A Dread in the Spine - Episode 16

 

 Everything seemed calm and she would have loved it to remain so. However, it was eerie.  Who wouldn't want silence? It was beautiful. She enjoyed silence a lot even before she got born again. Those days, because of the numerous blasting speakers of the clubs and the motels she used to work; and the rancor and noises of the different prostitutes, she always craved for silence. Once, she had gone to the beach with a customer on his voyage . Just the two of them. Most of the time, she always left him weak on the bed. The peace of that place, she longed for it once more. 
However, the only thing silence could do to her now was to make her sit up in fear. In fact, her fears were numerous that she was afraid she would die from them. 
To add to her woe, the trees around the mountain began to howl like a pack of wolves. She sat up and looked about in the house. The house had touches of a woman and the pictures of Raphael and Nosa. He placed two empty frames beside those. They seemed to be friends as Raphael had claimed. 
By the way, Raphael was supposed to have arrived. He promised to be there in the evening to stay with her, and she wasn't doubtful because he always kept to time. She had given him the benefit of a doubt for like two hours, and she knew something was wrong

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/a-dread-in-the-spine

. Someone must have gotten to him. The devil had used them to get to him. If something happened to Raphael, she would never forgive herself for allowing him to get involved in her case. He may still have the devilish habits in him, but she was so sure she could still change him.
There was no other way she could do anything than to leave the place to call him on phone. The night was already settling on the mountain and she would have been too afraid of going out, but her greater fear was to be sure she wouldn't sleep alone in that place. God had manifested himself by allowing Raphael to agree to stay with her. If he also refused to show up, that could only mean God was getting angry at her for hiding behind papers to tell about his coming.
'God help me. Forgive me', she mumbled as she shut the door behind her, and stepped into the windy night. The trees from their different corners looked like human figures, and she knew within a few seconds, she would die from fright. So, she ran back into the house.
She meandered about and searched for her phone. It didn't take a minute to find her phone. With its torchlight, she found her way down the mountain. The journey down the mountain was rough and almost made her heart jump out through her mouth.
 The only things she needed was to get a good network. She raised her phone, and the network bar was empty. She hissed and kept walking down the mountain. 
As soon as she got down from the frightful dark mountain into the drizzles on the ground, she remembered that her Glo SIM card was also at the back of her phone case. She stopped using it for security and sanctity reasons. Now, it was time to use one of her sinful cloths in order to remain sane. The network, Glo, which always had the home advantage, had been known for its ability to be useful in times like that. It could get network connection anywhere.
The sun was peeping from behind the trees, behind the orange cloud, waving its last goodbye at Fortunecity.  Immediately she inserted the SIM card into the phone, it got connected. She dialed Raphael repeatedly, but his number kept ringing. That was a clear indication that God didn't want her to work with him anymore. In fact, that means she couldn't stay in that place.
 The battery of her phone began to drain quickly. Then, it occurred to her that after she dismantled the phone, Raphael took the better battery. Before she released the battery, he tried to collect the phone, but she refused and succumbed when he said he would opt for only the battery. She used the other one after he left since he didn't know she had a backup battery. She picked out Nosa's number and called him. After a few descriptions, he got where she was, and that excited her. He told her to stay put, but the howling tree and the numerous shadows that played neared the mountain made her know she couldn't go back to the house. Probably when he had her time, she would beg Raphael to get her things for her.
However, after sitting at the bottom of the mountain for ten minutes, she knew it was the high time she started making life-saving decisions by herself, and she stopped relying on people to come up with the ideas. If she could get to the city early enough, she could surely get where Nosa was.
As the night edged nearer alongside the drizzles and the cold of the mountain, she knew she was in for a troublesome time.
