Some hours more and it felt like my insides were filled with a bulk of the sand that had been rising gradually. Undoubtedly, the light roughening and scratches on my skin were numberless due to the harshness of the wind and the constant grazing of its particles. This was one of those hard moments that made me wish I had toed the line of my childhood visions. Honestly, I had always imagined in utmost reverie, myself as the owner of a large chain of businesses. Though, those were only dreams because indeed life had other plans, one dreadful and the other by the name, Richard Young. My almost dark lips were scaled as I had been chewing on them to overcome and extinguish the pessimism that threatened to consume me from the core. "I have always wondered about the nature of the esteemed and widely-acknowledged organisation, the ICS," Aliyu began and his choice of small talk wasn't all that appealing to me as the whole agency had been engraved into the hardened shelves of my heart, afte

  The sweat mixing with the fresh wound on my head, stimulating another throbbing feel of the intense pain. The tips of my fingers were at the brink with fragmented pieces falling into my eyes, obstructing my vision and inflicting more damage. Everything was against me in the fraction of this second as it was displayed and I could feel my hold slip off but still, I toiled with exertion till the pain in my hand made it known that I couldn't hold on any longer and I let go.

The adrenaline rush produced from the surge of the push had combined with the terrifying feeling of falling to my doom a second time in the space of 24hrs. Along the line, the fall entangled and sheathed us in unbearable dust and sand particles arising from the earth. The large stones and rocky bumps became a crippling effect to our beings seeing as the force at which we were rolling to the bottom of the slope made us rub against them numerous times. A second or two and I dropped, landing with a loud ‘thump’ and surprisingly a ‘splash' too as the water below began seeping in and soaking my clothes from the position at which I lay. My bones were crying for mercy as it was as if they too were being stiffened from the constant unwelcomed union to the ground. I felt too weak and fatigued as I squeezed my face seeking the will to move and regain my stance but then the next thing that followed was so similar to the rewinding of a track record as my ears remembered instantly, the rauc

NARRATOR'S POV... The clarion calls of fate sound like symbols of the infallible tunes of infinite power and boundless knowledge, verity justified by that which is visible to the eyes of destiny only. Some say it is also that which lies in the innermost parts of the mind, rising from a soft subliminal monologue to an authoritative utterance which may be a warning or a means to an irrevocable end. Dreadfully today we hear the declamation of this call, being carried by wind throughout the air and even inside us. The complex and paradoxical demeanor of the mystery, Abubakar Shekau is seen wearing a white caftan with a bullet proof jacket strapped across. His feet were inserted into a leather sandal that looked brandished and constantly abused by the unfavourable weathers of the North. Possessing the title of the most wanted man in the country, the fearless loner Shekau, is said to be in his mid 40's. A part theologian and part gangster and although his predecessor Mohamme

Lade... On instinct, I tugged my eyes open, welcoming the view of the darkening clouds and the pitiable sight of the lady with her kid. I still felt choked up as I had been cornered into a difficult situation that I now had no idea how to come out from.I glanced once more to the far end of the line, searching for Bashir but then it seemed that silently, he had crept away in the shadows to begin his own part of the plan.It offered a small feel of relief that at least Bashir had begun combing the area for any signs of the hostages and honestly, I prayed that they were even still inside the camp because if not, then all our sacrifices would definitely be in vain."Let me tell you a secret boy," Shekau's voice seeped in through the gaps in the wall of my thoughts I had been engrossed in, hauling my sight back to where he now sat on the stone bench. "A young man once quoted, 'I love it when people dig their own graves as it saves me so much time'," he began in a reverential tone, suckin