germaphobe:
why won't i cry, call it a novel, a fiction or what ever you want, but tell me, just tell me why won't i cry when it feels so real. Tunde!!!

Well, that's really what many of those still in Libya face.

germaphobe:
divepen, one day i will surely sue you for being such a good writter, how can someone be this good and hide behind nairaland all this time.

Wawu. I'm short of words. Thanks a lot for the kind words...

Chai, nawa ooo


Tanks for the update

skubido:
Chai, nawa ooo

Tanks for the update

You're so welcome...

Interesting story

MichaelBlake40:
Interesting story

Thanks...

Hmmmmm, it's well

Thanks for the update

saved for offline reading....story seems interesting

Rockyrascal:
saved for offline reading....story seems interesting

Drop your comment when you're done.

Ann2012:
Hmmmmm, it's well
Thanks for the update

You're welcome...

Divepen1 Good one boss, I av finally become a retired ghost reader on nairaland after 1 and half days, I must applaud you for your style of writing. It feels so real and quite enchanting too. More ink to your pen boss.

westernized:
Divepen1 Good one boss, I av finally become a retired ghost reader on nairaland after 1 and half days, I must applaud you for your style of writing. It feels so real and quite enchanting too. More ink to your pen boss.

. Thanks a lot. .

Wow every piece of this story, every line, every chapter was/is worth reading. I love the attributes you constantly reminded your readers about the main characters.

From tunde's persistent coughing, Ade's love for Tuface being his favourite artiste to emeka's wise quotes!

The robbery scene created quite an emotional moment for me while reading, and I love every humour that made your readers relate to this interesting story "my people say... Please forget what your people say" tunde retorted! I can totally relate to this line

Divepen you are a genius! I hope you would be posting more chapters here, or is there any alternative source where I can read the full story?

Front page tinz,

Rockyrascal:
Wow every piece of this story, every line, every chapter was/is worth reading. I love the attributes you constantly reminded your readers about the main characters.

From tunde's persistent coughing, Ade's love for Tuface being his favourite artiste to emeka's wise quotes!

The robbery scene created quite an emotional moment for me while reading, and I love every humour that made your readers relate to this interesting story "my people say... Please forget what your people say" tunde retorted! I can totally relate to this line

Divepen you are a genius! I hope you would be posting more chapters here, or is there any alternative source where I can read the full story?

