Pennsylvania, 2018
Maria feet dragged on the concrete floor as someone led her to the basement. His breath was heavy as he howled, supporting his mournful cry with a moment of despair. He led her slowly to the narrow stairs then to the kitchen, his hand circling round her arm as he dragged her along.
"You have to be strong so we can finish this journey successfully," Maria's captor spoke for the first time.
She did not answer. She was almost dead from an hour of continuous dragging and pushing with no support. He shook her hard on her head, yelling as he ordered her to say something.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Maria said without looking at the man who had total control over her.
She rolled her eyes as they got closer to a door. She felt strange, possessed and completely famished. Carefully, Maria's captor released his grip from her arm and pushed the door open. He waited for something to happen; nothing happened. Maria h
Pennsylvania, 2018"I saw it in my dream. I am as sure as hell that I saw a strange creature in my dream," Maria explained."You have to do more than talking for me to believe what you are telling me," Uju said, lowering her head so that Maria could watch the shampoo out of hair.Maria brought the hot water closely, and within seconds Uju could feel her scalp burning lightly."Did you heat the water above a hundred degrees?" Uju asked, feeling agitated."I maintained a stable temperature. You have nothing to worry about."Uju felt relieved as Maria assured her that the water was safe for her hair. She had learnt a few thing about taking care of her hair in a month with Maria than she had learnt in the entire twenty-six years she had spent in Nigeria."So, tell me about your dream again," Uju urged her as she relaxed a bit for the water to fall freely and land inside her bath tub."I saw a man who was like a wolf. He had claw
Munich, 1454"Believe in the Lord and you insult our faith," she sighed."I never wanted to be a part of this in the first place," he said."You can't go back. It is too late."He walked toward the forest; when he looked back he saw her still standing in the rain; she had not moved an inch. She will have to accept I can no longer continue in vain, he thought. She has to accept the path that I have taken.Rain was falling again; the path that he stood was going to lead him to the other part where the Christians resided. A small community with a Reverend as its head. The community that was once his home in the past. He waited about two minutes for her to look at him but she did not. He turned and walked, his head down, his hands closely in front of his waist, going to meet his family."Will you forsake the brotherhood in a time when the full moon is yet to arise from its covers?" She asked.He looked at her with round helpless blue eyes. He was still poised, wondering if she understood w
Pennsylvania, 2018"Well, that was quite a hell of a party for one night," Uju remarked as she and Maria entered her room after spending time in a night club that was strictly for heterosexuals."I can't believe they chased the gay guy out of the club," Uju muttered. "He was nice to me when he offered to buy me a drink.""He is into men not women. You shouldn't let his kind gesture trigger a love impulse in that brain of yours," Maria joked."Do you blame me for falling for a man? After all, falling for him just shows how sexually active I can be, and laughing as he spoke about his dog is a civilized way of expressing my love for him.""Love?" Maria paused, looking mischievously in Abby's direction. "Can you hear what you friend is saying about love?""I can hear her loud and clear. It is not surprising that she feels rather obliged to share her thoughts about the guy to you, to all of us.
Pennsylvania, 2018Maria didn't sleep very well and she could feel it as she opened her eyes to the simulated light of the morning, the blue light bulb burning its peculiar light as she felt a strange peace descend on her spirit. The room she was sleeping in was a familiar room with its red-painted simple walls that constantly reminded her of the past. A past that never existed but was there, in the back of her mind, connecting her to memories only a few could understand. Even in the midst of all her confusion, there was a certain reassurance which she gathered from this newfound reality. The first was understanding that the necklace she wore on her neck meant something to her, if not a lot of people but her.She thought of the last discussion she had with Uju and Abby. The wavy atmosphere that filled her spirit. It calmed her"Get up from the bed," Uju's voice filled her room. They were staying together for a
Lancaster, 1790The story of James Blackwheel, human at day and werewolf at night was no common one. It spread throughout England, travelled with any person who was present when Mr. Strange spoke of his atrocities, his crimes committed against nature. To be a sinful man was one thing to pay penance for. To commune with the devil and be in his own image and form was unacceptable. The conditions were clear. James Blackwheel, father to three children and husband to Elizabeth Blackwheel had made an irreversible choice. He had sat on the same table with people who the church despised and had thrown his family's name into the dust. Therefore, he had to pay for his sins, he had to bear the consequences.Being dead automatically liberated James Blackwheel but as God had declared in the Book of Moses saying with a great voice that the sins of the fathers shall be passed unto the children and even up to the fourth generation, so was the case of Blackwheel's f
Igboland, 1790The whole village turned out on the village square with weapons of war they could quickly grab, men, women, old men, old women and even children. They formed a huge circle as they surrounded the man that had appeared from nowhere. The elders took their places in the circle, each holding a potent charm to dissolve whatever power the person who stood at the center of the circle was possessing. The rest of the village stared in awe as they watched the elders take out their charms from their waists and strike the ground.The village chief priest was not there yet and his servants, two boys and a girl were also absent in the gathering. The elders knew as much as the whole village knew that they could not do anything to the man who stood at the center of the circle. It was a law to respect foreign beings that stepped in their land. Whether dangerous or not, they had to wait for the chief priest of their land to intercede with the gods.There were four d
Khartoum, 2014The place was hazy. The area of the Nile valley known as Nubia, which lies in the North of present day Sudan was home to three Kushite kingdoms during antiquity. Close to the base of one of the Pyramids of Nubia a young man laughed as he called out another man's attention. “Clark, take a look at what we have found! I knew we were looking in the right place when we made that turn!” His voice was dwimmer, filled with adventurous excitement.Clark stopped walking and turned as he struggled to find what his friend had claimed to be the discovery of a century. A physical proof that the Priory of Göteborg had secret meetings in present day Sudan before colonization came to Africa. “Be patient,” he begged. “I am getting closer…”As he followed closely behind his friend, his vision began to fade as the heat of the sun increased. There was no darkness just d
California, 2014When Clark and Michael entered one of the few surviving warehouses of the director of their hidden project, they knew something had changed in the building. The walls were covered up with red paint, the goods that were in the rear complex had been replaced with wires of different lengths, shapes and sizes. The scene before them looked like a complete opposite of what they had left behind.At the middle of the wall that had been the dwelling place of an ancient Italian painting was the picture of a grassy area cascading downward to merge with an abandoned dry land. Close to the picture of this strange piece was another picture composed of a large pentagon bordered in the east by men and women who were emerging from what looked like Dante's inferno. Shrewd looking individuals with stacks of grey hair flowing from their armpits and pubic regions were directly above the tortured men and women as if to accentuate the dark atmosphere preserved for those who had missed the li