Somewhere, 987
The man who was in possession of a necklace he had tried several times to sell was called Barg. He had tried to give it to an unknown woman in return of something he desired but it didn't work out as he had planned. He wasn't happy when he visited the last place to see if he could get an old woman to buy the necklace from him. Again, he was rejected and told to look for something better to do. When he couldn't deal with his frustration any longer, he dashed into the road in search of someone he knew could help him. That person was Alberto. The friend of James Blackwheel who was deceived by Sophia. A woman who was later killed by a man named Man. It was almost noon when he found Alberto sitting with Blackwheel and admiring the wedding party that was going on around them.
Barg moved close to them and greeted them. Alberto responded and asked him what he wanted.
"I am looking for Alberto," Barg said
Pennsylvania, 2020Maria saw what she was looking for as she stepped out from the prison gate. With the clothes she used to enter prison back on her body, she felt a certain reassurance that she was innocent, that she was free. Through the scattered people surrounding the prison, she found joy as she noticed Uju and Abby standing close to a man she didn't see during all the visits she encountered in prison.Uju apparently saw it too in her eyes. From the movements of Maria's hands, she felt the tension that was rising in her."Calm down," Uju whispered as Maria approached her. "How was your time in prison?""I don't want to talk about it," Maria said. "It was a terrible time where I had to tolerate real criminals messing around with me.""Real criminals?" Abby laughed.Maria loosened her grip on Uju's shoulders and backed Abby. "Who is the young man standing beside Abby?" She asked."The young handsome man?" Uju raised her voice.
Pennsylvania, 2020After Clark dropped Maria and Uju at their apartment, he headed straight to a bar that was closeby. When he arrived at the bar, he gazed down at the floor as he tried to remember the patterns he had seen on his way to the prison that housed Maria. He couldn't remember. Despite several attempts, he still couldn't remember how the patterns were shaped like. Suddenly, he felt naive as a woman approached him and asked if he wanted a drink or something else."I don't want anything," Clark said to the woman."You have to drink something," the woman who was named Miss Crow replied quickly.After a little bargain followed by a brief argument, Clark finally agreed to drink something but on the condition that she doesn't charge him which she bluntly refused.
Pennsylvania, 2020Everywhere was cold when Bessie arrived with Maria. They pulled their coats and dusted their feet on the floor, removing the little snowflakes that had gotten attached to their feet. It was December and almost three months now since Maria was granted her freedom which she thoroughly deserved because she was innocent in the murder of her student, John."How are you doing?" Maria said to Clark.Clark raised his head and smiled. He was making a cup of coffee with his eyes focused on the television. There was a popular show going on that he loved to watch despite the situation surrounding them."I am slowly coming along," He said. "What about you? How did your trip with Bessie go? Did you see where my friend, Michael, used to live when he was still alive?""Yes, I did!" Maria said with delight. "I am truly sorry for your loss. From what the folks who live there said about him, I am definitely sure he was a good man when he was
Madrid, 2020The printer in the office of the secretary was unusually undersized as far as Blackwheel's memory could take him back to the last time he saw a machine of that nature. The two doors leading to the office were now locked as the secretary began typing instructions into the computer with a black keyboard while half-observing the sound of the printer."Pronto terminaré," the secretary said in Spanish."How long do I have to wait?" Blackwheel asked."Unos minutos!"As the printer warmed up to release more colored sheets of paper, the time Blackwheel spent in Italy with Alberto came into full view. The torture and brutality he had to endure as he watched Man drive a silver blade into the heart of his dear friend, Alberto weakened his parched soul. He could clearly remember the eyes of his dying friend who had taught him to love even in hard times. Still, he couldn't figure out how th
Madrid, 2020Betrayals were tiny voluminous black insects that Blackwheel had gotten used to seeing around. They stuck at him with a quick glare while waiting for the appropriate time to bite. The void he felt within him pressed down like a starless night, and all he could do as he felt the emptiness spread out around his body like a desolate retarded parasite was to embrace it. He embraced every sense of pain he could feel and made them a part of him. He embraced every sense of friendship he had lost and made them his past. He embraced every sense of hope he felt within him and turned it into his future. It was the second night in a row when he had woken up from a terrible nightmare with the image of Alberto stretching across his mind. He could see Alberto's face in an innocent light, staring widely at the Pacific Ocean as if he would take a dive once the opportunity presented itself to him.Perfecto!And then, in a flash, Alberto was gone like the thick wind c
Madrid, 2020The lights were turned off as Blackwheel reentered the motel. It was the fifth night he was spending in the same room, in the same pair of clothes, far away from his mission to find Man. Less than three minutes ago, he would have confirmed he was mentally deranged when he saw a car moving speedily towards his direction in a way that made him imagine he was lost in one of his common dreams about Alberto. But he was totally wrong. It took the sharp response of an incoming teenager who saw him staring blankly at the driver of the car that would have hit him to pull him an inch away from death. Yet, Blackwheel knew within his heart that his time to die had not come. He knew within his heart that the car wouldn't have killed him even if it had hit him. Still, he wished the boy had asked before deeming it fit to rescue him from a fate he had personally decided. Less pain. Less thoughts. Less people. Less Alberto! He s
Owerri, 2020Ifenna fanned through the pages quickly as he searched for the missing necklace his friend had told him about. Over seven hundred in all and yet, he was unable to make sense of it. The author of the book he was looking at must have been a busy man throughout his career and the entries he had apparently written were joined together in no chronologically order, one by one, they all told stories of different civilization that had been buried during mankind's quest for power.As Ifenna stared at the book again, feeling confused and tired, another disheartening thought occurred to him. It was one of the pages of the book that had been written with the title of a man who shared the surname with a woman he met about two years ago. The title of the page he was looking at was written in bold capital letters.JAMES BLACKWHEELHe attempted to look deeper when his partner, Kainene entered his room and t
Owerri, 2020An iciness raked Ifenna's flesh as he looked at the list of items he had bought from the supermarket. The day before he had read the story about James Blackwheel and then he had thought about Maria Blackwheel. Thoughts he couldn't explain to anyone but himself. Now, as he looked at the cashier in the supermarket, rechecking if the money he had given to her was correct, all he could think about was his meeting with Maria."Is it complete?" He asked."Yes, it is! You can take your package and leave. Thank you, sir!""You are welcome!" Ifenna said.