A Dread in the Spine - Episode 19

 

 Shayla drove out of the compound, rubbing her stomach and heaving repeatedly as she made sure she didn't cry. The hole she made in Lila's head flashed back to her. Unlike the other times she had killed other people, she couldn't wash or will this guilt away. Normally, she would have taken a strong hot drink to wash it down, but she didn't have the time. She had just deprived a woman of ever seeing her daughter again . And maybe, it was true. Maybe Lila's Aunt would make her baby a prostitute. Maybe she should have gone easy on her. She shouldn't have really shown her Edo side. She was an architect to the fact that Lila's child would have to cry over the grave of her mother. Would she want such life for her own baby, for Nosa's baby?
When she got to Segun's location, he was looking lost as he sat in his car, and she felt like screaming at him. He said he knew where the missing ex-prostitute was, but his car was nothing near any house. The only thing she heard was rigorous prayers from the top of the mountain. As she reduced her pace to park near him, she was met by people lamenting as they helped someone that seemed to have been injured. 
Not ready to cause a scene, Shayla reined her anger, and talked with clenched teeth, whispering, 'what did you do this time?'
'I lost her'.
'Was that why Nosa called me the other time?'
Segun blinked and hit his head severally. 'I lost her

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

. I swear by my head, I got here early. I swear. Immediately Olivia told me that the man in the customer care didn't come here, I did my research and I rushed here. I did. But I think someone got here before us. I think the Gragus team got here before us'.
She stared at him and wished she was Medusa; he would have become a stone for his stupidity. She stiffened her hand in anger and gave him a cold glare that made him cringe.
'You lost her. She was our only hope. You lost her'.
'I didn't. I haven't just found her.'
'Why were you now waiting?'
'Because I don't think she's here, and I don't know where to go. I suspect she had been taken like the rest. We are back to the first set'.
'That's not true. My source was real and you confirmed it from your source'.
'Yes. That's why I would have been surprised too. When I got here, I met a church. I even pretended to want to see their prophet so that he can pray for me all in the name of scouting for her, but there was no one there that looked like her. The place church compound is something like how will I put it? It's like a field. You know what I mean'.
'I don't know what you mean and I don't want to know'.
'I mean she isn't here'.
'Then, we've got to get going'.
She tried to fathom all the possible solutions and knew she had to return to her base, and do what most people in F.A.L.T hated- being dependent on Racheal. She called her as she drove off, and gave her the details of how events ran at her side.
'We need all the help necessary. This person had taken everyone we could use to catch him. What do we do?'
'What do you do? We need to salvage the situation. News has gotten to me that the Gragus Team is behind or in support of this person, and be careful. This person's style is different and seemed to be an effort from both someone within our group and someone not totally a male. Yet, this person is good'.
'Okay. What to do?'
'You shouldn't ask me that. You know, don't you? I'll send help. But whatever you do, be smart. Something is brewing here. Meanwhile, Bennett is dead'.
'Leech is dead? Oh!' She said and sucked her breath as she imagined the still body of the one person that always took her breath any time she saw him. 'How did that happen? How's Jessica taking it?'
'Don't bother yourself with the unglorified details but just stay sharp especially with your baby'
'How did you...?'
'I'm Rachael'.
She wanted to scream that Rachael wasn't God, but had to refrain herself from doing something stupid. However, when the call got disconnected, she screamed loudly. Bennett was dead, and Rachael was acting like God. She screamed and drove off as she stared into the darkness of the road.
Now, that they've lost her again, she had to employ another tactic in knowing where the woman was before things went out of hand. She directed Segun to go to and start searching for another person with vision. Segun complained about having a lot on his plate.
'Then, eat them and empty your bowel in the prison. I won't mind defiling Rachael and Chief', she grumbled to him as she started the car again. She had to return to bury Lila's corpse.
When she got there, the other ladies were weeping over the corpse. She cocked her gun, bringing them back to reality and ordered them to carry the corpse outside. While two of them were doing that, she ordered the last one to put a shovel in the backseat of her car. Then, she opened the trunk of the car and ordered them to dump her corpse there. Seeing that she was ready, she asked them to return to the room and gave the guards orders to watch them closely.
She couldn't understand the reasons she was doing what she was doing, but she couldn't let a mother die without the proper covering of a grave. Would her own unborn child have wanted that for her?
She drove off to a deep part of the forest around and dug it up. As she did so, her mind went back to the day she stood on the edge of the grave of her parents, who died in an accident. The silence of that day flooded back to her and she stared blankly at the empty grave. The numbness that had taken over her returned to her with a lot of emotion. Digging the grave felt like a wake-up call for the tears that had being in hiding all this while. She shook her head to send the tears away.
'Things are not the same. The dead cannot rise again', she said as she slammed the shovel on the dark pile of sand.
With a sweaty body, she dumped Lila into the grave she dug, and covered it up. As she straightened the bulge of the grave, the moonlight crawled out of the clouds that gathered in the sky, above the mountains, and she remembered how she sat watching the moon in the night after she had had the cause to bury her parents. The memory of those times brought her to her knees and she yelled, 'why?'
She crumbled to the floor and cried for the guilt of killing Lila, for losing Joana, for Bennett that was claimed to be dead, for her parents, for living a life she couldn't pass to her own daughter.
If things could work out well as planned she would leave this lifestyle and go somewhere far, somewhere she could start all over. With a painful heart and a tired body, she dragged herself to her car. The next day, she would return go to Moriah to help her in the search. It was high time they used the best and faced the problem squarely.
                    ***
