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Kslib: Superb!! I loved your last update.. It was super cool!

Erm, it has reached that stage where the readers can doing doing small-small amebo on the story!!

Erm, i think Bisi might start wanting the doctor more than he initially wanted her, now that he has known the truth--- maybe!!

Sure kslib, amebo away. Happy Sunday bro!

Mutaino7: Just when i av tot there aint any more interesting stories on nland again u popped up. Thanks man u av my absolute devotion.

Am honoured sir!

Mighty Fortress: Royver, honest I owe you a drink! Just name it... Margaux 59, Chadonnay, Vodka, Chablis, Sake, anything!! You got magic, man!!!

Liquor! I'll hold u to that promise....I love Sake!

Vickii Ro: *Speechless*
Guy u deserve a standing,clapping,jumping ovation....Dis is unlike anything I've eva read on NL
God Bless You

thanks o

https://www.nairaland.com/1503988/see-things-others-not-see#19294106

zube01: .direct me to the original thread pls!

You r already there.

chycoroxie: .

This is just an event that occurred in the life of chuks b.

zube01: ..which other side?

The original thread.

"Hello young man," the psychiatrist said, looking kindly at me. I gave him one of my most winning smiles. I needed to be as friendly as possible if I was going to pull this one off. I took one look at him at it was awesome. I thought I could see into other people before, but now it was like looking with super vision. I saw everything, every little detail about the doctor was made known to me. Is this how I used to see when I was little? No wonder I had run into so much trouble then. I knew his name, the day he was born, his worst fear, his greatest accomplishments. Every little hidden secret was an open book to me. And I read him. And I marvelled at this gift.

"So," he said. "My name is-"
"Dr Paul O-, yes I know" I replied.
The psychiatrist looked a little startled at first, then he looked at his name tag on his desk and smiled.

"Very observant of you" he said,

"I didn't read your name tag" I replied.

"Of course you didn't" the doctor responded condescendingly. "A voice must have told you, right?"

I noted his sarcasm and resisted the urge to get angry. He was still viewing me as a patient. I needed to be calm to convince him otherwise.

He noticed my silence and opened up my case note and started writing. I tried not to look curious as he scribbled down whatever he thought was wrong with me. Finally he spoke:

"How long have you been smoking Indian hemp?"

"I have never smoked Indian hemp in my life."

"Oh come now," he said, "I can't help you unless you tell me the truth."

I turned back and saw the two nurses at alert behind me.

"Well, a little privacy would be nice," I said pointedly.

He hesitated for a moment then asked both nurses out of the office. The female nurse objected, looking very concerned but he allayed her fears.

"I don't think our friend is going to be violent, nurse. He just wants a little privacy so he can tell me what I need to know without feeling shy, abi my friend?" He said smiling at me.

I nodded and she reluctantly left with the male nurse. They shut the door but I could still feel thier presence. They hadn't gone far.
The doctor was looking at me, observing my every move. I was sure there was some kind of alarm button below his desk, if I misbehaved, those two would be back in the office in seconds.

"Now then," he said genially. "We are alone. So tell me when you started using Indian hemp.

"I have never smoked Indian hemp in my life." I repeated.

He gave me a look like a headmaster who had caught one of his students doing something naughty, calmly took up my case note and read where they had found Indian hemp in my apartment.
"And did you see the hemp sir? I asked innocently. The doctor admited that no, he hadn't. I asked if anyone else had seen the said wraps of hemp for which he answered on the negative but said it was probably with the police who had accompanied the good Samaritan to my room.

"I am sorry, doctor, but I am aware that when the police bring a case like this to your hospital, they usually leave thier number so they can be contacted in case of any eventuality." I said. "Do you have any such information?"

I saw a puzzled look come across the doctor's face as he searched through my case note. Obviously he hadn't bothered to look for any of these things and had simply begun seeing me based on the word of the "good samaritan" that had brought me in. And if he had met me in my "psychotic" state he would never had taken a second look at the supposed information given, as my case would have been typical in presentation to the tens of cases he saw like this everyday. Even if my parents who had travelled all the way from my hometown had vouched for me, my irrational talk and violent behaviour would have still convinced the doctor that I had been involved in some form of substance use. It was clear that my logical thinking was causing the doctor some concern and doubt.

"Listen, Mr chuks," the doctor said. "I don't know why I can't get any information regarding the whereabouts of your cannabis, but its probably an oversight from our staff. however, it also says here that you were having auditory and visual hallucinations which is typical of this condition. Now tell me, do you hear voices or see things that other people in the room do not see?"

Here was my cue. Now was the moment of truth. I could either try and feign ignorance and hope he would discharge me based on my miraculous recovery, or I could let him in on what really happened and hope he wasn't somehow on Mr A-'s payroll. I didn't have to think so much though, the next thing he said made up my mind for me".

"You might as well tell me the truth because either way I'm still going to keep you here even if its for observation." And he started scribbling something else on my case note.

"How is Bisi doing?" I said. "Are you planning on calling her later?"

