darkid1:
Hello guys. Been working on this for a while, I thought this would be a great platform to share with my literature people.

I am known to my friends as Gabriel and to some, Riel. I know my monker seems off. I am new to story writing, and I plan on improving , so guys please bear with the errors. Uhhmm, that said, the usual , do not plagiarise... No part of this work should be reproduced in any form without my knowledge and approval ... Here it goes




Chapter 1
2003

Two Birds with one stone

I drove roughly through the lonely bush path off the road after cutting through a number of streets from the high way. My hand were visibly shaking as I tried to maintain a steady steering . My hands were coved in blood and it had just started to dry up.

I stared at the time piece on the dash board, it was just 1am. I had driven for about an hour.

Oh shit! I forgot the shovel.

I shook my head in anger mixed with fear. The sweat on my forehead had started flowing down my nose.

Maybe I shouldn't start my tale here. Where do I make you understand better?


Growing up I hardly saw my father, in fact at many points in life I thought he was dead, perhaps wished he was. The man was as useless as a stethoscope to a truck pusher. The only thing I got from him was his good looks and height. Thankfully I took no resemblance to him in character.
He would often leave saying he was pursing one business plan , sometime he would call it his "break through" contract, never to see his break light. Whenever he ran out of money , he would be back again.

So I and mum grew accustomed to his ways and his lies, like a remora-fish to a sharks diet. My mother on the other hand, was too wealthy to care less about what my dad did with his life .She had the biggest supermarket in Lagos and twenty three outlets all over the city and five houses to her name. She never told me the reason she decided not to have other kids and I never asked.

The only time I saw Mum smile with dad was at my secondary school graduation and that was simply to make photographs perfect , her very fine quality; one or two prize giving days;which I would often steal the event ,and of cause my matriculation. Funny enough he made it to those events.

So being brought up by a very strong and Independent woman with no siblings made an introvert of me but not a shy one. I spoke often at home and in public when spoken to. Kept very few friends.

Well, my reason was very complicated, an engima too many if observed from a third eye and what my life very different from the normal.

I knew what could happen to people in the future or what would less I interfered . I knew peoples fates held by just glancing at them and going to sleep. I can not remember when I started having those dreams, maybe at age four or perhaps six.

This knowledge made me have little attachments as not to be caught up in peoples lives.

Every time I close my eyes to sleep I see my self at same place , with the same stunning woman , clad in the same white transparent gown. , with her well defined figure and smooth straight legs. Like the peach, her skin was smooth and fair like it had never been exposed to hash weather condition. She was stunning, The kind of stunning that didn't have effect on me but was acknowledged.I was never good with guessing ages especially with female, but my guess was between 21 to 28 years of age.

At some time I thought she was an angel, perhaps the logical thing the being was, but she told me she wasn't. Rita, that was her name.Well, I cared less about how she came to be in my dreams and every time I tried asking her she would evade my questions . Like an oracle, every night Rita would accurately predict what would happen the following day and sometimes if I was lucky weeks ahead and if i was much more lucky show me visually, but I hated that. It drained my energy a lot. This was the cause of my good fortune in life. With those dreams, everyday was like a holiday.

Things changed sightly after My matriculation. Did I say slightly, everything changed . I got into one of the best federal universities ,though my mother was totally against it . All her friends had their kids schooling abroad,but experience had thought her not to force me into things .I got in for chemical engineering, a course I had always dreamt of studying.So moving into my own apartment, and getting my own benz was the best thing happening to me at that moment. In 2002 the Benz was still quite fashionable.

My apartment was just to my taste, a mini flat in a hostel not far from campus. Mother personally travelled down to furnish it for me.

I was done moving in by 12pm on a very cool friday was going to start school properly on Monday. I bade my mothers driver goodbye .Lawrence, a stoutly mancho man that was the head driver of my mums supermarkets. He personally wanted to bring me to school to give me all the advice he could about university life.I never knew why he was always trying to be friendly with me. Mum told me he was one of those unfortunate graduates that couldnt land a job, in his case three years after graduation, till he started working for mum. All through our ride to school he kept talking and i kept trying not to listen. I asked no question and gave no reliable sign of interest. often times i would turn to his direction and give him my expressionless look that made people very uncomfortable. Still he kept speaking with the kind of passion hitler would have craved for.
I reclined the chair and leaned back , eyes closed, so still and so lacking in emotion that I might have slept if not for the discomforting intensity my backed suffered from the crooked pot holes on the road.

We spent about an hour on the main road and a quarter cutting from one street to another .Finally the journey was over and we drove into the hostel. It was very early and quiet.

I observed a pretty petit young lady peep from her blinds and quickly disappeared into her room once our eyes met. Everything that walked , crawled or flew seemed to have gone on extinction leaving a quieter compound than i would have imagined In a few hours I and Lawrence had moved the rest of my load and he had driven off with the promise of bringing my car the next day and a generator he offered to give me.

