it was a voice reaching for her” Lotanna ended only to turn her eyes to where the girl was sleeping.
“There was nobody here that night. I didn’t hear any voice” he stated, looking for ways to coax her out of such thoughts. He raised his hands only to halt them in the air, he felt like touching her.
“But I did…” Lotanna insisted.
“So what are you saying? That the girl is possessed?” Yusuf dropped his hands, theorizing. He turned away from Lotanna immediately to rest on the thought that she might be right. He turned to look at the sleeping girl again. “I shouldn’t have brought her here” he said hitting his head. He brought this upon himself.
“No…” Lotanna went off before he could finally sink himself into the pool of regret. “Maybe she’s like us” she theorized forcing Yusuf to look at her again as he found a reason not to be guilt-ridden. “…and if she is, all the more reason we shouldn’t let Oluchi know” Lotanna affirmed. Hiding his excitement, Yusuf tried to calm his mind but found that to be dangerous, “I don’t understand. Why are we even hiding in the first place? I know why I am hiding but you, why?” he asked, “Why are you hiding?”

That instance everything fell silent as Lotanna found her eyes picking offense with something. Yusuf on the other hand felt everything slow including his own movements which to him, was surprising and weird. Everything was fine, he assumed but this?
“Hide…” he caught up to Lotanna immediately only to have her jug him off his lucid moment. He stared at her dumbly once he found himself back in reality. And like one awaiting a kiss from a crush, he’s heartbeats rose, only to have Lotanna yell at him. “Quick, hide. Along with the girl…she’s coming”
Spurred by his rage, Yusuf turned away from Lotanna that minute along with the winds as they sparked and rattled everything around including the flowers. Lotanna's hair billowed high afterwards. At one glare, Lotanna saw the sleeping girl on the mattress was no longer there, nor the mattress itself. Yusuf who was just in front of her, was nowhere to be seen. Lotanna stood still immediately, knowing Oluchi was just steps behind. “Ah…you are already awake” she said once she came close to Lotanna. “There is someone at the parlour waiting for you…the boy from the office. He says it is urgent” she reported immediately. Chuks stretched his shirt collar before straightening his shirt; as he stood waiting for the owner of the house; the person he had come to meet. He stood firm memorizing his lines all over again, hoping he hadn’t missed anything. He felt the need to be prepared; fully prepared. But then each time he tried, he felt disappointed seeing he hadn’t the perfect punch line to tell someone, a family member was up to no good. The reason being he was just a common outsider.
“This way…” Chuks heard immediately from close range and so stood still, holding on to the file in his hand like it was his life. Out from an angle, he saw the lanky woman reappear but this time with Lotanna; the lady he had come to meet. He restructured his posture once more to ensure he was upright. Uprightness was what was required to be believed in such circumstances.
“Good morning Miss Lotanna” he blurted trying to form an accent. It didn’t go so well and the lanky woman; Oluchi and Lotanna made sure he was aware of it. Chuks returned the gaze.
“If you are from the company, I presume you must be Chuks?” the lady replied, somewhat pretending to be oblivious to his identity. “By my voice you shall know me” he smiled, stretching his arms sideways like one welcoming a hug. Lotanna stood for a second, directed her eyes at everything except her visitor, “My uncle isn’t around” she said, unimpressed with the humor and gesture.

Disappointed, Chuks moved for an apology only to halt 3 paces from her, “Actually I came to see you” he said softly, looking at Oluchi then at the clock.
Lotanna somewhat withdrawing from her position; directed her eyes to where Oluchi was then to Chuks. “Me? Oluchi said it was something urgent” she hadn’t the perfect thing to say but had to say something.
Oluchi sensing what might have been going on, took some steps back to her mistress. She looked at her. “So what is it?” Lotanna restructured, having come up with just the perfect response, “Oluchi could you excuse us? I think am safe” she turned to her butler, grabbing her arm; talk about perfect timing.
“I was about to go to the market” the lanky woman came up with. It was just the thing Lotanna requested but the woman had to make it look less of a command or her reacting to one. The woman found a reason to leave but still much slower than Lotanna expected. Lotanna had to wait for everything to clear before turning to her visitor.

Twitching her neck sideways, Agnes found it hard to believe what she was seeing but then, couldn’t hold herself from drawing out tears. The aged woman also drew out tears too. “No…no…no” Agnes stuttered, “You are not real” she shook her head again, “You are dead” she cried. The woman standing while staring at Agnes with wet eyes flung a pitiful gaze at the young lady in front of her. She shook her head too. “Stop this” she reprimanded, “There is no good in it…”
“You are dead!” Agnes sparked off before the woman could finish. “You are dead” she repeated, “You are supposed to be dead!” she screamed a third time.

Shivering at the echo of her own voice, Agnes stepped back trembling. A great cold swept all over her immediately. “You are supposed…to be…dead” she closed her eyes whispering gently as she held her ears covered.
She was trying very hard to block the thoughts. The thought that she had seen a ghost or that a ghost was in her room. How? Why? She struggled hard to block the questions as she incessantly breathed in and out to keep her heartbeat.
Agnes tried to assume and maintain the belief that the ordeal wasn’t happening nor was it real. But then, removing her hands off her ears, she realized it wasn’t about seeing a ghost that she should be worried of but the thoughts of losing her mind.

It was like Nana all over again, isn’t it? She asked. She was losing her mind wasn’t she? They said she would. They said it began with her mother like this. Was this it? Agnes rubbed her back head with her fingers as she opened her eyes. She wasn’t there; the woman wasn’t there again.
Agnes glared around to wonder for the fact if it was her imaginations playing tricks on her or history taking effect. The room was as it was, everything was silent, no woman, no blood or water or a mix of both on the floor or anywhere. Everything stood as if nothing had happened.
“Am not losing my mind” Agnes said aloud, “I won’t. am not you. I will never be” she assured.

‘That was Baghdad 2005. Media has it, it was a stint military operation. No one tried to investigate. Classified…’ Nickel texted; ‘Is the woman still alive?’ Agnes replied the text.
‘The 2nd image is Angela Vrataski. Alibi—L.A aspiring actress gone without a trace. IRL serving as ultimate seducer for the C. I. A in gaining intelligence from top politicians in rival countries, business moguls, scientific minds. Has the ability of persuasion, irresistible beauty and extreme level of pheromones. Has skin condition of melting skin which requires high load of ‘cosmetics’ to keep up. Currently under capture of Japanese military; evident from the photo, after a mission gone south’ Nickel texted once more, ignoring Agnes’ text or question. Agnes went back to watching the previous video again as doubt occupied her mind and memory. Was it Fake…? Video FX…? Or the real deal?

This was too much to be true. How could such operation be secret till now? She asked. Or was Nickel really CharlieUFO? She rested on another theory while scrolling through the chats to take a look at the images once more. She stopped at the image of the blonde woman kneeling to Japanese soldiers whose skin was melting. Alex Nickel must have a whole new definition of ‘beauty’, Agnes thought, unable to stand the sight of the photo.
She scrolled back to the current chat to see another video again. Without wasting time, she played it. Unlike the previous one, the recording on this was clearer in picture quality as if to testify it was in line with the year the recording was made. 2014; technology had gotten better then.

