The Goat In The Rug

Kat was use to moving but it never got any easier. She dreaded having to constantly start over. She had all but given up on a forever place to call home. One day when her husband comes home and hands her a set of keys and a deed. He informs her this move would be the last, she was over the moon. It wasn’t long after moving in that she found her dream of a forever home was going to quickly turn into her worst nightmare. What was watching from underneath the floorboard?

Ever since my wife had that oversized custom sofa delivered, she'd been sleeping in the living room every night. Whenever I tried to bring her back to the bedroom, she brushed me off with the same excuse—she was tired. Sometimes, she even locked the bedroom door from the outside. I would hear muffled, muffled sounds coming from the living room late into the night. The door wouldn't open again until the next morning. I couldn't take it anymore. The day she gave birth, she had just been wheeled out of the delivery room, still lying on the hospital bed, too weak to even sit up. I refused to hold the baby. Instead, I told her I wanted a divorce. Her eyes turned red as she stared at me. "Just because I've been sleeping on the couch every night, you're divorcing me, right after I give birth to our child?" I didn't hesitate. "Yeah."

For three years, I was the only one allowed inside my husband, Matthew Carter's, secret room on the top floor. Until that day—when I walked in and found his young assistant there. "Matthew asked me to get things ready for his dinner party," she said, all confidence and no shame. I smiled. It turned out this was what it felt like to have my privileges as his wife trampled on. Fine. If the rules of the game had changed, then I would show everyone who the real player was. One by one, I dismantled the Carter family's most prized projects. That was when Matthew finally panicked. He demanded, "Why? We're husband and wife!" "Exactly," I said, tossing the divorce papers onto his desk. "And that's why betrayal comes with a steeper price, doesn't it?"

Natalie used to hate stuffed animals. Now she's head-over-heels for a cotton doll. She called it "honey" and told our daughter, Yara, it was her real dad. Cool. Guess that made me the family ghost. At Yara's parent-teacher conference, I finally snapped and handed Natalie the divorce papers. Cue the gasps. Suddenly, I'm the villain. She slapped me—full drama mode. "It's just a doll! Why are you being so extra?" Yara hugged it like it was about to save the world, giving me the death stare. I shrugged, smirking. "You're the one who said it's your dream husband and Yara's one and only dad. So, like... why am I still here?"

He pinned her on the wall, sniffing in her fresh scent. What was he trying to do? Trying to rain insults on her again? "I don't know why..." He hesitated before using his right hand to remove a strand of her hair. Her heartbeat accelerated. "...you're this tempting." She gulped harder, and her eyes widened in surprise because she couldn't believe her ears. He leaned closer as he could hear her heartbeat racing. He niches his lips on her ears and whispers certain words to her enough to send shivers down her spine. "You thought I was blind...but let me tell you, I was blinded by your beauty!" Diana's breath was seized. He knew what her expression would be, his lips curved into a smile. "I want to devour you like the beast that I am. I'm no angel, an insatiable wolf in sheep's clothing...that's what I am." ______________ A Kingdom whereby suitors are chosen by the father when the woman clocks eighteen, she would be married off to the man her father chose for her. Rejection means she was inviting death. Diana was not exceptional. Her father married her off into the Royal family...married off to the blind prince of the King. To avoid being beheaded... ....she ran into the wolf's den. Made a deal with the devil...unknown to her that he was her rejected suitor!

The Eze (king) of the Afugiri community Eze Obinna was suffering from a curse from a wizard who visited his throne to invoke the curse on him. The wizard was paid by Arinze, a rival to the throne to lay the curse on the king (Eze) because it is only when the Eze is dead that he stands a chance to be enthroned. This beloved Eze Obinna of Afugiri can only be saved by a magic bean that can only be found in a forbidden forest. The curse on the Eze will take his life in 30 days if the magic beans are not retrieved from the forest and administered to him. The Eze was already dying; his body is swelling-up as he is losing consciousness daily. If nothing is done, he’ll be truly gone in 30 days. Before getting to this evil forest, you must pass through the river where Mermaids come out at the bank to hunt for humans, Bushbabies that walks at night with mats, The land of Silence if you make noise because of what you see, you’ll be killed, the land of ‘Don’t look up where the monster that flies above you won’t spare you once you look at it, the land of Lust where your utmost desire will be presented to you and if you fall for it, your soul will be whisked away, the coven of witches where witches will gladly suck blood bloodd if you don’t know how to overcome and so many other strange-lands that require a set of virtue to cross. Brave warriors must be summoned from the 11 clans of Afugiri, these warriors must not just be brave physically, and they must also be strong in character because battling the spirits and crossing those strange lands with strange beings requires virtues.