HARVEST OF FEAR

The suicide note (part V)

2010-12-30T11:59:00.001+01:00

Still on the phone, Amy was becoming livid over the events of that morning.
" I left your sister this morning, hale and hearty," she said
"it's just students' gossip, you know," she added. Uche on the other end heaved a sigh of relief. It was perceptible over the phone. Amy was about to hang up when he spoke.
"what was she doing when you left, Amy?"
"she was..." Amy's heart skipped a beat,
"she was ...sleeping," she whispered it like it was some forbidden word. she hung up with a quick "call you back" and took to her heels.

Amy's mind raced as she dashed towards the hostel. Was Evelyn really sleeping when she left, or was she... dead? she was completely puzzled by unanswered questions; was it coincidental that someone whose name was Evelyn committed suicide, in a hostel where a student took his own life sometime ago? Amy didn't want to accept the fact that there was only one Evelyn in hostel-D, it just have to be another Evelyn.

A few minutes later, Amy laid a trembling hand on the door knob to her room. The hostel was empty when she rushed in and that frightened her. She'd open the door, she thought, and she'd see her friend getting ready for lectures with her bed untidy as usual. Amy was however, not disappointed for as she walked into the room, sitting on the bed and still in her night dress was Evelyn.
"No lectures today?" Amy asked sitting beside her friend.
" I'm not feeling too well," Evelyn stared blankly with her brown eyes.
"There's something I want to tell you," Amy said as she sat closer. She went on and narrated her experience to her friend, carefully excluding the rumour.
"something's really bad in this hostel, we should leave immediately," Amy said already packing.
"we can stay with my mum for the meantime until..."
"did you inhale too much of exhaust gas?" Evelyn asked for the first time since her friend walked in. Amy noticed a change in her friend's voice, it was strangely a baritone voice.
"why?" Amy asked with furrowed brows.
"carbon monoxide intake can cause hallucinations," she replied.
"you think I've been hallucinating?" Amy queried as her anger rose.
"you think losing a night's memory is a hallucination, you think your rumored suicide is also a hallucination?" Amy said rapidly.
" It's not a rumor Amy, they were right." Amy gasped and stared straight at her friend.
"what is not a rumor?" was all Amy managed.

Evelyn smiled, stood up and walked towards her friend; cutting her off from the door which had mysteriously slammed shut on its own accord. Tentacles of fear circled Amy as she had no idea what to do.
"you led me to that cursed room Amy,"
"you made me see the note," her voice was eerily calm initially but then it rose with a high accusing tone,
"you made me take my own life!" The sinister smile faded into a snarl as she moved closer. Amy wished it was some kind of joke but the strange voice proved otherwise. Only one thought frightened her; whatever it was that was with her in that room, standing before her, it wasn't Evelyn.

Cold shivers ran down her spine as Amy stared at her best friend or whatever it was, turning into something weird. Her eyes turned totally black, her face turned pale and her nails were growing at an impossible pace. Amy tried to look away but couldn't, the black pair of eyes seemed to be sending her a message. Evelyn stood a few inches away from Amy now, a wicked snarl played across her lips as her eyeballs bores deep into the eyes of her victim. It was then that it dawned on Amy, she was being hypnotized!
Her muscles started obeying some unseen command. Her right hand was suddenly clutching a razor blade and was moving towards her left wrist. Sweat trickled down her face as she battles to take back the control of her body.

She tried hard to remove her right hand but it was already cutting into her left wrist against her wish, Amy started sobbing. She opened her mouth to plead but couldn't produce any coherent sound. Panic took over as she feels the warmth and the coppery smell of her own blood as it trickled down her hand. Amy slowly went down on her knee as Evelyn stood with triumph over her still staring deep into Amy's eyes. It was then that she did something she rarely does- she prayed silently for some miracle.
Almost immediately, just like an answer to her silent prayer, a hurried knock came on the door.
"It's me, open the door Amy," on hearing the voice, Evelyn snapped her head immediately away from Amy and stared towards the door, she bared her teeth menacingly like a hungry vampire as a low growl emanated from her.

Amy felt a great relief as Evelyn broke the hypnotizing stare, the blade slipped out of her grasp, she immediately resumed control of her subconscious and screamed, "help...!"she had hardly finished when her assailant dealt her a deadly blow on her neck. Amy clutched her throat gasping for air as her assailant bolted towards the door in an attacking movement.
Hearing the scream, he threw his weight on the door and stumbled inside but was taken unaware. Evelyn grabbed his neck with both hands and lifted him into the air. He stared with awe at his attacker.
"It's me your brother Evelyn, it, Uche," he said in a chocking voice. Evelyn stared up at him with her head cocked in an awkward angle. His legs were still dangling in the air when the Chaplain walked in.
"I command you demon to leave her immediately!" he commanded as he showered her with holy water
"leave! in the name of the father, the son..." almost immediately, she dropped him, shook spasmodically with a shriek on the floor. The sound she produced was like the cacophony from suffering souls in Hades.

They all stood and watched as she shook on the floor, arched her back upwards and suddenly collapsed back on the floor. Her eyes returned to normal, her face looked peaceful and humane but one thing was obvious, she was lifeless. It was as though a legion of demons just left her body. He stood and stared blankly at his sister's body
"what on earth happened to my sister?" was all he could manage with a shaking voice. He actually addressed the question to no one in particular. He turned to Amy who was being attended to by the chaplain,
"I had to call the chaplain after we spoke on phone," he said
"I was scared Amy, I knew my sister was gone," Amy rushed up to him and held him in a warm embrace
"thank you for coming, whatever that was, it wasn't your sister, Evelyn would not hurt me or you."
"you need to see a doctor Amy," he said gesturing to the small wound still bleeding lightly on her left wrist.