Like its predecessor, the video had a muted audio but the background featured a livelier mood than the previous that had a hostile one. The recording took place in a bedroom, well furnished with a scent Agnes could perceive from where she was. A middle aged bald headed, well-dressed Japanese man in grey beard led a woman inside. It was the blonde woman in the picture, only here she was the absolute definition of all Nickel had texted. But Nickel couldn’t have gotten everything right for he failed to add; sophisticated. Agnes wondered which Nigerian lady could compare with the lady.
Just like the lady, the Japanese man was sophisticated; a thing which featured more in his dressing than their age bracket as he looked more of a bureaucrat than a common wealthy man. The man invited the lady straight to the expensive mattress but the lady sensing something wrong or that she was being recorded, declined. She didn’t want to look cheap or too desperate. She instead invited the Asian to sit with her on the 3 sitter chair far from the bed, to which the man accepted rather too happily.
Taking it upon herself, the lady drew herself closer to the Asian, allowing her breasts rub his chest. The man found himself too elated. He couldn’t wait for the next stage, but the lady was in no rush, she instead opted to starting a conversation. The Asian had no choice, he agreed. It was all he was doing in the recording, obliging to whatever the lady requested. It was like he had no control of himself or a personality at all. The lady found it irritating though as each time she had to bend her head, rub her forehead, hit her forehead or shake her head. One couldn’t blame her though, the conversation took the entirety of the video to which the Asian spent all time talking, laughing, being happy and agreeing.

It couldn’t have been more irritating but if the lady had exercised a little patience for which she was less than likely to, her eyes wouldn’t have bled out due to her hurry; or perhaps, due to the lack of it.
In few minutes, the lady started bleeding profusely from her eyes which to the Asian was weird as he was more accustomed to women bleeding from a different part during monthly moments. If it was just that, it would’ve been explainable but then, the lady’s skin started to peel changing its tone to reveal another skin layer marching third degree burns. In two blinks of an eye, the lady whom was an irresistible beauty became the villain of a horror movie; a B-movie without the Hollywood effects. So much for too much ‘make up’. Soon, the Asian found himself screaming at the sight of a third degree burns victim in front of him. Done with the Asian being so much of an irritation, the lady pulled a pistol on him. In a swift instinct for defense, the lady felt the urge to pull the trigger. Since the recording had no audio, it was safe to be sure no one knew how many shots she fired. The recording went dead after the Asian fell on his back to the 3 sitter.

‘Why did she kill him? He was clearly defenseless and she could have left under the pretext of suffering from a skin condition she doesn’t want anyone to know about’ Agnes rushed to type before settling to wait for Nickel’s reply.
What if Nickel was indeed CharlieUFO? Maybe that was how he found out her name. But then again, she didn’t use her real name only an alias. And she knew not to put her email on the site. Who are you? She asked again but to herself. What if Nickel was just some Nigerian playing with her? She hissed. Nigerians are smarter than that. They are rather busy hustling than sitting on a laptop 24/7 finding conspiracy. ‘She’s a woman. She panicked and that’s how she got caught. She wasn’t trained for the field. The Japanese found she was a spy, and then the rest is the history we are chatting on now…’ Nickel emailed. Agnes rushed to read only to see another text again, ‘The 3rd image is from Hurricane Katrina. No one knows what it was. Still trying to figure it out but satellite images make it out to be a man either stirring the hurricane or…’ the message read, and Agnes had to scroll back to see the image again.

For the first time, she realized it was the image from the video upload CharlieUFO posted on his site and they had argued on; the Captain Frederick Jones clip. Was it confirmed? Nickel is really CharlieUFO, Agnes thought.
‘I believe you’ve seen the image/video before?’ Agnes read the latest text from Nickel.
Eager to reply and prove she was right on the fact that Nickel and Charlie was the same person, Agnes typed, ‘How did you know that?’ ‘Like I said ‘did a background check’ Nickel sent.
‘Are you CharlieUFO?’ Agnes replied, but Nickel’s response didn’t match her question.
‘So you see, these people live amongst us as ordinary people living ordinary lives…till the govt. gets hold of them as weapons’ Nickel texted. Frustrated with him not replying the most important questions, Agnes was eager to type ‘So what do you want?’ to end the chat. ‘Excuse me…?’ Nickel replied with a question; his very first question that seemed genuine. ‘Giving me all that information must come at a price which worst of all, are classified data. You involved me for a reason’ Agnes typed, reading along as she was eager to type.
‘Why don’t you sleep on that? When you wake, how about considering a trip to Amsterdam Netherlands, sponsored by my estate where we can talk about that. And a lot you don’t know’ Nickel spent 3 minutes before replying, much to Agnes’ initial disappointment. ‘Trust me, it’ll be worth your time…’ was Nickel’s latest and last text.

Agnes rolled her eyes around before scrolling her phone, she looked around, “This isn’t right” she said, “Just like that?” she left the expression on her face while staring at her laptop that was paces away from her.
She moved to it leaving her phone behind as she sat on the chair nearest to the laptop looking at its screen. She tapped the space bar key to reveal a visual fest of a blog titled‘hystericaltrends.com’ that had her picture on the top right of the title log. She had a smile on it and was on green; emerald.
Agnes placed her index finger on the laptop mouse, moved it to her desired taste, and then settled on typing. It didn’t take her long to get done though considering there was a lot on her head to be shafted down. Agnes sighed once she typed in the last word with a full stop. There was nothing as good as clearing your head off so many thoughts and finishing what you have on your plate, she smiled. The morning breeze flew in to kiss her, agreeing with her.

Looking at the window, Agnes found the weather taking another form. A form in which an avid star wars fan wouldn’t mistake to think it was a dark force behind.
“Stop!” she shortly heard as she felt everything freeze behind her and the ground go cold. It was a whisper. “Don’t…he will kill you” the voice came again tingling Agnes as she realized early enough that she wasn’t the only one in the house. Who is the person now inside? And how did he get in?
Curious, she stopped whatever she felt she was doing immediately to look back. How could an intruder have busted in without her knowledge? The question hung at the back of her head as she turned, only to find out it wasn’t whom it was she should be worried about, but how.
From where she sat staring at the plain view of her room, a wrinkled hand crawled up to her clawing at her right arm from out of nowhere. “Stop!” Agnes leapt out of the chair instantly on hearing the voice close to her ear.
“Jesus…!” she screamed atop her voice on sighting the intruder.

It took few minutes to register the whole thing, and when she came to, she found herself recounting the intruder’s appearance. It was a woman; an aged woman in ragged clothes and jaded hair. Her body was drenched all over and soaking of water and blood. Agnes looked into the woman’s eyes to be sure what she was seeing was right but what she beheld in her eyes, forced drops of tears from her own eyes. There was so much pain and blood in them.
“He will kill you” the woman snarled, opening her lips to utter out silent whispers.
Struggling with many thoughts and questions and most specifically, the identity of the woman, Agnes found herself covering her mouth. Fear surged into her mind instantly, holding her off from saying anything. She wasn’t sure why but when she saw the tears flowing from her eyes, she realized the reason.
“Mum?” Agnes uttered out, with the question finally shoving its way out but into the river of skepticism.

WHAT’S REAL AND WHAT ISN’T…?

