₦airaland Forum

Meddler: Your writing has improved tremendously from when I started reading your stories. I'm just blown away. I still love the Chukwudi stories but this is just on a whole new level! Well done mate! Keep it coming. I'm a big fan.

And thank you ma'm. I hope to improve even more

adebayo201: now I know that Ayo is/was a cultist but a pretender at home.

I can't wait oh my boss!

Loading...100%, thanks for your patience

kayjuu: Wow!!!...one word. Captivating!!!

thank you kayjuu!

JeffreyJamez: On some cultist things na......

you know na....

JigsawKillah: u still recall one 'dareezyn'?
I am him


SAW

yeah,l remember that moniker why you change your name na?

JigsawKillah: #In Ryback's Voice#
Feed Me More!!!!

Rhyde On Roy!!!!


SAW

You realise SAW was a serial killer right
Welcome all the same please take your seat and keep all sharp objects in your possession at the entrance. Thank you

whitemosquito: how u take knw say she dey pretty?

Cos av been privileged to see her pretty face

adebayo201: Chai... this na milk to my baby mind oh! I need more!!!

More milk is on the way but later at night o!

.

Jennimma: Roy!!! I hail thee.

Pretty Jennima how have you been?

creamyanne: *if I no comment how make I be na*................. Oh my goooooodness!!! This Royver of a guy has got me hooked oo.....CAPTIVATING!.

You got it fresh

anneabidemi: Yes love

OK sweetie I enjoyed the story. It was kind of tragic but sweet at the same time i.e the girl finally realising freedom in death. A bit macabre but a good piece. Well done.

anneabidemi: Awwwwww
Stop crying
Dts the end of d story

seriously?

Later that evening, I received a call from Sola. She wanted to know how I was doing. The whole day had been kind of unsettling, what with the people that had died and dad suddenly preparing to travel to Abuja for goodness knows what. I didn’t really think I would have missed him on a good day but his being around at a time like this would have been…reassuring. Now he was travelling and I could hear mum talking to him in their room, it was obvious there was something else he hadn’t told us.


Ayo still wasn’t back and Deji had been busy with his phone all afternoon. I was seriously bored as we weren’t given any homework. I was glad when sola had called.


“Listen, I think something strange is happening.” Sola was saying. “Even in our compound, all the local dogs and goats have disappeared. I can’t hear a single singing bird or chirping cricket outside. It’s scary.”

She was right. Evening was fast approaching and the normal sounds one would expect to hear were getting more and more audibly absent. The chickens that normally clucked and crowed, the sound of birds in the air or dogs barking or goats bleating…all had gone silent. The only sound came from cars and other man made machinery as people went about their daily lives.


“I haven’t read my bible in weeks but I decided to open it today o.” Sola said with a nervous laugh. I laughed and asked her which part she had read and she said something about the sky turning black and I told her to stop immediately; I had no intention of being scared worse than I already was.


There was a muffled argument going on in the parlour and I told sola I’d call her back and cut the call. I opened the door quietly and tiptoed to the parlour. Deji was confronting Ayo who was sitting down and bent forward in an odd way. He looked hurt.


“…it’s 7 o’clock! What if they had kept you longer? Our dad is a military man for goodness sake, you don’t have to take this!” Deji was saying.


“I told you I’ll take care of it.” Ayo replied. “Now be a good brother and get me some water.”


“No!” Deji replied in a harsh whisper. “Not until you tell me what is really going on!”


“I already told you I had an accident!” Ayo countered.


Deji punched something on his phone and threw it at Ayo. “Is that the kind of accident you mean?”


“What is this? You took pictures? You followed me?”


“No, I had one of my friends do it!” Deji was gesticulating now, something he did when he was losing his temper. “When did this start? Why didn’t
you tell anybody?”


“Tell anybody what?” I asked, running into the parlour. Deji quickly grabbed the phone before I could get to it and held it high above his head.


“I’m not a little kid, lemme see!”


“In this matter, you are a little kid.” Deji said as he struggled to keep the phone out of my reach.


Ayo stood up. “Don’t ever have me followed again.” He said and walked into the room. I noticed a slight limp and a smell I couldn’t immediately
recognize as he walked past me.


