₦airaland Forum

oghenekome51:
Hy royver! Nice story n may i ask, is dis story fictitious or its a real story?
And again, i want to bring to ur notice a certain 'olagoke olajide rapzy' to ur notice, cos i saw a part of ur story on his page tru a group i cant recall, its 'i see tins odas do not see' if am correct! So pls chect it up n do sumtin bou it! Damn plagiarists!

thank you. will look into it immediately.
Lol @being real. I'd rather not say

chrisviral:
Royver..
Abeg help us confirm with white whether our entries were received?

ok, will do.

1.20am in the morning.


Bimpe was tired. It had been a very busy day and the night hadn’t been much fun either. Bimpe couldn’t wait to feel the soft cover of her bed and bury her head in the three soft pillows that adorned it. She had taken her bath in fragranced oils and smelt of lavender. She had dressed in her softest and coziest nightgown before finally retiring to her haven of sleep, her bed.


That was three hours ago.


The problem was, Bimpe couldn’t sleep.


Her eyes were fully open, her lids were not heavy at all; in fact, it might as well have been midday for all the sleepiness she felt. She had turned off the lights, put off the TV in her room and reduced the temperature of the air conditioning to something more comfortable.


Yet sleep eluded her. And she knew why.


She got up from the bed and went over to her wardrobe. She opened it and searched around inside one of her suit pockets until her hand closed on the paper package. She brought it out and carried it back to the bed. Beside her on the cupboard by the bed was a glass of water. She unwrapped the package and two tablets of sleeping pills fell unto her palm. She sighed and threw both tablets in her mouth, swallowing them and pushing them down with the glass of water. Then she turned to lie back on the bed and closed her eyes.


Still sleep wouldn’t come.


Bimpe sighed and turned and tossed. This was the fifth night in a row she was having difficulty sleeping. The sedatives she had gotten from her doctor were obviously no longer working. She reflected over the past six months, how insomnia had gradually crept into her life. Ever since she took the new job at the bank, sleep had eluded her. She had been suddenly placed under tremendous pressure to meet seemingly unreasonable targets; targets that would have been easy for her to attain if she loosened up on her morals a little bit. Engineer Kofo had dialed her phone number sixteen times since their last encounter three days ago and when she hadn’t replied, he had sent a text message apologizing profusely for his lewd behavior at his office when she came to ask for the balance of the money he promised to pay into the new account she had opened for him.


At least he had some sense of shame and regret. Many others had not bothered to call back after she had turned down their obscene advances. Mr. Dickson, one of her clients and a young billionaire, had told her bluntly that he would deactivate his accounts with the bank if she didn’t spend the night at his luxury home on the island. Her boss was on her neck, nagging her every day to meet up with her target, not to let him down, not to make him look bad among his colleagues for promoting her. He had given her this month to deliver or else she would find herself out of a job.


And that was when the bouts of sleeplessness began.


She sat up in bed, suddenly remembering something from her childhood. She smiled grimly in spite of herself; desperate times called for desperate measures.


She picked up her phone and dialed a foreign number. It rang for a few seconds and then:


“Hello sweetheart!”


Hello mum,”


“Baby what are you doing awake at this time? I’ve been meaning to call. Is everything all right?”


Bimpe smiled, her mum always seemed to know when something was up with her.


“Everything is fine mum, what time is it over there?”


“It’s about eight in the evening there, it’s got to be in the early hours of the morning over in there in Nigeria, right?”


“Two o’clock to be exact.”


“Baby what’s wrong?”


“I can’t sleep momma.” She replied. The sound of her mother’s voice in far away Florida soothed her in a comforting sort of way and she suddenly
felt the urge to cry. “I can’t sleep a wink and the pills the doc gave me are not working.”


“You got sleeping pills?” He mom exclaimed. “It must be serious then. When did all this start?”


Bimpe told her about the challenges she was having at work and her mom listened patiently. Telling her mother about her problems calmed Bimpe down a lot and she began to feel better. Her mom clucked and exclaimed at different intervals and afterwards scolded Bimpe for not telling her sooner.


“But I didn’t want to worry you mum, and besides there is nothing much you can do. Leave me to fight my own battles mum; I can take care of myself.”


“Indeed.” Her mom replied sarcastically. “That is why you cannot sleep and have resorted to calling me in the early hours of the morning.”


“I didn’t know what else to do, I thought maybe you could sing me that song you used to sing when I was little.”


“The Go-to-Sleep song?” Her mom replied and she could sense her smile. “Oh baby, Don’t you think you are a little too old for that? Besides I don’t think he’ll come.”


“I’m ready to try anything mom. I need to get some sleep.” Bimpe replied desperately.


Her mom sighed and cleared her throat as Bimpe laid down on the bed once more. She shut her eyes and listened to the soothing sound of her
mother’s voice as the old woman began to sing.



Go to Sleep, my sweet little baby
Go to sleep, my dear darling child
Go to sleep, the sandman is calling
Go to sleep, and enter dreams wild.



Of Circles and candies and many more treaties
Sleep little baby and dream of them all
Of little sand castles and sandy white beaches
Go to sleep, Child answer night’s call.


“You are a little too old to be here, aren’t you?” She heard a voice that wasn’t her mom’s. It was a familiar voice, a voice she had grown accustomed to in her childhood and one she hadn’t heard from in a long time, not before she went off to secondary boarding school. She opened her eyes slowly and gasped and dropped the phone as she stared in disbelief at the stranger before her. It was a man, but he seemed to be made entirely out of sand. He had a chubby but handsome face and wore a straw hat on his head. She couldn’t see what he was wearing clearly but it shimmered in the dark and was of the same sandy texture. She looked around and saw she was no longer on her bed but was sitting on the ledge of her window which was open and bringing in cool refreshing air. She turned back to the sandman who was still sitting on her bed and he smiled kindly at her.


“I must be dreaming.” She said and heaved a sigh of relief. “I must have slept off already! It worked!”


“That in itself is a strange occurrence.” The Sandman said, getting up and coming to join her on the ledge which had now become big enough to accommodate them both. Bimpe wasn’t scared at all at the happenings; after all, stranger things happened in dreams. They stared out into the starry night sky, the most beautiful Bimpe had ever seen. She felt no fear for this man and thought of him as a long lost friend.


“You are the one that used to put us to sleep when we were children and our mum sang to us.” She smiled at him and held his chubby hand. It wasn’t sandy as she was expecting it to be. He smiled back.


“You have a strong memory. Most people have no memory of me whatsoever when they grow up.”


Then he frowned. “What troubles you, child. I have not seen your slumber for many nights.”


“Oh, let’s not talk about my problems.” She said, basking in the euphoria of this dream state. She loved the way she felt weightless and free. She felt like she could fly if she wanted to and dance among the stars and never get tired.


The sandman cocked his head to one side as if hearing her thoughts, and then he laughed a cheery, chubby, bubbly laugh. He held her by the hand and before she knew it she had taken flight and was gliding through the warm night air in her night gown. She screamed with glee and soared upwards until she was among the stars themselves who were really little people dressed in flowing robes. They bowed before her and she bowed gracefully back and soon there was a great dance in which she was the main attraction. She laughed and danced and clapped for the others as they twirled around and twinkled and gyrated.


The Sandman watched but did not take part. She saw he had a thoughtful look on his face as he regarded her and she excused herself from her dancing partners and went to him.


“What is the matter, do I dance badly?”


“Not at all, you dance wonderfully well!” the sandman replied. “But it is strange you still possess the ability to open your mind like this. Your heart has not hardened to the things of the word yet. Interesting.”


“I wish I could stay here forever and ever!” She grinned as she floated back to the dancers but the sandman held her gently by the hand.


“No child, you have to go back. It is time to sleep and rest you head. You have a big day tomorrow.”


Bimpe turned away in disappointment and the night sky became cold and uncomfortable as the stars faded away.


“I don’t want to go to work tomorrow.” She said quietly, “They will fire me tomorrow anyway. I haven’t made my target. I can’t do what the others do.”


“And what is that, my child?” the Sandman asked and she told him.