19 February 2015, Agnes scrolled her phone to see the date. It’s been 3 days since she left the medical centre following the attack by Eulogy and his friends yet the pain was still there, she reminisced focusing her eyes on her phone’s screen. She touched her tummy and rubbed the back of her head to be sure it wasn’t part of the hallucinations only to be met by 2 gory images staring at her on her email box; sent by Nickel. Calming her head to make sense of the whole thing, Agnes glared to find her medications staring at her. “You should report to the police” the words came to her in her mind’s ears as she blinked her eyes. It was the woman, the doctor woman, Agnes realized.

Vexed, she struck her hand against the medicine lying saliently on her bedpost kicking it out of her sight. Enough for the day, she thought returning to the 2 images which were now 3.
The first featured a burning woman strapped to a table in what appears to be a military facility; the other image was a blonde woman whose skin appeared to be melting surrounded by soldiers looking pissed. The last image was a significant blur of a man or most specifically a figure on green in what appeared to be a whirlwind posing against an incoming hurricane. It was as if the figure was in a running stride. I don’t understand—Agnes struggled to type into her email message box. She relaxed hitting her head against the wall bellowing silently and feebly like she was preventing anyone from hearing.

‘Which part? The who or the what?’ the question stared back at Agnes as she looked on her screen to find a reply, ‘they are people with abilities; Extra ordinary abilities. The kind you termed ‘silly’ and the world could only see as fiction’ Nickel added in his own part of the conversation.

Agnes sighed. Nickel always had his ways with words but this time, Agnes couldn’t have being more interested. She even went through the trouble of sitting upright awaiting his next text. ‘The group you’ve spent some time on the web searching for and trying hard to debunk…Miss Agnes Amanfour’ the next text read the very moment Agnes didn’t think anything could get more interesting. This time, it only turned out to be cryptic.

‘How did you know that name’…am guessing that was what you were about typing?’Agnes thought she was the one that had started the first part of the text only to look twice on her phone screen to see Nickel had already typed and sent what she had in mind; with a jibe. Confused and having perspiration run through her lungs and veins rather than the outer layers of her skin, Agnes found speed in her fingers to type, ‘Who are you?’ before Nickel could. She stuttered, breathing hard.

‘Relax. Just a fan of hystericaltrends.com’ Nickel replied, knowing that moment the mood his email friend would be in, ‘you thought I wouldn’t go through a background check after you hacked my email? Am impressed by your resume….Don’t panic’ he added, placing Agnes back in her panic mode.
If he had succeeded in calming her the first time, this time he only sent her through history as Agnes rolled her eyes around. How did he know her site? More specifically, how did he find out her name? She hadn’t used her real email to start the conversation and neither did she have any previous conversation with anyone using that email address. And most importantly, the email didn’t link her to anyone or even her blog for that matter.
Or was it Chuks? Did they finally catch Chuks? How? Agnes sighed. She wanted to get out of the bed but relaxed. Then again how could he have known she had been going through the internet for the possibility of super humans? Not even Chuks knew of it. ‘Look am sorry’ she typed, ‘I didn’t mean to pry. I only needed your help’ she added.

‘The 1st image I sent is Gemma Cassillas; Mexican. Has the ability to set herself on fire. Burn things… They say she has a heated temperature that could send things ablaze and result to flames if not calmed…captured by a secret ‘division’ of the U.S army which ironically the army isn’t aware of. Now serves as a secret weapon’ Nickel sent switching the subject as he gave a brief profile of the lady on fire in the first image he had sent.
Agnes went back scrolling to see the photo before returning to the current chat. A call came on the screen of her phone that moment with the caller being ‘Lillian’. Agnes hissed dropping the phone to ring on the bed. It did for long much to her annoyance before stopping. Returning to the chat, she found a video waiting for her. She played it with affixed eyes as the play card was titled ‘Top Secret: Subject 256’. Although the video was mute, the picture had a clear recording in line with its year of record ‘2005’ that was stamped on bottom of the playlist.
In the recording, it featured a Hispanic lady being dragged by ruffians in army regalia and turbans round their head and neck. From their lips, Agnes sensed they were speaking Arabic. She needed no one to tell her they were terrorists as their eyes were demonically sharp and their hidden beards cementing the fact.

The Hispanic lady appeared tortured as she was dragged and bruised all over. The lady turned around to see it wasn’t the 5 that had dragged her to the desert plane that were the only ones dressed that way. They were many, they had guns and worse, armored tanks, cannons and not only that; there were others in mini vans situated around.
And as they saw her, they jumped and hopped from where ever they were to come see the lady. The 5 that had brought her said something then laughed, one grabbed at her hair and was somewhat reasoning sex.
A large man amongst the others in one of the vans came up to the girl, grabbed at her jaw then yelled snorting his nose like he was asking a question. The lady didn’t respond. Vexed, he pulled a pistol on her skull. He yelled again snorting his nose like he was giving her an option. But before the lady couldn’t think of what the option was or the man could pull the trigger, a distraction caught up with him. Or he caught up with the distraction. In a mild moment a massive shockwave of fire flew out of the lady taking on the entire radius including the large man whom was first. The vans, the tanks, the men went off in what the recording couldn’t produce; boom!

Struggling to voice something out, the girl gnashed at her teeth staring at her assailants, “…Ugh-ugh the-th-ey are here…” she mumbled. Her assailants vexed by her act, rushed to her at once, screaming and clawing their hands at her in unison. Fighting them off with her soul, the girl went into straight epileptic surge, shaking her body while her eyes stared on irresponsive. Lotanna heard them but couldn’t see them. Yusuf neither heard nor saw them; all he saw was the little girl slumping to the floor instantly and a great deal of breeze flowing out of the room. He looked at the girl then at Lotanna. A vase fell off a shelf.

Lotanna mumbling some few words within herself, took some steps forward, “What happened?” she asked. That alone startled Yusuf as he looked on, confused and perplexed.
“She-she just faint—ed” he struggled to understand the question and the situation. Rather running to the girl, he paced to her. Yusuf knelt in front of her afterwards caressing her skin. Lifeless, cold—were what he could draw out. He turned to Lotanna then the girl; “She’s…she’s” he searched for the right word to use. She must have flat lined—he guessed. What happened? Blood found an exit from her left eye.

Oluchi cleared the étagère before settling the figurines on it. She looked on to see how the lined in segments were then grimaced. No matter how pretty she was, it didn’t hide the fact that she was above 50 as her face wrinkled out when stressed.
“What’s on your mind, auntie?”
Oluchi knocked over one of the figurines immediately the voice spoke. She thought she was alone, she reminisced only to picture the figurine breaking to pieces.
Forcing a smile on her face no matter the mischief, she turned around to look at the owner of the voice. Lotanna! She gasped. She was standing few paces in front of her; in a long sleeved sweater.
“Lotanna…” Oluchi replied almost gasping, she moved out of where she stood only to but halt. “I thought you were asleep?” “Your heartbeats wouldn’t let me sleep” the lady joked moving to where Oluchi currently stood. “Ever since, I found you’ve been feeling somehow. What happened? What’s wrong?” Lotanna held on to the woman, caressing her hand while same time holding her in firm grip, “Are you leaving?”