The suicide note (part IV)

2010-12-05T20:10:00.002+01:00

Amy massaged her temples as she fought over the paradoxical idea that she had lost every memory of one night. The only thing Amy remembered was that she had a dream, a very faint inkling of a dream which she couldn't remember the details. Two students walked in as Amy pulled a chair and sat beside the librarian who after hearing her rather strange story, had regarded her with empathy. The librarian typed rapidly on the keyboard until she found the school's digital news archive.
" This is it," the librarian announced. Amy came behind her staring into the glowing screen. As the librarian scrolled through a number of articles, a particular one caught their eyes. It was old and it read:
"SUICIDE IN HOSTEL-D"
She clicked on it and texts filled the screen.
"A student of the state university yesterday, apparently took his own life in his one-room apartment at hostel-D," Amy read out in a low voice.
"eyewitnesses said that the said final-year student cut his own wrist with a blade and bled to..." Amy's voice trailed off as she directed her gaze away from the monitor and to her left wrist, a partially healed wound ran across her wrist.

Amy's mind registered the whole situation within a fraction of a second. Amy shuddered at the obvious conclusion. She had walked into a room that belonged to someone who took his own life for some unknown reason. She too had almost cut her wrist in the same room after reading what sounded like a suicide note engraved on a desk. If Evelyn had not searched and found her in the middle of the night, she'd have succeeded in taking her life unknowingly. It made her think of Evelyn, she was still asleep when she left for the library.
" How did you get that,?" she heard someone say as she came out of her trance, it was the librarian referring to the shallow wound on her left wrist.
" It was an accident," she lied.

Somewhere in the library, two girls were whispering and their voices were distinct in the quiet ambience of the library.
"...they said the girl cut her wrist last night..." one of them was saying before the librarian reminded them that they were in a library. Amy walked up to them moments later forcing a smile,
"what did you say happened?"
"a girl killed herself last night," one of the girls said in a low voice. Amy had to strain her ear.
"I also heard that her name was Evelyn," the other girl added.
"Evelyn?" Amy muttered as the colour drained from her face, but she relaxed and walked away from the girls.
"it's definately another Evelyn," she she said to herself as she made to leave the library. She saw her friend this morning before leaving. Amy dismissed the thought as mere gossip but something kept disturbing her as she walked out of the library, it was the dream which she couldn't remember anything in it.
"what if someone actually committed suicide again in this same school?, someone who bears the same name as her friend," Amy thought aloud.

She was barely out of the school compound when the vibration of Amy's cell phone startled her. The caller Id on the phone increased Amy's fears. It was Uche, Evelyn's elder brother. He was also in the same school. Uche only calls her if he could not reach his sister.
"hello," Amy said.
"tell me it's a lie Amy," Amy was transfixed and stunned by the abrupt response.
"what's a lie?" she managed to ask
"...that my sister is...dead"
"Dead?" Amy retorted.

The suicide note (part III)

2010-11-29T19:53:00.000+01:00

It was a cloudy Wednesday morning, two days after Amy's weird experience in the locked room at hostel D. A young girl walked briskly into the school library. It was empty save for the librarian, a middle-aged woman with spectacles sitting behind a desk and staring into a computer screen. The woman had hardly replied the quick and brief 'good morning' before the girl's attention focused on a bookshelf laden with old and dog-eared newspapers, a task which she had carried out for the most part of the previous day.

The library was quiet as usual except for the momentary shuffle of papers and the faint clicks which emanated from the keyboard on the librarian's desk.
"what exactly are you looking for,?" the librarian finally broke the silence in a placid tone but received only a sigh from the girl who later said,
"anything that might've happened in hostel D."
"hostel D?," the woman shot her a quizzical look.
"yes," she replied with her sleep-starved eyes still glued to the bookshelf.

"what's your name?"
"Amy Johnson," Amy answered. She wondered why the woman asked for her name but dismissed the thought.
"I think something's wrong with that hostel, I've asked neighbours and even the landlord but no one would say a thing," she added. The woman sighed and returned her attention to the keyboard.

A full ten seconds passed then a thought crossed Amy's mind.
"you can gain access to the school's news archive from there, right?," she asked pointing to the computer as she approached the desk.
"and why'd I do that?,"
"please madam," Amy pleaded
"if there's anything you could tell me, anything at all..."
She went on and narrated her ordeal as the librarian listened. From the day they moved into the new hostel, the voices that haunted and robbed her of sleep every night.
"the most disturbing part of it madam...," Amy said as she concluded her story,
"...is that the events of monday night is still blurry and...," her voice trailed off and she stared blankly ahead. Monday night was two nights ago, what happened last night?. It was then that it dawned on her - she strangely couldn't account for last night. A debilitating wave of panic washed over her as she tried without success to recall anything at all that might've happened the previous night. She searched her memory for the slightest detail, but was always greeted by a nauseating sense of emptiness. It was as though the previous night was a mystery, a deleted computer file, a puzzle with a missing piece, a shelf that is short of a book. She opened her mouth to speak but only a distorted jargon escaped her trembling lips.

