Categories; Family drama, Adventure
:
Written by Bright Daniel
Prologue
The time of the night was beyond letting a woman stay outside, not alone a
married woman. In such situation, the husband’s mind goes viral thinking
both the positive and the negative. That’s exactly the situation Fred found
himself. He was a man of determination and ambition, most especially, he
was fearless with vibrant body chemistry. He had a dark body complexion
with clean beards. He’s a bit stubborn which has been a problem between him
and his family. He married his wife, Edna, at his very young age without
the support of his parents. Now, he’s 37 with only a son. The money he used
for the wedding is still questionable till date. Half of it was used to set
up a business for the wife, but it seems the business wants to bring a
problem to him coz the wife uses that to stay late at night.
There was an electric light in the sitting room where Fred waited for his
wife, it illuminated every part of the room giving it a befitting look. He
occasionally glanced at the ticking wall clock to see the time almost
midnight.
Episode 1
Charles, his son, wasn’t the only one that had gone to sleep, even the
entire neighborhood . Fred had gone to the spot where Edna does her
clothing bessiness but couldn’t find her, he also called her line but the
result proved negative. When he stood up to enter into his room, a knock
came from the door.
“Who’s that?” he briskly walked towards the door.
“It’s Edna!” the wife replied.
He opened the door slowly to see her standing like a girl who is just
visiting her boyfriend for the first time. She wore an ash top over a black
skirt and shoes. She parked her natural hair backwards, thus, giving her a
natural beauty that any man would appreciate. She’s physically fair, but
has a fragile body and heart. The husband quietly left the door open for
her to enter which she did and locked it behind.
“This is the second time you come back very late at night. Look at the
time” Fred pointed at the wall clock trying as much as possible to control
his anger in order not to wake the son and the neighbors. “Where are you
from?” he glared at her.
“Honestly, I don’t know my love” Edna took few steps forward to calm him
down before explaining further because she saw the anger getting out of
hand.
“Don’t you dare come closer to me!” he shrieked to the extent his voice
startled her, so she stood at a spot. “How can you tell me you don’t know
where you’re coming from!”
“I don’t know!”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Listen my love, something strange happened today..”
“What could be so strange that you forgot to check your time?”
“I lost consciousness! I woke up in the middle of a lonely road then began
to trace my way back home. The only thing I can remember is a woman who
came to buy from me as I was about to close for the day. After she handed
her money to me, I lost consciousness”
“You think you can make up a story and expect me to believe it?”
“You have to believe me my love” she opened her palm where a piece of paper
rested, the husband watched as she stretched it to him. “I found this in my
hands when I woke up”
Fred remained quiet. He loved Edna to the point he couldn’t bring himself
to beat her no matter the offense. Sometimes, it makes him feel stupid,
yet, he endured. The same love and fear of losing her warranted the early
marriage he had with her even without his parents’ full support. He ignored
her and the paper then walked into the room. He expected her to follow him
immediately but after waiting for a while without seeing her coming, he
went back to the sitting room to see it deserted: the wife was nowhere to
be found again. “Edna? Edna!” he shouted walking to the door. It was
locked. He hurried to Charles’ room, the force in which he opened it, woke
him up. He jumped up from the bed as if he never had any sleep. He had the
father’s resemblance except that he was as fair as his mother. He was just
17 but speaks and reason like an adult.
“Dad, you scared me out of my lovely dream. What’s the noise for?” he asked.
“If you don’t shut up, you’ll tell me if the lovely dream is more important
than your mother”
“What about her?”
“Has she come in here?”
“No!”
Fred left the room while the son followed him immediately wearing just a
boxers and a black singlet. They went to the backyard, searched all the
corners of the house but couldn’t find her. That was strange. They stood in
the living room gazing at each other and breathing hastily until Charles
saw the paper under a cushion then picked it up.
“What’s this, Dad?”
“Let me have that” the father flung it from his hand. He looked at it and
the image which could be found on it, but it didn’t make any sense to him.
“Your mother came back with this before she disappeared” he said looking at
the door.
“Then what is that?” Charles asked.
“I don’t know. I guess it’s more like a map ”
“Map to where?”
“I have no idea”
Charles took the paper from him for more observations. The whole thing
looked strange to him too. Who would explain to them the way about of Edna
in the middle of the night with the door properly locked? Nobody.
Therefore, they stayed awake hopping she returns but the hands of the clock
turned to 7 in the morning, yet, Edna never came back.
