Mumbai, 1964
Deep down inside, she was bleeding; her heart was swollen as if she had been pierced by a rod that could reach any part of her body with one bite.
Blackwheel stared at her, feeling disgusted about what he had done. It was one of the many times he had raped a woman without feeling any form of remorse for his victim just fear. This very day, he stared at the woman deeply and she stared back at him like a wounded lion. He knew her father was from Pakistan because she had mentioned it once while begging him to pull away from her. All he could do was look at her, feel sorry for her and think about her name. Her name was very familiar to him because it sounded like rushing water hitting on top of dry roof. Her name was Hira and she was the second woman he had raped in a week.
Lagos, 2020Ifenna braced himself for whatever was coming on his way. He stood tall in his mind. Prepared!Over the past few days he had felt an unusual feeling that Maria Blackwheel was going to call him. And although he couldn't explain why he had that feeling, he still couldn't stop himself from believing that he would actually see Maria again.Alone in a well furnished motel in Lagos, he opened his eyes and looked around himself in the darkened room, hearing the sound of a bell ringing. He sat up. The bell sounded again and he wondered how long it had been ringing before he knew it was coming from outside his motel room. Slowly, he got to his feet, swaying from stiffness, trying to shake off sleep from his eyes and the insulting fact that he had been chased away from his girlfriend's house after their recent break-up, and the awful dream he had had about chasing Maria with all his might down a lonely stream. Was it love?The bell rang again, ins
Lagos, 2020"What is love?" Ifenna asked himself as he walked away from the motel. He watched the silver bulbs flash again in his mind. He and Kainene were standing close to the stairs that led to a grand hallway: Kainene dressed in a black gown was smiling at the beauty of the atmosphere and he with the faintest idea of the concept of enjoyment with a woman was waiting for her to say something.He heard the loud whisper of a truck carrying petrol and quickly remembered he was about to cross a road and move to the other side where he could get a bus that was heading back to Owerri as soon as it was filled up. He crossed after taking a quick glance at both sides of the road to confirm if it was safe for him to pass.At the junction, he saw a man dressed in partly torn jeans and a t-shirt with the revered flag of Nigeria at its centre. Green, white and Green."Aba!" The man dressed in partly torn jeans and a t-shirt bearing the flag of Nigeria
Mumbai, 2020Blackwheel let out a low whistle as he sat inside his hotel room, now realizing why Dev had sent him a ridiculous letter he had ended with a threat. He knew he had met different women during the time when he was actively involved in pursuing the brotherhood's cause but he also knew he couldn't remember the names of every woman he had met.Indeed! The woman's name sounded familiar to him. It seemed as if she was some distant person he had fallen in love with but couldn't remember how or when. She seemed like a shadow of his past that he couldn't quite put in the right place."Mumbai, 1964," he marveled, admiring the historical accuracy of an event he was involved in where he had raped a woman who was supposedly named Hira.At the back of the letter was a poem Dev had written in honor of the woman Blackwheel had raped. Blackwheel stared at each words he had written carefully, attempting to recite it. After a while of looking at the
Mumbai, 2020The door buzzed behind him, and Blackwheel turned to watch a young man enter. When he arrived inside, his face immediately grew pale as he stared at the unusual figure in front of him. Half man. Half werewolf. He was staring at Blackwheel."Give it a minute," Blackwheel said. "If you get light-headed, turn away quickly. I will soon adjust to my normal form. Once again, thank you for your kind gesture.""You don't have to thank me," Marcus said. "You know why I am here. Your call of pain means nothing to me compared to the love I had for Alberto. He was a good man. You on the other hand was, and remains a terrible man. Just take a look at yourself and see what you have gotten yourself into. Running away like you used to do from the start.""You don't understand," Blackwheel said. "I came here to get answers to some questions I am yet to figure out. And I feel terrible at the moment.""You are always feeling terrible all the time because you
Owerri, 2020He turned and a hysterical terror seized him, as though he was falling from a skyscraper in a dream with a necklace around his neck. A white blur was standing close a door, silent, almost awake, ghostlike, almost asleep. It filled his weak eyes and gripped his body as if he was in an inescapable trance. He was thinking. Maria Blackwheel was in his mind. He was thinking about her even though he didn't know why he was thinking about her. Her image was clear in his mind and he could feel her like he could feel himself falling from a skyscraper in a dream with a necklace around his neck."Maria!" He spoke softly to himself, questioningly.There was no response and he didn't really care. He tried to care but he just couldn't care. There was so much to think about. So much to consider especially since he was sleeping alone in the bed for the third time in a week without Kainene by his side. He tried to avoid thinking about Kainene but he couldn't
Mumbai, 2020"I expected a more luxurious place considering your master's taste for wealth," Blackwheel said as he stepped inside the building Marcus was staying. "This place looks ordinary and the least of my wildest imagination. It looks more like a shelter zone for homeless people to live in.""Master has a way of living his life, sir," Marcus' servant replied. "From the few precious times I have spent with him, I have discovered he is more like a big fish in a small river than a small fish in a big river.""What do you mean by that?" Blackwheel asked."Sir, master is a king in these parts. He has been able to attract great wealth towards himself in a way that no man has done in the past few months. He is a man whose voice holds power and respect.""I see," Blackwheel said.A few seconds passed."Follow me, sir," Marcus' servant said, holding a bag before him like a sacred offering that he wanted to offer to Marcus.
Pennsylvania, 2020"What is next?" Maria asked, staring at the large book in front of them.Clark flipped."What do you see?" She asked."I can see phases.""Lunar phases and sacrifices done under the moon?" she asked. "No numbers. No symbols. No diagrams. No information whatsoever!""I am trying to find something I could use to figure out what is happening now.""Try harder. We are running out of time."Clark flipped again. Stopped. Flipped again. Stopped. Nothing."Nothing?"Clark sighed. "Who says my name is Raj! Helper and phone boy for Dev?" He asked.Maria stared at him and turned. "I don't know.""There is something going on here that we can't see.""You don't have to tell me first for me to know that everything isn't normal. You were the one who spotted the problem. Why can't you solve it? I thought you said we would find something reasonable in these pages.""I thought we wou
Pennsylvania, 2020Mark led a group of three police officers up the stairs into the kitchen. The three men who had come with Mark sat on the steps and started gloomily at the floor as they waited to receive further instructions from Mark. Soon the men who had gone to phone the relatives of Abby and Uju came back. Maria knew that they wanted to talk to Clark to see if he was involved in the murder of Abby and Uju. Mark also came back and sat upon the steps. Maria and Clark arrived with their lips pressed tightly as if they had explained everything they knew to the man who had been talking to them for over an hour now.Detective Doe!A man known for his abilities to mix different facts and put them together to fix the missing pieces in a puzzle."Have you gotten the evidences you need to send her back into jail?" Mark asked, standing up."I am afraid to announce to you that she isn't guilty for the murder of Abby and Uju. She told me everythin