The silence was deafening. He knew
everything was not alright, not at all. He
moved on the balls of his feet despite
the pain from the sharp stones on the
floor. There were a lot of trees and tall
grasses and one or more of them had
somebody lurking behind them. His head
told him to turn around and run but
somehow he legs kept going forward.
He paused and listened, nothing! He
wondered where they were hiding. He had
followed the shadow, or shadows, he
could not tell if there were two. When it
or they entered the densely wooded area,
he wanted to turn back but felt
compelled to follow. He did not see
anything scary but still, his heart
pounded and suddenly he wanted to be
out of the place.
He turned around and ran. Stones
pierced his feet as he ran but he did not
notice , he just wanted to be out of the
woods. He could see the clear field not
too far and increased his speed. Then he
saw him! He stopped so fast he fell on
his face.
“You look like you have seen a ghost.”
The tall shadow said. His face was
hidden behind veils. Ibilis?
The shadow stepped into the light and he
saw him. It was Sarkin Aljan.
“Sarkin Aljan, what are you doing covered
up like Ibilis?” He said, standing to his
feet. His fear was gone now that he knew
who the shadow was but still he felt
uneasy.
“You recognized me? Esu, nothing could
ever go past you, not even now.” Sarkin
Aljan said with a laugh that made Esu
even less comfortable.
“What is this? Why are we here?” Esu
demanded
“I’m here to warn you and you are here to
heed my warning.” Sarkin Aljan said, his
voice getting cold.
“What are you talking about? Warn me
about what?” Esu asked, his heart was
racing again.
“The battle is not yours to fight, forget
anything the old fool says to you, stay
away from this and you will survive.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,
but I hate being threatened.”
“This is not a threat, it’s a warning. Stay
away!” Sarkin Aljan said.
Esu was about to reply when out of the
shadows stepped a huge dog. He stepped
back quickly. It was Manzo! He had
heard tales about the Dog that troubled
the heavens and ravaged the souls of
men. Rumours had linked Manzo to
Sarkin Aljan but nobody ever saw them
together.
“I see you recognize Manzo. If you did
not take me serious before, I’m sure you
do now. Stay away Esu!” Sarkin Aljan
said and before Esu could reply, he and
the huge dog had vanished into the
night.
He looked around him, he was alone, the
perfect silence was back.
“Wake up!” He heard a voice call from
the skies.
He looked up, there was nobody.
“Wake up Eric!” The voice came again,
this time he felt somebody hit his arm.
“Wake up!”
He opened his eyes and the forest was
gone. Maureen, his soon to be ex-
girlfriend was standing by him. He looked
past her, he was in his room. Who was
the man in the veil and why did he know
him? Why had he called him Esu? Why
had he been so scared of the huge dog?
“Eric, I need to go to the mall with Dami
and Kunbi. I need some money.”
What was Sarkin Aljan talking about? He
was a god, a good one, what was he
doing with Manzo? How do I know all of
these?
“I’m talking to you Eric!”
He looked up at the girl shouting at him.
“How much do you need Maureen?” he
said standing from his bed.
“Fifty thousand should be okay.”
“Are you sure that is enough?”
“What?” She could not hide her surprise.
“I’ll give you double that, in fact, I’ll
double the double. But before you leave,
pick everything that belongs to you in
this house and please don’t come back!
Don’t come to my office, don’t call my
phone, just go far away from me.
Understand?”
He opened his safe, brought out some
wads of cash and handed them to her.
He locked the safe and walked out of the
room. She stood with her mouth open till
he walked out.
He ignored her and walked to the balcony
outside his room. He was confused. First,
there was the man who told him he was
a god, now he was having dreams. He
was either losing his mind or there was
more to the past he did not remember
than he ever thought. Either way, his life
was surely never going to remain the
same.
***
“Good morning Mr. President.”
The greeting echoed as he walked into
his office. As a politician, he had learned
how to make eye contact and wave at
people in a way that made them feel
special. He had also learned to look past
their smiling faces, every one of them
had an agenda. That was what confused
him about his first appointment for the
day. What was his agenda?
He had seen Doctor Suleiman Aweda on
television a few days after the victims of
the strange sickness had died. The death
of the villagers had gotten international
publicity. It had to, it was not every day
that over four hundred villagers died
from an unknown sickness. He spoke to
the press, assuring the nation that the
government was on top of the situation.
The truth was, he did not even know
what the situation was.
Doctor Aweda had an interesting opinion
about the sickness that had made many
dismiss him as a crazy man. The Press
had started to give him attention when he
predicted the manner in which the
patients will die and his prediction
turned out to be spot on. Some still
dismissed him as an attention-seeking
lunatic but he had gotten their attention.
Chukwudi, his minister for Health,
himself a well renowned doctor who had
advised against giving Aweda any
attention was going to sit in the meeting,
so the president “would not be fed crap”,
as he bluntly put it.
The President walked into his office and
sat. It had been his habit to spend the
first thirty minutes of his day at the
office to pray but that was a long time
ago, before the guilt of his adulterous
affair with Bola sank too deep. Now he
just dived straight into work, God knew
he did not have a shortage of work.
