THE 72 HOURS.

EPISODE 1-THE SECRET

She suddenly woke up from her deep sleep only to hear the ticking off of the clock more frightening than her own screams. It was just 8:30pm. 

Earlier in the day, she had returned from the clinic after complaining about a severe headache to her boss around 10:00am, barely 72 hours to her wedding, but finally left the clinic at about half past two in the noon. 

She had spent the whole time thinking about the events of the next few days she was going to be married to Segun and had watched and listened to the rains beat hard against the window of her room which made  "dwa-dwa" sound in her head. At intervals, the rains had sung from the lines of a popular song, "if you marry taxi driver, I don Kia." She was still sandwiched between the pink pillows when she fell asleep somewhere around 5pm. 

Now, as she could catch up with her racing hearts, her eyes slowly began to move about the dark room just to be sure she wasn’t still marooned in the forest where she was about to be hacked to death by a masked man. Every time he chased her round the forest, somehow she had managed to scream out of his reach whenever he raised his machete to cut her. 

And as always, the masked man wouldn’t say who he was whenever she asked him why he wanted to kill her or who wanted her dead. That someone is after her life had filled her with so much misery in a time she was meant to be happy like every other woman about to be wedded. Who had she offended in her life? 

She eventually let out a deep sigh as it was obvious she was now safely tucked in one of the rooms of her parents sprawling white duplex. They were about eight bedrooms in the whole house occupied by only four people; her parents lived with her upstairs, while their maid and driver lived downstairs. She must quickly leave her room to go outside for some walk or something if it’s all she needed to clear her stuffy head.

While she tried to get on her night gown, she remembered her mother telling her that one of the near wedding experiences for most anxious brides would be startling nightmares. In fact, Kikemi, her bosom friend since their university days in the United States had told her that she had once dreamt that Nike’s father actually walked out of their wedding, just midway to the exchange of vows. 

There were no prayer houses she didn’t visit just to keep her man. Eventually, they got wedded without any strange surprises. Now they are happily married with a two years old child. Hopefully, hers may pass too. 

However, She had left the responsibility of prayers to her clergy parents as she had lost faith in God after the incident that happened to her when she was just a teenager.

When she had tied the edges of her robe, she swallowed so hard and made to climb down from the bed. But the instant her foot touched the plush rugs, her heart suddenly  shifted from its position and the last thing she heard was her body hitting hard on the floor. 

**************

To be continued...

By Ogechukwu Animam (+234-07064410036). Please do well to share and leave your comment. Don't edit out the credit of the Author. Let's be mindful of others.