Oluchi mumbling within her, turned to look at the broken figurine then back at Lotanna. She grinned, “Oh, how can you say such things? You know I have nowhere to go except here” she frowned.
“Then what is it? What happened? Is it money? You know anything that is the matter we can have it solved. Just name it. Are you sick?” Lotanna pressured, touching the woman’s wrists to fathom her pain. But then it produced a non-rhythmic movement that was similar to one in a hot chase. Like Yusuf.
“No. No. No” Oluchi argued, “It is just that. That. I-I” she began to stammer looking here and there. Just then the ‘Daniel West for President’ poster crept into the scene, flying around the living room.
Taking a step backwards, she struggled to imagine how the paper got there and what it was doing there. In that still pose, 2 framed photographs on the wall opposite where she stood dropped to the floor sending a gush of wind through her hair. Shriving for defensive poses, Oluchi and Lotanna stepped back.
“What is that?” Oluchi asked
“I think it’s the rain” Lotanna said looking at the opposite corner that stood in darkness. She knew what it was but needed to play dumb. Her eyes briefly glanced at the framed photographs that fell to the floor as she wondered why whatever it was couldn’t take it slow. Lotanna listened to hear the wind again but sadly, found it made no efforts to sound again. To her, it was comforting that way. “I must have left my window open. The green…” she said, finding an excuse to leave.

Doubtful of whatever it was, Oluchi moved towards her, “Don’t worry. I will close it for you. Let me lead you to bed” she offered looking at the bulb then Lotanna. Lotanna tried to come up with a way to turn the woman’s offer down but found out it was best playing along. She allowed Oluchi lead the way into the corridor while she admired the state of the art artistry as she walked. They were one of the things her dad had left behind for her.

Oluchi’s eyes went round the whole place like it was her first time there. She couldn’t imagine anyone in their right sense of mind looking at what she saw and giving them brief glares like they were nothing—the paintings, the portraits, the French pendulum and the burning chandeliers of green bulbs that were life itself. She imagined herself being one of those; glamour to all and a clamor for wealth. Hmmn, she imagined how much they were worth that she had to look at the floor for an answer. The answer, being a parallel reflection of her on the glass tiles, crafted so hard that it was difficult to tell if the owner of the house intended it to be a mirror. Nature had its way but man made his way. They got into another large hall but this one with much moderate size that could be called a room. Since it had a bed there one would rather for the sake of argument call it a bed room. Still, a lay man from Ajegunle would call it a party hall. Unlike the corridor, this room ushered a different aura and color. It was blue without anything being blue.

Questioning the reason for that, Oluchi flashed her eyes for that which seemed odd. Nothing, she sighed in disappointment, “The windows are locked. The storm has stopped,” she said, turning to look at the second door within the room. It appeared to be an exit but was made of glass; strong glass.

The glass room had a different view from the main room though. Instead of taking on the cheerfulness the room had, the glass room rather maintained a calm atmosphere with green plants and various kinds of flowers left to decorate it.
Oluchi sensed that was what was off about the room. How could that door be open? She lowered Lotanna to the large bed before settling her mind on the glass room. Lotanna sensing that was what was on her mind, held grip of Oluchi to stop. The touch so firm that if there were a third party around, he would mistake it for a threat or query, “Thank you, Oluchi” she instead forced out, leaving the woman once she realized she couldn’t hold her for long.

The woman following what she felt was in her mind, moved to the glass door. Lotanna flung her lips in awe but maintained position. Oluchi closed the doors and moved to where Lotanna was, her mind having calmed with a silent sigh.
“Good night my dear…Sleep well” she said emphatically.
“Stop thinking” Lotanna replied lowering her back to the bed. The woman switched off the lights before closing the bedroom door. She left hurriedly. “Ah!” Lotanna forced the remaining sighs of relief lurking within her throat ever since. She yawned turning to the green house. What really was on Oluchi’s mind? She wondered as she yawned again. “You can come out now” she muttered while looking at the green house. A noise crept out of the dark pushing over the flowers who yelled. Lotanna seemed to have inspired it and that was what transpired when things got trampled upon. The winds rattled to chill everyone down, “Yusuf…?”
A hand crawled over her pushing the weight of the bed down, “Sshh…she’s still at the door” a voice followed commanding a strong presence that sent everything still. For many minutes all maintained that inherent order before a single footstep outside rose to disrupt everything. It came abruptly and sharply but descended into the distance slowly. “I need your help” the voice came again.

Lotanna forcing herself from the bed despite its weight being pulled down stared at the person who owned the voice beside her, “What happened? Where have you been? Where did you go? Oluchi could have caught you” she found herself blurting out as her whispers sailed into the night drowning silence.
“Something happened” the person replied
“What was it?” her whispers settled for a soft tone as the ominous voice the person had, found a way to tame her mood. “A girl” the person said rubbing her hand. She had to snatch her hand off, “On the road. In the night” he continued, picking his words before pausing. It wasn’t that its pitch was bad or was too loud that he had to stop but because Lotanna’s eyes were darting all over. He could see them through his blue spectacles, “She wanted to kill herself”
“Why?”
“She was about committing suicide” the stranger pulled the specs from his eyes then switched on the light bulb. Lotanna found the light threatening as she shut her eyes before opening them. She stared waiting for the ending of the person’s story, “I think there is something wrong with her. She is a girl no more than eleven years. She’s dead scared. I don’t know if I can keep her calm for long” “Wait, is the girl in the house?” she waited patiently to ask but interrupted before he could finish. Slowly nodding his head, the stranger recounted his moments before all these—his moment at the Silverbird galleria and being questioned by a girl; a nice girl. He looked at Lotanna,
“Yes, she claims someone is following her but am not sure she is normal”
“Did you reveal yourself to her?”

The stranger paused as he was about pacing off—I might have; he sensed, that instance realizing what may or may not have happened. This was a replay right? History repeating itself…? “No” he muttered. He turned to Lotanna, she was indifferent only sighing to indicate she knew, “Yes…” he sighed glaring around
“You know they could be watching”
“I had no choice. She was just a child alone in the street running from something in the night. I tried to ask her of her parents, she…” he explained, cutting himself short when a slow whimper started coming from the glass room. He looked at the direction while Lotanna listened more to the whimpers. She found something interesting with it.
“…they are coming. They are coming. Help-help…Jesus” the words sang from the whimpers. So timid as Lotanna listened. Yusuf looked at her seeking a reaction or an answer. It was more of the former though.
Lotanna stared puzzled for long at the air as she heard something within the depths of the whimpers that wasn’t her or Yusuf or the wind. It was like a buzzing hive but its sound distorted. It appeared to be rebounding from a source yet its distance closing up.

Yusuf paying less attention to what Lotanna was listening to, glared at her then walked to the glass room. He headed for the hidden corners of the room which happened to be surprisingly larger than it had seemed. It was even larger than Lotanna’s room only nature had its architectural designs all over it. It had warm chilling plant lives welcoming anyone and everyone even a stranger to it. Or maybe it was because Yusuf was on green that the green plants got elated. The other flowers of different shades and colors got themselves frowning though; especially the blue ones who appeared rather jealous to have their colors lost to the night. The whimpers still sounded.