The suicide note (part II)

2010-11-15T10:36:00.001+01:00

She walked to the reading desk and ran her sweaty palm across the top. There were engravings on the wooden surface. Amy bent and squinted to take a closer look, what she saw puzzled her. Clustered at the center were letters that looked like the result of a cross-breed from arabic and chinese letters. She ran her hand over them again and this time it felt different. A minute electric-like effect coursed through her hand; it trembled through her arm, clouded her eyes and spread like slender tentacles over her whole body. She yanked her hand and stared blankly on the desk. She felt like a new body had been added to hers without warning and her eyelids felt heavy.

It was then that every vestige of sentience left her and was replaced by a foreign thought, a thought that belonged to another being. Then just like she had understood the voices in her head earlier, the message scribbled on the reading desk became crystal clear. Amy translated it thus...
'a blissful life after death is what I seek and only death is the medium.
P.S only the worthy to die could fi...' it ended there. Amy had hardly finished the psychic translation when her hand took to a command of its own, they were stretching towards the razor blades and before she knew it, a glistening blade was in her right hand. The voices in her head rose to a crescendo as she grabbed the blade, one female voice in particular screamed
"Eureka!"
she remembered the greek word as an expression for a sudden breakthrough.

Amy folded her fist and veins stood out in her arm, a tiny line of blood appeared as the blade slowly dug into her wrist. Then within the depths of her spellbound mind, she heard or thought she heard a voice.
"Amy... Amarachi," she paused with the blade gleaming over her wrist, it was a very familiar voice. The blade seemed to protest, it wanted to continue its sinister journey across her wrist but Amy ignored it. Was this one of the voices in her head?, Amy wondered and made to continue with her task when a thought crossed her mind. Only one person knew her full name - Amarachi in that school, she registered every document with Amy.

She dropped the razor blade and dashed off. Within seconds she found herself in the passageway and nearly collided with Evelyn.
"where've you been?," Evelyn asked with a questioning look on her sleepy face.
"I... I don't really know"
"maybe I was sleep-walking," she added as her friend gave her a skeptical look. Evelyn stood there with a wrapper over her chest as silence ensued, she knew her roommate was lying. Amy neither sleep-walks or talk in her sleep.
"anyway, your phone rang," Evelyn broke the silence and turned.
"... and warn your midnight callers to stop disturbing my sleep," she added and walked back to the room with Amy trailing behind. Something kept ringing in her head as she pressed her head into the pillow later,
"...only the worthy to die could f...," until she slipped into an uneasy sleep.

The suicide note (part I)

2010-11-07T11:22:00.000+01:00

Amy shot a quick glance at Evelyn who was sound asleep and envied her. What had she brought on herself? For days now she couldn't boast of a sound sleep all because she had peeped through the keyhole of that accursed room, it had never been the same since then. She looked at the time on her cellphone although she knew already what time it'd be - 11:15 p.m, the same time she had always heard those voices every night. She stood up from the bed and walked to the window, it was getting overcast and a half-moon struggled to make it out of the clouds overhead. She missed home, she missed her dog. She'll call her mother in the morning and tell her about the strange and -should I call it psychic- feelings she had since they moved in. She was absorbed in the nostalgic memories of home.

Amy winced and stuck fingers in her ears as the disdainful voices returned without warning. That have not happened before, the voices only came once a night. More horrifying was the fact that Amy somehow understood what the voices were saying tonight - they have an assignment for her. As though she was invaded and controlled by an external force, she performed a pirouette and walked to the door. Even the door which would always open with a creaking sound seemed to obey the force approaching, it opened without a sound into a desolate passageway. It was lit by a single bare electric bulb which cast yellow light across the rooms that flanked both sides. A ten-feet shadow of the girl was cast forward as she trudged on. From the tardy movement of her legs and the distant look in her eyes, it was obvious that Amy was in a trance.

On reaching the door at the end of the passageway, the same she had peeped into a few days earlier, she paused and stretched a hand towards the padlock that hung precariously above the handle. It felt as if a magnetic field existed between her hand and the lock, a faint click was all she heard and it came apart. Even within her possessed mind, Amy couldn't help but wonder the kind of power that radiated from her: the once noisy door opening before her without a creak, the lock opening even before she touched it. What is happening to her? She thought. Before she could answer herself, she was moving again as her eyes, hands and legs disobeyed the command her brain was sending them. She ran her hand across the wall behind her, found a switch and flicked it on. A drab yellow light filled the room, Amy was not prepared for what she saw. She had expected to see the usual evidence of a locked and abandoned room - the murky smell, the dusts, the cobwebs and the untidiness. She was disappointed however, the room was completely tidy. Except for a reading desk at an extreme with a packet of razor-blades lying on it, the room was almost empty. It was as though someone still occupies it and kept it clean.

