THREE IS A CROWD (Episode 8)

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Even the car silently moved as Peter instructed it to with his hands, as if it understood the atmosphere and the level of silence required from everyone in it. The silence of the atmosphere required only one thing - more silence, and the car, definitely, sensed what the likely penalty would be for whosoever broke the ultimate silence. Amope, her twins, and her alleged daughter simply got into the car after they asked and persuaded Baba to find another solution to the predicament on ground. "The Oracle has spoken" Baba said, in an unchanging tone. "After spending 4 consecutive nights in a cemetery, come here immediately for the concluding part of the ritual" Baba declared, ignoring pleas and appeals of the people before him. Like a heavyweight champion, silence reigned in the room for a while before it was defeated by Baba's words. "Remember that time is not on your side." Baba's words acted like an alarm for his visitors. Immediately Baba reminded them of the unavailability of time, they stood up, and left, forgetting to appreciate Baba, or maybe they found him unworthy of appreciation. As they got to the car, Paul made a move to the driver's side. "Let me drive" Peter requested, in a more determined tone. Paul moved to the other side of the car, and tossed the car key to Peter. Amope and Jenny already took their place at the backseat of the car, giving little or no attention to change of driver, and from there, they drove in silence, which the car tried so hard not to break. If the car could speak, it would have told them how it tried so hard to maintain the silence. But, when the car could not hold it anymore, it let out a very loud shout. "Paaaaa..." The car 's left back tyre declared an emergency. "Jesus! Jesus!! Jesus!!!" Amope and everybody in the car shouted, except for Peter who was busy trying to control and stabilize the swaying car. Just a few distance away, a heavy truck was approaching as the car kept swaying from side to side. Peter, out of experience already knew that in a situation like that, it would be highly suicidal to apply the brake. He knew reducing his acceleration and trying to balance the car would save them all from the imminent death. The heavy truck blew its honk to warn the unstable car, and at that point, it occured to Amope that Baba was right when he said that the spirit of death is hovering over them. The truck driver blew his horn again to prove his innocence if anything happens to the passangers in the swaying car. By narrow escape, the car was able to sway off the truck's lane, but not narrow enough to avoid the truck driver's curses and abuses. Like a dying man, the car finally came to a halt, and the passager could not help but thank their God. 

With the accident they narrowly escaped, they needed nobody to tell them again that death was hovering over their head, and that they should do something about it, as soon as possible. They all drove in silence again after Peter and Paul fixed the spare tyre. Like an unwanted dictator, silence ruled again, even after they got home, and if Amope had not challenged the silence in the sitting room where they all sat, it could reign for eternity. "What do we do now?" Amope asked, as if she had nothing in mind she would want them to do. Ordinarily, she would have dictated the pace of the situation, but the complexity of the situation, and the fact that she played a major role in how they got to their present situation, she had to seek their consent first. "What do we do now?" She asked again, standing up from her seat. Nobody said a word in response to her question, and after asking the same question thrice without getting any response, like a defeated champion, she sat back on her seat. "We just have to do this." Paul said, looking at Peter as if to assure him of his unending support in any situation. The look on Peter's face showed he didn't want an unsolicited support from anyone, not even his twin brother. Afterall, it's all of them whose lives were at stake. "I volunteer to go first." Paul declared. "There is a cemetery down the road. I'll go there tonight" Paul said, leaving others to evaluate the implications of what he said. Although, the implications are not so difficult to predict, but others still pretended ignorant. Silence dominated the room again before Peter challenged it. "I'll go tomorrow night." He said casually, as if sleeping in a cemetery is no big deal at all. 

Minutes betrayed hours, as hours rolled into days without minutes' consent. Three days after they left Baba's place. Paul, Peter and Amope had taken their turn in the cemetery. The last day was for Jenny by default, and Peter would have loved to go with her if not because that would mean sleeping in the cemetery twice, which was against what Baba instructed. After series of prep talk from Paul, Peter took the turn to talk to her. As each of them talk, they could not help but remember their ordeal in the cemetery. As for Paul, he heard series of strange sounds. Peter on the other hand said he heard some people singing and dancing all through the night. The day Amope came back, she said she saw her husband from afar, calling her to come. These experiences and many more formed the foundation with which Jenny prepared to complete the last day of the ritual.

                                                                 (c) 2016. Austus Ofmat Nwanne 

Gradually, the story is coming to an end. Will Jenny be able to complete the last part of the ritual? If she does, will they escape death? If she doesn't, what would become their fate? Is Jenny truly Amope's daughter as the Oracle has said? Or, has the Oracle been bought with a price? As the story approaches its end, so would the truths be revealed. I'll come back soon. 

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OFMAT AUSTUS NWANNE
Inspirational Speaker/Media Consultant,
Swift24 Multimedia Services.
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