Placing himself to a corner, Yusuf pulled over an abandoned root of a Christmas tree hedged to the ground, “Sssh, it’s okay. No one can come for you here. See, we are far from them now. No one can come here” he consoled staring at the girl who sat frigidly looking at him, “This is her house. They can’t come here”

The girl finding that hard to believe, didn’t take much time to start shedding tears and going into a frenzy of shivers. Focusing on the best manner of improvisation, the green suited stranger looked around then back at the girl. He knelt down to her hoping that would calm her and not have her cry loud. That was the last thing he wanted, “Sshh, it’s okay. It’s okay” he tried to comfort, patting her over and over again. Lotanna who had been dealing with her own puzzle, walked meticulously towards the glass room. Each footstep predestined and determined, with the floor standing for an aisle. She had to climb majestically before getting to the podium. She managed to get to the glass room. What is going on? She imagined, still listening to the distorted sound that came closer and closer again but of no direct movements or destination. She waved at the air like one struggling to get to the spotlight. Then, a ledge in front of her brought her to her knees. Bam! She hit it and the next thing, she found herself stumbling to land on a safe side; so much for the spotlight. “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, take it easy” the green suited stranger appeared in front of her immediately. A fair amount of air brushed over her hair. “There is something wrong” Lotanna said instantly. At first it appeared she was trying to cover her shame for having fallen or being rescued but when her face went all white, it was obvious this was more than pride, “Something isn’t right”
“Why?”
“Are you not hearing that?” she slowly whispered. Her face a replica of fear, “That…” she repeated. Confused, Yusuf started looking around. His eyes were mainly focused on the whimpering girl as he struggled to notice any aberration. There was nothing; he concluded.

Lotanna irritated by his obliviousness, stretched her hand dragging him out of her way. She listened to the sound again. This time it was raging and this time, she felt the wind rise. The buzz was screeching and nearing. In it appeared to be roars of cackling thunder. Was it the storm again?
The little girl now gravely shimmering in her hideout noticed the wind bursting in. She could tell it was pushing everything around as she felt the flowers fizzle. She covered her ears to block the damning sound but instead discovered she had given away her hideout. Strange shadows started creeping out of every corner revealing silhouettes of different figures. She wanted screaming but something held on to her throat. Her heartbeats slowed gradually as her eyes burned out. They became red with her skin taking on the sensation of the night—cold and stiff; the only thing moving on her being her fingers. Her eyes and ears functioned though, but were blank. Blank to the fact that what they saw and heard were beyond what she should.

From the dark, out of the creeping shadows came the silhouettes in full form. Outing itself to the girl, came the one eyed man and his cohorts.
“…eye. Give it to me!” he yelled along with the others. They all stretched arms clobbering their way towards her.

Staring at her, he slowly found a genuine fear rising somewhere within the girl. What the hell is really going on? He advertised himself to the question. Did he—? “Hey—hey—where are your parents?” the figure calmed his voice, slowly approaching the girl to console her. The girl instead backed away, withdrawing herself from his intended grip.

“Leave me alone! Help! Somebody help me!” the girl once again screamed, now effortlessly searching for where to run and how to. Irritated, the man forced his calm out of the way. He hated something standing in his way when he was eager about something. No one could blame him since everything seemed static to him, “Calm down. Calm down” he pulled the girl shouting in whispers, “What are you doing? What’s wrong with you?” he stressed the questions while softening his tone to avoid sounding raspy. The girl calming with instinct gazed at the floor then at him. He appeared normal, no grey aura, no missing parts nor did he appear wanting something back. He was like her, in everything except for the height and skin color. His voice was natural and despite his scolds, it never rang inside of her. But still she wouldn’t trust him, they were dubious—Uncle Chigozie always said. Swallowing her saliva, she muttered “Ar-are you one of them?”

“What?” the young man settled to listen though giving into the theory he earlier crafted. “The-the…” the girl stuttered beginning to have that same strange feeling again. The weather was becoming cold again and she felt an invisible smoke clouding the air, “Ar-ar-are you one of them?” she struggled to ask. She could tell she heard something that was not her voice. “One of whom?” the young man lowered himself sensing she was starting to become all moody again. Why hadn’t he run after dropping the girl in safety? He reasoned. Lotanna would very much be pissed, “Why did you try to kill yourself? Where is mummy?” he began asking the goodbye questions hoping the girl would say something that would have him take his exit. But then,
“Ghosts…Ghosts” the reply didn’t actually give him the privilege. Something was holding him from leaving. Something was dragging him to the girl. The girl though, felt a different thing.
“Where is your house?” he continued to ask, fighting the obscure energy that was keeping him from leaving. Whereas, the girl fought what she felt was in her subconscious and what it was she was hearing in her conscious mind.

The voices had returned, more gruesome than ever, groveling from the innermost pit of hell as the night got darker. The dim bulb, the only source of illumination, busted off after spontaneously brightening itself up.
“No-no; save me. Save me” she began to cry, feeling them getting closer. She moved to the young man and hugged him. Confused, he looked at her, “I don’t want to go back. They will take me” she said pulling his already skin tight suit harder and harder hoping he’ll get the message. Shadows were starting to creep out of a corner.
The young man standing, thinking of what to say, tried to force himself out of the girl’s grip but instead found she wasn’t ready to pull away, “Don’t let them to take me. Let me go with you. Please…” she said.
Glaring here and there, he wondered what the girl was scared of and running from. He realized the girl wasn’t insane; she was genuinely scared of something. He too was starting to feel it; but what…?
Holding the girl tight, the man in green suit breathed in the fresh air that was lingering around before censoring the wind. Boom! The winds came, rushing massive dirt and dust around as they cleared a pathway for him. A path that was surprisingly free of anyone including him who created it and the little girl.

QUICK TO ENTER TROUBLE
Officer Mundi stepped out of the eatery with eyes all serious and furious as he looked at the burger he held. Looking at the black skies, he spat the one he had chewed, “This eatery doesn’t know how to cook” he mumbled walking out of the Shoprite plaza.

What drove him into throwing the little naira notes he had on him? He asked looking at the bag pack in his left hand. Walking few paces from the luxurious bay, he took a bite from the burger again. Maybe it was the first bite that was bad, he reasoned. Grumbling, he nodded. It was the first bite, he thought halting himself to a corner before glaring around. He sensed something. Someone was following him; he widened his eyes in hopes of catching an assailant.

It was the job description; you are always followed and never know when you might be ambushed—Officer Mundi thought. Pulling his belt, he pretended not to have noticed anything before unzipping his trouser. He folded his left hand into a fist while holding the bag pack in the other hand, also using it to pull out the thing in his trouser, “Aaah!” he moaned releasing a great dose of urine into the gutter before whistling. There was no time to do such at work, he convinced himself before pulling up his trouser again. If there was, he wouldn’t allow himself to be caught doing that; not in a place filled with filth anyway.