The room became deathly silent. It was as if i had shot him with a stun gun, as if a massive amount of electricity had gone through his body. He just sat there, his mouth open, his fingers still moving the pen but writing nothing. I didn't wait for him to respond.

"She's definitely not the girl for you, if you don't mind my saying so. Someone who would argue with you and keep malice for four days just because you came a few minutes late for a lunch appointment isn't going to be anymore understanding if and when you do get married."
The doctor was finally able to find his voice though his fingers were still twitching spasmodically. "How...how did you...but..."

"Okay sir, here's the thing." I said. "Yes I do see things sometimes that other people don't see but that doesn't make me crazy, just different. And I don't talk about it unless I feel it will be of help to the person, just as I feel I have helped you out of making the biggest mistake of your life. I don't smoke Indian hemp, never have and hopefully nevrr will. I was framed and its a very long story, one that maybe one day I'll write into a book and publish, but not one I have the time to tell right now. Right now I have to leave this hospital as soon as possible. I'll do any test you want me to do to prove my sanity but I don't have the time because I strongly feel the girl of my dreams is about to make a very grave mistake and I have to be there to stop her. And oh yes, the woman whose fender you hit today only let you off because she saw your car had sustained more damage than hers."

The look on the doctor's face was priceless. He seemed like he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. For a man who believed strongly in logic I had just blown his beliefs out of the water. He looked at me for a while and I wondered what he was going to say, what he was going to do.

"So...Bisi is not my soulmate?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, no." I said. "Marry her and you'll be struggling the rest of your life. All that glitters isn't gold, my friend."

He smiled sadly at that last statement and I saw tears come to his eyes. Suddenly he scribbled some more into my case note and signed off then turned it towards me so I could read. The last line went:

CASE OF DELIRIUM. NO USAGE OF CANNABIS. PATIENT DISCHARGED HOME.

I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked him.

'No, thank you," he said. "I haven't felt so good in four days. You are free to go. I would like to have your number though, if you don't mind."

I gave it to him and started to leave the office. I opened the door and saw the two nurses sitting on a bench outside. The female nurse jumped up on seeing me and I smiled at her. I turned back and said to the doctor who was still sitting dazed in his chair.

"You two make a good team. Imagine drinking that well brewed coffee for the rest of your life. Open your eyes, man!" Then I smiled again and gave way for the female nurse who promptly came into the office and asked if the doctor was alright. The doctor looked at her and I saw that he had made the connection.

"I'm fine Nurse Betty," He said. "The patient has been discharged. Let him go home."

[[[ Its 5.30am. Dr Paul O., the consultant psychiatrist on duty today at Yaba psychiatric hospital is awake. Sleep has been difficult this night, the same way as it has been for the past four nights. His thoughts wander near and far but always tend to come to focus around her; Bisi Washington, the girl of his dreams. How does he convince her that she is what keeps him awake at night, that she is his reason for behaving so irrationally at times, that she is… his soul-mate? Their last meeting had ended badly, with them shouting at each other over a small matter, causing a scene at the restaurant they had gone to have lunch. Neither of them had called since then, both playing the waiting game, both waiting to see who would cave in first. It was crazy! Normally if it were any other girl he would have ignored her and moved on, but Bisi wasn’t any other girl…


The alarm clock begins its pre-programmed song to remind him of the time. Dr Paul reluctantly gets up from the bed and switches on the lights. He has to have an early start if he wants to beat the busy Lagos traffic. He goes to the bathroom and brushes his mouth, has a cold shower and towels his lean body dry. At six feet 2 inches he is a fairly tall fellow, light in complexion, with facial features that are easy on the eyes. His well kept crew-cut hair fits his round head in such a way as to give him a boyish appearance even though a scattering of grey hair on his beard and mustache betray his real age to be in his middle thirties. His naturally bright eyes which used to add credence to the illusion of his eternal youth are now dulled by the thought of that singular damsel. He sighs and goes to his wardrobe where he picks up an already ironed blue T.M Lewin long sleeved shirt and a pair of jet black trousers. He wears this sluggishly and brings down his ward coat from the hanger on his door. He has no appetite so he doesn’t eat. He looks around his one room apartment one more time, checking to see if he has missed anything, then locks the door shut. A few minutes later he is back, cursing under his breath and picking up his car keys from under the bed before going out again. The time is 6am.


The drive down to Yaba Psychiatric hospital is a tortuous one for him. Apart from the fact that his mind is still distracted from thinking about Bisi, he has to contend with other people on the road who have decided to try and beat the traffic as well. By six o clock, Dr Paul is close to the hospital and has been yelled at, insulted, and nearly run into on at least one occasion by other motorists on the road. Just as he is about to turn his Toyota Camry 2008 model into the hospital premises, he hits another car, a jeep on the fender. The woman driver comes out angrily and screams at him. She had right of way, she says, why won’t he put “Learner” on his car bumper she says. He aoplogises and introduces himself, tries to give the woman his card, says he will pay for the damage. The woman stares at him for a while and softens. Without a word she enters into her jeep and zooms off. It is only when he is about entering back into his car that he notices his trafficator light is broken. He loses his temper and kicks at the car headlight, completely disengaging it from its socket and tearing his shoe. Exasperated, he enters back into his car, ignoring the small traffic he has caused behind him and drives through the hospital gates.