Fred hurriedly went to his parents with Charles. It was several miles away
from his residence. One could see him pulled over in from of the parents’
house, then rushed inside leaving his son in the car. All stood in the
living room like an iroko tree
when he explained to them what happened the previous night.
Mr Lambert, the father, kindly ignored him walking
into his room.
“Dad, aren’t you ganna say something?” Fred asked harshly.
“What do you want me to say after marrying that girl without my support?”
he replied holding the doorknob of the room.
“What does that have to do with her disappearance?”
“A lot, son!” the mother interfered while Fred turned to her. “That girl is
a witch!”
“My wife isn’t a witch, mother!” he defended wholeheartedly.
“Then how do you explain someone disappearing in the middle of the night?
She must have grown wings and flew away in search of blood. Who knows if
she has not been caught in the process”
“I forbid you to talk about my wife like that, mother! She isn’t a vampire
neither is she a witch. My wife doesn’t have wings neither is she a
notorious animal. She’s Edna Lucas, the woman I love!”
“It’s obvious she has poisoned your mind” the mother walked to the window
while the father finally entered into the room. Fred wanted to take his
leave too but the mother’s voice stopped him.
“Son, how did you get the money you used for marrying that girl at the age
of 20? I mean what came over you? Did she charm you?”
Fred smiled then shook his head negatively. “Yes, mother, she charmed me
with her love and I must find my wife with or without your help”
“You haven’t answered my question. How did you get the money… ” Before she
could finish, Fred walked out from the room, thus, putting back the
remaining words into her mouth. She exhaled heavily watching through the
window how he drove out with a high speed that woke up sleeping dust on the
sandy ground thereby polluting the environment. Her eyes also caught with
her grandson, Charles. She had never had a close interaction with him ever
since he was born not because she never wanted to but because Fred never
allowed that to happen, even her husband was a contributor to that.
Inside the car , Fred remained quiet with his son as he sped on the road.
The sound of the car engine was barely heard. Nothing could be seen on the
two sides of the road except dried grasses which seemed to be running in
opposite direction with the car but maintained a uniform velocity. Charles
glanced at his father.
“You’ve never allowed me to see or talk to my grandparents”
“That’s because they don’t wanna see or talk to you too”
“Why?”
“I’ve already told you, son; they don’t like your mother” the father
replied throughout without a glace at him. All his concentration was on the
steering wheel, brake-pad and throttle. Another tranquility circulated the
car as Charles thought critically coz he didn’t get the whole thing .
“What did they say about the disappearance of my mum?” he queried again.
“Nothing positive”
“What are we ganna do now?”
Fred refused to give an answer to the question rather added another gear
which increased the speed of the vehicle. Sooner did they get to a
residential area where Charles saw a girl almost his age sitting and crying
by the roadside. He had the desire to talk to her but didn’t know how to
tell his father to stop the car because of a crying stranger. As he
contemplated on that, one of the back tyre of their car busted which made
the father to stop.
“Thank God!” Charles exclaimed within him because God answered his prayers.
They came down at the same time. As Fred watched the busted tyre to know
how to go about it, so as Charles watched the very girl to know the cause
of her tears.
“Thank God we have a spare tyre” the father said opening the boot of the
car. When he noticed that the son’s mind was totally absent from there, he
called harshly, “Charles!”
He turned immediately. “Yes, Dad?”
“What are you looking at?”
“Just a second, Dad” he walked out to meet the girl while the father
watched him. He later ignored him then began to change the tyre by himself.
Charles placed two hands in his pockets when he approached to the girl. She
had a long natural hair that rested on her back. She wore a pink gown with
long white stockings that ended just on her thighs. On her feet were also
pink shoes. The seat in which she sat was a public metal seat. Charles sat
down giving some centimetres distance from her. He glanced at her.
“Hey, why the tears?” he asked but the girl remained quiet drying the
tears. “I’m Charles, our car just broke down. Can you tell me the reason
for your tears?”
“Why do you care?” she finally replied.
“Coz I should be crying with you”
“Why?” she stared at him.
“My mum vanished from the face of the earth last night”
The girl became surprise. She averted her eyes from him gazing at the
opposite side of the seat. Charles could see her quiet and shaking.
However, Fred had been taking a glance at both of them from a distant as he
tightened the last nut of the tyre wheel and walked to them.
“It’s time to leave, Charles” he said dusting his hands.
“Wait, Dad” Charles looked at the girl. “What’s the problem?” he asked her.
“My mum also vanished yesterday night” she replied then broke down in tears
again while Charles glanced at his father. “My Dad has been searching for
her all day” she added.
Fred seemed to understand what was happening, therefore he squat down,
looked around and lowered his voice. “What’s your name?”