“Why should I? I’ll leave you to your madness!” Deji said angrily and stomped off outside, leaving me alone in the parlour. I sat down on the chair,
not knowing who to follow, who would give me a decent explanation. What were they trying to hide from me?

The generator came on and Deji walked inside and tuned to CNN.


“No more MOVIE MAGIC in this house again?” I sighed in quiet rebellion.

“Don’t you want to know if any other strange thing is happening?” Deji said.

“I would rather know about the strange things happening in my house first.” I suggested and Deji’s face became gloomy again.

“I don’t know why our parents can’t see the changes in Ayo.” He said sadly. “Well, its not me that’s going to talk.”

“What happened to Ayo?” I asked but Deji shook his head.

“Don’t ask me. Ask him.”

I stood up and went to his room very determined to find out what was going on. The CNN reporter was delivering the usual news.

“Still no sighting of the missing plane although the search has been highly intensified…in other news the sea level has fallen to record low, the lowest it had been in half a century…

The voice droned on as I entered the corridor leading to the boys’ room. I heard some groaning as I approached and met the door open. I knocked and the groaning stopped.

“Who is it?” Ayo’s strong voice came from inside.

“It’s me, Temi.” I said. “Can I come in?”

“Did Deji send you? You people should leave me alone, you won’t understand…”

“Understand what? Whats been going on with you Ayo?” I asked as I entered the room. Ayo was lying down on the bed and had the sheets
drawn up.

“Are you sick?” I asked

“No. Just some body pains. I just need to sleep, I’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Something was in the air. I sniffed and smelled the familiar scent of alcohol and iodine.

“Are you injured?” I asked getting a little alarmed. “And have you been drinking?”

“See, little girl, go to the parlour and watch film. Tell Deji I said he should change the channel for you…”


The phrase ‘little girl’ had infuriated me. I took a bold step forward and pulled at the bedsheet he was using to cover his body.

“I’m not a little girl! Why will you guys be hiding things from me! What is the problem?”

“Get out!” Ayo shouted and suddenly kicked at me. I jumped, surprised and scared at the same time. I was still holding on to the sheets and it came off his hands as I moved out of the way of his kick. I gasped as I saw what he had been trying to hide.


His body was covered in bruises and machete cuts!

Queenxstar: I doff my crown for you, your work is so unique and has a way of putting me on the edge.
Seats comfortably and mutters -it is good to be back here once again.

thankees
loading..100%.

School closed early that day. The teachers and school authorities had gone round the classrooms assessing the damage, taking attendance, trying to gain control of the situation. Four people had lost their lives; The math teacher, Emmanuel, and two of the boys who had run wildly out of the class into the road and been knocked over by a speeding vehicle. An emergency assembly was called to dismiss the school. As we walked down to the assembly hall, I saw Arnold anxiously searching for someone. He turned around and saw me and a huge sigh of relief left his lips. I shuddered inwardly; why did this guy like me so much? Was I leading him on somehow?


He started to make his way towards me when Dare stepped in his path and held my shoulder ever so gently.


“Are you alright?” He asked.


Dare was asking about me? From the corner of my eye I saw Arnold edge away, crestfallen.


“I’m…I’m fine thanks.” I replied, my voice a little shaky.


“Good.” Dare said and smiled. I suddenly had the urge to run away in sheer adolescent panic. I would have done so too if Bimpe had not grabbed me from behind, her fingers digging deep into my shoulder in excitement.


“We are all fine, Dare. Thanks. I’m Bimpe.” She squeaked.


“Ah, Bimpe, glad to know. Was just checking because I was told you lost someone in your class. Very terrible.”


“Yeah.” Bimpe said though her twinkling and adoring eyes didn’t seem to show any sign of terror. “Poor guy, he got bitten and cracked his skull open at the same time.”


“Well, If you ladies need anything, ensure you let me know alright? Good day Temi.” And so saying, he melted into the crowd.


“Headboy don dey give you face these days oh!” Bimpe said, a tinge of jealousy coming through in her voice.


“Maybe he likes you.” Sola said, trying to enter the now forming line of students waiting for the vice-principal’s address.


I shrugged but said nothing. The truth was I was speechless. I felt like there were butterflies in my stomach. Dare had come to check on me personally! The recent horrific events momentarily forgotten, I was on cloud nine. But I wouldn’t be there for long.