ONE RED NIGHT (Epilogue)

2010-10-10T09:22:00.001+01:00

He stood for a while over the bloody mess before rushing over to his dying brother. His eyes glistened in the semi-darkness as tears filled them, he propped his brother's head up in his arms and stared blankly into the sky; dawn will soon approach and he'll have a lot to explain to the police, the school and most unnerving, their parents. Joshua stirred and spoke in a broken and pain-ridden voice,
"I... am... sorry Cal"
"shh..." Caleb whispered,
"you'll be alright" he added even as he knew within him that his brother's chance for survival is bleak, his left carotid artery had been severed completely. If Caleb knew his Biology well, then he'll know that the great loss of blood was due to the damage of one of the big arteries on either side of the neck which transports blood to the brain, it was a surprise that his brother could still speak.
Caleb looked around him again, the scene around him was reminiscent of a horror movie. Then suddenly the familiar shuffle of leaves jarred him out of his reverie. He turned in time to see what was left of their friend, Taiwo as hobbled towards them. His bowels were dangling horribly before him as he walked. Caleb stared in disbelief at the apparition before him. Even from five meters away one could discern the horrible transformation; his eyeballs were a deep and resplendent red similar to that of the creature that infected him, his jaws were hanging in an awkward angle due to the overgrown canines and his movement was like that of a Zombie. It was then that it downed on Caleb.
He immediately turned his gaze towards his brother just to confirm his suspicion, he wasn't surprised by what he saw - they were turning into something else, something more dangerous. Then a thought crossed his mind, "it's either kill or be killed" he had to choose and he chose to live.
***
A couple of hours later, the cock announced the approach of dawn for the third and final time and the bush was filled with singing birds. Caleb was alone, his brother with every other walking dead was gone finally and he knew it was time to find his way back to the school, he looked at the gash across his hand with an expression mixed with fear and agony, the wound looked different and strange, then realisation filled his eyes - the hand too will have to go if he didn't want to transform like the others.
"its been a red and horrible night" he muttered as he walked into the welcoming morning.
***THE END***

ONE RED NIGHT (IV)

2010-10-06T05:27:00.001+01:00

Caleb ran for another fifteen minutes through shrubs and grasses before stopping for the first time since he broke off from the trio. He doubled over in a fit of panting and perspiration in spite of the cold October night. Caleb couldn't help but worry about his brother, he knew he'd be looking for him. Only if he'd listened to him, he was thinking when a brief shuffle of leaves startled him out of his reverie.
"Josh?"
"where're you?" he asked albeit he doubted that it was truly his brother. He turned his head frantically like a dancing masqurade as a wave of panic washed over him, then he saw it right in front of where he stood. The same glistening but sinister pair of eyeballs which they had seen approached slowly.
Caleb knew then that he was in trouble, it would be too late, too stupid and too dangerous to run. He was faced with two bleak options: attack his assailant or hope for some miracle. The earlier, he gave more consideration as he reached slowly behind his belt where he concealed a stiletto. He trudged backwards as he was doing this and the creature followed as though it was pulled to its prey by an invincible rope. Caleb tried to swallow the lump forming in his throat as a tree trunk blocked his path, it was then that he did something he rarely does - he prayed. He tightened his grip around the knife handle as the creature poised and bared its teeth in a ferocious snarl that will take the life off its victim.
But instead of the attack Caleb expected, all he heard was a voice - an angered, cogent and yet familiar scream that shattered the serenity of the night. What he saw next left him baffled, "what madness would lead someone into making such a grave mistake?" he wondered as he watched the human form now wrestling on the grassy floor of the bush with the formidable creature. It suprisingly took him a full ten seconds to identify the fearless, or maybe crazy person who threw himself on the creature with bare hands. It was in fact his brother.
"Josh?" he muttered in utter disbelief.
Only a few minutes ago as Joshua was searching for his brother, his search had almost proved successful when to his dismay, his brother was already cornered.
"Run!" he screamed still entangled with the deadly creature.
"no way" he said half to himself as he broke into a sprint brandishing the stiletto in his right hand.
"I said..." Caleb stopped short when his brother's voice trailed off in a distorted sound of pain as the powerful canines sank deep into the left side of his neck, it withdrew its head violently leaving a gaping and bloody hole where the neck used to be, the powerful jaws has claimed another victim. A tremendous wave of anger and blind fury enveloped his mind as he watched his brother gurgling and gasping. He stared from his dying brother to the creature that stood triumphantly over the its victim.
Every iota of fear was immediately replaced by the rush of adrenalin as he charged forward with the only weapon he had on him. Even the warning snarl from the creature couldn't deter him from his assault. Blinded with fury, Caleb collided with it, circled both arms around its huge form. With the creature running wild and dragging the boy along, Caleb held on with a hand and with the other he slit its throat with one belligerent stroke. It stumbled and left the both of them rolling along the forest floor as a loud shrill cry filled the night. Caleb walked to the limp creature with his hand still bleeding from a wound he sustained in the melee. After standing over the creature that had cost them so much for some seconds, he made to walk to his brother but something caught his eyes. A single cowrie shell hung around its neck like a dog tag, his brows furrowed knitted as he wondered where he had seen the object but dismissed the thought. He tore it off and was about to take his souvenir when something happened, he was taken aback as the creature metamorphosed into a human form.
"I said it" he whispered to himself as he stared blankly at Emeka with his throat still bleeding.
"I knew it!" he screamed as he brought down a boulder on the limp body, blood and pieces of bone spattered around him.

