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Chapter 35
THEY WERE FIGHTING AGAIN.
Felicia’s voice was louder as usual, her shrill voice resounding through the house while father’s thick baritone voice accompanied her with its vibrations. They never really fought or argued, but whenever they did we would have to make ourselves as scarce as possible, as anyone of us could readily be the focus of their anger at any moment, especially for father.
The first fight would have been before we came home from the beach when father had arrived home to our absence. I had gotten back to my phone on reaching the car to eleven missed calls, nine from Felicia and two from Joseph, and with a message that we were to go to her supermart where Joseph would be waiting to bring us home on pretence that we had gone there as usual for our occasional part-time work.
Felicia was scowling hard and her face red as we entered the house with terrified faces, and then another argument began when father came down and we greeted him. He h
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CRIMSON SKY Chapter 36
“You sure did take your time,” Kudaisi said when I finally appeared in the garden. I only had twenty minutes to stay. “A lady needs her time,” I replied with a forced smile, joining him on the bench where he sat. He eyed me for a moment, noting the weariness on my face. “Come here.” He drew me into his warm embrace. We sat like that without any words till it was time for me to go, and I had to reluctantly detach myself from his arms. “Be safe,” I muttered as I opened the portal that would lead me to my destination. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to stop Kudaisi from going out to look for trouble tonight or any other night no matter how hard I tried, I could only hope he would be safe. “You too.” Ahmed accosted me as soon as I arrived at our designated meeting place, a little village in the north called Dabi. “You are late,” he said, smiling in his easy self-assured way. “I’m not really, we were supposed to meet by eleven.
CRIMSON SKY Chapter 37
I WOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER DANIEL to be the fat snotty brat who hid behind his mother’s skirt with either a lollipop, a snack, or one of his fingers in his mouth, refusing to be anywhere but beside her even when she had to seat and later during dinner. It has been over five years since I last saw him, since when uncle Christopher brought him visiting with his wife to our house, and although he should be seventeen now, he was still not too far from the fat snotty brat of the time.And that snotty brat was trying to hit on me at this moment.We were currently at Uncle Christopher’s sprawling mansion at Ibadan for his wedding anniversary, and the party was in full blown after the reunion which held earlier in the afternoon—a tiring affair which mostly involved getting introduced to our father’s friends or uncles, their children, and their wives who by default became our aunts, with a lot of false smiles, forced conversations and lunch.Currentl
CRIMSON SKY Chapter 38
WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE? My thoughts flew everywhere as I was unsure of what was really going on. It took all I had to compose myself and not break down from tension and fear as I sat inside the backseat of the highlander with Taiwo wrapping her arms around me and her head on my lap, as we waited for father and Felicia who had come to check me by the car minutes ago after Shola found them and told them I was sick and had then gone back to bid farewell to their friends before we left. Kenny and Shola stood outside the car, reclining against the side as music from the party which was still on sounded in the background.This was by far the scariest and strangest night of my life.Everyone of them had a black owl on their person; father, Felicia, Shola, Taiwo, Kenny, and the two drivers Mark and Joseph. I did not see those on Shola, Kenny and Taiwo until later when I connected to the sight, and I was sure it was the tension and fear that had made me reverse to basic
CRIMSON SKY Chapter 39
THE SECONDS SEEMED TO PASS slowly, and although it was ten thirty five—four minutes since Kudaisi said he was coming—it seemed like hours to me. He would need at least fifteen to twenty minutes to make the two hours long journey.The inside of the car was steaming hot, the drive silent. Too silent. They had put off the air condition and rolled up the windows—save Joseph’s which was opened just a little—because of my cold. I felt the heat more because of the two Agbada wrapped around my body, but I had to keep up the pretence as Shola and Kenny passed me an occasional worried glances, also Taiwo who had her head on my lap and was sighing at intervals like an old woman.Kudaisi where are you? Be quick. I tested the shields on the two car again, ours and father’s in front, it was still firm.Taiwo took one long sigh which had the same effect as a thunder strike in the otherwise silent car, she sat up sl
CRIMSON SKY Chapter 40
“TOKE…”I WAS FLOATING in the clouds when I heard my name. I tried to turn towards the voice but some heavy weight pressed me down. I fought against it, slowly. It was like fighting through a quicksand, but steadily I began to make progress breaking free.“How long has she been out?”“Around two a.m. when the doctor arrived. He had to drug her to sleep as she was crying non-stop, lost to every of our efforts to communicate with her. She should wake up around ten or eleven o’clock, according to the doctor.”The voices speaking were familiar, making me want to see their faces even more, but the weight kept me spineless. I struggled hard against it and finally I broke free. I groaned as I slowly came to, struggling to open my eyes. My head was banging wildly like the native African drums, and I felt weak.“She’s awake,” one of the voices hissed. And then silence.My eyes were bl
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“YOU ARE LATE,” Kudaisi said as soon as I arrived at our rendezvous point. “What’s the problem?” he asked, seeing the worried look on my face.“Kenny…” my voice broke and I stopped.“What about him?”“I found him. He is already a cursed one.”“No,” Kudaisi hissed in shock. I nodded, turning my eyes down as he stared intently at me—barely holding myself together. “Where is he?”“With the witches at Olofi. They practically sent him to them with a note stating it was a gift for me.”“The bastards!” Kudaisi cursed. “How about Shola and Taiwo?”“I don’t know yet. I- I- I hope they are fine.” I nearly broke there, until I felt the white matron determining my location with her spell. “I need your help,” I said, raising my head.“You know I would—”&nbs
CRIMSON SKY Chapter 42
PAIN. ANGER. REGRET.I felt his emotions, every single part of it, as the Red matron who personally oversaw his interrogation tortures him again and again, taking him just to the brink of oblivion only to drag him back from falling into the darkness. Green vines bound his hands and legs, splaying him wide in the air in nothing but his boxer shorts, and his body shivered as pain racked through him with each slightest movement. His screams resounded loud as the red matron did something to him for some long minutes before stopping.I watched everything from the shadows, unable to move, speak, or even let loose of the floodgate of tears locked behind my eyes and vent the thick stifling pain which smothered me. He refused to speak despite whatever they did to him, refused to betray his friends.An image flashed through my mind—his mind. It was his late grandmother, Iya Agba. I looked at her with familiarity like I have known her for years, feeling from
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There was no more me, only Kudaisi. I felt what he felt, saw what he saw. I had become him.As a little boy, after spending the better parts of the day playing and running around the whole neighborhood with friends, I would end up on Iya Agba’s bed after dinner with his head on her bony thighs as she either tell me a story or sing a song while her fingers softly caress his head. She will only stop when I’m drowsing to take me to his room, or after I doze off and I will wake up the next day to find himself in his own room, on his bed.One thing about those times is, I am always secure in the warmth of her bosom, like the kind of feeling a chick has staying under the wings of its mother. I was immovable, untouchable, I was free—unrestrained.The same feeling encompass me now as Iya Agba’s scent invades his senses—the scent of home, of love, of the feeling that nothing can ever go wrong.“Kudaisi.”I groan, re
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