Adama his secretary had followed him
into the office, wondering if he would
truly be seeing the doctor so early.
“Send them in Adama.” He said.
She stepped out of the office and almost
immediately the two men entered. The
first was Professor Chukwudi Adigwe, the
minister of health. He had known Adigwe
since they were friends in his secondary.
The fact that he was a famous successful
doctor made it all the more easy to
appoint him as a minister.
Following him closely behind was Dr.
Aweda. He entered clutching a brown bag
that had some files sticking out of it. His
shirt was loosely tucked into his
oversized trousers which somehow did
not compensate for his undersized
jacket. His big-sized glasses gave him a
clichéd look of an over-studious doctor.
“Good Morning Mr. President.” Professor
Adigwe said. He never called him Mr.
President except when other people were
around.
“Good Morning Mr. President.” Dr. Aweda
echoed the greeting.
“Good Morning gentlemen, you are
welcome, please take your seats.” He
said, shaking their hands.
He spent ten minutes discussing nothing
in particular. Dr. Aweda did not seem to
like small talk as he kept rummaging
through his files.
“Let’s get down to business then.” Lange
said. “Dr. Aweda, I want to know all you
know about this sickness.”
“Sir, this sickness was first diagnosed in
Egypt in 270 BC.” Aweda started.
“270 BC?” Lange asked, surprised.
Adigwe sighed, he obviously had a
problem with what Aweda had said.
“Yes sir, two seventy years before Christ.
I don’t understand why our dates are
recorded in reference to Christ, but they
are, hence the BC.”
“I know what BC is Doctor, I was
wondering how this could have been in
existence for so long and nobody seems
to know about it.”
“I know about it sir.” Aweda said.
“Yes, I mean it’s not common knowledge.
Please continue what you were saying.”
“The reason why a lot of people don’t
know about the Black death disease or
BDD- that’s what it was called then – is
because it has struck only three times in
history. After the Egyptian incidence, it
happened again in the Gold Coast four
hundred and thirty years ago.”
“Where did you get all this information
from Aweda?” Professor Adigwe spoke
for the first time.
“I have been out of this country for many
years researching diseases of the past
millennium and I stumbled upon the
black death disease. I was shocked when
I heard news that some people in my
home country were showing symptoms
that looked BDD, I had to come back
quickly and lend a hand. Of course, my
help was thrown back in my face,” he
said, casting a mean glance at Adigwe.
“Are you saying you could have stopped
the victims from dying?” Lange asked.
“Maybe I could have, but we will never
know now.”
“Prof, could he have saved the victims?”
Lange asked turning to Adigwe who was
not looking impressed at all by Aweda’s
words.
“He had no concrete solution when he
came to us. We could not risk the lives of
Nigerians just because a man thought he
had a solution. We had other solutions
we were trying.” Adigwe said.
“Well, how did that work out for you?”
Aweda asked with a sneer.
“Before we can find a solution to a
problem, I believe we need to find the
cause. Do we know the cause of this
BDD?” Lange asked, he was not sure
whether to direct the question to his
Minister or this man who claimed to
know more than every other person.
“Yes sir, we know the cause of BDD” It
was Adigwe who answered. “It is not
physical, it is nothing medicine can
prevent. It is the curse of Apophis”
“The curse of what?” Lange asked,
eyebrows raised.
“That is why we did not listen to him.”
Adigwe said , shaking his head. “Mr.
President, I’m sure the good doctor here
wants to help but I think we need to
focus on finding a more reasonable
cause of this awful disease.”
“See how he dismissed my theory without
even hearing me out. You don’t think
curses can cause sicknesses?”
“I know people get sick all the time and
none of them were caused by any dead
Egyptian king or any other mythical
deity.”
“They are called Pharaohs and they are
more powerful dead than alive. Haven’t
you seen ‘The Mummy’?”
“Now you base your medical theories on
a movie? Of course you do since
everything you do is nothing but fiction
anyway.”
“Do you know that 56.7% of what you
know today, you learnt from one form of
video or the other?”
“Where did you get that statistic? The
Half-wit’s magazine?”
“Stop it, gentlemen!” Lange said. “We
need to find a solution to this disease in
case it strikes again.”
“Oh, it will. It kills thousands and
thousands before it stops. It spreads
from one village to another, increasing
the number of people who die in each
incident until people get tired of
counting.”
Adigwe shook his head and said. “We
don’t know all of these Mr. President, I
will like that we continue our research
with the CDC instead of wasting time on
a single man’s theories.”
“What is the solution you propose Dr.
Aweda?” Lange asked despite Adigwe’s
subtle request for a dismissal.
“The Egyptians sacrificed the Pharaoh’s
only daughter. In the Gold Coast, they
sacrificed twelve virgin girls. But…”
“Jim, can you please see the problem
with this man? Can we please end the
meeting so I can go do some real work?”
Adigwe asked, he was already getting
agitated.
“Dr. Aweda, we will not be killing
anybody. I hope this would be the last
occurrence of whatever this BDD is.”
“Oh, I can assure you there will be more
occurrences. Believe me, I am never
wrong.”