He gets to his office and is relieved to find that it is nurse becky that is on duty today. Nurse becky understands him, understands the way he works. On many occasions their colleagues have commended them on being a good team since they do so well together. At the back of his mind comes the thought that Nurse becky might have a crush on him but he pushes that thought away. He likes her but his heart belongs to Bisi. At the thought of her he grimaces again. Is love supposed to hurt so much? What were they even arguing about anyway? Why did he always have to engage in an intellectual argument with her? Why was she so, so…stubborn? He reasons that, had it not been for the fact that she was so beautiful and sophisticated he would have left her by now.


He is so deep in thought that he doesn’t realize Nurse Becky has entered the office and is staring at him as if he is some kind of greek god. She is much shorter than him, being a little above five feet, and fatter, voluptuous, she likes to call it and though her beauty isn’t going to win her any facial contests anytime soon, her dark features and smooth skin all added to an amazing smile makes her very easy on the eyes. If only Dr Paul would notice this, she sighs dreamily.
She coughs gently and he almost jumps out of his skin. What can he be thinking about? Well whatever it is, it is enough to have dampened his features and deprived him of sleep as evidenced by the dark circles around his oh so lovely brown eyes. He has a glazed look in his eyes for a moment but then they focus in on her and he smiles that smile that always leaves her weak at the knees. She hesistates for a while before saying hello. He answers her formally, though still smiling, and asks if he has any appointments today.

“Yes,” she says, “A case of drug induced psychosis. He has been on admission for three days now, went into a catatonic state for two hours yesterday after which he claimed he was alright and would like to see you.”

He nods at her, impressed at her resourcefulness and he lets her know it. She blushes although from the darkness of her skin it is impossible to tell. He asks her to bring him in from the ward, that he will see him in his office. Nurse Betty smiles and leaves the office. Dr Paul watches her go and for a while he ponders on why he has never gotten closer to her. But then again she isn’t as sophisticated or as beautiful as Bisi. And besides all the magazines he has read on the topic always put a big no-no on office relationships.

He walks around the big desk to his seat which is a swivel action affair with very soft, light blue cushions. On the right side of the desk is the patient’s case file which he picks up and inspects. On his left is a tray with a ceramic coffee teapot with intricately drawn chinese figures written in bold red lettering at the side and a matching designer mug. He lifts up the teapot and is pleased to see that it is full. He makes a mental note to thank Nurse Betty and pours himself a cup of coffee, no milk, no sugar, just as he prefers it. He likes to be relaxed both physically and emotionally when doing his job. Seeing psychiatric patients can be tasking and he doesn’t want to end up with a mental breakdown of his own.


He takes another sip of coffee and settles down to read the case before the patient arrives, the name of the patient is Chukwudi B-, a 29years old male who hails from the east, said to have gone into a manic state in his apartment here in Lagos after smoking some marijuana. Symptoms include irrational talk, hallucinations, delusions and a recent state of catatonia after which the patient appeared rational and denied any form of marijuana use. Dr Paul smiles to himself as he reads this. It wouldn’t be the first time a drug user would deny substance abuse, but it would be interesting watching the patient trying to behave sane.


Ten minutes later and there is a knock on the door. Nurse Betty walks in with two men, one of them a burly male nurse who usually escorts patients that are deemed "violent" and the second is a young man of average height, wearing a designer T-shirt with “I am Teaser” written bolder on the front and deep blue denim jeans. The man’s face is rugged and handsome despite the stubbles of hair on his chin, probably as a result of having not shaved in three days and his eyes twinkle, like someone who knows something but will never tell. He walks in confidently with the nurses behind him and sits down without being asked. He meets Dr Paul’s stare with a friendly smile and, for a fraction of a second, Dr Paul feels there is going to be a role reversal, like he is going to be the patient and this mysterious looking man, his doctor. ]]]

zube01: Baba Roy the story don finish abi e get part2?

Part 2 no dey o bros. E go continue for d other side. Abeg make una no vex, d updates fit dey shorter than b4 o. I don get one kain contract like dat way dey take my time.

Wealthyone: ;DNice one Mr. Roy. I presume this hidden chapter is part of ISTODNS..It reminds me of d hidden episode of prison break series. Well done

Thanks!

Loading...100%. Thanks for your patience.

Sorry I've been super busy, deadlines to meet here and there...*picks up remote and presses play*

*hands zube01 a chilled beer* Its all good bros! Even wild horses wouldn't keep me away!

Thanks all for your appreciation and criticisms. They are like chilled water and stripped hurdles. All of them make u run better at the end of the day.

Oya make I plug in...

Ishilove: I can't fault this. It's nice I could picture EVERYTHING, which is what painting a picture is about. You carry the readers along with your words and they can actually see everything happening. Its makes the whole experience more real to them. Nice

How come nairaland ain't got a blushing smiley face? Thanks!

