THE LAST WEDDING
(Slaughters)
Episode 5
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Chidera was the girl carried by the slaughters. They covered her mouth, ti-ght£ñed her hands and legs for her not to shout or struggle to escape. She was a girl of simplicity who doesn’t like problems. She had dimples on her cheek which become visible when she smiles. They carried her into the slaughtering room, la-id her on the table and tied her down. Due to lack of electricity, the room was dim ma-king some hanging human p@rts visible. When Chidera saw most of them, she shouted but her voice wasn’t heard because of the fabric covering her mouth. She watched two male slaughters wearing hand-gloves and bringing out sharp knives while Cynthia and Bernard watched them from the door. Chidera’s breathing rate bec@m£ fas-ter, the movement of her che-st and stomach could tell how fast it was. Heat of untimely death began to produce sweat on her innocent face. She watched the two men stabbe-d her with the knives until she took her last breath. Blood splashed, and immediately, light c@m£ back.
Seeing that, Bernard and Cynthia looked at each other. She knew that his mind has beginning to change about what they were doing but never showed concern about that, rather she said to him, “Bernard, go help them slaughter the b©dy”
He didn’t make a move neither did he say anything. He placed a hand in his pocket watching as the other two slaughters undress dead Chidera to full n-kedness.
“Bernard!” Cynthia called on him. “I said go help them!”
He began to move, collected his gloves then joined them.
“This is our last work for tonight. We shall continue tomorrow” Cynthia announced then walked out of the room.
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Ubiji had to call his friend, Nelson, that night. He told him to plea-se, go to the residence of Mr Desmond, he wanted to speak with him.
Nelson dressed up at that late hour of the night. He knocked on the gate severally before Aminu opened.
“Kai, na who I dey find?”
“I want to see your oga. Tell him that Ubiji s£nt me to him”
“Why?”
“It’s about Chisom, his daughter”
“Okay, make I wait here fah”
Aminu went into the house to deliver the message but Mr Desmond requested to see Nelson who c@m£ inside the compound after that. He dialed Ubiji’s number in his pres£nce. The wife was also standing beside him.
“Hello sir,” Ubiji sounded on the phone.
“Yes? What is it?” Mr Desmond’s face wasn’t funny.
“I am in Enugu, pres£ntly at Las Veg@s but there is no trace of your daughter, Chisom, neither is there any wedding ceremony taking place here tomorrow. This is a sign of what I just warned you about”
“You must be joking!” He hung up the call and dialed Chisom’s number immediately. Alre-ady, the wife had beginning to feel the gravity of the situation coz the call was on loud speaker.
Chisom’s number proved to be switched off when Mr Desmond called it severally then he called Ubiji with his personal number.
“Young man, her number is not going throu-gh. Do not bother yourself because she deserve it if actually she’s in trouble” he hung up the call. As he tried to enter into the house, the wife tackled him by holding his caftan. “What do you mean? plea-se, do something about our only child. You can’t just keep quiet”
He never gave ear to her plead rather finally walked into the building with the wife holding the caftan.
Nelson also went home.
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THE NEXT DAY
Ubiji woke up from Las.Veg@s where he paid and spent the night with the little money he had. He knew that another night won’t be spent on a h0tel room coz there was no money for that, otherwise he’ll permanently remain in Enugu for what he had left in his wallet was his transport fare back to Anambr@. He searched all the whole areas to know if there was a wedding ceremony going on somewhere. He saw a place but at the end of the day, Chisom was nowhere to be found there. The sun and a drizzling rain bit him every minutes of the day but he never gave up.
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Meanwhile, the remaining girls on detention walked round the room quietly. They didn’t have a good sleep neither did they have food for the day, though they weren’t hungry. Chisom faced the wall, Kate sat on the floor with her back rested on the wall too, Loveth sat on the edge of the be-d while Amarachi stood still with hands on her w@!st.
“Who knows what they have done to Chidera? Who knows what gonna befall us too?” Amarachi broke the silence. Just then, the door of the room opened and all the girls turned to see Cynthia dropping a tray of rice on a nearby table while two hvge men stood at the door. On the rice were fried human meats.
“I heard what you said” Cynthia began. “Before knowing what we did with your friend, Chidera, eat something and eat her meat”
“What?” Kate stood up angrily. “You mean you’ve killed Chidera and used her b©dy for meat?”
Cynthia laughed. “One of you should also get prepared soon” she began to walk out of the room.
“You bastard!” Kate shouted while Chisom began to vomit. Other girls shouted for help trying to run out but the hvge men pushed them back.