“Regina”
“Okay, Regina, can you explain to me what happened to your mum?”
Regina looked up to see her father coming, so she stood up before he
finally came closer. She stood beside him while Charles also stood beside
his father. The two families stared at each other. Fred’s heart began to
beat faster at the sight of Regina’s father whose face looked familiar to
him, but he never allowed the fear to escalate.
“What a hell do you want from my daughter?” Lucky, the man, asked.
“Nothing, but it seems like we have the same situation” Fred replied and
brought out the paper. “Have you seen anything like this?”
Lucky looked at it after collecting it. He brought out another paper from
his pocket which didn’t have the exact image with the other, but has
something similar to it: Fred’s paper was a total map while his was a
symbol which can be found on the map. They explained how they got it and it
was from their wives before they suddenly vanished. Therefore, they tried
searching for the meaning of the situation before Fred returned home with
his son. He flung his car key on the center table then collapsed on the
nearest cushion. He rubbed his hands on his eyes occasionally remembering
where he saw Lucky- That was sixteen years ago when he broke into their
house, killed his only father and took away a huge amount of money. He wore
a mask which made Lucky not to see his face but he saw his’ clearly, that’s
why he was able to recognize him..
After coming out from the horrible thought, Fred regretted his past actions
which he believed have come to torment him. Therefore, tears rolled down
from his eyes. Charles was moved when he saw him in that mood from the
opposite cushion.
“What’s it, Dad?”
Fred niffed then sat up boldly. “I want you to listen to me, son” he began.
“I have made a mistake in the past which I’m regretting now. I want you to
understand that my mistake was as a result of the love I have for your
mother. Not only did I disobey my parents to see that she was always with
me, but I also committed a crime..” he paused.
“What crime?” Charles wanted to know.
“Arm robbery and murder which took place at Lucky Father’s house. Then, he
was as young as I was. I killed his father then took away a huge amount of
money which I used to marry your mother and did other things to make her
comfortable because I was afraid to lose her to another man. Now, I think
that particular act is the one trying to ruin me now”
The expression of amazement could be seen on Charles’ face after hearing
from his father. He stared at him shaking his legs like a wise old man.
“What a coincidence!” he stood up to his father in a way he sat beside him
with a hand on his shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Dad”
“You are?” the father looked at him.
“Yes, but don’t get me wrong, I never said what you did is good but I’m
happy you did it for love. Let the past be past, we should focus on how to
get my mum back”
“How can I let the past be past when it’s hunting me now?”
Charles stood up. “Come to think of it Dad, if the past is the one hunting
you through my mum, then why is it hunting Lucky whom his father you killed
and robbed sixteen years ago? I guess is way beyond that”
Fred became amazed at the son’s wisdom which rendered him speechless. He
did nothing but to reason his words again and again. That did not only give
him hope but encouraged him to move on and face his challenges. Therefore
he stood up and hugged him.
“I’m with you Dad” Charles said. His head barely reached is shoulder.
“Thank you, son” he replied.
****
The next day, the quest for the search of the unknown began. Lucky and his
daughter, Regina, drove to the residence of Fred before they began their
journey using one car . Regina and Charles rested on the back seat while
Fred and Lucky in the front seat . They had concluded to meet a dibolic
spiritualist instead of a man of God.
“Men of God are not to be trusted these days. They will definitely channel
the cause of the problem to your grandmother or parents. So I suggest we
meet a spiritualist” Fred had said earlier.
The journey took five hours before getting to the destination. It was an
old building with grasses around the vicinity. Some moses plants could be
seen on the walls of the building, even on the zink. It looked horrible and
terrible added to darkness that was taking over the atmosphere. The house
had no doors or windows which made Charles wonder if a human being lives
there. There was an old car without tyres resting by the corner of the
house whose glasses had broken too. One could see two red candles burning
at the entrance of the building. Seeing all that, Lucky said to Regina and
Charles, “Both of you should stay here while we go inside”
“Is that a good idea?” Charles queried looking frightened.
“Yes, son, it is” the father replied.
The two men entered leaving the two teenagers in the cold lonely breeze of
the strange environment. They never made a move as both faced each other
looking around as if something or someone would come out from nowhere and
devour them. Regina was more scared, Charles could see it, so he said to
her, “Hey, I’m right here. Don’t be scared, we gonna find out mothers,
okay?”
Regina didn’t say anything rather went closer to him in a way she held him
to herself to reduce the fear and anxiety of what ganna befall on them…
:
TO BE CONTINUED