“I see. Well, a good night’s sleep will keep you refreshed and help you to think clearly when the time comes, don’t you think? The stars will always be here to dance for you but you need your rest.”


She nodded in agreement and they flew back down to the ground, to her room and her window. She floated unto her bed and landed among her bedsheets as light as a feather as the sandman tucked her in and kissed her on the nose.


“Good night child.” He said, his voice soothing and calm.


“Goodni…” she trailed off and was soon fast asleep.




The next morning Bimpe woke up early feeling more refreshed than she had ever felt in a long, long time. She rubbed the sleep sand from her eyes and jumped out of bed, happy to breath the fresh air, glad to be alive. Damn the bank, If they took the job from her then so be it! She couldn’t lower herself to the level they wanted, she wouldn’t, and she would tell the manager as soon as she saw him.


By the time she got to the office, it was 7.30am. The Manager called an impromptu staff meeting and made sure she sat down at the front. Not looking at her, he began the morning prayers and attended to other activities while Bimpe waited for the moment she would be called up and used as an example for the other marketers. She had already steeled her heart for the worst and had mentally prepared what she would say in her defense. She wasn’t going to lose this job without giving them a piece of her mind.


“And finally, Miss Bimpe. Please stand up.” The Manager said curtly. Bimpe stood up, trying hard to remain calm.


“You all know me. The Manager began. “I always give credit to who credit is due. I also will not hesitate to deal decisively with anyone who falls
out of line in their jobs or targets. That is where Bimpe comes in.” He turned to face her.


“In six months Bimpe has risen to an esteemed position among the marketers in this company. I can boldly say that she has done so through dedication and hard work and upholding her integrity. In fact I daresay it is her integrity that prevented her from going higher faster, which brings me to the crux of today’s matter.


Bimpe felt her hands and lips tremble.


“I was proved wrong. In the early hours of this morning Mr. Dickson, her latest client, called me to tell me he was impressed by Bimpe’s character and credibility and would be a faithful member of our bank and to that effect has opened an account with us worth 18million naira. Kudos to you
Bimpe. I daresay you are one lucky person.”


The small crowd got up and cheered and Bimpe just stood there, stunned. What had just happened? She smiled, confused as the manager congratulated her and her other colleagues joined in. She joined in the cheers and jokes and when the meeting was finally over she went back to her office still feeling overwhelmed and confused, so much so that she didn’t realize her phone was ringing until the third call.


It was Mr. Dickson.


“Hello Sir.” She held her breath.


“Have you gotten the money now? Is your job secure?” Mr. Dickson asked, asense of urgency in his voice.


“Yes I have. I want to thank you very much for changing your mind…”


“Changing my mind has nothing to do with it!” His voice cracked over the phone. “I promise to never lay another hand on you or threaten you in anyway, and of course I will continue to do business with your bank.”


His voice broke and she listened in surprise as he began to sob.


“Just please, tell your sand friend to return sleep back into my eyes!”

Good morning my people! I have been going through the entries on the thread and I see a lot of effort has been put in. Congratulations to all of you.

I wanted to sound a little note of warning on plagiarism. It would be a thing of dishonour if you deliberately copied another individual's story. Every story sent to this competition must be yours and yours alone. It would be a thing of shame to find out that one or two of you went to foreign websites to copy stories and change names. Haba. That's not good at all. If you are in this category please kindly email whitemosquito or myself and we will very discretely remove your entry, maybe beg white to allow you send another one quietly. But if you do not remove it, rest assured we will paste your supposed story and the original and where you got it from for all to see. And of course you will automatically be disqualified from the competition.

Have a happy sunday everyone!

A tragedy! Surely it doesn't end here?

nice one nugges11!
Expecting to read more of your works boss

@madridfc, happy new year

@jeffery jamez: :oscary. Happy new year!

@fatalveli, your writeups are sumthin else
@write2obi; no wahala

@nuges11; happy new year bros
@hesdee, welcome miss
@mutaino7: e don start for real. Compliments of the season bros!
@eunisam if it was real would you believe it?
@morsadh; thanks! hope you enjoyed the other stories!
@boladex1 no wahala. welcome
@lemfanon; happy new year.


@all welcome to the thread. Please tell your friends and have fun. Some of the stories have a level of truth, some are pure fabrication. I will leave you to decide which is which.

missKeri:
Wow! Nice story..Following

Welcome oh.

]

toykathy:
thz alot Royver for sharing dis with us. Ur style of writing is intiguing.

thanks

drollster:
Happy new year, Royver. This is interesting. Are we going to know more about this unnamed protagonist? He seems to have an interesting background. Signed on sha. Bring on the other stories biko.

who does the portagonist remind you of ? Happy new year to you too.

I don’t know how to tell this story, so I’m just going to tell it and leave it for you to figure out because I’m tired of thinking about it and I want it out of my system. My name isn’t necessary, it’s just enough to let you know I used to sweep the Catholic Church down the road every Tuesday and Thursday for the past two years. I do it as a kind of penance for my sins; I don’t know…it kind of gives me grace. I feel peace doing it. I’m a four hundred level medical student so you don’t think I’m some bum with nothing better to do than sweep churches. I don’t belong to any church group and I’ll be the first to tell you that sweeping gives me asthma attacks. So why do I do it?


Like I said, it makes me feel peaceful. Gives me grace.


Anyway, enough of me and on to the real issue here.


Going to church every Sunday is okay for most folks. The bible did say to keep the Sabbath day holy and all that. There’s nothing wrong in going to church only on Sundays. I do it myself. The Tuesday and Thursday thing is usually done after the mass. But it is on these days that I meet the strangest of people.


There’s the girl that comes every Tuesday and kneels before the Blessed Sacrament, crying her eyes out and holding a picture of her family. I know because I have spied that picture more than once when sweeping close to her. Guess she’s got family issues. There’s the guy who comes to the church soon after mass and sits beside the statue of Mary only to open his engineering textbooks and project works. He’s been driven out countless times by the parish priest but he always finds a way to sneak back in when he thinks no one is looking. I guess he needs supernatural help in his studies. I don’t know if it works for him though.


There’s the old woman who comes for mass without fail and then kneels in front of the altar until she goes to sleep. Literally snores. After about thirty minutes she wakes up, makes the sign of the cross and goes home. Dunno what that is about. I guess it’s between her and God.
There are pious people and pious looking people. There’s the girl who comes and prays real hard after church only to go outside and put on flashy makeup and head for class, always on skimpy and very sexy attires. There’s the guy who says extra prayers while I sweep past him and then when he thinks no one is looking he drops some spare change into the box for the poor.


So many characters. But this story is not about any of them.


There was this guy I noticed right around three months ago. He came to church when the mass was over, when the church was completely empty and then he entered the church. I knew he was doing something there but I could never really catch him at it. The moment I came in he would either go out and wait until I finished sweeping and left for lectures or if it looked like I was going to stay longer, he would give up and go home. If any of the other characters I mentioned was in the church, he would stay outside until they left. He was very persistent and never ever missed a Tuesday or Thursday. I couldn’t tell whether he came on other days or not and I didn’t have anybody to ask. I noticed he would come in looking a little gloomy and down in the dumps and then leave feeling recharged, relieved, happy. But I was quite sure the happiness wasn’t from prayer. He looked…there isn’t any other way of saying this…high. Like he was high on some drug. Whenever he came out his eyes would be wide open, his nostrils flaring, his breathing faster and he would grin at all and sundry and then move on his merry way. I began to suspect there was more to it than met the eye with this customer.


One day curiosity got the better of me and I decided to find out what Mr. Super happy was up to. I came to church as usual when the service was about rounding up, waited for them to finish, then began to sweep out the church. I made sure to wake the old woman sleeping at the altar and she thanked me and went home. I inspected the statue of Mary and luckily the engineering student as nowhere to be found today. I swept out the church and went outside and sure enough he was there, the mystery man, waiting patiently for me to leave. I nodded in greeting at him and he reciprocated with a small smile. I then proceeded to start sweeping outside the church. My plan was to keep sweeping around until he felt I wasn’t noticing and then I would sneak into the church and observe him.


