Silent scre-m Batch 9

SILENT scre-mS

Sequence 16

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Written By: Ella

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He crept into her room late that night, it was dark and peaceful. She was lying in bed all tangled up in her sheets, Leila was a beautiful woman she didn’t need to apply makeup or l¡pstick, she was perfect just like that.

He squatted next to her bed and watched her turn and toss in her sleep.

He had watched her since she was a baby, he had seen her blossom into this beautiful woman, he had no doubt she would make a beautiful queen. Her innocence and purity was what drew him more close to her.

Being able to see her and not do anything was becoming torturous to him, though he had the power to make her his that instant, he couldn’t. He wanted their first time to be special not only for him but for her.

Eventually he slipped into bed next to her, though he couldn’t make her his that instant, he needed to feel her close to him he needed to smell her scent.

He moved closer and wrapped his hands over her then he whispered into her ear, ‘You are mine!’

*

She was sound asleep when she heard someone whispering into her left ear, ‘You are mine,’ the voice said softly.

‘You are mine & only mine,’ he whispered again.

Then she felt the energy of someone lying next to her while touching her.

Startled she opened her eyes and she saw the dark figure lying next to her.

‘It’s only my imagination,’ she thought.

She tried to get up but she couldn’t, it was like someone was holding her back.

she wanted to scre-m.

‘Don’t Leila,’ he lifted a finger to her l-ips and shushed her.

A shiver ran through her spine, this wasn’t her imagination. The figure was real he was in her bed holding her. Question was what did he want from her?

‘You are mine I won’t hurt you Leila,’ his red eyes locked into hers.

Then he began to k-ss the nape of her neck, she was terrified, her heart was racing, she couldn’t catch her breath.

A few minutes later, she felt him rubbing her leg

‘Please stop,’ she tried to talk but she couldn’t it was as if her voice was stuck in her throat.

*

He had only intended to lie next to her in bed but he found himself slowly getting carried away, desire was over clouding his judgment, being this close ar-used him.

The warmth of her legs tempted him to slide his hand up her thighs then he hooked his fingers into the wa-istband of her p-nties and just when Leila thought he was going to pull them down, he stood up, walked towards her door and disappeared through it.

She sat up abruptly, sweat was dripping down her face, her wh0le body was shaking the dark figure had almost abused her.

She crawled out of bed and headed out of her room to Jada’s room. Jada was sitting upright on her bed, heavily breathing.

‘Are you okay?’ Leila went close to her.

‘Yes,’ she responded when her breathing became stable.

‘I thought you would be sleeping.’

‘I just woke up, I had a strange dream. What’s your story?’

‘The dark figure was in my bed, he was touching me inappropriately Jad I am scared, what does this all mean, who is this figure?’

‘Leila, I have been thinking about all these strange encounters of yours.’

‘And.’

‘I think this dark figure you keep seeing is the man you are set to marry.’

‘No!’ she gasped in disbelief.

‘I know it sounds absurd but think about this. You wake up one day and someone has marked tattoos with the words ‘Mine’ on your th-gh. Your boyfriend dies mysteriously after being beaten by a man named Chilufya, you don’t know any Chilufya, Mama Zuka bows down to you as queen and says you are set to marry a king and now this dark entity is touching you….’

‘Are you thinking what I am thinking?’ Leila worriedly asked.

‘Yes, you might be married to a spirit Leila

‘No! No!’ she shook her head.

*

When he woke up hours later, he got out of bed and searched the entire house for an intruder but the place was empty and all his doors were locked. Chibuye was confused, if there was no one in the house but him, who was that strange man and where did he enter from.

‘Maybe I was just dreaming,’ he thought to himself. But deep down he knew the encounter he had was too real to just be a dream.

‘She is mine,’ he could literary hear the man’s voice in his head

And he kept replaying the disturbing image of that strange man staring at him.

He took a deep breath, ‘It’s just a figment of my imagination,’ he said to no one in particular.

He headed to the kitchen and made himself a cup of strong black tea. He pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.

After he finished drinking his tea, he stood up and headed for the bathroom, Chibuye was determined to put that strange encounter at the back of his head.

He stripped of his clothes and stepped under a cold shower, the water was cool and refreshing, his body began to relax and he felt deeply calm.

He had just gotten out of his shower and was drying himself with a towel when he looked at the steamed up mirror in the bathroom. There was a handprint on the mirror and he noticed it was a man’s hand because of its masculine finger shapes and the wide base of the palm.