ONE RED NIGHT (III)

2010-09-29T18:06:00.000+01:00

As though they were transfixed at the spot by an invincible force, the three boys stared at the outlandish creature as the gap between them shortened.
"Run!" Joshua's voice rang out almost at the same time he took to his heels. As if the spell holding them had been broken, they all took off into the darkness as the creature leapt after them with a devastating speed. In an instant, the boys scattered in different directions with little or no knowledge of where they were running to.
Taiwo, the biggest of the group had been running half-blind as a tremendous wave of panic engulfs him, his fears heightened when he heard the shuffling of feet behind him. Taiwo relentlessly ran into the darkness hardly feeling the pains caused by the dry twigs and thorns that mercilessly tore at his face and arms.
As the approaching sound behind him increased, Taiwo also increased his pace frantically as the sound of his heartbeat seemed to fill his ears until he made a grave mistake, he turned to look back and lost balance and concentration in the process. His ankle twisted and he fell to the grassy carpet with a thud wincing in pain. He tried to stand up but was deterred by an excruciating pain on his badly dislocated ankle. With his lungs screaming for air and an expression mixed with abject fear and pain, he looked up in time to see the devilish creature closing in menacingly with its saber-toothed jaw bare.
"please... Don't..." he was saying when it pounced on him. Taiwo knew it was over for he felt like a hot metal was plunged into his stomach as the creature sank its strong canines in his lower abdomen. A painful and death-like cry was all that escaped his lips when the creature violently shook its head with its teeth still imbedded in its victim. Within seconds, his warm bowels spilled out with a dark pool of blood (the moon had just risen and this made the blood look dark).
While Taiwo was dying slowly, the twins faced a different fate as they were both lost. Still concealed under the thick brush flanked by shrubs where he had taken refuge, Joshua cursed himself for ignoring his brother's pessimism earlier but most troubling was letting him out of his sight. With a feeling mixed with regret and determination, he stepped out of his hide-out and started a dangerous search for his twin brother Caleb.
"Cal" he kept calling quietly as he thought about the other two boys who had walked into the gully. Paul and Emeka, had they been attacked also? For the latter, he felt no pity but anger and hate for leading them into danger.
His brother's pessimism would've checked out if they had the slightest idea of what transpired in the gully when the two boys went in, for lying precariously in the belly of the pit is the lifeless and mutilated body of Paul- he had faced a similar fate to Taiwo but the master-mind behind the whole plan to sneak out for a fictitious night party was nowhere to be found.

ONE RED NIGHT (II)

2010-09-24T17:34:00.000+01:00

    They had barely walked half of the meandering footpath up the plateau when he only source of light they had flickered and went off leaving the group in an unnerving mask of darkness. They continued silently as each of them tried hard to conceal the hint of fear rising within them until the garrulous twin broke the silence,
     "I don't think there's any part going on around" Caleb said
   "Are you sure you know where you're taking us?" Taiwo put in. He had hardly finished his sentence when Emeka snapped at him.
   "you can still go back if you want, nobody invited you anyway." As they were arguing, Caleb pulled his brother aside.
   "Something is wrong Joshua,"
   "what is wrong?"
   "I don't trust Emeka any longer"
     "why?"
   "I think he's misleading us" Joshua fixed him a quizzical look and smiled ruefully
   "when did you become so paranoid?"
   "since I heard about his strange and weird pedigree"
   "two things are possible, either he's purposely misleading us or he's lost and had refused to admit it"
   "just follow me and stop making noise" his brother said as he walked off to join others. Caleb followed his brother reluctantly as he pondered over the possibility of a subterfuge. He wondered if this was a prank which his brother knew about somehow and he hoped it was just a prank, their thoughts and ideas had never varied.
   Caleb stole a quick glance at the luminescent hands of his wrist watch as they approached a deep gully, it read Eleven-thirty. They all stared wide eyed at the dark recess of the eroded gully accentuated by the shades created by the slender and frail branches of trees and shrubs at the edge.
    "we're not passing through here are we?" Paul asked showing his first sign of fear since they set out. Almost immediately, Emeka walked to the edge of the gully, turned around, grabbed a twig protruding from the wall of the gully and let himself down.
    "it's the only short-cut" was all he said before his voice trailed off amidst the chirping of insects. Paul followed immediately leaving the twins and Taiwo.
      Joshua nudged his brother and walked to the edge. He also grabbed the twig to begin his descent but something caught his eyes. He wheeled around and peered down into a shiny sinister pair of eyes. His body tensed as he stared ahead as if in a trance while his hands groped behind for support.
    "What is it?" the other two chorused and as if in answer to the question, a dark monstrous figure crept out of the gully. With bare and drooling saber-toothed jaw, it moved it's cat-like body towards them.
      "Jesus Christ" Caleb managed to mutter as he searched his memory of documentaries from 'Geographic channels' in a vain attempt to place a name on the strange creature.

ONE RED NIGHT (I)

2010-09-16T16:34:00.000+01:00

      Community Boys college is a small public secondary school with a couple hundred students. Its red brick structures is resplendent within the verdant and lush ambiance. It is surrounded and guarded by hills, trees and the rising and falling topography of Enugu state in southeastern Nigeria. Despite the location of the school and inadequate social amenities in the small town where it is situated, the school never failed to win lawn mowers, cutlasses and other cleaning implements every year- the prize for the annual 'most clean and beautiful school' competition. But with the beauty and brilliance of the school comes complaints and grumbles of students and even some teachers of the poor state of facilities and most disturbing, the terribly poor telephone signal in the area.
   They crept out of the dormitory and into the night with only one thing on their minds - It's been months since the last "all night" party. Girls from neighboring schools were invited but the party will also be attended by some uninvited guests who crave for the fun of city life which they miss through out the school year.