Wow.. wow.. Thanks. Yes, there's an update...Now

skubido:
Front page tinz,

Yesooo

16

Ade kept turning to look at Jude but the gunmen urged him on until they entered another part of the camp. The gunmen directed them to a place to sleep, Lizzy chose a bed near him. He laid on the bed, facing the roof and imagining what would happen to Tunde. Why will they say he should not leave? They should have given them the right to choose if they wanted to stay back or not. Lizzy placed her hands on him after a long period of saying nothing. He shouldn’t have listened to her or her useless advice. They all would have looked for a way to pay Jude, not minding the pain they had to go through. Lizzy climbed down the bed and turned to the other side of the bed to face. She placed her hands on him and he flung it off.
'But I thought this what you wanted?' She said.
'What? What are you saying? I wanted this? How could I have wanted someone to hold my brother back? I thought...' He said and his voice faded as he tried to hold back his tears. He thought his brother would be returned. Now, he was the one leaving to Europe.
'You thought what?'
'I thought... He would be taken back. Deported. But here he is. God what have I done?' He mumbled and his voice began to break.
'So, you're saying it's my fault'.
'When did I say that?'
'You just did?'
'What? Me? When?'
'You flung my hands away'
'But I didn't even say anything when I did. Have I even said anything about you?'
'You transferred the aggression at me and that could only mean one thing'.
'That...?'
'I'm the cause'.
'No...'
'Leave me', she said and climbed back to her side of the bed.
'On a second thought', Ade said as he stared at her back that was turned to him. 'It's your fault. Your freaky fault. You should have allowed me pay the money'.
'And?'
'Pay for both us. What foolish 'and' are you adding to the sentence? What's 'and''
'And you too would have been there if we didn't betray your brother. You would have been among them. You're at fault'.
Ade stared at her as he panted horribly with the hope of not hurting her. 'It was your fault. It was your fault. You shouldn't have betrayed us', Ade shouted at her and didn't mind that people hissed or murmured.
'Me, betrayed you? You're drunk. You need to take fermented crayfish...'
He hissed and slumped on the bed. Cecilia refused to sit near them. Instead, she continued crying into her bed. She was probably crying because of Tunde too and he felt for her. He had been hoping for a chance with her since her brother refused her but now he needed to console himself first. He wondered why Tunde refused her offer too. She had been ready to give them all they needed.
The next morning, Cecilia cornered him on his way from the bathroom. He paused in his track at the sight of the ferocious look on her face, which was swolen and red at this time.
‘You’re not a brother. You are a snake’, she shouted.
His mind went to all the things Tunde had ever done for him and he could only stare at the floor.
‘I can never believe it’, she siad. ‘You...’
‘All of una, it’s time to talk’, Jude called at the other end of the passage. Cecilia stared at him for a while and the venom in her eyes made him feel like hiding under the rock for his transgressions. Tears streamed down her eyes.
‘You are not a brother’, she cried just the same time a slim lady walked by. Cecilia pushed the lady aside and walked off. Ade gestured for the lady to forget it.
When they all gathered in the big room, Jude had changed from his barely haggard look to a more sophisticated one. He greeted them and thanked them for their patience.
‘We will leave in the night’, Jude announced. ‘I have been able to create a connection. You will be pushed tonight'.
They all responded positively. Many of them were jubilant and they rushed off to prepare for the night. Ade couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t been the cause of the gloomy face Cecilia carried throughout the time he saw her. He refused to talk to Lizzy, who also looked angry most of the night. At night, they all filed out after Jude called out to them. Ade looked stunned at the number of people they met at the port. Many of them were talking rapidly and excitedly but some were just looking aloof and didn’t mingle with others. Cecilia was like that and she sneered at one of the men that tried to make an acquaintance of her. The sea itself looked calm and Ade wished he had such peace in his mind but that would never be the case again until Tunde probably forgave him. With the number of people waiting for them, he was sure they would be expecting close to four ships. Well, they would likely board five ships.
However, some people pulled three large boats towards them and that made his heart thump in fear. Nothing could have scared anyone like it did Ade that moment. There should have been a better way of dealing with the issue on ground. Now, the way things were, they all couldn’t stop shouting, making ludicrous claims, and threats that Ade wasn’t sure could have effect anymore.
'But...These are boats', Ade muttered at last.
One of the men in charge of the boats shot thrice into the air. Ade covered his head as he could feel the heat of fear in his mouth. Everything in him expanded as he looked about fearfully. No one was hurt. They all protected their head with their hands as if their hands were bulletproof vests.
'Listen, carefully, Jude yelled. 'This is the only boat we're pushing this month. We only have one of these boats. You have to know if you'll stay. If you'll stay with us, no talking to one another. No voice. If the authority hears your voice across the sea, we're all dead. So dead. So, climb in’.
People protested and called for his head but it was a fruitless effort. After much rants, the gunmen began to direct everyone towards the boats. They were filled in their numbers. Ade sat among women that had just their bags. The light from the big lamp the gunmen held did the job of helping him see clearly in the dark. Cecilia sat far from them and didn’t stop crying silently. Ade wondered why she took Tunde’s matter that serious. Although they didn’t connect for a long time, he understood the feeling she had. But what he couldn’t deal with was the continuous tears that flowed from her eyes.
One of the men beside her yelled and when he raised it into the light, a finger was sliced off. He wriggled and gasped for breath, pointing at her. Jude’s men became infuriated. They rushed towards them.
‘What happened’, Jude screamed at the side of the blood. The injured man kept wailing and calling her horrible names. She gave them an icy look.
‘Why?’ Jude yelled again as he covered the man’s mouth. They dragged him off the boat. Jude faced Cecilia, ‘what did you do?’
‘He had been grabbing my ass all these while’, she replied blandly. Jude swallowed hard and pointed a shaky finger at her. She pointed a knife at him and blood dripped from it. Jude withdrew from her, making Ade feel a dread in the spine. They dragged the maimed man off the boat despite his protest to be left in the boar. The men continually ordered people into the boat. By this time, the men around Cecilia had changed position with some other people. Even at that, people were too scared to sit near her.
After what seemed like hours, the engine roared to life. The men reduced the noise and the boats moved on at a great speed. However, as their jouney continued, someone kept fiddling with something in the engine that made its voice reduce intermittently. The worse thing to do in the world was to seat quietly. Ade felt horrible that he would keep quiet to stay safe. Despite their differences, Lizzy laid her head on his chest. He shoved it off. She pushed her head on his chest and he tried to tear it away.
'Leave me', she murmured and wrapped her hands around him. Cecilia stared at him with cold eyes and he could feel fear in his guts.
Their boat kept moving silently until they got to a point that a storm started rearing its ugly head. As if its wheel were engineered, the wind increased and circled them in such a way that would assume the Italian government built it to prevent people from entering their country.
They all screamed following the swaying of the boat. Ade feared it would capsize. Jude climbed through the stuffed passengers alongside his men. The night made his huge body look monstrous.