He blinked his eyes at least twice to be sure the hand on the mirror was real.

The hand print was still there even after he opened his eyes again.

Chibuye Froze, had someone played a trick on him that hand print wasn’t on the mirror when he walked into the bathroom he was sure of that. He looked at the door and it was still locked so no one could have gotten in.

Unable to find an answer to what was happening, he got a w-t clothe and wiped the hand print off the mirror and just when he thought he had everything under control, the words ‘She is mine,’ appeared on the mirror out of the nowhere.

Chibuye stared at the words on the mirror speechless and awestruck.

‘Lord what’s happening?’ He asked no one in particular.

Suddenly a loud laughter erupted from the corner of the room and the words on the mirror where instantly erased.

His mind was racing, he was freaked out, how could he possibly explain these strange happenings?

He went back to his room and got dressed quickly. He was too tense to think straight, everything was just so confused.

‘She is mine,’ he heard someone whisper in his ear.

Blood of Jesus, he scre-med then he reached for his bible and went straight to Psalms 23. Though Chibuye was certain of God’s existence he wasn’t a regular churchgoer though he prayed and read his Bible once in a while.

After reading the scripture out loud for a few minutes, he went to his living room and poured himself an abnormal portion of whiskey and drank it in two gulps.

‘It’s all over,’ he thought to himself before he decided to take a walk around the hood.

SILENT scre-mS

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Sequence 17

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She paced her room back and forth, her heart beat faster at the thought of marrying a spirit.

Yes she knew her parents were wicked but to marry her off to a spirit, could they be capable of such an inhuman act.

Maybe the dark figure wasn’t real, maybe she had just been seeing things and he was just a mare creation of her imagination.

‘But how do I explain the tattoo on my leg?’ She asked no one in particular. ‘Could Jada have been right about her suspicions?’

Leila pursed her l-ips and rubbed her sweaty palms together, the idea of the dark figure being her supposed husband was sickening. She hoped the prophet would provide her with answers to the many questions she had.

She was woken from her reverie by the vibration of her phone. She picked it up and read the text message from Chibuye ‘I need to urgently see you.’

‘Hey are you okay?’ Leila asked

Another message came through on her phone, ‘I am not okay can we meet please.’

She really needed someone to talk to about all the things that were happening and she knew Chibuye would be good company.

‘Come and pick me at 15:00 after work,’ she replied.

‘It’s a date then.’

‘It aren’t no date, we will just be talking about a bunch of useless things.’

‘I will see you later baby.’

‘Later.’

She placed her phone back on the table and walked straight to the bathroom. Leila practically jumped into the shower and sighed as the cold water coursed over her. She stepped out of the shower ten minutes later & dried herself.

She opened her closet and pulled out a purple pencil skirt and a white blouse. She quickly got dressed and walked out of her room, with her hand bag slung over her shoulder. She found the rest of the family having breakfast.

‘Morning,’ she greeted as she headed towards the door.

‘Aren’t you having breakfast hun?’ Her mother asked.

‘No,’ she shook her head.

‘Need a lift?’ Jada asked

‘I am fine.’

‘Have a good day at work then,’ Jada said

‘Thanks sis,’ she responded and walked out

The walk to the school was about twenty minutes Leila arrived at seven fifty, ten minutes before class started. She hurried off to her class to prepare for the lessons ahead. The idea of spending the wh0le day with noisy children infuriated her, she wasn’t passionate about teaching this wasn’t her thing.

‘Morning Leila,’ Marjory smilingly greeted her.

She turned to face her, ‘Hey Marjory.’

‘How have you been, your father said you were taking a few weeks off work.’

‘He did?’

‘Yes so I am surprised to see you here.’

‘Oh. I feel a wh0le lot better now so I am fit to work,’ she faked a smile.

‘If you say so but please don’t hesitate to take time off anytime you are unwell.’

‘Okay,’ she nodded her head.

‘That aside, your father told me about your upcoming marriage, congratulations girl, how come you never said anything about that?’

Leila shook her head, ‘I was waiting for the right time to tell you,’ she lied.

‘I am so excited for you girl, I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend.’

‘I didn’t know either,’ she said under her breath.

‘Say what?’

‘Nothing.’

‘So where is your engagement ring, have you started planning the wedding?’

Leila was quiet irritated with Marj’s probing, this was a sensitive issue to her, she had no idea why her father was telling the world that she was getting married.

‘With all due respect Marj, I don’t want to talk about my upcoming marriage.’