As soon as I moved some distance off to the back of the church, sweeping like my life depended on it and raising not a little dust, my suspect went inside. I waited a little bit, timing it just right because I knew from experience that he spent an average of fifteen to twenty uninterrupted minutes in the church before he was done. I gave him ten minutes during which time I had inhaled enough dust to make a vacuum cleaner jealous. I started wheezing a little bit but I kept up the good work, making sure he thought I was very busy. And then I dropped the broom and tiptoed back to the entrance. If I walked right in he would see me instantly so I went on my knees (hey, I was really curious!) and crawled on my belly into the church, using the side pews to hide me from being seen.


I was still on my belly and crawling towards the altar when I heard the sweetest sound. It was like a choirperson was singing somewhere, probably from a music device the man was carrying but the voice were so clear and beautiful that I had to assume the device was really high tech. The sound was sending sweet shockwaves through my body and I made up my mind there and then to ask him to transfer it to my phone after I was done spying on him. As I got closer, the voice became louder and then I had the eerie feeling that it was not coming from a music device, it was being sung live. I raised myself to my knees and peeked over the pew.


Think what you like, but I’m telling you right now that guy was standing on air. I mean he was literally standing on nothing a few feet above the ground, his two hands clutched to his chest and his mouth open wide. He was the one doing the singing and from the altar a light was shining towards him. I blinked once or twice in case it was a reflection from the sun outside or something, but no. That light was coming from the altar! I didn’t know when I let out a small cry of alarm. The guy turned around startled and I saw his mouth and eyes were filled with light.
I got to my feet and ran faster than I had ever run in my life. I ran through the door like a bullet, not screaming, not having enough breath to scream, not realizing I was having a full blown asthmatic attack. Not until I collapsed near the fence of the church from sheer exhaustion and lack of oxygen. The air just couldn’t get through to my lungs, my chest was so tight. I raised my head and looked around to see if anyone could help me…and saw the guy standing in front of me. I couldn’t even scream though I was scared silly.


He smiled and knelt beside me and put his hand on my chest. Immediately my lungs opened and cool wonderful air flowed in. I breathed in once, twice and soon I was alright again. I sat up and gazed at the man in front of me. He didn’t look so frightening anymore and the light had gone from his mouth and eyes.


“You nearly scared yourself to death there.” He said. “Don’t you know better than to sneak up on people?”


“I’m sorry sir.” I said immediately. He laughed.


“It’s okay. I’m just glad you are alright.”


“Are you, like, an angel?” I asked.


He smiled again.


“You have a good heart. Keep up the good work. The Lord really appreciates it when you do things for him from the depth of your heart and not because you are being forced to do it.”


“Okay.” I said. I didn’t know what else to say.


“I have to go now. Tell Eunice to call home tomorrow and tell Matthew that if he wants to pass he has to return those books to their owners.”


“Okay.” I repeated.


Then he strolled to the church gate, his hands in his pockets and entered a bus and was gone.


I didn’t even ask his name or number.



The next day I went to church. I waited until the girl with the family picture came into the Blessed Sacrament and I went to her.


“Excuse me please, are you Eunice?” I asked.


She looked at me curiously.


“Yes, do I know you?”


She had a nice smile when she wasn’t crying so much.


“Em, I was told to tell you to call your home today.”


Her eyes widened. “By who?”


“One guy like this. Sha call home.” I said and moved towards the statue of Mary where the engineering student had settled in for his early morning study.


“Matthew?”


The guy nearly jumped out of his skin. “What?”


“I was told to tell you that if you want to pass you have to return those books to their owners.”


Matthew looked at me for a few seconds. The next thing I knew he was on his feet and had me by the collar of my shirt.


“Who are you?” He shouted. “Are you calling me a thief?”


I was about to respond when we both heard a loud cry and we turned around to see Eunice on the phone crying and kneeling and shouting
“Praise God for healing!” Then she cut the call and ran towards me. Matthew released me as she fell into my arms and hugged me tight.
“God bless you! My father and mother are going to be alright!” She smiled through happy tears. “Who are you?”


“Me?” I gasped. “No, I’m not the one…there was this guy yesterday…”


“You must show him to me tomorrow!” She shouted and the parish priest appeared from the hallway. Matthew was looking at me strangely. Suddenly he picked up his books and things and hurried out of the church. The parish priest sent me and Eunice out as well and shut the door.


The strange man never came back. I came the next day with Eunice to see him, no show. I came the day after that and the day after that day but till now he has not returned. Eunice and I are currently in a relationship. Don’t laugh, I’m trying to keep it as godly as possible but my goodness she is wonderful wife material. She's so kind and caring. She makes me so happy and we study wonderfully well together. She’s an accounting student by the way. I have a feeling that she’s going to be a big blessing to my life and we are going to share a future together.



I guess I just want to say, Thanks bros.
Thanks, God.

Bhenehdikt:
Uncle rovyvie good to have you back though I do not know you.lol
Whitey has been xpectin u.

You dont know me? See wetin nairaland tsunami don cause...
I guess I'll have to do something about it

whitemosquito:
Royver, check in now! The Christmas break is over, and you've been on other threads. *large frown*

Ah! I didn't see this in my mentions o, just saw it now while reading through.
signing in whitey!
Happy New Year Everyone , whew, a lot has happened huh? my shift keys are giving me wahala so am going tobe typing without the necessary capitalizations, pls bear with me.

ok i have signed in. how is the competition getting along?
another thing is that when i am awake most people are sleeping. it can get a bit lonely
Ehen. so we have a short story competition with N10,000 up for grabs. choi. and i no fit enter

each story is supposed to be composed of 400words MAXIMUM, more than enough for a flash fiction, some would even say it is too much.
your story should capture the essence of what you want to say in a few words. the main theme here is a cultural story of the new year. Pretty straightforward. for e.g


lake chad was thrilled seeing the fishing sticks return from the great river. he knew there would be lots of fish for everyone knew the first day of the new year brought the river goddess who summoned fish for the men of the village to carry as many as they wanted but only for that day only. this year the sticks were overloaded. hassan grinned. it was going to be a great year.


walla! done! and in less than 400words. see free money. and i no fit join. choi
so let us see your entries and in a few days you could be the proud winnner of the first , second or third prize!

Caveat;
if you copy this story you wont win oh.
if your write up is short like my own and you expect to win, hahahahaha, u no well at all!
if you build on this story na wa for you oh, e no go work.



this competition is for all you budding writers out there to have fun and let your imagination run wild! its not an exam
so write, have fun, explore your mind and concieve something so refreshing that we will have no choice but to bless you with some cool mullah!
looking forward to seeing your entries. Over and out!

ttime:
Wowww...

Ds s somthn else...
I tell u... THr re 2 ways 2 enjoy Visual Creative Entertainment...
1. WATCH Hollwood Series such as 24 and Game of Thrones.
2. READ Royverhood Series... It makes.
The l8r has proven very SATISFACTORY...
Makes u see thns odas dnt see... Lyk d Day d world Ended...
#**dashes strait 2 Oda titles by d Oscar Award winning Movie Writer & Director**#
Pls dnt stop ds trend. U hv a unique giftn... Its called:...
.
..
...
ROY FeVEr!!!

smiling from ear to ear here!
thanks very much, let me copyright this 'royverhood' word for future purposes!
Happy new year!

Fatalveli:
Standing ovation and rounds of applause for Roy, nice ending guy, I bow my head for you!


We'll be looking forward to seeing you soon, pls wen are u starting another piece

starting another piece in 5...4...3...2...stay tuned!

tushwitch:
THANK YOU royver!, bless you!... you might not know this but I spent Christmas reading the cross,claw and tail on ya blog, beats going out for Christmas.... bless you loads

ha..this post sweet me no be small! thanks too!