Ishilove: Emm, Roy, did the song play 'loidly' or 'loudly'?

Na loudly I write oh

HumbledbYGrace: Roy

Affirmative.

Ishilove: You seem to have a thing for 'Chukwudi'. Is that your real name?

Nope. Its the same chukwudi who sees things. Chukwudi the stronger. U guys already figured out my real name na.

Ishilove: Royver! Royver!!! You nefa finish Chuk's story and yet you don stat anoda one?

No o. Just messing around with character development like u said o.

.

Bullet proof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire .away...

The song played loud in her ears through the bus speaker she was leaning against as she tried to hide her tears. She was sitting in the BRT bus at the very last seat and no one else dared come near her. Their eyes saw a little girl of about 10years old, slim bodied, fair, wearing a blue T+shirt and black skirt, worn socks and shoes, with cropped hair covered with a dirty light blue beret. She was pretty to look at, with fine facial features and if she had smiled they would have seen dimples on her cheeks. But she wasn't smiling now, she was looking down at the ground. That is what their eyes saw. What kept them away from her was their primal instinct for survival. Human beings instinctively knew when something or someone was dangerous and naturally went out of their way to avoid it. They didn't know quite why they felt that way, but most of the other passengers kept a healthy distance from her.

"Jibowu!" The BRT conductor said.

Some passengers came down and others joined the bus. Among them was a young man in his late twenties. Clean shaven with a spattering of silver strands on his very black hair, he dressed immaculately in a white long sleeved T-shirt and grey trousers with silver stripes running down its length. He seemed built for physical activities even though he dressed like a lawyer or a doctor. His broad shoulders brushed past the BRT ticket collector and he quickly apologised to her even though she had smiled and didn't seem to mind his contact on her person at all. He walked up to a space in the middle seat and sat down.

She watched him, attracted to his person for a reason she couldn't fathom. He sat there patiently until the bus started to move again. Then he got up and turning slowly, met her eyes. He held her gaze as did she and then he approached her.

No. No! Go away! She thought but he came forward confidently and sat beside her. He was silent for a while then he stretched out his hand.

"Give it to me." He said.

Tears streamed down her face as she looked at his hand. It was open, inviting. The other passengers on the bus sat quietly facing forward while a small flat screen behind the driver blared out some more random music from channel O.
She looked around her and took all this in, before a gesture from the man startled her. He moved his hand again.
"Don't worry. I know what to do with it. Don't say anything, just give it to me."
She looked up into his eyes and saw the kindness in them. She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her dirty right hand, and with her left she brought out the talisman still clenched tight in her fists. Slowly she unclenched and there it was. A sinister looking black stone with the carvings of the ancients on it. She dropped it in his open palm and he smiled and brought out a white handkerchief with which he used to wrap it. And then he crushed it with his bare hand until it had crumbled to dust. He stretched across her to the window and threw the handkerchief out the window where it fell down the bridge and into the lagoon.


She gazed at him awe-struck. He had handled it so simply. She felt her strength returning and for the first time in 11hours she smiled. He smiled back and made to go back to his seat, she touched his back and asked him his name.

"Chukwudi B. But you can call me chuks," he said smiling. And then he went to his seat. A few minutes layer an elderly woman walked up to her.

"Sorry please, Can I sit by you?"
She smiled happily as more people came. a few moments ago all these people would have died instantly for even standing near her. But now they approached her like any other person.
She was free.

Bonjour mes amies. Hope u all had a lovely night.

**************
[size=14pt]The conversation.[/size]
“We need to talk.”

“What?” he asked, not looking down.

Chuks the stronger held me by the hand as he flew effortlessly back towards what I could only fathom would be my head. When he said "Let’s go", I had thought I would suddenly wake up sane,but apparently things weren’t going to work out that way. He had simply held me by the hand and with a mighty jump, we were headed back the way I had fallen. I watched him and marveled at his confidence, even though he looked like a six year old I knew that spirit wise he was probably much older and more skilled than I was. He was me in my simplest, purest form,undiluted,unspoilt by the logic that was the world. It was exhilarating to see this my other self, so full of confidence,so sure of himself. But watching him, watching the way he headed back to consciousness with glee, I suddenly felt worried.

“Who will I be?”

“Eh?" Chuks said, still not looking down, the force of his upward acceleration seemed to be making it difficult for him to hear me, like trying to strike a conversation with someone riding a bike swiftly against the wind.

“Wait, STOP!” I shouted. And he did. Chuks the stronger put on the brakes mid air and stood standing on nothing,
looking at me. I still hung from his hand and struggled about.

“Why don’t you stand?" said chuks the stronger.

“Where?!” I gasped, looking round.

“Anywhere!!" Said chuks. "It’s your mind, after all.”

I still struggled about a bit, not understanding how chuks was standing mid air. “I don’t get it!" I said, "how do you stand on...”

“Just stand!” chuks said.