Hitting the road once again, he stopped at a pole to look at the campaign poster glued to it. Daniel West for President, it read with an image of an old man standing with raised arm. Whether it was to say ‘goodbye’ or ‘sorry’ no one knew. Officer Mundi seemed to have the answer though as he tore the paper off leaving it to the floor to decide.
“Who are they deceiving?” he hissed, walking away. He had lost hope, trust and belief. The only thing he had on him was pity and a naira note. The campaign poster picking offense with his action shook itself off the ground behind the walking Officer Mundi to blame him for his own problem. How can he belief and trust a man when he was untrustworthy and an unbeliever? The poster raged, rising itself above the ground with dusts while coaxing others like it to rise. In a zig zag format, they rose in line with a great deal of dust to teach the man a lesson. Staring before attacking, they waited for the perfect time before launching themselves in full force at the man, aiming for a surprise attack. Officer Mundi who had been expecting that for ages, turned back immediately in defense. Aiming for a perfect strike at his expected assailant, Officer Mundi flung the bag pack at the wind. The first thing his adrenaline registered to his eyes right down his spine after the posed attack was—a great deal of green dust and loitered papers flying at him. Confused, they rushed in revenge pulling him hundred yards from where he stood.

Satisfied, they headed straight for the traffic. Good riddance, the papers mocked.
In the incessant rush came an approaching figure from a distance who had ran into the mad scuffle dressed in skin tight suit that had its color reflecting green. It was hard to tell if it was the traffic lights or the street lights that made the suit look green as the figure ran but what was obvious was the dust and dirt that followed behind. He had dark blue glasses on that helped him see the dust and papers that rolled with him. He didn’t seem bothered or disturbed by them though as he was rather more concerned with running through the traffic notwithstanding.

Everything came to him or moved like crawling centipedes in his eyes. Even the Daniel West for President Poster that wasn’t too far behind appeared too slow for a chaser. The only thing that seemed normal to him was the sound of thunder. Boom—it came as he struggled to outrun its voice. It was as if it was in his ears as he sped around trying to force it out.
He wasn’t the only one who heard it or was he the only one in the same situation; a little girl as funny as it was encountered the same problem few miles from him.
Struggling to outrun her assailants same time the solemn noise that rose within her mind and out through her ears, the girl forced her way into the road.
Where it was the thunder for the green figure, for her it was an eerie sound. A sound that appeared to be multitudes talking in unison but rather in sharp voices, they came in screeches.
If it was just that, it wouldn’t have been a problem. She would’ve blocked her ears from the sound. But the real problem came when a man followed behind, chasing her. Though the man appeared with the features of a man, his face was far from being human. He was a black man whom ultimately should have had a black face but the aura around him was different. It was somewhat grey-ish but even at that, undefined. It was as if his skin was a combination of two colors; one struggling to top the other.
Like that wasn’t inhuman enough, the man started bleeding out of his left eye; the one that had long been closed. If it was the blood that was left oozing out, it wouldn’t have been a problem but then, it had maggots popping out. They roamed freely round his eyes as he opened his lips to voice his complaints,
“I need an eye…!” he growled with widened lips that later proved difficult to close. To the girl, those 4 words were agony in and out of itself. Each word standing for a knight who stabbed her ears with a sword. She couldn’t do anything as she stood at the very centre of the road watching him; afraid to panic but brave in panting.

As the man approached further and nearer, his words tripled, while his face and structure blurred, “…your eye…I need it. Give it to me. Give me your life. Let me finish it. I want it…” he kept yelling in screeching growls, hurting the girl more and more.
As if that wasn’t enough, the other voices she heard had its owners materializing out of the night. They were the same with the man who had been chasing her; they all were missing one thing or the other. And their faces were the epitome of sorrow and anger. Anguish itself was somewhere between though.

While the girl struggled to understand what was in front of her, she knew it was coming. The end was coming and it was near. Highway vehicles ran past her in acknowledgement of this fact.
As she stood waiting for the worse, having tire herself from running, she stared deep faced at her assailants. She struggled for courage and confidence while her hearts popped and eyes lingered on. Fear knew where and how to hide.
“Hail Mary…full of grace” she started, hoping for a faux savior that would take her out of this. She remembered the stories she was told by Uncle Chigozie. Could it be true? She looked at her chest then her neck for the chaplet. It could be the way out. It could be the li—she reasoned only to freeze her thoughts when she saw the very thing she was looking for; the light. Like magic being conjured out of nothing, 2 bright lights peered directly at her in full force with a humming noise behind it. This was it. That moment everything halted for her to examine all that was going on. The winds flourished, the lights blinked then brightened as all sped towards her. She waited then hoped all would come around as she closed her eyes timidly. “…blessed are you amongst sinners” she heard her assailants growl in unified mockery, misplacing the lyric as a result of the jibe. “…blessed is the fruit of your womb. Jesus” she whispered thinking it best to correct the poem before; the winds gushed at her again. She felt herself move. Then everything went for a slow start.
Slowly, she decided to open her eyes again.
“What do you think you are doing ehn? Do you want to get yourself killed?” she found a strange person with dark specs over his eyes shouting at her, “What are you doing on the street at this hour?” he continued, spitting out on her as she stood searching for her adrenaline and heartbeat. She realized everything around her was different except the night. There were no cars in sight, no light, no… “Where is your mother…? Where is daddy?”

What if the rosary hadn’t worked? What if they had succeeded? Was he one of them? Where was she? Had they finally caught up with her? The questions ran up to her seeking solace as she was faced with finding and keeping her breath.
She darted her eyes all over while stepping backwards, “what?” she had muttered only to go against such reactions. “Leave me…” she thought that instance to scream, “Leave me!!!” she laid more emphasis on screaming more, hoping fear would come to her aid and drive the person away. She blocked her ears to indicate where she was in case it came.
Pulling away, the green suited figure wondered what actually was going on and why the girl was behaving all freakish. Wasn’t she 3 seconds ago trying to kill herself? Why is she there acting all hysterical? Is she okay? What is she thinking?

She turned back to look at the other police guy to see he had left the position she left him. Good for him. She turned to look at the officer who had left the counter to see him talking to three other policemen. He showed them his silver hand and in respect they led him to another room. Agnes glared at the 4 cornered walls to look at the shining bulb, the top speed rolling fan, the police flag and the Nigerian flag. A picture of the current president stood framed to a corner smiling in mockery at the current state of things. Agnes sighed.

“You can come with me” the officer returned to say. He led Agnes to a very different room secluded in its entirety that it was hard to believe it was in the same building as other rooms. The officer opened the metal door to the room that was been guarded by another officer, “You have 5 minutes” he said in a strict voice; his tone, mood and facial expressions having magically changed. Agnes didn’t mind though, she walked straight into the room while the officer jammed the door. The suspect was seated on a chair bruised and handcuffed. One eye closed and an eye facing Agnes, his beards the only real evidence he was a bad guy.

Agnes lowered herself gently on the chair in front of her while staring at the suspect. She breathed in and out as he stared back, making her his centre of attention. Agnes was not used to such type of admiration, darting her eyes back and forth to tell him to stop. “Hi” she mumbled to say.
“Are you here to release me?”