“Even if you shout from now till tomorrow, nob©dy gonna hear you” Cynthia concluded with smiles and locked the door.
Chisom started crying after vomiting likewise others. Nob©dy t©uçhed the food knowing very well that there were not only going to die but also the food was prepared with the b©dy of their friend as meat. Suddenly, Amarachi walked up to Chisom and sl@pped her.
“Why did you sl@p me?”
“Coz you are the cause of all this!”
Without w@!sting time, Chisom returned the sl@p, a thun-derous one. “You are stupid to say that!” she said.
They wanted to go into a physical combat but Kate c@m£ to separate them while Loveth sat on the be-d crying.
“What’s wrong with both of you!” Kate skrie-ked.
“Chisom is the one that set us up! she’s the one who brou-ght the issue of this wedding at the first place” Amarachi replied.
“How would I had known that we were set up? Abigail is my..” Chisom wanted to back fire but was interrupted by the voice of Loveth who said staring at the wall, “Abigail doesn’t exist, if she did, know that she has been here and killed too. That’s how they got her contact, used it to get us too” she stood up looking at the quiet girls. “Do you girls remember what happened on our way here?” she asked rhetorically. “The venue of the wedding initially was Las Veg@s but on our way to Enugu, the so called Abigail called us on the phone and changed it to this horrible place. And no doubt these people slaughter human beings coz I smelt it on Bernard’s b©dy yesterday. When I asked him if he was slaughtering an animal, he never responded. We are doomed” she concluded. All she said made s-en-se to the girls and was the pure truth of the situation. Bright, the manager of the place heard her from the control room then admired her intelligence.
Kate turned to Chisom and Amarachi, “Now, you can see that it’s nob©dy’s fault. We were set up and the only thing we can do now is stick together and look for a way out of here” she encouraged them. The girls turned the be-d upside down, checked the walls of the room, even the roof but there was no escaping exit.
“The floor sounds like there is another room un-derground” Chisom noticed it.
Kate tapped her feet ha-rd ly on the floor. “Its true” she confirmed.
“All we nee-d is to dig” Amarachi suggested.
“Dig with what tools?” Loveth queried then all stared at one another.
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6:30 post meridian was the time at the unknown place, yet, the girls never figured a way out. Mr Desmond had also flew down to Enugu to report to the police. He had the residential address of Abigail where he went with a group of policemen but discovered that the very lady had died and disappeared not too long ago. (Killed by the slaughters). Everything bec@m£ clear to everyone that Chisom and her friends had been kidnapped. Mr Desmond flew back to Anambr@ while the police took up the case .
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However, at the unknown place, the light went off once more which indicated that another person has to be slaughtered. Just as the girls rested in the deadly sanctum, the door opened and Amarachi was carried out to be slaughtered.
“Leave me alone! someb©dy help me!” she kept shouting until her voice bec@m£ mute: they tied her mouth with a fabric while her hands and legs were also tied on the table in the slaughtering room. Due to darkness never fully taken over the atmosphere, Amarachi saw human b©dy p@rts especially the head of Chidera hanging beside her. She screamed un-der the fabric in her mouth. Her heartbeat increa-sed along with her blood pressure which activated the sweat glands. Cynthia and Bernard watched on how the poor girl will be stabbe-d to death but when the two male slaughters wanted to do it, she said, “St©p!”
Bernard looked at her to know her reasons. He was a bit happy thinking that maybe she had changed her mind not to slaughter the girl again. He knew that’s impossible because anyb©dy who enters the slaughtering room doesn’t come out alive.
“Why st©pping us?” one of the men asked Cynthia.
“Bernard will be the one to kill her” she replied.
“Why me?” Bernard queried immediately.
“No questions, just do it, and you have not less than sixty seconds”
Bernard gradually moved to Amarachi, looked at her face to see tears coming out from her eyes. He put on his gloves, took a knife and raised it up to stab her but his hands quivered. “I can’t do it” He dropped the knife. To his greatest surprise, Bright walked inside the room. He wore a black suit and shoes. He had beards covered all over his jaw. He was six fit tall and hvge in weight with a big stomach. He was totally black in complexion.
“Bernard, I give you ten seconds to kill that girl otherwise she will be freed and take over your responsibility while you become the next meat in the cooking pot” he said authoritatively then began to count down from ten, nine, eight..
Bernard raised the knife again, looked at the poor girl who begged him with a pleading face and homing voice, just before the last count, he stabbe-d Amarachi to death. Blood splashed and light c@m£ back..
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TO BE CONTINUED