And I did. I looked into his eyes and became calm. I imagined my feet on solid ground and hey presto! I was standing. I didn’t look down though.
Chuks the younger was looking up at me with scorn, if such a thing was possible. I ignored him and looked around me for a while. “So this is inside my body,huh?” I asked.

“Its just your imagination” Chuks replied.”if I were to pinpoint our exact location it would most likely be our brain. We’ll be at our consciousness very soon.

“Yeah…I wanted to talk to you about that.” I said. “Who will I be?”

“I don’t understand…” Chuks said

“Will I be me or you?” I asked. “When we regain consciousness, who will be in charge?”

Chuks grinned again. “I will.” He said, and laughed when he saw the look on my face.”I am you! A lost part of you. I’m definitely not going to take over. We are one, you and I. it will be like waking up from a dream and remembering something you had long forgotten, although...” and here he eyed me pointedly, “ it seems as if you have forgotten a lot. What happened to you?”

“Nothing!” I said defensively. “I remember most of my childhood, I do. Okay, maybe I stopped using my gift a lot during the time I was growing up and I lost a lot of, er… skills in the process, but I did it so we...so I...could appear normal. You don’t understand the way they looked at me the first time I came to school, how I was constantly bullied for being weird or put at the back of the class for saying things that weren’t there! I had to…adjust. And besides father says the reason I couldn’t remember you or rather your gift is because I did something, removed something from him and mum and-”

“I extracted a lust creature, yes I know. I was there remember? I was too young physically at the time and the energy I expended was too much for my little body, but now I am a man! Think of the things I could do! I can really rock and roll when I get back!”

“Rock and roll? Who says… never mind. What I want to know is how did I remove that demon and how do I handle this one? ”

Chuks sighed. For a young boy, he exhibited a lot of adult mannerisms. And I noticed that somehow he was getting older. The more we talked the more he seemed to age; right now he looked more like a teenager. I wasn’t sure if he was aware of this but decided to keep mute about it. He grabbed me by the hand suddenly and we were off again.

“You see creatures not of this realm right?” he said. “do you talk to them?”

“only the people.” I replied trying to hold on.

“Well, have you tried talking to a creature before?”

“I try not to.” I said, “I don’t want to get involved in too much stuff. Trying to stay n….”

“Normal, yeah, I get it.” He said. “Well you have five senses don’t you? You see, smell, taste, hear and feel. Have you ever considered doing that in the spiritual realm as well?”

I hadn’t thought of it. Of course I had made contact with one or two manifestations, my previous landlady, a small greed demon I had chased out of my bosses room so I could submit an assignment in peace, Pachios himself…but I had never really delved into interacting so much.

“Well, not really, it makes me uncomfortable.” I said.

“No chuks” chuks replied. “it makes you afraid. Fear is a barrier to so many things beyond the veil. It makes you second guess yourself, it makes you have friends you don’t need and enemies you can’t afford. Our FATHER from before the veil made us Dominators, Conquerors. But as soon as we pass through the veil we are distracted by the noise of this little earth and by the shiny things man has made for his pleasure, and we forget it all. I came through with my memories of the other side as a baby. I didn’t come through with only my sight. And yet even I that have been in slumber for so many years, even I have forgotten so much. But I am still a child, and a child does not think of fear or impossibilities. Things only become impossible when you stop to think about them. “

I was quiet. I felt him now more than ever, like I was the one talking and holding him by the hand instead of the other way around.

“We are nearly there.” He said and looked down at me. He was smiling. I smiled back and suddenly we were in another room. Just like that, no door, no entrance, nothing. But this room didn’t feel peaceful like the one I had found him sleeping in. it felt tumultuous, frenzied, and I heard whispers, whispers which grew into babbling, incoherent, continuous babbling. I looked for the source and when I couldn’t see it I asked chuks the stronger “Where is it?”

“Where do you want it to be?” he replied and he looked ahead. I did too and sure enough I saw it. Seated on a golden stool, making a terrible mess of the place with oozing green liquid and screeching horribly was the cross-eyed, monkey-bat like creature I had seen earlier in the cave. It bared its fangs and gave off a fearful howl. I took a step back.

Chuks the stronger looked at me, puzzled. “No,” he said, “You did not just step back did you? Are you afraid? Look at what you did.”

I looked and right there and then the creature grew bigger. It expanded its wings which had nasty looking talons and it became twice its size. It shrieked again even louder and I took another step back. Chuks the stronger slapped me at the back of my head, hard.

“OW!” I said. “Hey, that hurt!”

“Better you feel pain than to feel fear,” he said. “What’s wrong with you? This fella is sitting in your head like it owns the place and you are here doing a backslide? Show it whose boss!”

I stared at the creature again. It had grown to four times its size and was now massive. It flapped its wings, spewing green stuff everywhere and screeched loud-

“AWWWW SHUT IT!!!” Chukwudi the stronger yelled loudly and the creature closed its mouth immediately. He gazed at it with fire in his eyes and it shrank back to twice its normal size. He walked a few feet then turned, backing the creature and facing me.

“Fear is like a spiders web. The more you struggle in it, the more it will hold you down. Ignore the fear! That thing is seating on your seat!”