The assembly had formed with all the teachers standing in a group behind the students. Some of the women were crying profusely and being consoled by the male folk. The Vice principal climbed the podium to address the crowd.


“You are all aware of the bizarre happenings that occurred within the school grounds an hour ago,” she said. “Rats, lizards, snakes of all kinds and other small animals were seen rushing into the bush. We have already had eighteen casualties, four of them very serious-“


“Four of them dead.” Sola whispered as the crowd of students murmured.


“And so we have decided that the school environment is currently not safe. You are to all go home and report here tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”


There was further loud murmuring as the students and teachers dispersed. Arnold suddenly appeared before me. I tried to side track him but he persisted.


“Are you all right?” he said, fidgeting with his hands.


“I’m fine; I just want to go home.” I said. He nodded.


“I can escort you back if you want. My house is in the opposite direction from Macauley street but I don’t mind.”


Bimpe and Sola who were standing beside me pinched my arms simultaneously so I gave in.

“Thanks.” I said, and Arnold smiled.

Arnold walked home with us until we got to our mutual junction. By the time we reached our street, I was glad I had accepted his offer. Animal and reptile corpses littered the road, obviously run over by alarmed motorists. It was a gory sight. We passed a few cattle herdsmen who were lamenting woefully in their language and I thought of the bull that had disobeyed its master and tried to lead the herd in another direction.

“Something is wrong.” I said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon our little group since we left the school gates.


“Yeah” Sola said, looking around like she was expecting to see some animals jump out of the bush at any moment.


“I have never seen anything like it.” Arnold agreed. “ETT”.


“What? What did you say?” I asked


“ETT. End time things. These might be sign of the end times.” He said, his voice very serious.


“Abeg don’t start jo.” Sola said. “Anything that happens that we don’t understand and people will start saying ‘the End of the world has come’.
Do you think if the world wants to end it will end like this?”


“Don’t mind him.” I joined in, though in my heart I wasn’t so sure Arnold didn’t speak the truth.


“But look at it na.” Arnold said. “I heard this same thing happened yesterday along the express leading to the University. Then there was the rain of ice that fell yesterday…”


“You saw that?” I exclaimed and Arnold nodded.


“It happened very fast, so I doubt a lot of people saw it.” He continued. “But on the news similar things happened in other countries. Have you not been watching CNN?”


“CNN always shows bad news.” Sola said. “Nothing new there.”


“True,” Arnold said. “But not strange things like these. I cant wait to get home so I can watch CNN to see if anything strange happened today.”

“We’ll find out when we get home.” I said and waved Bimpe and Sola as they took their respective routes to their houses.

“Thank you for escorting us bros!” Sola said as she and Bimpe walked quickly down the road. I could hear them giggling. And that meant Arnold could hear them too.


“Thanks Arnold, I can go on from here.” I said too, and started walking quickly away.


“Don’t you want me to know your house?” Arnold called out. I turned back and saw a big grin on his face, his huge arms swinging shyly by his side.


I hissed inwardly. Gorrilla.


“It’s not that, it’s just that if you come now my dad will be very angry. He’s a military man, you know.” I said, hoping to scare him away.


“I’m not scared.”Arnold said, raising his shoulders. “I’m not a small boy. What will he do? Shoot me?”


“No. But he’ll report to your parents and warn them that he doesn’t want to see you near his house.” I hesitated, and then lied. “He might even find a way to get you arrested. He’s done it before.”


That stopped him. He had this scared look on his face and his chest fell.”Eh, okay. At least I’m glad I escorted you up to this point.”


“Ok, bye.” I said and resumed my march. I walked on for a while before I glanced back and saw Arnold walking in the opposite direction. I nodded, satisfied and ran home quickly, eager for the first time in my life to check on CNN.

I had run past our open gate into our compound and towards the front door when I was stopped short by two visitors. Both were male, and looked like university students. They smiled at me but it didn’t hide the viciousness of their eyes. I greeted them respectfully and entered the house. There was no light. Dad was not yet back and mum was preparing a meal in the kitchen.

“Hello mom.” I said. “Who are those men outside?”