Lange sighed and said. “Well, we can
only hope you are wrong this time. We
can only hope.”
***
“I cannot believe I am studying
mythology with you.” Anne said.
The day was perfect. She was lying down
on the rug in her living room, resting her
head on Damola’s broad chest. The open
windows let in just enough air to keep
the room cool. Soft music filtered
through the room as she sipped from a
tumbler.
She hoped the intensity of her joy at
being with him was not showing on her
face. It was ridiculous! It was only four
days since their first date and she was
madly in love with him. She had tried her
best to hide it and she was failing
miserably. She had spent almost every
minute of her day and some nights with
him. Despite the stares she got from her
employees and comments from her
friends, she had made sure he was with
her everywhere she went.
“Studying mythology is way better than
that boring karaoke thing I had to go to
and I did not complain.” Damola said,
nudging her playful.
“You complained, a lot!”
“That was because I had to sing. But you
can’t deny that you have been educated
studying the gods of your fatherland.”
“Hmm, true. Since you like reading so
much, I’ll get us something fun to read.”
She said standing.
“Yeah? What would that be? One of your
fashion magazines? I don’t see how that
is better than the karaoke.”
“I was interviewed in this one, I’m sure
you’ll love it. Don’t ask me why it’s in the
bathroom though, that is one question
I’m not willing to answer.”
She heard him laugh as she walked to her
room. She wished her life could just
pause so she could live forever with
Damola. He made her happy, more happy
she than she thought she could be. She
opened the door to her bathroom and
paused. She could have sworn the
magazine was on her dresser, maybe she
had taken it back to the bookshelf then.
She turned around and headed for the
door.
Her hand was on the doorknob when the
light flickered. She paused, that rarely
happened, not with her generator which
kicked in when power failed. She turned
the doorknob and the light went off. The
bathroom went dark except for light
sifting in through the window. She shook
her head, the stupid generator was
malfunctioning again. She shook her
head and opened the door.
She stopped and staggered back!
Standing in front of her was the biggest
fiercest dog she had ever seen. It was as
tall as she was and its eyes seemed to
ooze darkness. It stood there looking at
her, its giant tongue hanging out. She
tried to scream but her mouth was too
dry. She staggered back into the
bathroom and tripped over a bucket. The
dog kind of took that as a cue to attack.
It strode towards her slowly, each
measured step adding to the fear that
now threatened to burst her head.
She stumbled to her feet and felt around
the bathroom for something to hold. She
stumbled against the tap and turned it
on. The water touched her hand and
suddenly the dog stopped. As the water
flowed off her hand she felt a sensation
run through her hand and into her body.
She withdrew her hand from beneath the
tap and waved it around as the
sensation moved through her body. She
felt a strong wind begin to blow in the
room, the dog seeming to have recovered
from whatever made it stop began to
move towards her again.
She heard things fall and break as the
wind grew stronger. The dog unruffled by
the wind got closer and she moved
backwards away from it. She wanted to
run but her feet only shuffled, very
slowly. She moved one more step and
felt something solid against her back,
she had reached the wall.
“Daaaa…aaa…” She tried to scream at the
top of her lungs.
The dog stopped in front of her and
bared its teeth. It looked like he was
smiling. She felt her eyes start to close.
“Daaa..aaa…”
***
He picked up the remote and reduced the
volume of the music playing. He thought
he heard something coming from the
bedroom. Anne had been gone for close
to ten minutes. He had not noticed at
first because he had dozed off for a
while but now he was getting worried.
He stood from his chair and moved
towards the bedroom. He got to the door
and the light flickered. He paused, then
he heard the sound of things falling. He
hurriedly opened the door and ran into
the bedroom, the light was back on. He
looked around the room, Anne was not in
the room. She had mentioned going to
the bathroom. He rushed to the
bathroom door, he grabbed the door,
turned it and pushed it in. It did not give
way. She locked the door?
“Anne?” He called as he knocked on the
door.
There was a total silence. He had just
turned around when he heard a sound. It
was a whimper, but he knew who it was;
Anne. He turned back to the door and
pushed it as hard as he could, it did not
give way. He moved backwards, and hit
the door with more force. It did not
budge. He moved further backwards and
ran towards the door but stopped before
he hit it; the key was in the lock. His
hands were shaking as he fumbled for
the key. He turned it twice and pushed
the door, still it did not open.
He stepped back from the door, there
was no other lock holding it. What was
happening inside the bathroom? He
moved backwards again, this time
moving farther from the door then he ran
to the door. He closed his eyes as he got
close to the door and braced his body for
the hit. Just when he expected his body
to hit the door, it swung open. He
crashed through the doorway and into
the bathroom.
He scrambled to his feet quickly and
looked around. The room looked like a
tornado had gone through it. There was
water all over the floor, buckets, bowls
and bottles were scattered around the
room.
Then he saw it. The clothes Anne had
worn all day, it was lying in a corner of
the room. She definitely had been in the
bathroom. Why would she remove her
clothes? His heart beat faster as he
opened and searched each closet. He
stopped and looked around again, he
held his head between his palms and let
out a small cry.
“Anne?” He screamed.
She was gone!
To be continued