I looked at the creature again and indeed it seemed out of place on that golden stool. In fact, it seemed very out of place in this clean room, messing up everywhere, making a nasty ruckus. And I got mad. I got really angry. And I walked past Chukwudi the stronger and approached the creature confidently. It watched me coming with apprehension in its eyes, and then I saw, it was afraid!

“Get the hell outta here!” I shouted getting closer now and noticing the creature shrink even more until it was almost its original size. “I own this place, this is my domain!Get out!”

I was close to it now. It raised one disgusting wing and made to swipe at me and I grabbed that wing midair with my right hand. With my left hand and with a loud yell I pounded the creature on the head with a mighty blow. It wasn’t as strong as I had imagined and I felt its skull crack and it collapsed, still on the stool. It tried rising again and I went all out for it, shouting, yelling and tearing; I broke its wings and snapped its neck, then I hurled the carcass off the golden stool and unto the floor where it remained still for a while and then disappeared. I could feel my hands and face covered in gooey smelly stuff but I felt great! I shouted in exhilaration! I had done it! I picked up the golden stool, cleaned it as much as I could and sat down on it proudly. Then I saw the look of shock on Chukwudi the stronger’s face.

“What?!” I said.

“That was very violent and messy,” he said shaking his head. “I mean, you could have just commanded it off when it had shrunk back to its normal size then chased it out or used the sword to finish it off. That’s what I would have done…”

I looked beside me and saw a sword on the floor.

“Wait,”I said trembling, “there was a sword there the whole time? The whole time?!

Chukwudi the stronger laughed and came up and shook my shoulder. “The point is, you got the job done! Congratulations! You see, you could have done that by yourself all along! Now we can regain consciousness with our sanity intact. But first, abeg, let’s find a way to clean you up.

********

..

Yanenwen: [i][/i]
Royver, pls, can yu contact mi via mail *Junkylena@yahoo.com* or tru FB *Helena Nelson: m.facebook.com/yanenwen*...
This is serious business.
Cant wait for the concludinq part of this story.
If ah wasnt in a relationship ehn, ai for date yu :p[color=#000000][/color]

hello Yanenwen, I see you oh Ca we talk?

Thanks everyone for your encouraging comments! Was super busy today and had to complete my other projects hence the delay in today's update. The next three weeks are going to be exceedingly busy for me so i may not be able to update as often as i previously did, so i crave your indulgence and patience i.e make una no vex abeg.

[quote author=Stånd]. I see you Royver. How has your day been? Are you updating tonight?[/quote]Just came in a while ago and decided to have a peek into the room Will definitely update

“How long has he been like this?”

“Two days now, sir.”

“My son, oh my son!”

The voices seemed to be coming to me from far off. I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying down in a comfortable bed. The air conditioning was soothing to my skin and the television was on with a football match showing. The fluorescent light from the ceiling was blinding my eyes and I winced as my pupils constricted to accommodate the bright surroundings. I recognized the pictures in my room and I sighed with relief. What a nightmare! So I had been dreaming the whole thing all along? I turned to my side and saw Nina still sleeping on the bed beside me. Sweet, sexy, adorable Nina, my personal angel. Her beautiful skin shone smoothly in the fluorescent light. I imagined her chest moving gently with her breathing and turned, smiling towards her…

But she wasn’t breathing. She looked cold, unmovable, still as, as… I couldn’t think it. Suddenly my heart started beating hard against my chest.
“Nina? Nina?” I called out, getting more panicked by the minute. I shook her hard but she didn’t respond. I wanted to turn her over, but I was suddenly too afraid to look at her face. Her beautiful face, what if I looked and it wasn’t beautiful anymore? But curiosity got the better of me and I turned her on her back.

And screamed.

Her face was gone, nothing. Nothing was there just a blank mass of flesh. I tried jumping out of the bed and suddenly chains from nowhere wrapped themselves around my hands and feet. I screamed louder and then the door to the room opened and I saw myself, myself as a child, looking in and hissing angrily.

“You are having a nightmare, you idiot.” My child self said scornfully. “Wake up!”


I screamed and jumped up- and I was out of the nightare only to find y parents rushing towards me, worry all over their faces.

“HE’S AWAKE!”

“Chukwudi, my son, what happened?”

I looked around me confused and saw that I was in the same room I mistook for mine in the dream. Only that there was a nurse beside me and my hands and feet had been chained to the bed. Both my parents were standing beside me, looking very worried, and behind them stood – Mr A****! He looked even more concerned than my parents and for a moment I thought I had indeed been dreaming. And then I caught him smiling wickedly as his eyes met mine.

I said “Mum, dad, get away from this bastard! He is evil!”

But what came out of my mouth was:

“Skelewu, Jump the bridge! Wind your waist and dance for me!!!”

My parents gasped, Mr A**** shook his head sadly. I was shocked! Shocked beyond words. What happened? I tried again:

“Dad?”

“Agbaya!!”

“Mum?”

“Bitch!”

