Silent scre-ms batch 12
SILENT scre-mS
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Writer: Ella
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Sequence 22
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Continues…
Leila gave her father a quizzical look and said, ‘I don’t know what all this is all about but I am sorry I am not getting married anytime soon.’
‘Your refusal to get married will have grave consequences.’
‘I am ready for whatever consequences that will come my way.’
‘You see,’ her father yelled, he was burning with rage. ‘This girl is selfish.’
‘Why should you force me to get married, why can’t it be Jada?’
‘You are the chosen one,’ her mother responded.
‘Is the dark figure that has been hunting my dreams my supposed husband?’ Leila asked hoping she was wrong about the dark figure being her husband to be.
`‘Yes. That dark figure is the man you are set to marry. His name is Ngozi.’
Leila felt her heart break into tiny pieces, her in,sides ached.
She looked at both her mother and father, ‘Why?’ she enquired. ‘I want to know why you would marry me off to something that evil.’
Her mother took a deep breath, ‘Sit down and I will take you down memory lane.’
*
BEFORE PRESENT TIME
It was a cool and lonely Sunday afternoon Abby was lying on the couch in the living room reading.
Her six year old son was sitting up on the floor his eyes fixed on the TV screen. Shortly after, there was a soft knock at the door.
‘Alfred check who is at the door,’ she said without taking her eyes off the book.
The little boy rose to his feet and rushed towards the door he opened the door to see his mother’s friend with her son.
‘Auntie Carol! Chilufya!’ He beamed with excitement.
‘Hey young man, is your mother home?’ Carol asked
‘Yes please come in,’ he stepped aside and allowed their guests to walk in then he closed the door shut.
‘Alfred who is it?’ Abby called out.
‘It’s me,’ Carol walked into the living room.
‘Carol!’ Abby placed the book on the table and stood up, she embraced her friend.
‘You are welcome, please take a seat.’
‘Thank you it’s been a while how is everything?’ Carol asked.
‘Well we are surviving my dear.’
‘I see you are glowing,’ Carol teased.
Abby laughed, ‘my husband has been so good to me how’s marriage treating you?’
Carol shook her head, ‘Girl that man is a beast, if I knew then what I know now I doubt I would have ever married him.’
‘It’s that bad?’
‘Yes.’
‘Let me get us some juice so you can tell me more.’
She stood up and walked to the kitchen, she came back a while later with a tray of biscuits and drinks. She handed some to the children before she placed the tray on the table.
‘I always thought Kalu was a cool guy,’ Abby said
‘I thought so too my sister, that man is a beast, firstly he abuses me, secondly I haven’t had peace in that marriage for a while now, I am always having these weird dreams, sometimes it feels like someone is watching me.’
‘That’s strange. I always thought everything was perfect in your marriage.’
‘That’s because I never want to talk about these things. I always try to smile in front of people, I pretend all is well when deep down I am a mess.’
‘Why don’t you leave?’
‘Leaving would mean leaving Chilufya behind, Kalu would never allow me to take him with me and I just can’t leave without my baby boy, he is my sanity.’
‘This is really sad Carol I wish I could do something to help.’
‘I don’t think anyone can help me at this point, I married the wrong man for the wrong reasons and now I reaping what I sowed.’
‘Maybe he will change some day.’
Carol laughed, ‘That’s who he is, he will never change.’
The pair became so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice the kids had gone to play upstairs.
*
As a child, Alfred was a little pushy and rough with his friends. Being the first born, his parents had spoiled him rotten, he was so used to having his way always even if it meant being physical and violent.
‘No I don’t wanna exchange toys, I love this one a lot,’ Chilufya held on to his blue toy car that he had come with.
‘But I want to have it,’ Alfred whined
The two were standing on top of the stairs.
‘You can’t have it my daddy got it for me on my birthday.’
‘I want it,’ Alfred tried to get the toy by force but Chilufya held on tight.
‘I don’t want to play with you anymore, you are a fighter,’ Chilufya turned to leave.
Alfred became furious with his friend.
With all his strength he pushed Chilufya down the stairs and watched him tumble all the way to the bottom.
Panic started to grip Alfred and he yelled on top of his name.
The women stood up and rushed towards the stairs, they found Chilufya lying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.
For Carol it felt as if time had come to a standstill, she stood frozen for a minute.
Abby knelt down beside Chilufya and shook him but there was no response. She looked up at her son,
‘Alfred what have you done?’ she asked her voice shaking with fear.
‘I didn’t mean to push him mummy,’ he cried out.
‘I am finished,’ Carol suddenly scre-med in grief and rage as she stared at her son’s motionless body.
‘We need to call an ambulance,’ Abby stood up.
‘He looks dead, my son looks dead Abby.’
Abby rushed to the living room and grabbed her phone she could feel her wh0le body shaking as she called 911 for an ambulance, she was scared for her son, if Chilufya was dead then he would be terribly doomed.
‘Hang on,’ the ambulance will be here shortly, Abby tried to console her friend.
Carol was holding her little boy in her arms, tears were uncontrollably pouring from her eyes, he was the only one she had she had failed to conceive again after giving birth to him, what would become of her if he left.
The ambulance took forever to arrive and when they finally arrived, they checked for the little boy’s pulse but it was too weak. The ambulance operators asked them a few questions but no one could answer them.
They carried Chilufya on a stretcher and wheeled him off to the ambulance.
‘I will drive you to the hospital,’ Abby said as she picked her car keys.
She held her son’s hand and they walked out to the car park.
The drive to the hospital was a silent one, Carol’s heart was beating so hærd, she texted her husband and asked him to meet her at the hospital.
‘He is going to pull through, Chilufya is a fighter,’ Abby said.
When they arrived at the hospital, the little boy was taken to an emergency room where he was kept overnight.