I looked arround, A 32 inches Tv, air conditioning system, imported leather furnishing, my apartment was the only tiled one in the building . the estate agent had said. mother specifically took it even with the extra cost. I smiled, indeed I was going to have a comfortable stay in school. I sat on my couch and closed my eyes and immediately I was at the beach.

" Hey Chika" it was Rita's voice and I followed the sound and found her way ahead . Everywhere was quietly strange like a dream. She sat on the sandy ground. The weather seemed like evening time, something that was not normal. It was alway day time in this world.

" Whats up with the weather. Never been so dark here" I said walking towards her.

"How are you loving the new place, come and sit with me" which I gladly did.

"You never noticed time here is opposite to yours. Its day time in your world now if I'm correct" and i nodded my head.

"You have gotten stronger, I felt it here" she said and turned to my direction smiling showing her very beautiful dentition .

" How do you mean?" I asked

" You no longer need to fall asleep to come her, you just need to close your eye, infact you are not asleep now " she tapped my cheek and i Opened my eyes. Someone was knocking on my door.

Who could it be? Did Lawrence forget something? I thought. I jump up quickly and made it to the door . I peeped through the door hole. I recognised the girl i saw earlier in the day and a guy smiling sheepishly . Could they be one of those Christian folks going around preaching the "good news"
I thought of ignoring them but the people i saw didnt seem to be leaving soon, and it was no use, they probably lived in the compound.

"Hello" i said with a straight face.

"Hello" they said in unision. "You must be the new neighbour. We also recently just moved in. I am Promise and here is my twin sister Precious " the guy said stretching his hand.

"I am chika, nice to meet you folks" i said. Precious seemed shy and avoided my gaze.I knew i was never going to forget those names. Then came the awkward silence. I had never been a fan of small talk, so I kept mute for a while.

"So, you guys are undergraduates " i said in what seemed like a question

"Yeah, I and my sis just got in for medicine and surgery." He said.

"Oh thats nice" and I paused as they stared at me "oh chemical engineering, thats what i got in for, please come in I said with a fake smile."

"thank you. " promise said as he and sister made a convoy into my apartment.

I was quite irritated by him entering my very clean apartment with his very dirty shoes on soiling the floor and closed my eyes. I immediately saw Rita at the beach looking worried .

"Why did you let them in ! She screamed! You just invited those twins. You have made a horrible mistake ..! I opened my eyes before she finished . everything was so fast I almost fell and Promise held me.
"Hey are you ok bro?"
"Yes I am. " I said . At this point I was quite scared. I looked around and saw Precious going through my things.
"Very nice apartment you have here, I guess your parents are really boxed up" Promise said , as I watched his sister detour around my book shelve .I could not concentrate properly . What did Rita mean? Whatever she meant I needed to see her again, but not with those two arround.

"Hey" I said. They seemed not to have heard as they kept going through my things.
"Hey! I think you guys need to leave, I need you guys to excuse me for a while, I need to properly settle in."

"Oh, no problem. My sis would come and assist with the tap , all the pipes are connected to our bathroom .We live at flat 4. I am guessing you would need a shower. I want to go into campus and see whats up there. " Promise said as he shook hands me
"Chika right?" He said .

"Yeah. Nice meeting you folks" I said again for the second time and also shook hands with the sister as they made their way out.

I was back to my couch, counted to three and closed my eyes.

"I am so happy you are ok" Rita said touching my face.
"You scared me, what did you mean to tell me about those two"

" Dont worry, now that I think about it, they cant harm you." She said looking thoughtfully into the sea.
" just stay as much as you can stay away from them. I would have not advised you to come here." A confused look registered on my face.
. "Don't worry they would soon leave. They never stay anywhere for long. I didn't just expect them to approach you"

I knew whenever Rita was like this it was best to keep quiet. I just sat down beside her.
" I know that you must be confused right now, just promise me you would not have anything to do with them. "
"Ok then" I said as I opened my eyes.

That was a relief. The hostel had twelve rooms , four on the ground floor and six up with two additional mini flat on the ground floor with one separated from the main building which was my residence. The twins shared the other mini flat from the room number given. The building was painted green and the interiors cream but I had repainted my apartment interior all white as everyone was in the liberty to.The compound was quite large, at least large enough to take 10 cars conveniently.
The building seemed really new , even the flower in their beds seemed to have just started sprouting. I had not seen any other residents , My guess was they had gone for classes or I was just among the very few occupants to first move in.

I walked to the bathroom to run a cool shower and probably stroll down to campus to have a feel of the university life. The taps were not working. I then remembered what Promise had said earlier. I thought of going to their apartment to ask his sister for assistance, but the thought of Rita's stern warning danced into my thought and waved the idea.

Then I decided to call the care taker. His number rang for a moment, then his line got switched off . I hissed. I was left with only one choice to head towards the twins apartment. What was the worst that could possibly happen?

I tried exiting my apartment through the kitchen door at the back. A bad habit I had grown too used in every house I lived in.

As i tried Opening the door, I heard rustling sounds outside, so I opened the door slowly, with the suspicion of catching a rodent.