Mom didn’t look up from her cooking. “Oh, those are Ayo’s friends. They came to update him on his lectures that he’s missed. They are very nice and respectful boys.” She wiped sweat off her brow and then finally looked at me, “You know, I’m glad he has people looking out for him. That your senior brother worries me sometimes.”

I looked at her incredulously. Obviously she had missed the unfriendly vibe of our visitors. I turned around and went to the parlour. Deji was making a phone call.

“Where is Ayo?” I asked.

“He’s preparing to go out with his friends.” Deji said, quickly cutting the phone call.

“His friends? Those don’t look like friends to me!” I whispered. “Don’t you think they look suspicious?”

“Yes I do,” Deji said. “I asked Ayo who they were and what they wanted but he said I should mind my own business. Wetin I go do na?” and he sighed angrily.

At that moment Ayo came out of the room. He was dressed in faded blue jeans trousers and a black T-shirt. He passed us like we weren’t there and went outside.

“Let’s go.” We heard him say to the visitors as he closed the door and then receding footsteps as they moved off.

“We need to watch CNN,” I said. “Something happened in our school today!”

“And you think they will show it on CNN?” Deji asked with a laugh.

“Animals of different sorts ran across our field and into the bush!” I insisted, ignoring his last remark. “Snakes, lizards rats, dogs, they were all there!”

“Obviously a lie or you are exaggerating.” Deji said.

“Have you been outside today at all?!” I said and Deji shugged and shook his head.

“Nope. No lectures for me today.”

“What was pursuing them?” Mom asked, coming out of the kitchen. “Lunch is ready, by the way.”

“I don’t know.” I said, “Look mom, people died!”

“Who?” Mom asked and Deji sat forward, now interested.

“A classmate! He was trying to run away and hit his head on the window pane. They said he bled to death.” I breathed, “And our maths teacher!”

Mum gasped and Deji remained quiet.

“That’s why I’m home early or didn’t any of you wonder what I’m doing here at this time?”

“Its barely 1 o’ clock, I just assumed you closed early for a reason…” Mum was saying

“Well, that’s the reason mum. It was horrible.”

“I did see a lot of dead animals on the road on my way from work this afternoon.” Mom said thoughtfully. Then: “Deji, put on the gen. Your dad will understand.”

Deji grumbled but went outside to put on the generator. I thanked mom and took my lunch to the parlour. The loud hum of the generator came on and Deji came inside to switch the power source from NEPA to the generator.

“Mum, I think you should have a talk with Ayo when he comes back.” Deji said as mum came to sit down in the parlour with us.”

“Why, dear?” Mum asked, stealing a spoon of rice from my plate.

“Oh, nothing. I just think there might be some things he would want to confide in you.”

“Things like what?” Mom asked.

Deji was about to say something but then CNN came on and we watched as the news centered around football and the rise in inflation and the war in the Gaza strip. Nothing especially out of the ordinary, just the normal bad news.

“You see? Na the normal stuff. Don’t let yesterday’s strange happenings scare you sis.” Deji said with a grin and flexed his muscles, “even if anything is happening we are here to protect you!”

“See who is talking, weren’t you the one that was shouting about snakes yesterday?” I countered.

We started arguing between ourselves when dad came in hurriedly.

“Why is the door open? Arent you people security conscious at all?” he shouted as we all got up from our seats. He looked more irritable than usual

“What’s the problem dear?” Mum asked.

“I’ve been summoned to Abuja for an urgent meeting with the president.” He said as he sat down and automatically grabbed the remote. “Wait, you people were watching CNN? Praise the Lord.”


“Why were you summoned to Abuja? It must be something important right? Tell us!” Mum said, sitting beside him.

“Nothing I know of, I just received a text message. Major Musa my good friend down in Kano called me and he received the same message as well. It will be good to see him again after all these years. Where’s Ayo? And why are there so many dead animals on the road?”

We looked at each other. We had no explanations either.

Lawconfessor: Apologies accepted- lolzz. I don't mean to sound rude though, i know very well that it ain't easy to write- coupled with other loose ends u have to tidy. Kudos! More oil to your elbow.

No offence taken. I hate leaving a story unfinished but this one hook me for neck I'll do my best to be consistent.

Lawconfessor: True @candy, datz his trend.

And i intend to break that trend. Apoologies.