My mum started crying. I stopped talking and looked at her. I tried smiling to encourage her but found myself grinning maniacally instead. I knew what was happening but they didn’t. and I saw my mother hold my father and weep for her son. And I looked at Mr A**** who, standing behind them, was watching me with a hidden smile. And there and then I swore revenge. It would be absolute and merciless. I didn’t know how I would get out of this but I intended to do so with every fibre of my being.


My father was talking. “So that’s how you found him?”


“Er, Yes sir.” Mr. A**** replied humbly. “I had dropped him off on Sunday and came back to my daughter in law’s place. He even sent her a text message a few hours later saying he was going to town to buy something to eat. The next thing we knew he called and started shouting that some men were chasing him and that he had bolted himself in his house. I went along with my daughter-in-law to his place with a few policemen only to meet him like this. They later found a few wraps of Indian hemp on his table, both used and unused. The doctor said it is common for hemp smokers to start hallucinating especially when they have been taking it for a long time.”

I don’t smoke hemp! I shouted

“E don tay since I dey take igbo naa…!” I heard myself say.

“Our son, a hemp smoker?!” my mum interjected. “I don’t believe it!”

“Eees very possible ma.” The young nurse by my side had decided to enter the conversation. “We dey see them plenty for this side o. Dey go dey look responsible meanwhile…”

“Thank you nurse”. My father said grimly. “We’ll take care of him from here. Thank you Mr A****, you have been very kind, paying all his medical bills…”

Mr A**** nodded quietly. “Its no trouble. I liked him fro the first moment I saw him, his charisma, his intelligence. He reminded me of myself when I was younger. It’s a pity he went into drugs. I am sure the doctor will be able to do something for him. My daughter in law says she will come by later to see him. Maybe I’ll drop her off before returning to my hotel.”
“Thanks again sir” my mum said and he smiled and left. The nurse adjusted the drip on my arm and left as well. As soon as they left my mum went to my side and sat down close to me.

“Chuks, what happened?”

I opened my mouth to answer but instead spat on her face. She withdrew and cleaned it off and looked at her husband.
“Can he really go mad?” she said, looking more alarmed than ever. “Do you think he saw…something he shouldn't have seen?”
My father was quiet. He seemed to be deep in thought. My mother had to get up and go to him and physically shake him before he broke out of his reverie.

“What is it, woman?!” he asked angrily.

“What can you be thinking of at a time like this?” my mum said getting hysterical. “Our son is lying here, not his normal self and you are silent? What do we do?”

“First of all, calm down.” My father had become the man I knew. I could see him building inner strength, becoming a rock of stability and support. Hopefully he would know what to do.

My mum, however was still on the verge of a massive hysteria. “I won’t calm down o. where is the doctor? How can he have been here for two days and the doctor has seen him only once? When did our son start taking hemp?

My dad stared at her with fiery eyes and she finally kept quiet. His look was altogether menacing and for a moment I thought he was going to shout down the place. His voice however remained calm.

“My son already sees visions, he would never resort to drugs that would make him hallucinate even more. You know chuks better than that! With all the stress he has gone through trying to adjust and appear normal, is it now he would resort to drugs for comfort?
My mother saw the sense in that and nodded quietly in agreement.

“secondly, we must tell the doctor or nurse immediately to stop that man from coming to visit chuks. I didn’t like him at all.”

“But why?” mum said, “he seemed so nice.”

“Too nice,” my father retorted. “how long has he known chuks? ‘he reminded me of myself when I was young…’ rubbish! Make sure he doesn’t come near here again!”

“Yes dear,” my mum said.

“Now please, there is something I want to try but I’ll need you to stand outside and let nobody interrupt us.

Her eyes widened. “You mean, you want to call…”

“Yes.” He said. “I don’t see what else we can do. It may have been too long and it may not work but I have to try.”

My mother’s eyes filled with hope. I watched her and inwards I smiled. My dad had always been the one to hold unto in times of crises. My mum and I adored him so much although we never told him to his face, lest he become too full of himself. A foolish reason, I thought now, as I watched, trapped, a prisoner in my own body, as my mother left the room and my father came to the foot of the bed.

“I love you, dad.” I said.

“Comot for here, bastard!” I spoke.

“Its all right chukudi, don’t say anymore.” He said. He sighed deeply and was quiet for a while before he started to speak:

“When you were little, your mum tried to hide your peculiarities from me. Funny woman, how won't I know if my only son is strange? I found out after a while and at first pretended I didn’t know. Then I started getting angry and thought I could force it out of you, especially when you told your mum about the feelings her friend and I shared, even though you didn't know what you were doing at the time. I was so blinded by my lust, anger and selfishness I thought I could beat it out of you. So one day when I was at home with you and your mother went to work, I went to the back of the house and cut a big cane. I said I would flog you mercilessly and warn you never to repeat anything you saw again. The strange thing was that you showed no signs of fear even as I raised the whip. I flogged and flogged you and you uttered not a word. I was still too angry to notice the evil I was doing so I threw the whip away and pulled my belt. When the head of the belt hit you, you screamed and ran back. I chased after you with the belt and hit you again. You had nowhere else to run and so you grabbed the belt. I was about pulling it out of your hands when you screamed again.”