'Bags', someone shouted from the front. Jude turned and clasped his megaphone to the mouth.
‘Everybody, throw off your bag’.
Cecilia opened her bag and began to put things in different parts of her body. He couldn’t see the things well but his fear made him stare at her actions more than his need to keep something s to himself. She had been staring at him angrily. His fear at that moment was that she would attack him the way she did the man. When one of the gun men got near her, she threw the bag away. Ade couldn't shake the feeling about her. Yet, the boat kept swinging and people were trying hard to keep quiet. Ade could only grit as he held on to the edge of the boat with the weight of Lizzy on him.
'Boss. Now', one of the gunmen shouted.
'Now?'
'We're dying'.
Jude rubbed his face and picked a man. The man, perplexed, stared at him. Jude shook his head and pushed him into the sea, making the man, as well as the people around, shout.
‘Shut up’, the gunmen screamed.
Lizzy whimpered into the shaky body of Ade.
'Call Italy', Jude yelled at the men.
'More', shouted the person that initiated the idea of people being thrown off the boat. The same noise came from the other boats around. Jude began to look around and point at people. The gun men picked the people and jettisoned them.
Ade wished, at this point, that he hadn't left home. He wished he didn’t steal the money to escape. He could have done better. Everyone was definitely shaking. The ones that weren't showing their fear soon began to have themselves in the sea. Yet, the boat kept rocking from side to side.
'They said people are on the way, but Libya is near', someone called out to Jude.
'Libya? Don't call Libya. Italy'.
The night drew colder and darker yet the boisterousness of the sea kept nagging at them. Suddenly, they saw a ship heading their way from afar.
‘I see something’ the person at the front shouted.
'Get ready. Keep your gun. Don't do something stupid', Jude yelled at his men.
The men hid their gun and that gave the people a reason to shout for help. A boat became visible and sailed towards them. Then, the number of the boats increased. When they stopped near them, they also had gunmen, who looked ferocious. They had several very large halogen lamp that showed everyone's face.
'Thank you for heeding our call', Jude called and clambered towards the man that looked like their leader. The man slapped Jude’s hand away and smiled.
'We're not here to help you. We're not the Italy rescue. We're business men'.
Jude understood what the man meant and jumped into the sea, but if he had any hope of living again, it was soon disannulled by one of their invaders. The man shot into the water and Jude's men shouted in surprise. Some of them aimed for their guns but were either shot dead or injured by the people their invaders.
They climbed excitedly linked their boats to those of the fearful people. They did the same thing to the several boats surrounding them. The leaders of the invaders looked about and soon shouted, 'all the fine girls come out. You have work to do in Italy'.
Soon enough, their boats were linked to other boats. They barked orders at them and led the women and the children into their own boats. Lizzy screamed as one of the new gunmen dragged her out of the place she hid. Ade grabbed her arm even as she did the same. The gunman stopped pulling her and pointed the gun at Ade. Seeing this, they released each other. Cecilia looked about and jumped at the slim lady that passed their side the other time.
‘Leave me’, the slim lady shouted.
‘You can’t get me’, Cecilia shrieked and they fought hard. The gunmen were too stunned to react. She pushed the lady into the sea and held her there for a while. One of the gunmen reacted to the fight and clambered towards Cecilia to pull her back. He did so successfully after hitting her with the butt of the gun. That did the job because Cecilia became weak for a while. The slim lady fought her way out of the sea and rocked the boat trying to climb it. However, things changed for the worse, Cecilia recuperated very fast and she kicked the knee of the gunman. He yelled his horror but couldn’t fight back before she hit him on the chin with her elbow and long at the slim lady.
She pulled a knife from a part of her clothes and repeatedly stabbed the slim lady as she shouted, 'you're a woman and can't catch me'.
Another gunman was by her side in no minute and pulled her off the dead slim lady. With a final fight, she kicked the body into the sea. The man pulled her away. She shrieked but didn’t fight back even as he fell and stood up quickly. She rose hurriedly too, spun round and raised her hands with a big bright smile. ‘I’m okay. It’s okay. We’re okay’.
The gunmen dragged her away towards their own boat. Then, they removed the engine of the boat. Afterwards, they rowed away. The darkness was the only thing left to soothe them. Even the wind seemed to have hidden amidst the fading roars of the ship. Ade looked about as he became apprehensive. The truth had finally dawned on him- he was alone in the world. He would die alone, with the knowledge that he had betrayed his brother.
The boat rocked as the men in their various ships cried for help. They couldn’t go far because for some odd reason, the wind had begun to build momentum. Even the clouds had gathered to make the moon look jaded. Ade joined the men in the fruitless call for help. After a while, he realized the uselessness of their actions and slumped into the woods of the boat. He cried for a while and soon most of the men couldn’t help but join him in becoming silent. Many of the men looked about the boat for something to row the bow but they came out empty. Ade could only stare into the darkness. At least, the heavenly bodies should have been there to wish them goodbye. But the cloud over them couldn’t make him see them.
What would Tunde have done? He thought.
'Guys', Ade shouted. 'Get your shoes and begin to paddle. Till we die'
He couldn’t say if they heeded his call but he removed his own boots and used them to paddle. The boat waddled a bit and that geared the men into bidding his command. They hurried towards paddling but were too gruff to do so smoothly, which consequently made the boat tremble and shoved them to a side of the boat. The men in the other boats yelled and that aggravated the issue because Ade’s boat became unbalanced. Ade dragged the nearest thing to him, which was a man. They both fell into the coldness of the sea, making Ade cry and gargle from the salty taste of the sea. The touch of the sea water on his skin burnt into his pore. He gurgled in the water and fought his way back to the boat but the falling men made matter worse.
After splashing about in the water for a while, he finally got a hold of the boat. By this time, his body felt as if the sea water wanted to peel off his skin. He yelled and held onto the shaky boat. The wind shook through the water and sent ice into his eyes. They stung him into crying and shedding tears. Men wailed around him like babies but they held on.
Nothing else mattered at that point. The wish to get to Europe couldn’t be met and he should have read the signs and stayed back. Emeka’s death pointed him in the direction of death. Now, he couldn’t even enjoy the hardship of Nigeria. All that remained was death.
At that point, a ship blared its horn. They cried, ‘help’.
This little action made him slip off the only hold he had of the boat and plunged him into the sea. He fought his way back to the boat but others had gotten there first. He pulled at them but they were adamant, kicking wildly at him. In a few minute, he was losing his breathe.
The water grew on and on as he sank deeper. With his hands flying amidst the sea, he fought through the waves that had increased but it was a futile effort. He sank and lost consciousness.
He woke later in a boat of Italy officials and they asked for his paper. Though tired, he fished out his passport from his pocket. Wet and sticky, the paper flapped in the hand of the officer assigned to him, who shook his head.
‘This paper is fake’.
Ade swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe it. ‘They gave me for this travel’.
‘You are… These papers are fake’.