HesDee:
Held me captive for hours. In fact, I'm in love with the story. Thank you soooo much, Royver. God bless your intellect.

thank you hesdee. I love your hair

Skimpledawg:
OverBadness dey worri Oga Royver! D way he tells his own stories is outta dz world!
Api xmas Roy! Plz do tag me in ya nxt series biko

Same to you brother! No mind me say na now I dey reply your greeting, na now I get chance. will definitely tag you guys in the next adventure!

alberto2k:
Wow!
*singing*
Royver u do good o, u do good
You give us good story, good story
Dis story sweet well well, good story
Dis story sweet well well, indomie

Did I just say indomie, Damn no, I meant good story!
Great piece from Royver, I doff my P-cap for ya bro...
Gracias
suxxman, kenwins, skimpledawg... Come and read the concluding part of this Great piece from
Great Royver... I salute u again, Ochio!

thanks bro! Compliments of the season!

haymoney01:
Royver, do u knw this story is been posted on a page on fb. Anyways. I actually thought it was adapted 4rm a novel but when i saw the author as royver. I justp remembered there is 1 royver on nl and he is a literaturelander. I just decided and behold. I saw the story. U gats talent bro

thanks man. this story is actually an adaptation from an old novel i read a long time ago. i'm glad you liked it.

aboyaji:
how does one get this Old English Gentleman book? I love the story very much

i don't know if its still in bookstores, but browse 'the voice on the radio'
compliments of the season by the way.

Shaxee:
nah, prefer! ROMANCE, MYSTRIES & THRILLERS, WEREWOLF, VAMPIRES

lol
interesting.

larrysun writes with such finesse, its like drinking a cup of cold water in the desert. good job man.
and Merry Chrisitmas to you too

There you are diary! Found you at last! It’s been a grueling two hours and so much has happened. I survived as you can see, thank you very much. I’m going to tell you what happened after I ran off into the field, my machete in one hand and my courage in the next.


When I rushed into the field I saw sola swinging at some of them along with a group of young girls and I went to help. Our job was to bring in our people that were injured in the field and we did a good job of it. As more people let go of their fear and joined the fight, the under dwellers became more serious. They seem to enjoy combat a lot. I’m sure they were happier fighting our trained soldiers than fighting us…but I’m getting ahead of myself.


We fought valiantly, keeping our small circle together and helping those that we could back behind the fighting lines. I have never seen so much blood in my life, so many dying and dead people. I got splashed a lot with the stuff and even some green blood from the under-dwellers got on my clothes which are ruined by the way but I don’t care. I’m so happy, for the first time in a long time I’m happy.


We made it…we survived the end of the world. It didn’t seem that would be the case at first as despite our brave men and women fighting as hard as we could the under-dwellers were definitely getting the upper hand. Ayo had gone to defend Deji who had started bleeding again from the wound he sustained earlier this morning. The under dwellers finally broke through our line of defence and went for the ruins of Chief Akpati’s house probably because that was where we were carrying all the wounded to. The one astride the giant snake finally moved, devouring both underdwellers and humans who had lost their lives on the field and was heading towards the wounded when a burst of gunfire tore flesh from its sides. The snake turned around as did we all and we saw to our surprise and joy that the Nigerian Army had arrived! They came in pickup trucks and armoured vehicles with machine guns mounted on stands and when those things started firing it was as if another earthquake was taking place, the whole ground shook and vibrated and in a short while they had cut down a large number of the under-dwellers. The ones that remained turned as one and charged the soldiers and although they used crude weapons like spears and arrows they soon overran the soldiers and another life and death struggle began. A lot of soldiers were killed but mostly by the huge snake which struck down and overturned two armored vehicles before its head was torn apart by a hand grenade. Some of the Army boys ran up to Dad and carried him and mum to safety. He tried to tell them his children were in the field as well but they seemed more concerned in getting him to safety first. They later came back for me and one of them carried me roughly on his shoulder to a large truck where I got the shock of my life.


There, kneeling at the back of the truck, helping to clean up and bandage the wounded soldiers was Arnold and James! Arnold had a funny looking bandage on his head and his left eye was terribly swollen but other than that he looked okay. James didn’t seem hurt at all and kept asking for a gun but the soldiers refused. I was just dazed and looking at the two of them as they grumbled over another soldier that had been pulled out of the fight with an arrow in his gut.


“They won’t give me a gun, am I not mature enough?” James was saying.


“Leave them na, they are soldiers and you are a bloody civilian, let’s do the one they told us to do first.” Arnold’s voice, croaky but firm came to my ears.


“Arnold?” I whispered, hoping against hope that this wasn’t a dream and I wasn’t hallucinating in the middle of the battlefield.


Arnold turned around and James looked up. Both saw me at the same time and smiled, Arnold getting hurriedly to his feet. I felt my throat go dry and my heart beat painfully in my chest.


“Temi! Temi! Arnold look, its Temi!” James shouted.


“I know, I’m not blind!” Arnold shouted back and limped towards me. I couldn’t move, I was just riveted to the spot.


“Hey, Temi, It’s me, Arnold. What?” He asked getting a little alarmed at my behavior.


I rushed forward and hugged him tight , and yes I started crying like a baby.


“I thought you were dead!” I repeated over and over again.


Arnold held me and said nothing. James just stood in the background, grinning stupidly until the soldier on the ground called his attention.


“I didn’t know what happened,” Arnold said, still holding me. “I was trying to fight off one of the under-dwellers who was aiming an arrow at James when another one struck me on the head with something heavy and I passed out. When I regained consciousness James was dragging me into the bushes and blood was flowing down my head into my eyes, nose, everywhere. We found our way back to Sola’s mum’s place and James hid me there while he went around looking for drugs and food for both of us. We stayed hidden until this morning during the earthquake when we had to come out of the house when the whole thing started to collapse.”


“We stayed hidden in the ruins, watching those things come out of every nook and cranny in the ground but I couldn’t go and fight because your guy here was still not alright.” James added from his side by the wounded soldier. “We waited until we saw this convoy of soldiers passing through and we raised the alarm. We have been following them since then and they are even calling for reinforcements even though they won’t let me handle a gun!”


“Bloody civilian.” Arnold grinned and James grinned back.


“I thought you were dead.” I repeated once more, letting go of him a little.


“For where, I dey kampe. You don’t know this my gorilla head is strong?” Arnold said smiling at me.


And then he stopped smiling, looked me in the eyes and drew me to himself again. We kissed, it was the most natural thing in the world to do. James started whistling in the background but we ignored him.


“You like frightening me, don’t you?” I said afterwards.


“It’s not intentional, I promise.” Arnold said then stiffened suddenly. I turned to look at what had shocked him so and saw my dad and mum looking at us.


“You survived, thank God!” Mum said clapping her hands gleefully. James waved at her.


“Yes we did ma.” He replied then faced my dad who had a slight frown on his face. We realized we were still hugging each other and Arnold let go of me immediately.


“Sorry Sir.” He said.


“For what?” Dad replied, “For surviving or kissing my daughter once again in my presence?”


I covered my face with my hands.


“Both sir.” Arnold replied nervously, then “I mean…”


“Temi when you are through come and tend to your brothers. The battle is over, we managed to defeat the under-dwellers and drive the few survivors back underground. My boys are moving us to the barracks, they have an apartment for us to stay while we rebuild our place.” He gave Arnold a stern look and Mum whispered something in his ear. HE shook his head and laughed.


“Carry on, boy.” He winked at Arnold and limped off with mum. I went back into his arms as James shouted indignantly:


“But, I survived too na… no kiss for me?”


It was a worldwide victory. The Under-dwellers were pushed back into the depths from whence they came. It was so bad for them that the United States Army led an attack into their cities in the bowels of the Earth. They had to surrender and draw up a peace agreement. It is said that they have many minerals and raw materials that will benefit the Earth greatly. Also the Animal life down there is making scientists rethink the whole evolution theory.