JeffreyJamez: I just hope Royver is OK because this is unusual

thanks for your concern jeffery. I've been swamped with work as usual. I don't even know what to say again as excuse. Please bear with me.

solash: This story is crazy, breath taking, and amazingly different.

@Royver, you are no doubt a gifted writer.
See you at the top sooner

lets meet there together.

Orikinla: OP, you need a writing workshop.

Your first paragraph is enough to put off any Reader (not normal readers), because it shows lack of depth and in every narrative, your first paragraph matters to arrest the attention of every reader to read more.
See the timeless classic intro of "In the House of Hunger" by Marechera Dambudzo on http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/863234.The_House_of_Hunger or the first paragraph of my own "Zimbabwe: In The House of Stone" on http://www.nathanielturner.com/zimbabwehouseofstone.htm

Thanks orinkola, it was my first attempt at penning something down on nairaland. I hope I've improved a bit since then.

shoefreak: Errrrm. I read something like this once. Are you the same person on naijastories.com?

yes i am, shoefreak

tohero: I dont know how to apreciates ds gansef. Jst here smiling ova my fone.
You are one of my most respected writers until, maybe, i start to real novels sha.

Bt pls, if i may ask, why do you decide to hide Mr A*****'s name truout? Is dere any name??
Thanks bro! I pray God will put smiles on u in folds more than as you put them on us.

Peace be upon us all

Thanks. I didnt know what to call him but i knew it began with an A.... and the A***** just kind of stuck from there.

toykathy: Wow! This is one of the best, if not d best story have read on NL. Royver, u re a genius, weldone. I wish to read other stories frm u.

thanks. hopefully, you will

I am an Empath.
I let my characters tell their stories through me. Sometimes it is something that I have seen happen or something that someone else xperienced and narrated to me...maybe thats why some people think my stories are real...some of them are with a little embellishment to keep it hyper interesting.
It can be vey tasking work but the secret is to write when its still fresh. I'm currently having issues with my first story because the story was meant to be told months ago but i got swamped with medicolegal work. hopefully i'll get to writing again soon...i hate leaving my stories unfinished.

I hope i was able to contribute something.

hello MumZ

“It’s not play.” A pupil said. “The dog is trying to tell the man something.”


“Or lead him somewhere; look at how it keeps pulling him away from the house. It keeps jumping around him as if trying to herd him like a dog would herd cattle or sheep.” Sola said.


“Sola the scholar!” One of the boys hailed. “Tell us more!”


Sola was about to say something else when the dog suddenly stood still. It watched its master as he went into the house. Then it wailed some more and suddenly bolted into the nearby bush. The student all began to speak at once:


“Playtime is over, I guess.”

“That dog should be checked for rabies now oh, am saying it nobody is paying attention to me oh!”

“Keep quiet my friend, you are making noise. Everybody go and sit down before I start to write names!”

The crowd began to disperse as the Class Prefect menacingly brought out his list for noisemakers. As I went back to my seat I pondered on the dog’s strange behavior. Could it have anything to do with the way Chief Akpati’s guard dog had behaved this morning? And then I remembered the headmaster’s incident. Why all these strange behavior from animals?


I was beginning to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. As I waited for the next lesson that uneasy feeling grew until I felt as if my head was swelling to twice its size. All my hair stood on end and I felt as if unseen forces were in the class with us. The classroom was eerily quiet and I was sure it wasn’t because of the class prefect’s threat. Everybody was looking at everybody else but nobody uttered so much as a whisper.


“BAAA!” Emmanuel, one of the bigger boys in the class suddenly shouted. I screamed, alongside some other girls and we jumped out of our seats. He and his group of friends burst into laughter, some of them falling off their seats in exaggerated mirth.


“What happened just now?” Bimpe said as we all went back to our seats with some of the girls hurling insults at the boy group.


“Angel pass!” Sola said, making the sign of the cross.

“I had the strong urge to run!” I gasped. “It’s still there now!”


“Me too,” Bimpe said. “It’s as if some inner voice was telling me to take cover, but from what?”


“I’m probably just edgy from all I’ve seen today.” I said, taking my seat.


“What about the rest of the class? What is making everybody afraid?” Bimpe said out loud.