He knew the bush path like the back of his hands. Effortlessly, he led the other four to a place were the students refer to as the golden gate, a small opening created on the part of the school fence right behind the hostels used for nefarious activities outside the school.
       "What's wrong with that torch?" asked Paul as he almost slipped trying to crawl through the small opening the size of an entrance into a local poultry house.
       "It's the batteries," Emeka replied as he hit the torch continuously on his palm in a bid to revive it.
       "No need to worry anyway, I know the way to the 'flat hill' like the back of my hand" he added.
       "Flat hill?" Taiwo, the oldest whispered from behind referring to a small plateau a hill outside the school. Students had previously precariously used the plateau to organize clandestine meetings and parties away from the prying eyes of teachers who live nearby.
       "is that the venue for the party?" he pressed on as a low rumble of laughter erupted from the twins. He knew better than to fool himself any further, else he might turn to the topic after the alcohol starts talking through his friends.

       Emeka walked on as the familiar voices which had troubled him since he was "marked" returned. A cacophony would seem to morph into what sounded like a monotonous stream of music repeatedly. It almost drove him insane the first time the voices paid him a visit. He stopped short and bent over with his hands over both ears as he winced in pain.
       "wetin happen?" Paul inquired in pidgin English.
       "It's my toothache again, I think." he lied and kept moving.
       "Forget the kisses tonight, friend." Joshua teased.
       "I thought that tooth was removed", Caleb asked his elder brother who replied with a shrug of his thin shoulders. They continued in silence through the bush only broken by the snapping of dry twigs and rustle of dry leaves by their feet.

ONE RED NIGHT (prologue)

2010-09-12T21:34:00.002+01:00

It was a dark and quiet friday night at the boys dormitory of ' Community boys collage,' an all-boys secondary school sitting a in a village couple of miles away from the capital city of a state in the eastern part of the Nigeria. The bell for 'lights out' had been rung half an hour ago and the once noisy hostel had turned to a serene environment but while the students in this hostel slowly drifts into a blissful sleep, a couple of boys lay half-asleep waiting for the right time to carry out their plans. "Paul...paul," Emeka whispered from the top bunk to his friend who lay below before he threw aside his blankets and jumped down on his toes. Paul rolled down from his mattress and they both stuffed their clothes under their blankets within seconds. "wake the others" Emeka commanded Paul who nodded in the dark and headed for the bunk were their other friends lay sound asleep. Joshua and Caleb are identical twins from rich parents whose reputation for mischief and trouble are well known among teachers and students from the school. "give me a minute guys let me eat," Caleb the younger of the two was saying while rubbing his eyeballs at the same time. "shut up glutton" Emeka who seemed like the leader of the gang whispered, "i don't need to tell you what'll happen to us tomorrow morning if senior David wakes up," added his twin bother as they all tip-toed towards the door. Once at the door they all startled at a huge form standing before them, it was Taiwo the oldest and heavily built boy in their class "do you guys think you're going to that party without me?" he asked as they all stared wide eyed at him. To these five friends, it was going to be a wonderful night out but little did they know of the evil among them and the one lying in wait for them.

DECEPTIVE REFUGE (part V).

2010-09-01T10:59:00.004+01:00

     Gathering what strength was left in him, agent Mark in his terrible state, calculated his aim for the third time since the fight began and hoped that his accuracy would not fail him this one last time. He hurled the piece of broken metal statue upwards with much force as he could muster, even in his semi-conscious state he knew immediately that he hit his target because the vice-like grip on his neck immediately eased. He felt a rush of dizziness as his organs accepts the oxygen rushing in. The statue had hit his enemy at the soft bone just beneath the ear and he had slumped into a mild coma immediately.
      Agent Mark Edmund lay prone on the floor as he noticed a familiar pair of Italian shoes walk briskly into the room.
"what do I offer you boss?" he said still on the floor.
" I really wish I was here earlier" the director of NSCC said.
" Why don't you tie him up," he motioned to the limp body of Joseph. Agent Mark propped himself up with a wince of pain as he went on with the task.
      "where are the others?" he asked as he bent over Joseph
      "I underestimated you Ed, I told him but he would not listen"
      "what exactly are you saying boss?"
      "you don't understand do you?" he asked as he wheeled around to face Mark whose mouth formed a capital letter O. Facing him is a pistol which the director brandished in his wiry hand.
      " for long the Igbo race have been denied the presidency of this country." he paused as he approached.
      "you're well aware of my political ambition and my hopes for my cousin winning the coming election. I can't let you jeopardize what we have toiled for all these years." he said as he inched closer.
      "wait boss," agent Mark said with both hands in the air.
      "why waste a valuable asset when you can use me instead of Joseph who you know I am better than. The director of NSCC fixed him with a gaze for some seconds before he let out a guffaw.
      "You don't think I'll fall for that do you agent Mark Edmund?" his sinister smile turned immediately into a ferocious snarl.
      "remember I was the one who taught you the art of deceit, you've played your last card Ed," he said as he placed his finger on the trigger. Agent Mark shut his eyes as he waited for the last sound he was going to hear on earth.
      "Freeze" was what he heard instead of the "ka blam" of the gun. col. Ibe knew better than to make a move when he saw the four men in military camouflages that poured into the room, these men would unhesitatingly shoot him in the head if he did as much as twitch a finger. They were some of the Hausa men who filled the Nigeria military, who has no regard for human life. where did they come from?. He stared with virulence as he was dragged out of the room.
      " Actually boss," agent Mark was saying
      " I had one more card to play" he produced the two-way radio phone the agency uses.
      "you taught me the art of deceit but the art of stalling, I learned of my own cognition." Agent Mark had ingeniously placed the device that would record every sound around perfectly and send it directly to the agency, just behind the unconscious body of Joseph.
      "You're dead!" the director barked as he was dragged outside.
      "Hello Mark," Bubo, a close friend of Mark said as he walked into the room beaming with smiles.
      "What kept you guys so long?" agent Mark Edmund queried.
   ***THE END***