Sanity has returned gradually into the world. Nigeria elected a new president, one of our leaders who had not run away during the crisis but had stayed to rally the army and executive government together to launch a counter offensive against the invaders and to also provide relief to places hard hit by the Earthquakes. Most of the other countries and continents followed suit with major changes in leadership. New technology hitherto hidden by the developed countries was deployed to make communication and rebuilding of infrastructure faster and more effective. Despite the fact that there was now peace between the under-dwellers and over dwellers, there was still some mistrust and fear that they might attack again especially during the night so the nation’s power grid was greatly enhanced to provide light mandatorily at night.
Every day we watch the building of the new bridges that will join the three land masses of what was once one Earth together. I can imagine if our geography teacher was still alive, he would have died with excitement at the way the world map had changed. We did memorial services for Bimpe and all the others we had lost during the crisis but all in all we knew this experience had made humanity stronger. Although ironically there were now three Earths, There had never been as much feeling of togetherness among the inhabitants of the Planets Earth as there was when it was just one globe.




My name is Temitope Richards, and this is how the new world began.



[size=14pt]THE END.[/size]

There was a loud murmur among the crowd as people quickly began to disperse.


“We need to find shelther.” Dad said, getting up. “Let’s get to Chief Akpati’s house, I was offered one of the underground rooms…”


“Too late!” Ayo shouted pointing as a large shadow suddenly loomed above us.


It was a giant snake. It appeared out of one of the tears in the ground, a tight fit at first and for a moment I held my breath, hoping it would get stuck but it pushed its way out of the ground, tearing up the earth as it did so. Following it poured out an army of under-dwellers, like soldier ants. They wielded their weapons and hissed menacingly.


There was a loud outcry as people began to run helter-skelter. I had never seen the under dwellers in such a violent mood so up close before. In moments they had cut down most of the people around them as if they were nothing at all and blood flowed freely on the fields. Sola and I ran towards the remains of the house as Ayo tried to rally the youth together to fight.


“Form a line!” He shouted. He grabbed some of the youth and made them stand side by side with him forming a single line that kept getting longer
as more armed youths joined in.; this was the safety line and soon people started running behind it. Sola and I crossed it easily as the main fight wasn’t in our path, Dad and mum found it more difficult as dad was limping but he managed to fight off some of the under dwellers before finally being helped by one of the vigilantes as they got to the line.


“Don’t break this line!” Ayo shouted and the order was passed down. It looked like some sort of macabre game, as the under dwellers advanced, some would rush forward with their blades to try and break the line only to be pushed back, fought off or killed by one or more of the brave youth.


I was terrified of the snake. It just hovered in the air, with one of the under-dwellers astride its head, watching the whole scene from afar off as if it didn’t concern him. Deji had formed a kind of marauding band of seven youths that would charge at the under-dwellers to try and help those people who still hadn’t crossed the line. Dad got a hold of his gun, filled it with bullets and started shooting at random. The fighting continued and soon things began to look desperate for us humans.


“Temi. I’m going to fight.” Sola said after a while, suddenly standing up.


“With what?” I jumped to my feet and grabbed her wrist. “Leave the guys to handle it na, do you see any other woman going to fight…other than my mom?” I said as from the corner of my eyes I saw mum helping dad refill his bullets.


“But they need all the help they can get, we are too few and it looks as if the under-dwellers are just playing with us.”


I had noticed it too. Although we were hitting back as hard as we could, it seemed now the under-dwellers were just biding their time. They had stopped the violent killing and were making mock charges at our line of defence. They would rush forward vengefully and Ayo and the others would brace themselves then at the last minute they would run back with hisses that closely resembled laughter. Once in a while an over-exuberant youth would rush forward to attack and the under-dwellers would strike him down dead. They were definitely more seasoned in warfare than we were and our lines were methodically thinning out.


“I’m going, Temi. Stay here if you want but I’m going.” And so saying, she ran forward.



Well, I guess it has come to this. Who would think that a week ago, I Temitope Richards, daughter of General Richards , a two time class beauty queen and all round care free teenager would one day take up arms and go into battle against a group of barbaric underworld creatures? But that’s what I guess I’m about to do. Writing about it has really helped and it’s quite possible that this is my last entry. I’m actually sitting behind a large boulder as I write this with people screaming and running about all around me. Sola has been gone for a few minutes and I’m working up the courage to go and join the fight. If I don’t return, well, whoever reads this knows all that happened. The world has been torn apart and it seems we are on our own against these creatures. Dad is shooting beside me, Mum has picked up a handgun and is firing beside him. There is black dust on her face and her teeth are gritted together. I haven’t seen Ayo and Deji in a while. But there is a blade beside me, it belonged to one of the under-dwellers who tried to rush at Sola when she came out to fight, Dad shot it down. I’m going to pick up the blade and go and help those I can. I’ll leave the diary under this rock, would have buried it deeper if I had the time…

I’m rambling. Well, here goes. If I don’t come back, then, its goodbye.

I woke up by nine o’clock to the awful sound of the earth rumbling and Dad shouting my name. The whole house was vibrating under the noise and Dad was hurrying to get everybody out of the house for fear it would collapse this time. As I ran outside in my nightgown, I realized Sola was nowhere to be seen. I screamed for her and she answered from the back of the house. I ran over and saw her with my mom as they tried to turn our huge gas cylinders on their sides. I ran to Mom and helped her out.


“You should have woken me, mom!” I said reproachfully.


“We didn’t want to wake you.” Mum shouted, her voice barely audible above the rumbling. “it wasn’t so bad before now and besides, Sola was helping out.”


We secured the gas cylinders and ran back to the front of the house where my dad, Ayo and Deji were sitting on the ground. I looked around outside our compound and saw a whole lot of people sitting or lying out in the fields, some praying, some crying, some very still and quiet.


“We were waiting for you.” Dad said as we sat down. “Oya, mum, lead us in prayer.”


And mom prayed. She prayed for each and every one of us, asking for the forgiveness of our sins, Thankful for our lives and how we had lived it, grateful for us all being together at what might actually be Earth’s final hours. She prayed for our survival or happy afterlife, she prayed for our neighbors and friends. She made us forgive anybody we had a grudge against, and admit any wrongdoing we had secretly kept. At the end of it all we were all sober but at peace.


“This noise is going on longer than the other ones.” I observed nervously and Deji nodded.


“The Americans said the world will divide into three. I guess this is how it all tears up” Deji said. He was sounding very brave but his eyes darted
around fearfully with each rumble. Ayo sat down quietly in a corner, his face blank.


“Maybe we should sing praises until the shaking stops.” I suggested. Mum nodded and Dad grunted his agreement. As we started, we saw those sitting outside our fence watching us and then starting their own songs. Others followed and soon we were all singing praise and worship, trying to make our voices heard above the shaking and rumbling. We all held hands and sang along, waiting for the inevitable.


And then the rumbling stopped.


We were silent for a moment and then shouts of joy rent the air. People started jumping up and shouting and cries of “It’s over, it’s finally over!!!” were heard here and there across the field!


“Is that it? Has the world ended?” Deji asked almost disappointedly.


“It seems so. The ground isn’t shaking again.” Dad said.


Ayo stood up. “Other people are standing up o! Dad, it’s like the thing didn’t tear anywhere, it just died on its own.


“That will be wonderful.” Dad said. “Let me check BBC news and see what they are saying.” But his voice was now drowned by more exuberant shouts of joy as people darted out of their make-shift tents and some coming out of Chief Akpati’s underground rooms. People rushed from one compound to the other, shaking hands, laughing and patting each other on the back. I turned and hugged my mom and Sola alternately, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.


The Radio whinned and a voice came over it “over, sudden trembling would indicate a temporary lull which we hope will last long enough to…”


“What are they saying?” Ayo asked , coming close and straining to hear above the cacophony of human noises.


Dad shushed him and continued tuning. I looked around, people were running helter skelter. I was tempted to join but before I could move Deji suddenly jumped up and shouted as if he had just realized it.


“It’s over!” Deji said jumping to his feet. “It’s finally o-“


And then a very loud and terrifying noise whipped through the air.


It came from deep underground, we could actually feel it rising to the surface and everybody quickly lay on their bellies in the grass as the whole earth began to shake violently again. The shouts of laughter a moment ago had been replaced with cries of terror as people braced for whatever was coming.