Nosa watched the gate and must have slept off around 3 am. However, the next morning's sun met him on the way from Moriah's house. He honked thrice to inform her of his exit from the place. She honked to let him know she understood him.  
Nosa brought out his phone and began to trace Raphael's phone. It took him a while before he finally found out where the phone was pinging from. If he got to Raphael, he would destroy him before he listened to his explanation.
The journey to the place the phone was pinging from was like a road through hell. When he finally saw Raphael's car, it was parked into the drainage on the road. That was very unlike Raphael. Nosa hurried off his car and saw the side of Raphael's car had been crashed into. Right on the floor was his android phone, which had been terribly smashed. Nosa shouted in horror.
'No. No'. 
There was no hope anywhere. There was no way he could find the answer now. He searched his car, but all he could see were CDs of different musicians- gospel, secular, Fuji, foreign. Also, he saw the X-rated magazines that were neatly arranged by the side of the driver's seat which were now splashed with blood. 
After thoroughly searching for anything at all, he knew it was a fruitless effort. There was definitely nothing he could do at that time than to go Shayla's place. Someone had gotten to Raphael, and had probably, injured him badly.
So, he returned to his car and drove off to the beach. Still angry at her, he knew he would never forgive her for what she had done. He should have seen through all the façade, but he was only concerned that she wanted to destroy the joy in his family that he didn't take notice of her other actions.
In his rating, she always came third even though he still hadn't told her. As wise as she seemed, she still didn't know about Moriah and he loved it like that.
When he drove to the beach, he stormed into the house and began to search for any clue at all. He ransacked the house and searched everywhere. He was too pissed to listen to anything. In his reckless search, he unearthed a file and saw a list that he would have thought had no significance if he didn't see Moriah's phone number in it. He was so surprised. Right in front of her name was the word 'Supplier'.
That infuriated him beyond words. So, Moriah was involved with Shayla? He crunched the paper in hand as he felt hot blood circulate his body. He brought out his phone from his pocket and dialed Moriah's number.
'You' He barked immediately the phone got connected. 
'Nosa?' She said, startled. In their days of knowing one another, he had never used such condescending tone on her. Even after knowing what she did for a living, even after she told him that she couldn't marry him, he refrained from the use of such tones. She had betrayed and deceived and made him look like a fool. There was no way he would forgive her this time. She knew that Shayla was involved in the kidnapping and death of these ladies, and she kept helping her. There was no way he would accept any explanation or excuses from her.
He shook his head and disconnected his call as he headed towards her house. She would hear the last of his anger. He drove off and repeatedly disconnected her call. She was never loyal; he knew that, but he never knew she would play a part in one of his downfalls. His investigation was supposed to go smoothly if she hadn't disrupted it. He dialed Shayla's phone number again but it was disconnected.
'The Witch', he muttered.
The journey to her place was warlike. Unlike the other times that he was the one being victimized by other road users, he drove recklessly. 
'I'll kill you, imbeciles', Nosa shouted as the other drivers complained about the way he was driving. Instead of apologizing, he screamed curses at them. They were all untrustworthy.
 When he got to her house, she rushed to the gate. He was soon accosted by one of those preachers, who insisted on giving him a tract. He barked at her, and she withdrew, glaring at his furious eyes. Immediately she opened the gate, she pulled him inside. Despite his anger, he allowed her to pull him. When they were still University friends, she was the only one who knew how to stop him from doing stupid things whenever he was angry. One of her tactics was pulling or pushing away from where he wanted to make a fuss.
A very good case was the day someone was trying to evict Moriah out of her house because a richer girl wanted the same room. Nosa was ready to beat the landlord to a pulp, but she pulled him away and the anger subsided. Although Chloe got a new house for Moriah, and the girl committed suicide in the same house six months later, Nosa would have disfigured their faces.
 However, not today. There was nothing she would do to make him stop being angry.
'You're despicable'
'Nosy'
'Don't you dare chew my name in that filthy mouth of yours like a chewing gum'.
She looked rattled and stared at him. 'What did I do wrong?'
'What? What did you do wrong? Can you hear the poo you're spilling from your mouth? What did you do wrong?'
She blinked several times and opened her hands.
'You knew Shayla'.
'Yes. She's your mistress'.
'No. No. Don't give me that crap. You knew her as a customer or the real customer'.
'Oh. She...Oh Nosa it's not like that'.
'You knew her'.
'She doesn't know I know you'.
'You knew her. And the two of you played me'.
'I wouldn't do that. Nosa, please hear me out'
'You both played me: My only lead is gone. You helped her'.
'I didn't help her'.
'I knew I was bugged, but I couldn't have suspected that she did it'.
'Oh no. I didn't help her bug anything. The thing I gave her to bug you wasn't even to listen to you. I claimed it didn't work because of some jargons just to make her not bug you. She didn't get information from you'.
'Keep that lie to yourself: Someone has been listening to me'.
'I'm not the one. I can help you stop it', she said and held his hand, which he flung away.
Withdrawing from her touch, he shouted, 'Don't you dare touch me.

Read " Don't! Look Closer " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. Don't you just dare. You're...'
'Nosa. I only acted as their transit of illegal entry from Togo to Fortunecity, Nigeria'.
'Who did you bring?'
'A guy named Segun and one lady'.
'What about them?'
'The lady is in the police custody, but the Segun guy is still roaming Fortunecity as a wanted person'.
'Just like you'.
'Nosa... Hear me out'.
'Don't call my name. You're a betrayer'.
'Nosa', she called as he stormed out.
'Nosa', she screamed as he banged the door behind him. 
When he got to his car, he found a tract about those that saw visions. It entailed stories of different people that had gone to hell through visions. He had read it before. The way people went to hell these days was disturbing. And was stupid. If those idiots had not caught the disease of seeing visions of heaven maybe everything that happened to him wouldn't have happened. He crunched the paper and threw it into the nearest dustbin.