DECEPTIVE REFUGE (part IV)

2010-08-29T19:20:00.003+01:00

The caller squinted his beady eyeballs as he replaced the phone after his employer had permitted him to "contain the situation" and had hung up. His employer who prefers to conceal his identity even after two successful missions. He removed a shiny pistol, screwed on a silencer and advanced out of the dark where he had ingeniously concealed himself. He was in the agent's private room, rummaging through files when he heard footsteps. He had scurried to the bathroom and remained there until he decided to take a peek, it was then that he made the call that set him to his current task. This had always been an interesting task to accomplish, the frightened look on the face of his prey and the overwhelming feeling of superiority but this time, he only felt a great surge of remorse and regret for what he was about to do. More troubling was the fact that this situation could have been evaded if he had listened to his employer who was sceptical about his 'hidden in plain view' strategy. "I have no choice" he muttered and stepped out of the shadows. Agent Edmund Mark tried hard to fathom the situation but could not. This is someone he had known like the back of his hand. What had he turned into this few years he was abroad? "it can't be true" he said as he lowered his gaze to the objects lying before his feet- a black pair of boots with it's threadings matching the one on the paper, gloves, black ski-mask... "it's true Eddy," agent Mark snapped his head towards the door, at the same instant his hand reached to his belt where his gun used to be, he had dropped it on the couch in the sitting room. The figure that emerged from the door cleared any trace of doubt in him as he stared into the muzzle of a .45 hecklar and kotch pointed to his head by the hand of his best friend - Joseph. "I'm really sorry dear friend but you left me no choice" Joseph said with a sympathetic shake of his head. Adrenalin pumped into his blood stream as his instincts for grave dangers took over him. Joseph was a man of few words, his finger was already curling over the trigger when with a calculated aim and a flashing speed, Edmund grabbed a boot from the floor and sent it spiralling through the air. The projectile hit the pistol and it fell to the ground with a thud. Agent Mark needed only a second of distraction, he dived towards his assailant but was late, he was stunned when he saw the gun facing him again as it had been retrieved by his assailant. He reflexively rolled away from the gun's line of fire in time to hear a whipping sound past his left arm. A warm trickle of blood ran down his left arm as he was luckily only creased by the bullet which buried itself in a 1-foot metal statue of a woman with a basket on her head. With the agility of a mamba, agent Mark swung his leg upwards like a street dancer towards Joseph's hand which pointed down on him ready to release another bullet. He hit his target this again and this time, the gun flew out of his hand without a clatter. He had hardly staggered back to his feet when he received a deadly blow which emptied his lungs of air and left him clutching his abdomen. He opened his eyes in time to see Joseph's second blow aimed at his face, he deflected it with his left hand and at the same time, sent a heavier blow into his enemy's stomach. With Joseph's face now vulnerable as he held his stomach, he threw an upper-cut which almost lifted him off his feet and left his nose and upper lip in a bloody mess. Agent Mark wasted no time to charge towards his assailant who was still doubled over but was surprised to find both his legs lifted off the ground as Joseph's massive and strong shoulders plummeted him into a wall, he felt as though his ribs and spine had been crushed as he slid slowly to the floor with his back still against the wall. Joseph immediately clamped his throat with a strong elbow in a death- grip. He held his own right wrist to tighten the grip on Mark's neck between the joint of his arm. Agent Mark gurgled and thrashed desperately as his air passage was blocked. His struggles began to wane when his vision darkened with purple spots and his entire body began to yield to unconsciousness. Darkness seemed to stretch tentacles of fear to him as he began the decent into an endless void. His pupils dilated as his blood and lungs strained for oxygen. Agent Mark was almost gone when his left hand struck something hard on the floor, it was one half of the broken sculpture.

DECEPTIVE REFUGE (part III)