'No. No. God. Help me. I trust in you. I'll do what you want'.
At that moment a car drove towards her. Her heart flopped with joy, and she flagged it down as if she just saw Jesus. Her long fat skirt danced around her like a balloon.
'Help', she yelled at the car.
The driver reduced the pace of the car and stopped in front of her. The woman in the car wore dark shades, a polo, and black trousers. Another darkness. She should reject the offer. However, the Bible says that if the Lord be for us even our enemy will do things in our favor. That must be the hand of God.
'Hey! Lady. How're you? Are you stuck?'
'Yes. Are you the hand of God?'
The lady removed her glasses and peered at her. Then, she paused for a while and chuckled. 'Oh! I get! I guess I'm the hand of God'.
'Okay! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you'.
She said as she entered the car. Now that she was in the car, she remembered that she must call Nosa. Yet, she feared for her phone's battery. A biro was lying on the dashboard of the car. 
She picked it and turned to the woman. 'Can I use this?'
The woman nodded, and Joana hurriedly wrote Nosa's number on her palm. As if the phone's battery was waiting for her to do that, it went off immediately. She gritted and turned to the woman. She held her lips and watched the dark shade of the woman, and hoped she was about to do the right thing.
'Please, can I use your phone to make a very important call?'
'Hmm...Of course. Just try to go easy on the call credit'.
She dialed Nosa's number, and her fear made her body shake, causing her to hold the phone so hard.
'Where are you?' Nosa asked immediately she informed him she was the one on call.
'I just left the mountain...'
'But I asked you to stop, to wait for me'.
'This place is terrible'.
'Wait for me. Ten minutes to be there'.
'A woman is helping me'.
'I will soon be there for...What! What woman? What's her name?'
'Sorry, he's asking who you're'.
'Shayla', the woman replied in a low tone.
'Shayla'.
'Shayla?' Nosa asked.
'Shayla', Joana said
'Shayla?'
'Yes. Shayla'
'Don't try to do anything stupid. Try to run. God! I should have known. She's the kidnapper. Give her the phone, and try to run'.
'Oh...Ah' She was perplexed and didn't know what to do. The only thing she could do was to release her scarf.
'He wants to give you directions'.
 Working as a prostitute had made her enjoy a lot of free rides, and had made her lose grip off the reality of life that there can never be free rides in life. She should have known the ride and the sudden appearance of the car was too good to be true. Just as the lady collected the phone, her scarf flew off. 
'My scarf'.
The lady stopped the car and grumbled into her phone. Joana jumped out and ran for the scarf, but not before she noticed the lady's broad smile as she heard Nosa's voice on the phone.
The lady smashed the phone on the ground. Joana ran after her scarf. Fortunately, the breeze made it roll towards the forest. The part Raphael pointed out to her the other day, which he said led into the forest was just standing out at her. She ran into it. Prostitution was bad but made her agile especially when she had to stand up to her mates.
 The sun was sinking, and she wished she was on that Voyage again, and not on the ridges, not fighting for her life, not in love with Jesus. She ran and shook the thought out of her head. Jesus was everything. Heaven was real, and that was her aim. But for now, her short-term aim was for God to save her from whoever that woman was. Nosa didn't tell her who she was dealing with. He only told her that he would be there for a short while.
'Oh. God. I'll do what you want. Just save me', she cried as she scampered through the forest.

Read " Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. She ran into the forest as the leaves continuously slapped her body.
'Stop. Hey, stop', the Shayla lady shouted from her car. But she wasn't ready to wait. Even if she was pointing a gun at her, if she didn't shoot her, she wouldn't stop.
Joana ran and didn't stop stomping the grasses until she got to a sloppy part. She was plunged down the hilly part, which had little rough edges. She shrieked as she tumbled through the forest until she got to the end of the slope. Miraculously, she fell into a bush. They scratched her though, but she preferred their scratches to the Shayla lady at the top of the hill. She had forgotten about the slope.
 When she glanced up and saw that she wasn't made yet, she rejoiced as she ran off into the thickness of the forest, and allowed herself to be immersed by the darkness that was invading the massive forest.  All she needed there was to find the place Raphael said led outside. Then, probably, Nosa would find her, and she would finally get to see her voyage again.