Suddenly the earth around us erupted and we were thrown high into the air. I landed painfully on my back and for a terrifying moment I thought I had been paralyzed as I couldn’t feel my legs and everything below my waist went numb. All around us the Earth shook and shifted and we looked on in horror as our house gave way and collapsed on itself with a mighty crash. The sky turned a strange purplish-blue colour and the Sun seemed to intensify its heat for a moment as if whatever was protecting the Earth from its scorching rays had disappeared for an instant. Everywhere became incredibly bright and hot and then dark almost immediately and then bright and hot again. And then the whole field began to rise up.


“Make it stop! Make it stop!” Sola screamed, her eyes shut tight as the entire landscape began to tilt upwards. It started gradually, almost unnoticeably and then with all the shaking and rumbling the entire field tilted at an almost 30degree angle. I started rolling down along with a lot of other people. Ayo grabbed on to some shrubs and steadied himself, same with Dad and Mum, but Sola and I were nowhere near any shrubbery when it happened. We rolled all the way down the street until we came to the point where it leveled out.
And then there was a terrific BANG! like a thousand bombs went off and for a moment everything went dark.


And then it was all over.


The Rumbling stopped and the skies slowly cleared and became bright again. I stayed flat on the ground for a long time, shaking uncontrollably as I waited for the ground to start moving again, but nothing happened. I looked across at Sola who was lying a few feet from me. She was hiding her face in the ground and sobbing uncontrollably but she didn’t seem hurt. I crawled towards her and shook her. She jerked away like she had been electrocuted and looked up, her eyes filled with relief that it was only me. We stayed there, looking at each other, daring the other to pick up confidence and stand up first. Finally she held my hand.


“We’ll both stand up.”


And we got shakily to our feet. All around us was smoke and fire and people, some standing, most still lying on the floor. Some of the people were missing. We looked up at the place where my house used to stand; there was only a pile of rubble now. I saw Deji standing up and helping mum and Dad being carried down the field by Ayo. They didn’t seem badly hurt.


“Is it all over?” I asked Deji as they all made their way down.


“Yes, I guess so.” Deji said. “We’ll listen to the news and see what is going on. Did you hear that terrible crack?”


“Even the deaf would have heard that one Deji” Ayo said, coming down with Dad. “We have to gather ourselves and our properties, let’s start arranging a shelter over our heads.”


All around us people were doing different things. Some of them were praying on their knees or standing up, others were arranging whatever of their properties they could find. The air smelt somehow different.


Dad fumbled around with his radio until he got a signal.


“This is a recent photograph taken aboard Air Space 1. The American government has already decided to sponsor the rebuilding of the planet, being the world’s largest donor to the WHO. It is estimated that building these intra-land bridges will take no less than a decade, providing of
course the landmasses do not shift further apart.”


“We need to get the TV.” Deji said. “We need to know what they are talking about.”


“And you think it will still be working after the whole house collapsed?” Ayo asked.


Deji shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to check.”


As he struggled back up towards the house, I sat on the floor with Sola. Mum was hugging dad and speaking comforting words into his ear as he
stared vacantly at our crumbled home. It must have been terrible for him to see his house destroyed like that. Finally he sat down helplessy on
the floor and Mum sat with him.


Deji came back with the television which was miraculously intact.


“Let me get the generator and an outlet we can plug the gen to.” Ayo said and ran back towards the house. He was soon back with a couple of the youths who were interested in what we were doing. Soon we had the generator working and the TV plugged but Deji was pessimistic.


“The satellite is damaged so there’s no way we can watch any of the foreign channels. Maybe if we made a pole for it to stand on…”


“and even if you set up a pole do you think there’ll be any signals?” One of the youth said. “We are probably not going to get network for days.”


Impulsively I brought out my phone and looked at it. There were no bars but a strange signal was there instead, and a prompt for me to accept connection.


“Dad, check your phone!” I cried excitedly.


“He fumbled in his pockets and Ayo and Deji did the same. We all had the same signal on or phones.


“They were saying on the news yesterday that they would set up a kind of worldwide wifi!” Deji gasped.


“I’m going to accept to connect.” I said and clicked ‘OK’


A software immediately began downloading on my phone and soon I received the message “Welcome to the World Wide Unity Uplink. All calls and text messages are free until further notice. If you need help, send ‘help’ to the emergency numbers of your respective countries you will be receiving shortly. If you need updates on the state of the world…”


“This is so cooool” Deji said as he uploaded his own too. Ayo shouted out to one of the youths that was watching us.


“Mutaino7! Tell all those that have phones to switch them on!” The youth nodded and ran off.


“Put on the TV, maybe it will work too.” I suggested.


Deji eagerly put on the television and to our surprise and delight all channels were showing freely, although most of them were not clear. The
NTA reporter that had been talking the day before was on the air, filming his surroundings and trying to describe his experience as it happened in Lagos. His eyes widened momentarily and he started running and shouting.


“Wait, what is going on?”


“Be quiet Deji!” Dad said as we all focused on the television. Other people had come to watch as well and soon a large crowd had formed.


The reporter seemed to run under a flyover and hide. His breathing was labored and the camera swung uselessly at the floor for a moment before he finally raised it up to his face which was covered in sweat.


“The Under-dwellers are coming out in large numbers! They are riding on big snakes, bigger than the ones that came out at Lekki! Where is the army? Isn’t anyone watching this? Where are the Authorities…?!”



There was a loud noise in the background and the camera went off.

So saying he got up and dragged me along to the room. As we entered the corridor I saw Sola still trembling behind the door. I pretended to trip and fall to further draw his attention away from the door. He picked me up by the wait and threw me on the bed. Then he began to loosen his belt and take off his trousers.


“Baby I hope you are ready for me!” He said, taking off his jean trousers to reveal dirty brown boxers. “I took enough stout and powerhorse this night as well as some good drugs before we came on this mission. Cooperate and I swear na you go enjoy am pass!”


I said nothing, my heart in my throat as I saw Sola slowly come out from behind the door, her hands trembling violently. She could barely hold the pistol straight and I doubted she would be able to use it. As he fumbled with his shirt Sola suddenly dropped the gun and dashed out of sight.


I was devastated! She hadn’t been able to go through with it! I was left alone with this beast of a man, what was I going to do? As I racked my brain to come up with a solution that didn’t involve me losing my dignity or endangering my family, I saw Sola appear behind him again.


In her hands was the pot I had stumbled over in the corridor earlier. A heavy iron pot.


It glistened dully in the night light as she raised it high above her head, approaching him at the same time. I was sure he was going to hear her but he was either too occupied with what he was doing or he couldn’t care less what was going on behind him but he didn’t turn around. He pulled off his shirt, leaving a dirty brown singlet soaked with sweat.


“Am ready for you.” He said.


And Sola brought the Pot crashing down on his head.


She must have been very frightened because she used all her strength. There was a dull thud as the pot connected with the back of hi head and he fell down as if someone had turned off his power supply. He was still for a moment then started convulsing, his hands and legs making dull thumping noises on the ground.


“Hmm, ol boy take am easy oh, leave small for us!” The second laughed from the parlour and then his laugh turned to a surprised yell. There was a crash of metal and then a loud bang as a gun went off.


I screamed and jumped to my feet, running out of the room with Sola running along behind me. I grabbed the gun she had dropped and dashed into the parlour.


Ayo was struggling for the gun with the third guy and I was shocked to see a knife in the stranger’s belly. Deji was on the floor in a pool of blood and Dad was also on the floor, pulling on the rifle with the second stranger for all he was worth. He kept moving the nozzle away from him and the second guy was raining curses as he tried to point it at Dad’s stomach. Mom was nowhere to be seen.


I pointed the gun at the second person but couldn’t find it in me to pull the trigger. I had watched it many times in the movies where the heroine was with the gun but kept hesitating to use it and I had screamed indignantly at each scene. But now I understood why they hesitated. If I pulled this trigger I would become a killer, a murderer, there would be no going back.