2010-08-29T14:13:00.000+01:00

Agent Edmund Mark waited for some seconds on the phone until the deep voice of the director of NSCC replied, "what is it Ed?" they talked for a while on the phone until the director said a quick "just do what you can Ed, debrief me in the morning" and hung up. After series of edition and developement on the video clip; the enhancement of the video resolution and the clipping of images by a microprocessor, agent Mark had located the position of the shooter and had ingeniously lifted boot prints from the point. People at the shopping plaza were questioned but no one saw something unusual, only a female trader who offered an unclear description of a priest who had blessed her rosary beads and hurriedly climbed to the third floor at the time of the assassination. On reaching his apartment, one of the drab buildings that filled the Golden City estate, agent Mark slumped his tired body on the couch. He lived alone, only visited from time to time by a girlfriend who thought he works in a bank until a week ago when an old friend came to stay with him after returning from a long trip overseas. Joseph had left for Germany to further his studies after their secondary school and now he is back and wants to spend a few days with his best friend. With a chilled bottle of water which he took from the refrigerator in one hand, he pulled out the contents of the brown envelope with his free hand and stared in all directions of the sitting-room to make sure he was alone. Joseph must've gone out, he thought as he removed a high-resolution print-out of a beady pair of eyeballs behind a black ski-mask, followed by a gray-scale print-out of shoe prints with its threadings clear. Still staring at the print-out with the ski-mask, his mind searched and wondered at the familiarity of the eyeballs which he dismissed as paranoia. But agent Mark's instincts had never failed him in his line of work and he had learned to obey them. As if an unseen force urges him forward, he started pacing around his house and within seconds, he found himself in the room he had given Joseph. Then something crossed his mind which could explain the paranoia he felt previously- Joseph might be in the wardrobe with an indian hemp since he had warned him about smoking in his house. So he walked to the closet and threw it open half expecting to see his friend absorbed in smoke but was greeted by a number of clothings. If it was sheer curiousity or divine providence that made him notice the uneven base of his friend's echolac box, Mark could not tell but he did not need a sooth-sayer to confirm an external hidden compartment in a box, he had used them on numerous missions to conceal small but deadly weapons. It took him fifteen seconds to loosen all the screws that held the compartment then he pulled out a duffel bag and reached inside. He smiled to himself as his hands felt a satchet of dry grass, "can Joseph ever quit smoking?" he muttered and made to withdraw his hand until he felt something else. He immediately spilled the contents on the floor and was taken aback by the sight as his brain tries to process the stimulus it received from the eyes. He blinked continuously to clear his vision hoping to wake up from a dream but what lay at his feet was real... too real to be a dream. Almost immediately, a phone on a table in an office kilometers away rang as a man in his early fifties with a gray blazer suit answered "you shouldn't be calling." "yes but we have a situation." came a younger voice, "he knows" the caller added in a shaky tone. A brief silence ensued as the man stiffened at the news. His face contorted as he paced the office scratching his bald-head. "i can contain the situation..." the caller was saying when the man cut him off "i told you but you would not...! he made to scream out his anger but controlled himself when he saw his secretary appear at the door. "do what you have to, remove him from the picture" he said in a whisper before he hung up.

DECEPTIVE REFUGE (part II)

2010-08-20T06:51:00.003+01:00

"Today is a very special day for our young and promising future leaders", the minister was saying. "so what're we old men and women doing here on a children's day?" he asked jokingly as a low rumble of laughter emanated from the crowd. The laughter had hardly died down when the minister's head jerked sideways with a tremendous force before he slumped to the ground. It took the secret service bodyguard behind him and people close to the minister a few seconds to comprehend what had happened as a bright-red pool of blood formed around the lifeless body of the minister of education dotted with chunks of brain matter. Furore broke over the crowd as screams rose from one corner to the other. A mother nearby shielded her child's eyes from the grotesque figure as she shouted a 'jesus christ!'. Another man had exclaimed 'Chineke!' with both his hands on his head as the once serene environment abruptly turned into a mixture of cries and screams. The left side of the minister's head was completely gone as the bullet passed into the left temple and had taken off a great part of the right side of his face in an exit wound, he was already dead even before his body hit the ground. Children were immediately hurried into their school buses by their teachers as many others took to their heels amidst the blaring of ambulance sirens. Immediately after watching his target fall, the assassin dismantled his rifle, removed his ski-mask to reveal a smirk and left the same way he came as the sounds of the melee rose behind him like the shadow of a gathering cloud. A few seconds later, the young priest quietly descended the stairs of the building. "what is the noise all about?" he asked a trader, "dem don shoot person" the timorous trader replied in pidgin english. The priest did a sign of the cross and left. * * * Agent Edmund Mark stole a quick glance at the brown envelope lying precariously on the empty seat next to him as he drove home in his old Vectra GT. Being an erudite member of the NSCC - an acronym for the Nigerian special crime control, he built his reverenced reputation on extraordinary performances in his duty, his stoic nature and sharp instincts. Standing handsomely tall with an innocent look always on his face, he never ceases to catch the attention of pretty girls who had no idea of the onerous nature behind the mask of his enticing physique. With his right hand under his chin and the other on the steering wheel, he reminisced on the events of the past few days - the enigmatic disappearance of two altruistic politicians on whom the whole nation depended on for the long-anticipated transformation of the corrupt leadership of the country. Then recently, the grotesque murder of the well-loved minister of education whose ascension to the presidential seat come next election, was obviously close to definite. Agent Mark had never failed in an investigation before in the history of his career but the recent case had hit him below the belt coupled with discouraging tardiness and occasional dead-end. Other cases took him not less than two days to "connect the dots" as his boss would always say but this one had gone on for three days without success until today. He remembered the words of the director of NSCC and smiled inwardly. "this case have dragged us all into the mud but I still trust in your instincts Ed". Col. Ibe had said as he patted his shoulder reassuringly the previous day. The intimacy between the both of then was one envied by other members of the agency who saw and feared the taciturn director as a demi god. He stared at the envelope for the second time as he was jarred out of his reverie by the blaring of horns on the busy road. A ray of hope creased his perplexed mind as he continued his journey home. Only a day before, he had received an information that elevated his optimism on the case, he had received a memory card from a digital camera which contained a blurry video clip. A school child had been luckily viewing and recording the ambience of the Eagle square when the camera caught something out of the ordinary from a building opposite his position at the same time that the minister was shot. Still behind the steering wheel, agent Mark picked up his cellphone from the dashboard and spoke into it when it connected after the second ring. "I need to ask you a favour sir," he said