07/12/2023
******In The Name Of Love******
Episode 1
The night was dark, the crickets chirp nonstop, the sky cloudy and missing its stars and the thunder comes after the lightning as it threatens to rain.
A young lady in her early 20s could hear her own heartbeat as she stood in the middle of a thick bush panting and sweating profusely. She was overwhelmed by the tall grasses that one could barely see her standing there holding a torchlight and wearing a burglar's mask with black leather hand gloves.
She took a few seconds to look around to see if anyone was coming but realized once again that she was all alone in the bush. The cold wind blew from the east direction as the grasses sway from end to end slightly revealing her figure, then came a flash of lightning accompanied by thunder and the young lady quickly held a lifeless body by the feet as she dragged it across the grasses on the ground.
It started raining and she kept dragging the body and suddenly the phone in her pocket starts to ring. "S**t!" She cursed and hurriedly held out the phone that belongs to the dead lady and pressed the silent button and it rang on in silence. On the screen appears "JayJay" accompanied by lots of love emojis.
She gazed at the screen until it stops to ring, and then she immediately turned it off and put it back in her jeans pocket. "It doesn't have to be like this... It doesn't have to be like this..." She kept muttering beneath her breath as she continued dragging the body under the now heavily falling rain then stops as she got to a riverside.
After pondering for a while she flashed the torchlight on the body of the dead lady revealing a red sequence gown she was wearing, her eyes half closed and her nose had a little bleed. Her mouth was left agape and she was starting to turn white. "If I dump you in the river, you could float to a far distance and that will take days if not weeks to find you. So I'll leave you here. That way you won't go missing for long" she thought to herself, then bent over and whispered to the dead body like she could hear her. "I'm sorry Cherry, there was no other way" she apologized caressing her hair.
Then she started crying hard, covering her mouth with her both hands. But after crying for a moment she went down to the river and sunk herself inside. She thought of the so many wrongs she had done, what she had become and she got overwhelmed by her darkest moments as she screamed underneath the river in anguish.
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Dakori jolted up from her bed screaming and all sweaty to her phone ringing nonstop. She was breathing heavily like someone being chased by a deadly wild animal. She climbed down from her bed, went straight to the toilet bowl and vomited. She washed her face afterwards and went to pick up her phone placed on the right side of her queen-size bed. On the screen appears eight missed calls.
She unlocks the phone using her index finger and saw that it was her cousin Jason that has been calling. Just as she was about dialling his number, his call came in again and intercepted hers. She tapped the answer button and placed it on her right ear.
"It'd better be important..." She said sarcastically
"Oh thank God you are okay..." Jason replied from the other end with a shaky voice.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? What's happening?" She curiously asked raising her brows.
"I don't know. Is Cherish there with you?" He asked
"No, she's not here. What's happening, is everything alright" She moves to the window side and peeped outside to see if her parents' cars were parked outside.
"Really? I thought you were supposed to go to the housewarming party together?".
"I couldn't... my parents returned last night and l...I needed to be at home. She dropped me and Tina off and left for the party" Dakori said. "Is everything okay with her?”
"Honestly I am not sure. I tried calling her phone last night but it was switched off. Same thing this morning and Maris said she never showed up for the party which is odd". Jason said worriedly.
"Come on now. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe she went somewhere else she probably didn't want you to know. Stop overreacting".
"Dako you know that's unlike her. Something is wrong and I can feel it. I need to look for her. Probably go to her family house and see if she is there" Dakori let out a sigh and nodded.
"Yeah I think you should go check... she must have gone there to see her kid, who knows"
"Okay then. I'll talk to you later. And please try to call her too, see if it rings" Jason pleads.
"Sure I will. And Jay..."
"Yes..."
"Keep me posted okay? I'm sure we will find her or she might just come home. And if you need anything, I'm always here okay?" Dakori reassured in a softer tone and Jason replied
"Thanks. I will call you when I get something"
"Okay. Bye".
Dakori drops the call and fix her gaze on the drawers beside her bed. She takes a few steps towards the bed as her heart starts pounding fast. Tension increases as she reaches for the drawer handle and pulls it out to see a few naira notes, an ATM card and a smartphone. She slowly picks up the ATM card with the holder's name NELSON C. NGORBA boldly written on it.
She sighed heavily and closed it back hastily. The thought of disposing of it crossed her mind, and it was the best thing to do. So she got a paper bag and put the phone, the card and money inside and placed it under her bed as she gets ready to go throw it in a place where no one will ever find it.
To be continued...