Ayo saw the look on my face and screamed at me to go back into the room. Then he grabbed the knife and pushed it deeper into the third guy’s belly. I stayed put and watched in macabre fascination as the third guy didn’t even budge but instead yanked the gun away from Ayo’s grasp and point it at him to fire. Ayo lunged at him and attempted knocking the gun from his hand but he didn’t let go and instead fired off a shot which lodged a bullet in the wall close to Ayo. As he took aim again Ayo rushed at him and they both tumbled to the floor. Ayo grabbed the knife again and this time pushed up wildly in a wide arc. Suddenly the air was filled with a strange smell as the third guy’s intestines fell out. He screamed then and Ayo brought out the knife and stabbed him again and he was still.


The second stranger fired off a shot and dad let go of the nozzle. He took a few steps back, the gun pointed at Dad and shouting for his colleague. When none of them answered he turned back to dad, his eyes wild.


“Bastard! All of una go die today!”


He pointed the gun at Dad and was about to shoot when Mum rushed out of the kitchen, her mittened hands holding a pot of hot oil. He tried to aim the gun at her but she was quicker and threw the contents of the oil on him. He yelled and dropped the gun, clawing at his skin. It took him a while to realize the oil wasn’t as hot as he thought (mum had turned off the gas by midnight and the oil had cooled somewhat) but by then Dad had grabbed the gun.


He stood there for a while, dripping oil all over and clenching his fists. He raised his hands slowly and stepped back, almost falling over Deji’s body. He steadied himself, absent mindedly kicking Deji’s head out of the way in annoyance.


Dad shot him through the chest.


The force of the bullet threw him back against the door and out of the house, Just as some vigilante men appeared at the door.


“General, wetin happen? We heard gunshots…”


Dad ignored them and crawled to where Deji was and carried him in his arms. We all stood and held our breath as dad called out to him. Finally he stirred and moved a little and we ran to them as dad examined his wound. The bullet had gone through his shoulder at the deltoid muscle which was bleeding profusely.


“That was very stupid of you my boy!” Dad said and smiled. “I’m very proud of you.”


"Did that bastard..." Ayo shouted, approaching me.



"No," I breathed. "Sola stopped him in time. I'm fine."


Ayo went over and hugged Sola who collapsed in his arms like a rag doll.


"Thank you. Thank you." He said.


The Vigilantes came in and helped clean up the mess. The bodies of the second and third strangers were carried off and the first guy was revived and taken away for interrogation. Dad and Ayo briefed them on what had happened.


“How can people be thinking of robbing others at this trying time?” The head vigilante said. “It is beyond comprehension.” He turned to Ayo,
“Oga, I hope you are alright?”


“I’m fine.” Ayo said. “Please check on my father’s leg and my brother.”


“One of our people has gone to call the doctor.” He replied. We will keep a guard here till morning. You people should go and sleep. Sorry General.”


Dad nodded and the vigilantes left the house. Soon the doctor arrived, a dark complexioned, bustling fellow who swiftly went to work. Dad and
Deji were soon taken care of and pain relievers given. I looked at the time, it was 4am. Sola was sitting on the chair beside Deji as he rested his head against her shoulder, stealing secret grins at Ayo who sighed in exasperation.


“It’s almost dawn, let us try and get some sleep.” Dad said. “We don’t know how the morning will be like. Deji, I know you are injured and need tender loving care but allow Sola to go and rest so she can have chance to take care of you tomorrow.”


“Haba, dad…” Deji gasped, embarrassed. Sola smiled and got up and followed me to the room. I saw Mum sit beside dad, fussing over him like a mother hen. Ayo stood staunchly by the door and watched Sola go. He caught my eye and smiled as I shook my head disapprovingly.


“Your brothers are very brave,” Sola said as we lay down to sleep. “And a little mischievous.”


“Don’t mind them; they are just looking for your mouth.” I said.


Sola shivered. “I don’t think I will be able to sleep after everything that happened”


“Trust me, you will.” I said, covering myself with the blanket. “I didn’t think I would sleep after…after what Dare did back there in the farm but I
slept right off.”


“Did he…what you said…I hope he didn’t…”


“No he didn’t.” I replied, “HE was very…brutal…but he didn’t have the chance to go that far before you guys interrupted…”

We were silent for a while.

“I hope the world ends tomorrow.” Sola said, quietly.


“Why?” I asked, sitting up from the bed to stare at her. She continued to lie down, not meeting my eyes.

“We have been through so much…lost so many people…how do we go on?” She sniffed. “Wont it be better if everything ends tomorrow?”


“NO it won’t.” I replied fervently. “As long as there is life, there is hope. We will find a way to go on if we survive tomorrow. Don’t despair now
Sola, you are the only friend I have left.”


I squeezed her hand and she returned the squeeze and turned over to sleep. I lay down too, trying to blank my mind from thinking about this early morning’s adventure, trying to think positively about tomorrow and what it might bring. I was lucky, my family was still together and that gave me hope that no matter how bad tomorrow turned out, we would go through it together. I kept that hopeful thought in my mind and drifted off to sleep.

McSterling:
Thanks, but I would really appreciate it if you could post the whole thing tonight(supposing you have typed already). I'm full of gusto tonight!

oops. Just seeing this. Ok Will post the rest now.

Mum made me and Sola hide under the bed then bravely stepped out.


“Where is your sister?” the voice said.


There was no answer for a while followed by the resounding noise of somebody being slapped. Then my mum screamed and dad shouted out in indignation.


“Oh, you think we came to play, abi? Sista, if you no come out from your hiding place in 3seconds we go blast ya mama head comot!”


I hurried out of the bed with Sola coming after me. On sudden inspiration I pushed her back under the bed.


“They don’t know you are here.” I said simply. “Stay here.”


Before Sola could respond I straightened myself and stepped out of the room, into the corridor and entered the parlour.


Those three strangers that had been talking to Ayo were standing in our parlour. My family members were all on their knees, my mom sobbing
quietly and my dad looking like he would get up at any moment and murder them. But they had him at gunpoint. One of them pointed a crude looking rifle at Ayo and the other two were in possession of Dad’s and Deji’s guns.


“ehen. See the young princess! Please sit down.” The first one said, smiling wickedly. I obeyed and sat at the dining table.


“No! Come closer na, abi are you shy?” the second one said, laughing a little. I got up and came and sat on the Sofa while the second one sat next to me.


“Ehen!” Now you guys are complete.”


“General Richards abeg no vex.” The first one said. “We normally would not have come to disturb you for any reason, knowing you are an army man. But as you know, everything is upside down. There is chaos everywhere, no police station again sef, only vigilante groups. We need some form of order in these difficult times, I’m sure you will agree?”


My dad said nothing.


The first one went on. “Okay, everyone knows for order to be restored, a system has to be put in place. And there is no system that runs without money. Your son has been made the head of the vigilantes in this area, and that in itself is an office. An office cannot run without money. Also know that he has to answer to someone else who will be controlling his actions as well as the actions of other vigilante heads in these trying times. An Oga at the top so to speak.”


“We came to ask your son for a little token from the people he was protecting in this neighborhood, some small part of the appreciation money people were giving him. And he treated us like agberos!” the second one spat.


The third one watched all this, saying nothing.


“So you see, we were a little annoyed. We even begged him again, telling him it was a normal thing for vigilante heads to do, to submit small money for our overall oga so that the ministry can be moving…”


“Who appointed your Oga?” My Dad asked suddenly.


“THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!” The first guy barked violently, shaking his fist and pointing the gun at dad’s head. “Your business is to talk to your son to release some money for us or the world will end for you and your family right now!”


“Please put the gun down.” Ayo said and the second one walked over and gave him a hard slap.


“Shut up you!” he screamed, his spittle spraying my brother’s face. “Now you know how to be polite abi? Where is our money?!”


“I didn’t collect any money from these people…” Ayo began and received another dirty slap.


“But how is that our fault now? Didn’t we tell you to arrange money? If you didn’t collect it that means you have enough money by yourself to pay for everybody, yes! I hope for your sake you can provide it?”


“How much do you people want?” Dad asked.


“Small thing oh, general!” The first one said. “Two hundred thousand naira oh. That’s all.”