His parents were restless they couldn’t stop pacing back and forth in the corridors as they waited for news on their son.
Chilufya suffered severe head injuries and a collapsed lung, he died the next day.
When the Doctor gave his parents the sad news, Carol helplessly sank to the floor, she felt like her wh0le world had crushed.
Her husband gave her a vengeful look,
‘You caused his death, you killed our son Carol,’ with that said he walked out on her.
Sequence 23
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Continues…
It had been two days since Chilufya had been put to rest, the Kalufyanya family had gathered around the living room to discuss the fate of Alfred.
Everyone sat quietly and waited for the meeting to start.
For a few minutes, an awkward silence hung in the air but Mr. Kalufyanya cleared his throat and broke it.
‘Without wasting anyone’s time, we shall go straight to the purpose of this meeting,’ he said, his eyes focused on Alfred.
‘My heart aches at the death of my only son Chilufya this news came as a shock to me and the entire family but what’s done is done. However there won’t be any need to take the case to the authorities we will deal with it traditionally.’
‘Thank you,’ Abby breathed a sigh of relief.
‘My son was an heir to a big and powerful empire since he didn’t die a naturally, you need to make amends for his death.’
He looked at Abby and her husband, ‘Because your son has taken from us, we must take something from you to appease his spirit.’
Abby cleared her throat, ‘Sorry to cut you short but what does that mean?’
‘It means that unless you make amends for Chilufya’s death, his spirit will never rest and your family will be struck with mysterious deaths and Alfred will fall victim to some strange illnesses resembling mental illness, the spirit is willing to shed blood and hunt your family for ever if you don’t appease it.’
Abby’s face felt stiff as if the colour had drained from it, this was more than she could handle.
‘So what does the spirit demand?’ Daniel finally spoke up
‘Two live chickens, 10 herds of cattle and a young girl.’
‘But where are we supposed to find a young girl to give you,’ Abby asked
He looked at her tummy, ‘You can offer us the child in your womb.’
Abby and Daniel looked confused as they exchanged glances.
‘The child in my womb, I am not pregnant,’ Abby said.
‘You are three weeks along you and a few months from now you shall give birth to girl.’
‘This is absurd Kalu,’ Carol who had been quiet all along spoke up.
‘Shut up woman.’
‘No this is witch craft and I refuse to be a part of it, Abby don’t give in to him.’
‘I said shut up Carol.’
Carol stood up, ‘I am so done with you and your occult practices. The only thing that made me stay in this weird stupid marriage is no more so am done.’
She pulled her ring off her finger and placed it on the table & marched out.
‘I think we can continue, what do you guys say?’
‘If we give you this girl does it mean my son will never be haunted?’
‘Yes, this will be erased from his mind he will never remember the accident.’
‘Then so be it, we shall give you our unborn child,’ Daniel said.
‘Daniel!’ his wife exclaimed
‘As soon as the ceremony is performed the child in your womb will belong to us. You can choose to either raise her or allow us to raise her ourselves.’
‘I would rather raise her myself,’ Abby said
‘You will ensure she remains a V-rgin until her 25th Birthday when she will be married off to the spirit of my son –Ngozi. And if you go back on your word, calamity shall befall your family. You shall all perish.’
‘Oh my,’ Abby gasped in disbelief.
‘We shall not go back on our word sir I promise,’ Daniel assured him.
‘Thank you.’
They stood up and shook hands to seal their covenant.
As they drove back home, Abby was a little disturbed with her husband’s decision but she choose not to question him, he was the head of the house after all and his decision was in the best interest of their family.
When Abby went to the hospital a day later, she found out she was indeed pregnant.
‘Daniel, you know how much I have longed for a daughter, how do I give her up just like that?’ She asked, tears running down her cheeks.
‘This is hærd for me too Abby but Alfred is only six, do you want him growing up with a mental disorder, do you want calamity to befall us.’
‘No,’ she shook her head.
He wiped her tears with the palm of his hand, ‘we haven’t seen this child and we don’t even know if it will survive let’s do this for our son please.’
*
A week later, a group of people gathered at the cemetery for the appeasement ceremony. They were all dressed in red robes with no shoes on their feet.
It was late at night, the cold wind blew onto their faces and they could hear some scary night owl sounds.
The healer stripped half unclad and started crawling on the ground writhing like a snake while chanting in some strange language.
Violent gusts of wind suddenly swept through the forest and raised strange echoes. Almost immediately the air was electrically charged with a kind of peculiar energy, Abby had one of those feelings like someone was watching them, she held on tight to her husband’s hand.
As her gaze turned ahead to the far end of the cemetery, she could see a shadowy figure form glancing back at her.
A sudden sense of fear ran through her nerves like the chill of an icy wind, she opened her mouth to scre-m but nothing came out. Not even a squeak, she tried to scre-m again, but still nothing came out, she could hear herself but it seemed no one else could. It was like she had no voice at all.
After this the healer stood up and grabbed the chicken, he killed it and burnt it. Then he got the ashes and mixed it with some herbs.
Next he sprinkled the mixture on the grave.
A moment later, an intense pain shot through Abby’s tummy, the pain was like nothing she had ever felt. Then her head began to spin & a sense of weakness and breathlessness took over. Abby’s vision then became blurry and a dark outline came over her before she fell to the ground.
At that point a light flashed at the far end of the cemetery & the figure disappeared.
‘It is done the wrong done to our son has been righted,’ the healer said
The members of the Kalufyanya family were excited they started ululating as they danced around the grave while clapping their hands in what appeared to be a rehearsed fashion.
‘Cheze navi cho cha,’ the healer chanted as he handed each one a piece of the goat which had earlier been slaughtered, he gave Daniel a piece too, the two families were now united and a bond of marriage had just been formed.
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To be continued…