I dunno what I feel for them all

queenitee:
I dunno what I feel for them all

That's life jare ..

so painful... i only have pity for tunde and Cecilia....

dammyd46:
so painful... i only have pity for tunde and Cecilia....

Awawn...Cecilia's got a fan

Lobatan



Tanks for the update

The grass is not always greener on the other side

Deejay1000:
The grass is not always greener on the other side

Not always bro. Not always

skubido:
Lobatan


Tanks for the update

You're welcome..

Divepen1, I swear the hunger for more of this is real. Please do something

gabi98:
Divepen1, I swear the hunger for more of this is real. Please do something

Hopefully today or Tomorrow

glued to the sofa in the living room in my home in fortune city.

germaphobe:
glued to the sofa in the living room in my home in fortune city.

Funny enough, I just rested from writing the story I intend to use as competition. I inserted Malachy road, Maroon City and Queenitee's hotel.

Divepen1:
Funny enough, I just rested from writing the story I intend to use as competition. I inserted Malachy road, Maroon City and Queenitee's hotel.

. I can't wait to read it!!!!, another story about and from our dear city

germaphobe:
. I can't wait to read it!!!!, another story about and from our dear city

Not actually about Fortune City. In fact, we left Fortune City with a coaster bus. I'll drop the last chapter of this and start posting that... You must use your seatbelt