My father paused for a moment, as if he was about to expose a big secret whose weight had burdened him for years. I watched him in silence.

“ I don’t know what you did that day, but I found something escaping my body. It was like a disgusting, ugly looking monkey with a big manhood. I saw it with my own, normal eyes, it wriggled and squirmed about on the ground for a short while, then lay still, dead. And then it disappeared. I immediately lost all feelings for your mother’s friend. I didn’t even understand why I had been so angry with you. I dropped to my knees and begged you for forgiveness and you held my hands with yours which had swollen from my whipping. And you smiled and told me that you saw when your mother’s friend had put it on me, that it had been sitting on my shoulder the whole time.”

I opened my eyes wide in amazement. I had done that as a child? I could do that? How come I didn’t remember?

“i told you then that you were stronger than me and you said you would do it for me anytime I called you Chukwudi the stronger. That you liked the way the name sounded. Chukwudi the Stronger! And I used it there and then. I selfishly asked you to remove any other thing from me, anything that was hindering my way to greatness.” He was crying now. “Chukwudi the stronger! I made you remove as many obstacles from my path and your mother’s that day. That was the day things really began to change, the day things started to get better, but it had an effect on you. You slept throughout the next day and when you finally awoke, you had no recollection of the incident. You seemed so stressed out, so overworked, so drained. Your mother and I decided we would never use you for such selfish purposes again. We didn’t know how it would affect your health. And so we kept it a secret between us. And a secret it has remained for all these years, even from you. It was after then we started hearing you talk of Pachios, whom you called your guardian angel. I personally felt that a higher power had sent him to you to protect you until you could fend for yourself. And since he allowed this, this thing happen to you, I believe your time has come for you to do just that."


I was stunned. I had never heard this part of my history before. And then I realized it. When I was still a child Pachios had always been there to protect me from harm. The odd scrape there, the adventurous escapade there. I remember when I was in primary school and some dogs chased after a group of us boys as we ran home from school. Each and every one of those eleven boys had been chased down or bitten by the dogs, except me. They simply behaved as if I wasn’t there. I knew Pachios had been covering me with his wings. And the scar I had gotten on my wrist when escaping from school…I had actually fallen right unto the barbed wire. It was because I stretched out my hands as I fell that I had any injury at all. Pachios had been there to catch me. And since I had come to Lagos Pachios’ visits had become less and less frequent. But surely this was an emergency? Where was he? Did he expect me to do this on my own?

My father had pulled himself up to his full height and he had stopped crying. His voice took an authoritarian tone and he set his face firm as a rock and spoke loudly:

Chukwudi the stronger!
Come out!
Are you asleep?
Listen to the voice of your father, the voice of the one who calls you Son!
Chukwudi the stronger!
Are your eyes still heavy?
Awake from your slumber and vanquish those who would make you a mockery.
CHUKWUDI THE STRONGER! RISE!


At first nothing happened. I felt silly, watching him there looking at me, looking at me almost the same way Mr A**** had done back in the large, dark room. What did he want me to do? And then…I felt myself fall. I was falling deep into my own body as if my body itself was a huge room and I was dropping right down to the centre. I shouted but no sound came out and I continued to fall, until I landed on a firm surface. My landing was gentle despite haven fallen for a long time. I stayed on the ground for a while and looked around me. I was in an empty room. There was a source of light coming from above but I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location. As I walked around I realized the room was no longer empty. Lying on the floor, sleeping peacefully, was a small boy of about six years. I knew who he was before I even approached him. In fact this room for some reason appeared very familiar, like I had lived in it my whole life. I went over to the boy and shook him but he mumbled something and went back to sleep.

“Wake up!” I said. “it’s time for you to wake up!”

He turned around sleepily to face me and I recognized my younger self, the one I had seen in my nightmare earlier that day. He yawned and mumbled some more then turned to go back to sleep. I shook him again.

“You again? What is it?” he asked sleepily.

“I need your help,” I said. “Someone put a lunacy creature on my head”

“Well, get rid of it,” he said, stubbornly refusing to open his eyes.

“I can’t,” I said. “I don’t know how and Pachios isn’t around to help me anymore.”

“Pachios is gone?” he said opening his eyes and sitting up. He suddenly smiled. “So does that mean I am in charge now?”

“Yes it does.” I said feeling a bit funny talking to myself. “I am in charge.”

He stood up and stretched about a bit. It really seemed he had been sleeping for a long time. Then he said “This is going to be so much fun! You are not a strict kind of adult are you?”

“Get me out of this predicament, and we’ll see.” I said. “Get me out, Chukwudi the stronger!”

He grinned then, and bellowed at the top of his lungs, “WHO DARES TO SIT ON MY HEAD?!” and I heard a trembling from above and the creature attached to my head screeched in terror.

Chukwudi the younger, the stronger, looked at me, still grinning. “Let’s go back up. I have a feeling you are going to enjoy this as much as I am!”

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