Agnes got startled to hear the question the moment she settled to clear her mind and usher in confidence. She looked at the suspect again, wondering what to say, “No” she thought it best to say reasoning it wasn’t the best time to exaggerate, “I-uh I -uh i…” she looked at the guy’s chest to see it beating abnormally. She was crazy to think she’ll find the right thing to say there, “You said you saw something, someone at the attack of the galleria…” she ended up improvising.
“Wait…is this, a test?” the suspect hit the table striking fear into Agnes who jolted backwards. It was the cufflinks on his hands that prevented the bang from being loud or heard.
Adjusting to her normal position, Agnes moved to retort, “Excuse me…?” she said rather too soft incurring on the suspect to calm his temper. “…to be sure I haven’t said anything to someone?” he questioned, taking on a more empathetic look, “I haven’t. The police don’t even know my name”
Agnes still couldn’t make sense of what the guy was saying or where he was headed. All she knew was that the suspect was too sure and too convinced of what he was saying. She looked at him again, he didn’t bat an eye. He was angry but calm or pretending to, “I don’t understand…wh-”
The suspect took that as the last straw. He moved towards Agnes who somehow forced herself to maintain position, “Look, am not supposed to be here. You know that. I have family, that guy is still out there. They are not safe. He threatened them. I pulled this job so I could feed them, now he’s after them. You need to get me out of here. I don’t belong here. I killed no one” he squirmed lowering his head to his palm. Agnes moved, found the situation rather confusing. She stared on at him, unable to act or say anything that the suspect wouldn’t be angry about. “Am sorry. I don’t understand what you mean. I don’t know who you were, Ex…am a journalist” she ended up saying, babbling the truth along the way, although tweaked, “I came here because I needed your help” she explained. “Jesus. Am dead” the suspect spontaneously rose from the chair panicking, “I-I-I can’t say anything” he mumbled, shifting from Agnes at the sudden rise of his adrenaline. This time, it was pushing maximum.

Confused, startled and with the sudden realization of why she was there, Agnes moved to calm the man, “Please…calm down” she walked to him only for him to shrive.
“Police officer!” he shouted, incurring Agnes she was done and had landed herself into the worst possible scenario. “Please, I need your help…” she begged, stepping back to where she sat, hoping the suspect would come through. Instead, he was all panicky while the metal door flung open.
“Wetin?” the police officer asked, rather out of command.
The suspect wasting no time to explain stated his fact, “Abeg carry me go cell” he said. “Time up” the officer Agnes met at the counter said coming out of nowhere.
“Look. Please…I can help you” Agnes began to plead more to the officers than the suspect himself but with eyes on him, “I need to know what you saw”
“Madam. It’s time” the officer clarified as 2 different policemen came in to drag the suspect away. Agnes realizing she had wasted her only opportunity, looked at the officer just to sigh, “Oh God” she muttered. The officer though looked at her with the expression, ‘You know what to do if you needed more time’, but instead she walked out of him and the police station. How easy without being simple?

She rested her back on the driver’s seat sighing as she looked at the rear window and the night. She picked up her phone to check the time—10:45pm, it read with 3 email messages on her mail box being displayed. She clicked on to read;
Damilola—3 minutes ago; About the 2015 elections
Damilola—15 minutes ago; where are you? Genevieve’s latest endorsement deal Agnes deleted the two Damilola messages leaving the third and last. It was from Alex Nickel, and with much readied eagerness, she calmed to read.
I know you are not CIA. What exactly do you want? Money…? Fame…? Publicity…? The text asked. With a flash of anger lurking her eyes as they widened, Agnes threatened to drop the phone. She reconsidered, looking at it one more time.

If I wanted any of those, I would have leaked your email messages. Led your government to you…and your sources, she ended up typing back. She sighed, igniting her engine immediately. Agnes looked at the phone again to see a reply or two, as it came. That’s impossible the first one read with Agnes smiling, what do you want? The second text asked. Agnes flirted with the idea of texting 50 million dollars back to the man but decided against it, ‘You may call me delusional but am starting to believe in your crazy theories. Am beginning to see a hole in the world’ she replied, gearing her engine to reverse as she switched her car headlights. Two officers were at the balcony of the station watching with hands in their pockets. “Yeye people” she muttered, driving out of the station’s premises. She looked at her phone again. The Alex Nickel had replied.

Really…? You are crazy it said leaving an irritated expression on Agnes’ face as she instantly dropped the phone before hissing. She imagined the Alex Nickel guy to be one old fat fool with potbellied stomach. Gosh—she hated those people; but not her father though.

It took Agnes few hours to get to Maryland and once she got there, she was already weary to tell the difference between home and road. She had to close her eyes with forced efforts to drive into her duplex. By then she was already staggering with drowsiness. It would’ve been tough if she had headed to Mushin. The hold up traffic alone would have settled her mind into a faux reality where she was already on bed before she ever did; in this case it would be sleeping while driving. A comfort in the real world was miles better than that of fantasy—she thought as she walked straight into her bedroom seeking the solace of her mattress.
“Aaah—” Agnes breathed immediately she got into her room. She fell on her mattress closing her eyes while the breeze settled in before rolling on her. “Hello…” she yawned placing her phone on her ear.
“Hello Agy. How’s it been going? Haven’t heard from you, what happened? Did it work out?” a ditzy voice came on the line instantly with the words rushing like MTN had included bees into its line of subscribers.
“I’ve been trying your line. Switched off…or network” Agnes rolled her eyes before turning to the other side of the bed. She had to say something.
The receiver couldn’t wait for her to be through before interrupting, “But I have been receiving calls all day” it said. Agnes had to sink her head into her mattress.
“I don’t know” she quipped,
“So is it true?”
“Is what true?” she settled to position herself, flashing her eyes for a minute before turning one more time. What’s this girl saying? “What the short guy told you?”
“Still trying to figure it out…any latest?” Agnes yawned remembering their last meeting and what they talked about. The voice paused for minutes leaving a buzz to fill in, “Hello?”
“Uh, the usual…Celebrity gossip, broken marriages, Jason Statham, new Hollywood films, fast and furious, Senator Beluchi…Chimamanda’s new novel” the receiver came in once again, “Did I just say Chimamanda?” she said just to pose a question, like it was a modeling gig. “What happened?” Agnes stressed, wondering if the receiver had any better thing to say. She was always like that, Agnes thought; calling for no just reason.
“I discovered one of the girls the shorty claimed was raped was called Chimamanda”

And so? Agnes had to ask herself before replying “Yeah” not to offend the girl. She was slowly becoming irritated. She had to halt her irritation along the way though.
“I traced her to her house in Mushin to get an exclusive on her and if what was said to have happened really happened. But no one was there. Is like no one lives there”
“Are you sure?” Agnes rose from bed gradually finding interest one way or the other. And in a way forgetting sleep paid her a visit. She scratched her head.
“Yeah” the receiver quipped,
“When?”
“Yesterday”
“And you didn’t tell me?” Agnes found a way to get the receiver guilty.
“Network” the receiver replied back not giving Agnes the chance, “So, how did your plan go?” “Good night. I will call you tomorrow” Agnes cut the call instantly, seeing no reason in continuing the conversation. The girl was playing smart and she hated people who played smart. “Aww!” she yawned looking at her phone one more time. She reached for the side buttons to switch it off but instantly saw a message pop up right at her screen; from Damilola.
Oh God, she sighed forcibly plugging off her battery from the phone.