What I saw shocked me.I saw blood trickles that went down from the tap at the back to the next room.

I hastily grabbed a knife from my kitchen and tip toed tracing the blood stains on the floor.

" Anyone there?! " It was precious voice. I quickly docked at the side of the main building. I peeped and saw her clad in just panties and a lacy bra dragging a big black polythene bag covered in blood from head to toes , whistling the nursery rhyme- marry had a little lamb. I stared for a while unblinkingly. I quickly docked and tried to stay still. I tried to hold the knife steady and be as quiet as possible.

I bent down and peeped again. This time she had dragged the bag into their apartment from their kitchen door. What the hell was that? Why was she half nude outside. I check my rolex, it was 1:32pm . What was in the bag? I was very curious to find out and I was not going to risk jumping off to the other world to see Rita . The second time I had tried it at day time, it drained me.

I hide the knife under my shirt half way down my trouser and walked calmly to the main door of the twins apartment. Whatever abominable thing she was doing i was sure knocking on her door would disrupt. I wanted to know what was in the bag.

Before I knocked the third time , the door was open. I almost lost my breathe. Standing in front of me was the most gorgeous girl I had seen in a long while. Precious was clad in a red tank top and short cream cotton skirt , exposing her beautiful legs. She must have had a very beautiful perfume on cause she smelt really good. I knew she was beautiful, but for some reason , her phultritude had just started to take effect, like a switch that just came on.

I was in total awe . How did she change so quick. Does she have another identical sibling? Was I hallucinating ? "Hi, can I help you" she said softly with a shy smile. She was just beautiful in every sense. I knew this when I first saw her, but now standing in front of her ...

I composed my self all the same " Water is not running into my apartment..." I did not complete my statement before she interrupted me."Come in." She said calmly.

After what I had seen a couple of seconds ago?
. "Sure" I said smiling.

I was going to find out what was going on , and if she was what I saw a couple of seconds ago and refused to go in, then she would have suspected I saw her or I was suspicious. In the event of being attacked physically, taking on a harmless looking girl was going to be like slicing butter with laser. I had fought 3 guys at once before and hospitalised them at one time in my life over a minor contretemps between myself and a belligerent hoodlum in my first neighbourhood. By sheer luck I came out of that with a deep cut on my right chest. Not one I would tack in my album of fond memories.

I had disobeyed Rita a couple of times in the past , and it never turned out so good. A part of my mind chastised me for danger I might be walking into. I lacked control of walking away from a dangerous situation.

I followed Precious into their very neat apartment. It almost seemed like the place was recently scrubbed clean. I thew a fake smile as our eyes met as she strolled into a room. I quickly started surveying the environment. I turned the curtains, under the single 3sitter couch . There was nothing strange, just a portrait of her , her brother and a very huge man. I could guess he was between 6ft 7 and 7ft tall, even from his sited position.

"I am pumping the water already, let me warm up the little food we have at home. You look famished." Precious said from the other room which I guessed was the kitchen.

Naturally I wasnt one to see a beautiful thing and let it go by, was that why I was in her appartment? There is something quite attractive about a girl filled with mysteries that even a supernatural being wouldnt speak of....
The serene atmosphere ebbed my suspision .
I noticed the wall still smelt of fresh paint. It was obvious they recently moved in.

Still the thought of her dragging a bloody bag was crippling my concentration .... " Hey, so what city do your folks stay?"
" Oh, Lagos, you?"
"Abuja. My self and my brother live with our uncle."
"And your parents?"
"Dead" she said flatly.
I felt terrible to have asked. "That is tragic, accept my condolences" i said shifting uncomfortably on the only single couch in the room. Its not everyday you meet someone whose parents have been interred.

In such breif moment out little chat had become so intense that I had to shift again where I layed my bum uncomfortable.

Precious waved away the condolence gesture almost as quick as it came. "Relax, that was a really long time ago, I cant even remember what they looked like" She said with a very bright smile.

Perhaps I had to be wary of intution as I was of superficial judgment. The girl was probably disposing off garbage that contained paints , forgot someone was in the compound and came out half nude to wash the containers of paint for reuse . I deduced in a flash judging from the red paint containers i had seen in the varanda and the smell of the coats gradually wearing off.

"You have not taken a bite from the meal I made you"

I stared at the hot plate of boiled yam and fried eggs. For me i found it difficult to conclude on what food I loved the most but yam and egg would definitely be great contenders.

"Can I take it to my place and bring back your wares. I really need to take a shower before eating."

"Oh, sure, You can even keep the plate, i have like a thousand of those, and I am not exergerating. " I smiled at her response .

"And why a thousand plates if I may ask? " with quite a fascination in my tone which sounded boyish like a five year old playing a console for the first time.

"Oh, I my brother love to host guests a lot, and you know with guests one can never run out of these babes" indeed she was a good host , even the most malevolent cynic would have had to agree.

I stood to take my leave, "Oh and less I forget, are we the only ones living in the compound for now? I mean, i havent even seen a roster walk into this compound in search of grains."