“But we don’t have that kind of money.” Dad said, “Most of the banks have been closed down or destroyed and the ATMS are not working…”


He received a punch in the face from the second man and he almost fell over. His injured leg meant he could barely kneel properly as it was. I screamed and rushed to him covering him from further assault as mum covered the both of us. The second guy started pulling us from each other, cursing and swearing.


“You guys should leave my family alone!” Ayo shouted even as the second guy came behind and hit him on the head. He stood to his feet in indignation but three guns immediately pointed at him.


“Oya do something stupid na, abeg.” The first one said. Ayo stood there, his fists clenching, but soon went on his knees again.


“This guy is stubborn sha.” The first one said. “General, did you know we approached your son to join our cult? Did he tell you?”


Dad looked at Ayo, surprised.


“Dad, Ayo told us he didn’t join!” Deji said and received a hard knock on the head by the first guy.


“Don’t worry, he didn’t join. He no get liver for that kain tin.” The second one said and they both laughed. The third guy managed a smile but
that was it.


“Yes oh. We told him we would take care of him, he would be popular, have any girl he wanted, but he refused oh. He even agreed to go through punishment if that was what it took to keep away.” The first one said. “I won’t be surprised if he came home everyday crying.”


The second stranger guffawed with laughter.


“And now, just because he went to show himself when these juju people from underground attacked, our oga said we should leave him. Can you imagine?” the first one spat.


“Is that your problem?” Ayo gasped. “Jealousy? I had no choice, I was going to protect my sister. I wasn’t trying to show myself. Your vexation is unfounded!”


“Shut up, Mista big words!” the second said, threatening him with his gun. “Everybody heard of your daring rescue and started to ridicule us, that it was the person we called a weakling that did all that. Can you imagine how oga insulted us?”


“We are talking too much, let’s do what we came to do and go.” The third one finally spoke.


“This one General is saying he doesn’t have our money with him, we must enjoy something oh. We can’t just have come here for nothing o.” the second said. Then he looked at me evilly.


“Shebi this is the sister you went to save?”


He approached me, grinning. Dad got to his feet.


“Touch her and you will die!” he shouted.


In reply the first one smashed the rifle on his bad leg. Dad shouted and fell to the floor, moaning in pain. Mum screamed and got to her feet and the second one slapped her while the third guy held a gun to Deji’s head and looked menacingly at Ayo.


“I don’t see all of you surviving this if you continue to remain uncooperative.” He said.


At that moment I caught a glimpse of Sola. She had sneaked out to the corridor and was watching quietly from behind the door. She moved her hand slightly and I saw that she was holding a pistol in her hand!


Of course! Dad kept all his weapons under the bed. She must have felt it when she was hiding under the bed. But what could she use it to do?
We were only secondary school kids after all, not hitmen.


“What are you looking at?” The first guy said. He obviously wasn’t expecting anyone else to be around so he barely glanced in the direction I was looking. I quickly turned my attention back to him.


“Leave my parents alone,” I said, standing to my feet.


I don’t know where the strength came from. Maybe it was because of all the stress I had been through, or maybe it was the desperateness of the situation, seeing my family manhandled so violently. But suddenly I felt very calm. There was no fear left in my body, no fright, no trembling. My heart became quiet and stopped pounding against my chest. I boldly walked up to the first stranger and asked


“So, what do you want from me?”


He stopped grinning. He looked uncertainly at the second guy who shrugged and gave him the thumbs up.


“Just a little sugar to calm me down baby.” He said, turning his gaze back to me and grinning slyly.


“There’s sixty four thousand naira under my bed.” Dad groaned, “It’s all I have in the house. Take it and go.”


“No thanks sir.” The first one said and grabbing me roughly he threw me on the sofa. “I prefer sugar!”


He pounced on me and I began to struggle. From the corner of my eye I saw Deji rise angrily to his feet and the third stranger pulled a machete from his face and flogged him on the face with it. Ayo reached for Deji as he fell and was hit hard on the head with the same machete. I saw a spray of blood.


My brothers were going to kill themselves trying to help me.


“Deji, Ayo, Stop!” I shouted, and everyone stopped to look at me. The first stranger was still on top of me but I no longer struggled.


“Don’t harm them, I won’t struggle.” I told him. I felt his fetid breath on my cheeks as he opened his mouth in surprise and glee.


“No wahala, just cooperate. My guys won’t touch them I swear.”


“Okay but let us go into the room.” I said. “It will be too much for them if you do ti here.”


“How that one take consain us?!” The second one said but the first shushed him.



“Our princess has decided to cooperate. It is better like this. Boys we are gonna enjoy ourselves before morning!”

[size=15pt]DAY 1: WORLD'S END[/size]


I was fast asleep around 1am when I heard the sound for the first time. It was a grating, low noise that temporarily broke the silence of this cold and quiet night. I was about dismissing it and going back to sleep when I heard it again. Someone or something was out by the window and moving to the front door. I sat up in bed, straining my ears to see if I would hear it one more time.


I did.


I rolled off the bed, being careful not to wake Sola as I didn’t want to alarm her unnecessarily. I tiptoed out of the room and went to the parlour.
The house was quiet, save for the fridge which was humming noisily in the kitchen. I went into the parlour and met Deji fast asleep on the couch, the parlour lights off. He was supposed to be on lookout but I guess tiredness from the day’s activities had overwhelmed him and he had nodded off. I was approaching him to tell him what I heard when a shadow passed by the side window. I froze where I was, my heart beating hard against my chest, my lungs barely working as I struggled to get my body moving again. I opened my mouth which had suddenly become very dry and tried to call Deji.


“Dej…Deji!” I whispered urgently, but he didn’t budge. He turned over and started to snore loudly and I heard a low chuckle from outside. More frightened than ever, I turned to run and get dad when strong hands grabbed my shoulder and mouth, preventing me from screaming out.


I looked up and saw Ayo, his eyes cold, his body taut. He put a finger to his lips indicating that I should keep quiet and I nodded, understanding.
He went forward and gently put his mouth over Deji and closed it hard, starting up a fake snore at the same time. Deji struggled for a moment then relaxed when he saw it was Ayo. Ayo continued to snore but gestured for Deji indicating that there were people outside. Deji nodded and timing himself with Ayo, picked up the snoring once again. They needed to make the outsiders think they still had the element of surprise on their side. Deji motioned for me to get back into my room and quietly picked up Dad’s gun that had been lying beside him. I went back to my room, trembling all over, wondering why the under-dwellers had decided to attack at night, how many there were, and if they had come with their huge snakes.


I was wondering how I was going to wake everybody without letting those outside know, and who to wake first. I decided to go to Dad’s room and let him know, he would know what to do. I made my way to the Master Bedroom and peeked through the door. Dad and Mum were fast asleep. As I was about to enter the room, a figure passed by the crack in the wall. It was only for an instant and the night was dark but I
immediately realized something.


Our intruders were human!


I stood stock still. Deji and Ayo were standing at the doorway, Ayo armed with a machete and Deji with the gun, waiting to ambush the people that were coming in, believing them to be under-dwellers! Maybe they were part of the vigilantes making their rounds! It didn’t occur to me that anyone would want to break into our house and rob us, not in these trying times. I was so relieved it wasn’t under-dwellers I ran back to tell Ayo, not looking at where I was going, and fell over a pot someone had left in the corridor.


The clanging woke the whole house. My dad shouted, demanding to know who was causing such a racket, Sola must have woken up and not seen me and started calling out my name. I raised my voice to answer:


“It’s me o, Dad!”


And then there was a crash as the door was knocked down by a heavy force.


There was a scuffle and grunts as if people were fighting and I screamed and got up and ran to Dad’s room with a wailing Sola appearing behind me. Dad got up and cocked his gun and made us sit there with mum who was now awake and wide eyed.


“Deji! Ayo!” he shouted but there was no response.


He limped out, holding his rifle at the ready. After a while we heard a strange voice.


“Oya, the rest of you should come out!”

McSterling, cartertress, Mercylee, lupey, techno4life, christejames, meklex, fatalveli, chemmzy,
And many more too numerous to mention.

My Christmas gift to you. The Final Chapter. Merry Christmas.

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