Agnes returned to her phone to see two twitter messages and a text from her contact ‘Damilola’. She returned to the hooded guy in a rush to see some policemen dragging a man to their Black Maria.
“I swear to God. He wasn’t a man. He threw a bus into the house. It’s still inside. You need to believe me, no be lie. They were 2. One wore green, tall, the guy yellow. He carry wind with am” the man retorted in babbles while been pushed; the police concerned more with him moving than talking.
“Move-move” they said.
“The other one tall, he wear mask, he throw person go tower. He carry my head hit ground” the man persisted, wanting his voice to be heard. This made Agnes more interested as she looked on while they dragged him to the Black Maria.
“Him no hit am well well…move” one policeman sarcastically said, throwing the man into the van while the other policeman entered to sit with him.
Agnes sensing a pattern, turned to where the sky blue hooded guy was, “Mysterious things like what?” she asked just to see the guy was gone. She glared around to see where he went only to see no sign he ever stood there or was there.
That was quick, she thought looking at the crowd that was already reducing. She looked ahead right opposite her while tapping her foot on the ground to find a free passage into the building. She took on the route. This may be a clue to what happened, could it be him—she thought, making it to the crime scene that was blocked by a banner. She raised the banner over her head to pass, “Excuse me madam. You can’t go there” a man intercepted immediately. Jolted, Agnes turned around to look at the person. A stout man with a friendly smile was holding her right arm. Embarrassed, she stared;
“Why?” she asked noticing he wasn’t in any police uniform or with any badge. Maybe it was in his pocket. “It’s a crime scene. Under investigation” he said still with a smile,
“Am a blo…am with the press” Agnes thought on introducing herself only to settle on improvising an her identity for herself. The man beating her to it, released his grip from her arm, “Am sorry. The press isn’t allowed inside. The government’s orders” “It’s a violation of the freedom of the press. Am with AIT” she thought to defend her honor and right only to fall up short ridiculing herself. The man admitting to the fact smirked “I know. Sorry” he said walking away from her while crossing the banner. “He’s not going to let you in” a familiar voice came from behind as she kept a busy eye on the man and a white man at the entrance door of the Silverbird galleria. He was making a phone call.
“Chuks…What are you doing here?” Agnes turned back to see the midget surprised to see him standing in front of her. His eyes far from her though.
“Hey! I need to know the status of Itodo Ernest” he yelled at the man who had spoken to Agnes. It was the first time Agnes heard him raise his voice. Small but mighty, never anger them—she said to herself, turning to look at the man who was in deep conversation with a white man. “Sorry man. I can’t help you” he turned to say, returning to the conversation immediately. “Is he still alive?” persistent, he wasn’t willing to let go. Maybe the man should give him what he wanted, Agnes reasoned, “Can I see his body? Hey!” he sighed walking away from Agnes before turning back. None of the options were working, “Sorry, am here to find out if Mr. Itodo is still alive. Why are you here?” he lowered his voice to Agnes.
“Saw the crowd. My god, so much damage, so much…death” Agnes said only to startle immediately she laid eyes on the dead bodies that were being shelved outside. Some with holes in their body parts, others half burnt. The one thing they had in common were flies perching on them for their inheritance. One officer had stopped to drop a dead woman’s body on the floor only for its intestines to gush out through her wounded belly button like shit from an anus, Agnes yelped turning her eyes away. “Who could have the mind to do this?” she asked rhetorically,
“A politician—hungry for power” luckily the midget found an answer, “Chappi?” he theorized looking at the dead woman whom they were now struggling to arrange. Her intestines were obviously too damaged to stay in her body.
“So how about the man that was thought dead?” Agnes moved away from the sight feeling the need to change the topic, “The employee” “Uh, that’s what am here to find out. Someone said they saw him walk out of the wreckage now he’s nowhere to be seen” the midget took over from where Agnes stood, not wishing to leave there, “If he did where is he?” he asked.

As if the reply was in his phone, he looked at it only to put it close to his ear.
“Chuks where you dey?” a voice spoke from the other end of the line. Giving an excuse, he walked away from Agnes. Agnes looked on to see him go and the police Black Maria ready to drive away. She looked at her phone to see she was running late then a message appeared on her mail box. She clicked it.
Who are you? She read the reply from Alex Nickel.
Someone interested in you—she typed only to quickly erase it; poor choice of words. Someone, she settled to type. Instantly, she got a reply. C. I. A?
However you want to put the abbreviation—she typed again before closing her phone. She walked straight to her car, ignited the engine then followed the Black Maria.
The Black Maria led her to a police station once it had halted. The police men jumped out of it dragging the suspect along without failing to flex their arm and leg muscles on him. The suspect almost fell but managed to hold his dignity, afraid someone like Agnes would laugh at him while somewhere watching. Agnes waited in her purple Lamborghini to let the police drag the man inside before alighting. She straightened her Brazilian hair before walking into the police station; ready for whatever came.
She at first halted, nervous—having heard what the police could do or were capable of. “Ah…aunty nibonlo…?” Just then a voice greeted behind her but in an informal tone; like it knew her or vice versa. She turned back to look at who it was. A lanky policeman whose skin was a replica of the night stood smiling, with eyes on her chest. Agnes found it rude though but struggled to hide her feelings as she stood hoping he was going to say something, “This one wey you dress up like this, this night ehn? You fine oh?” he said at first in his own polite way only to end up falling out of courtesy. He raised his left hand bringing it forth to her bottom. Shocked, Agnes stared at the man allowing the first wave of anger pass her by before gripping the policeman’s hand. Without a moment’s touch, she twisted it leaving it to give a ‘crack’ sound. “Aargh!” the man knelt, paying obeisance to the sound immediately. “Next time, mind how you address someone” Agnes said in raised pitch. Annoyed she walked away from the man reminiscing on what she had just done and what the policeman took her for. How the hell? Men ought to be taught some manners, she thought. She walked straight into the station, right at the counter with grudges in mind. “Eh, good evening” she greeted the officer at the table who coincidentally had seen what happened.
Bewildered and confused on what had happened, what to do or what to say, the officer forced himself to muster; “Evening” calm and collected.
“Is the D. P. O in? Can I speak with the D. P. O?” Agnes wasted no time in asking, knowing Time had no time left. “Ehm…yes No” the officer found himself babbling not knowing when he rose his eyes to Agnes’ chest. Agnes too noticed but left the officer to whatever he was looking for there, “He’s left the office. Can I help you?” the officer added, unaware when he added the ‘Can I help you’ sentence. He knew he had landed himself in trouble.
“Uh…I don’t know if this is allowed” Agnes began as the officer looked on, aware he had landed himself in trouble or much worse the devil was introducing him to trouble. What isn’t allowed? “Am with the press and I would like to speak with the apprehended suspect on what happened, would you guys allow it?”
“Ehm…” the officer found himself struggling to understand the words, ‘press, suspect, guys and allow’ as he stood staring at the lady in blue and the thing on her chest. Her hair alone forced him to shift position, “No, not at this hour” he struggled to fight the temptation. “Please” Agnes beckoned, instantly dipping her fingers into her purse while making the thing on her chest visible. She took out 10 pieces of a N1000 note and squeezed it into the man’s hand. He stood staring, confused and elevated. He thought of playing Captain America. “I will see what I can do” he said giving up the thought. His dreams of joining Hollywood were far in the deep space. The officer walked out of the counter immediately as Agnes watched his movements. Men—she sighed.