‘Oh,’ she said disappointedly.

‘Yes.’

‘Alright hun, I will see you later, feel free to come to me when you need advice concerning weddings and marriage in general.’

‘Okay.’ Leila said quiet irritated.

Marj walked out of the room and went straight to her office.

She took a deep breath before she turned to the pupils who had just walked into the classroom, she greeted them with a smile and big bear hugs, despite not having a passion for teaching Leila loved to treat her pupils with love.

As soon as everyone was in class, she started with her first lesson for the day.

Time seemed to be going faster than normal that day and before Leila knew it, it was already 15:00. The pupils ended their day with their class prayer then they grabbed their bags, waved good bye to Leila and rushed out of the class.

As soon as the last pupil walked out of the class, Leila started packing her books so she could leave. She had nearly finished packing when Marj knocked on her door and she poked her head into the classroom.

‘There is a good looking gentleman looking for you outside.’

‘Oh, I will be out in a bit.’

‘Not that it’s any of my business but is he the man you are set to marry?’

‘No Marj, Chibuye is just a friend.’

‘Such a yummy friend, tell him I am single and searching,’ she smiled

‘I will do just that Marj.’

‘Okay, I will keep him company as you finish up,’ Marj said before she closed the door and walked away.

Leila shook her head in disbelief, before she went back to packing her books. When she was done, she picked her hand bag and headed towards the door.

When she got to the reception, she found Marj and Chibuye talking, they were sitting so close to each other.

Leila cleared her throat before speaking, ‘Chibuye!’

‘Hey stranger,’ He stood up almost immediately.

‘Hello to you too,’ Leila faked a smile.

Chibuye stepped closer to her and k-ssed her cheeks, ‘We missed you,’ he whispered

Leila blushed.

Marj stood up, ‘It was nice seeing you Chibuye,’ she said

‘Pleasure is mine.’

She walked back to her office.

‘What was that all about? Leila asked Chibuye.

‘I should be asking you, didn’t you send her to keep me company.’

‘Oh please,’ she rolled her eyes.

Chibuye grabbed her bag from her and lead her to the car.

*

He drove for close to an hour and Leila wondered where he was taking her too but she didn’t ask. Finally they arrived at a restaurant on the outskirts of town. He got out of the car and opened the car door for her.

He held out his hand to her, she took it and he lead her towards the entrance.

‘Why didn’t you say to were bringing me to such a nice place, I would have dressed better,’ Leila frowned.

‘You look awesome I bet you would look awesome even in rugs.’

She laughed, ‘Chaffed for years!’

‘I just wanted to bring you somewhere different.’

At the reception, Chibuye gave his name for the reservation and they were shown to their table at the far end of the room, the room was cozy and small.

Leila sat down ‘I love this place,’ she whispered.

‘I am sure you will love their food more,’ he pulled a chair and sat down too.

They looked at the menus on the table before the waiter arrived and asked them to order.

After the waiter left, an awkward silence fell before them.

‘So!’ they finally said in unison.

Leila laughed, ‘Sorry you go first,’ she said.

He gave her a tight smile, ‘Ladies first.’

‘So,’ she began, ‘My sister and i went to see a traditional healer a few days ago.’

‘A traditional healer?’

‘Yes, I have been having some strange dreams and I have been seeing this dark figure in a black hood with glowing eyes.’

‘A dark figure?’ He asked, eyes wide open

‘Yes.’

‘How long has this been going on Leila?’ he asked

‘This figure has haunted my dreams for as long as I can remember at first I thought the figure was a figment of my imagination but now I don’t know what to think anymore and my parents think I am just making everything up.’

‘And what did the healer say?’

Their food arrived before she could respond to his question.

‘Well the healer said some strange things, she bowed down to me and called me a queen, she said my husband is quiet a strong and powerful figure.’

‘That’s strange so what’s the way forward.’

He couldn’t tell her he too had been seeing the strange dark figure because he didn’t want to worry her.

‘I want to seek help from a man of God and if that doesn’t work then I don’t know where else to seek for answers.’

‘This is bigger than you, I am willing to help you find a solution, when are you going to see the prophet?’

‘This Friday.’

‘I will go with you.’

‘Why are you helping me though, what do you want to gain from all this.’

‘It’s no secret that I like you, yes I know you are set to be married but I can’t help it, I just want to see you happy, I want you to be free Leila.’

She smiled, ‘Thank you,’ she said as she looked at Chibuye feeling like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.