“Not everybody, we are not afraid oh, abi boys?” Emmanuel said and the boys cheered. “Don’t worry, the boys will take care of the girls. You know we are natural warriors!”


Suddenly the Maths teacher came into the class clutching her textbook. Everybody settled down as she walked over to the teacher’s desk. Picking a chalk, she moved to the front of the class, textbook and chalk in hand as we greeted and brought out our own textbooks.


“Open to page 84.” She said. “We are doing advanced algebra today.


There was a flurry of noise as we all opened our textbooks to the required page. I tried to relax and ignore the feeling of trepidation inside of me as I concentrated on the new topic, listening intently as the teacher began to explain the examples.


“AHHHHH!” Emmanuel screamed again and we all jumped again, including the Math teacher who almost dropped her chalk. One of the girls seated in front of him turned back angrily


“For goodness sake Emma, stop this childish behavio-“and then stopped. We all turned around to see what was wrong.


I’ll never forget that sight for as long as I live. Emma stood there petrified as a snake coiled itself around his arm as it slid unto his desk. It was a green snake, with a white underbelly. It was staying quite still at the moment as Emma’s scream had startled it. Emma had tears running down his cheeks and his mouth was wide open but not another sound came out. He was barely breathing as he looked at the girl in front of him in alarm and his frightened eyes said everything


“Ade, don’t move, don’t scream, stay very still. If you move the snake might get frightened and bite Emma.” Sola said calmly, her voice a little higher than a whisper. Ade, the girl sitting in front of Emma, made no move and Sola nodded approvingly. However, we had all forgotten about the Math teacher.


“What is going on there? Why did you shout? Emma, why are you always misbehaving in my class?!” She said as she approached Emmanuel’s seat angrily. Then she saw the snake.


Her screams were much louder than Emma’s and the snake was so startled it lunged forward. Emmanuel jumped back in alarm, cracking his skull against the metal edge of the open window. We saw a spray of blood spurt out from his head as he rebounded forward in pain. The snake sprung from his arm to the ground and slithered swiftly among the chairs and desks. The rest of the class went into a panic as the Math teacher ran, screaming, for the door. Some of the students jumped through the open window, crushing Emma under their weight as they violently shoved past him. I ran for the door but was stopped short by the math teacher who had barricaded the door with her body but for some reason, refused to go outside. Some of the students, not knowing what was preventing her, pushed hard and she fell screaming unto the flowerbed. It was then we saw what had stopped her.


Snakes literally covered everywhere. Not only that but there were lizards as well. They came in droves, darting about, climbing over the snakes that coiled around themselves in a bid to cross the field and enter into the bush. The math teacher screamed some more then started jerking about and convulsing violently with bloody foam coming out of her mouth. Whether this was as a result of her fear or whether she had been bitten I couldn’t tell. I just stood there, horrified as some of the boys who had previously jumped out started shouting and running across the fields to the tarred road that led out of the school. The students in other classes who had heard the commotion came out and on seeing the spectacle before us, joined in the commotion. The other teachers quickly tried to take charge of the situation, driving all the students back into the class and shutting the doors. From the class next to us we heard the sound of louvers breaking as a boy jumped out, a cut on his arm and a rat hanging from his shoulder.


“Rats!” Bimpe screamed as she pointed it out to me. I heard a rushing sound from the roof above us and knew that if we were to knock the tiles off the roof now, our classroom would be invaded by rats.


“Why is this happening!” Sola shouted as she tried valiantly to use her handkerchief to stop the blood still pumping out of Emma’s head. He was lying on the floor and groaning and I saw his right wrist was visibly swollen and reddish. He must have been bitten there, I thought.


And then, as quickly as it had begun, it was all over.


The snakes and lizards passed through the wire fence and entered the bushes and the rats jumped from holes in the roof and followed suit. I looked up into the sky and saw hawks and other strange birds following in their wake, probably feeding off the stragglers. All moved in the same direction and soon the fields and sky were empty.


The class prefect was trying to get some order.”Everybody back to your seats! Don’t go outside! Wait until the school prefects come. Guys, help
Sola carry Emmanuel back to his seat. Sola! Sola!! What is it?



Sola looked at us tearfully. “He’s not breathing!” She said between sobs. “I…I think he’s dead!”