第1話 - BLINKED: I saw a dead me!!!
It was 7:49 on a Tuesday night, dinner had been set, white colored enamel plates filled with fried plantain and egg sauce that mother had made was set in front of five of us. A big chandelier at the center of the marble ceiling brightened the whole room. My Father sat quietly, his shining bald head reflecting most of the lights from the chandelier while his huge moustache danced on his lips as he chewed. Jasmine my little sister was holding a piece of chicken, nibbling at it, my brother mike sat beside me eating boisterously, his cutleries making clink-clink noise as they came in contact with his plates. Mother sat opposite me, her warm blue eyes occasionally glancing at everyone on the table as she ate slowly. I looked at my food lazily, I had lost any appetite I had, the doctors said it was a side effect of the medication, but I think it is that awful pungent smell of blood mixed with drip and antiseptic that wafted the hospital’s hallways that always made me cringe and lose my appetite after being in the hospital. I hated going to the hospital especially on Tuesdays but I had to, my doctors said I had to, my parents agreed and so I just have to. Playfully I twirled my fingers around my shoulder-length dreadlocks and gazed at my reflection on a huge mirror on the wall in front of me, keeping myself busy.
Then I blinked.
A red grotesque looking monster-as red as a ripe tomato- on a black long cloak, with a terrifying bulging eye at the center of his face opened the door to our dining room and within seconds he stormed towards where my father sat and knocked him out of his seat with a punch sending him to the floor. There was my forty- eight years old hefty-looking father sprawled like a baby on the floor, unconscious.
We were all still sitting gasped in shock and comprehending what was happening, my little sister had already begun to cry. He pulled out a thin knife from his black cloak, went over to where mother sat and dragged her by her braids, pulling her hair hard until she fell to the carpeted floor wincing in pain, she pleaded with her eyes for him to stop.
He finally stopped, bent over her frail body on the floor and removed the few braids over her face, petting her scalp gently.
Without a moment’s notice he raised her face up and stabbed her on the forehead with the knife on his hand, digging the blade deeper and deeper into her skull, my mother wriggled helplessly on his arm, he held her still and dug the knife further into her skull until it came out on the other side, and then he pulled it out menacingly, gusts of blood spurting out from all angle.
”Mummy… no!” jasmine cried loudly, her six year old body going limp and wailing uncontrollably.
The one- eyed red monster stood up, adjusted his black cloak, leaving my mother dead on the white carpet her blue eyes staring up into nothingness as her blood formed a pool around her. He turned and walked over to where my sister was crying and I watched him as he raised a long sword up and with no show of emotion he divided her little body into two, from her head down to her waist.
“Too much noise.” the monster said, cleaning the two sides of his sword with a napkin from the table.
“No… no no” a voice cried. I turned on time to see my brother mike on his feet frightened and attempted to scurry away but the red monster was faster, he grabbed my brother by his shoulders, sank his long-nailed fingers into his chest, took out his pumping heart that was dripping with blood and threw his lifeless body across the dining room.
Blood was gushing out from every corner, the table, the walls, the white carpets on the floor, everywhere was soaked in blood, not just blood; my family’s blood. I looked at their bodies, I was petrified hot tears ran down my cheeks. No way, this couldn’t be happening, I was just the only one remaining. I opened my mouth to scream for help, but no sound came out. The one-eyed red monster eyed me with a glint in his eyes, I screamed again yet there was no sound from my mouth. He made his way towards me with a mischievous grin, I was still shaking I tried to blink but I couldn’t. It was as if a strong force kept my eyelids from closing. He brought out a long sword from his cloak and plunged it towards my chest, with a terrified yelp I forced my eyes to close.
There was silence, absolute silence apart from the occasional clink-clink sound from nearby.
“Honey, why are you not eating?” A familiar voice said sounding worried. Slowly, slowly, I opened my eyes, I saw mother looking at me with those warm blue eyes. Father was busy eating quietly. My little sister was still holding a piece of chicken, and my brother was making clink-clink noises with his cutlery against his plate. I looked around for the one-eyed red monster, my family’s dead bodies and the bloods around the dining room and found none.
“Nothing mum.” I sighed and gave her a reassuring smile. It had all seemed so real, the monster, the blood, the killing, the pain, everything. Maybe it was all a delusion. I regained my appetite, picked up my spoon and scooped pieces of the fried plantain from my plate into my mouth. The plantain was very scrumptious. I regretted not eating it sooner. I took another spoon and closed my eyes to savour the taste.
The clink-clink sound suddenly stopped.
I felt something cold and tight round my neck. Something was odd; I opened my eyes to see the one-eyed monster again, his red face staring down at me. His hands were round my neck suffocating me. This time he wasn’t alone, he was with other creatures that looked just as gruesome as he is. They were butchering my families’ dead bodies into smaller parts and emptying it inside a big sack bag. I looked at the one-eyed monster again, the strong cold grip on my neck getting stronger, I couldn’t breathe I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t blink and for the first time, I noticed he had three hands, the third hand had been inside his pocket the whole time. As if on cue, he brought out the third hand from his pocket, collected a kitchen knife from the table and swayed it across my face, his first hand tightening the grip on my neck while his second hand rummaged through his pocket searching for something.
My eyes had gone teary, it had been open for a long time, collecting all manner of dirt and dust from the air, I tried blinking again but I couldn’t, I was choking, I felt my skin becoming numb. Finally he found what he was searching for; a look of satisfaction was plastered all over his face as he stared at the object. I strained my eyes to see.
It was a lighter. A smal blue lighter.
He looked at me again and smiled devilishly, his hand still on my neck, he put the knife over the lighter and switched it on. I looked at him deliriously wondering what he was up to, I watched as the knife became hot and red, steams of hot air emanating from it. He took the knife out, placed it on the table and dropped the lighter back in his pocket. He pulled my chair closer to where he was standing, released his grip on my neck and surprisingly, began stroking my sore neck, caressing it, the soothing feeling making me feel relaxed and just as he noticed I was relaxed, he yanked my two ears painfully, took the hot knife from the table and was about cutting my neck off of my head, with my last willpower I screamed and forced my eyes closed.
The sore pain on my neck had stopped, the occasional clink-clink sound of my brother’s cutleries colliding with his plates had started again.
It’s all gone, I breathed a sigh of relief and opened my eyes. I looked around the dinning, there was no one there, my parents and siblings were nowhere to be found our house looked deserted, even the red monster and the other creatures with him were nowhere to be seen. I felt something on my mouth; I remembered I had scooped some plantains in my mouth before closing my eyes then. I tried eating it but it wasn’t as tasty as it had been; now it was grimy and bitter. I looked down at my enamel plate. I felt nauseated. I saw one of my mum’s blue eyes covered in blood, staring up at me. With fright, I vomited the grimy substance in my mouth and lo, it was her second eye, it was disfigured and chewed up but I could easily recognize it. I opened my mouth to scream, a croaky disoriented voice behind me whispered to my ears.
“Don’t, finish the meal.” I didn’t need someone to tell me it was the monster speaking. His voice was just like him; horribly ugly.
How come? There was no one in the room before, how did he appear. I pondered in my thoughts as I turned my back and of course saw him. He looked at me with perky eyes as if he was enjoying a show and repeated.
“Finish the meal.”I blinked, I blinked again, I blinked several times willing for something to happen, for things to go back the way it was, yet nothing happened. My stomach churned up in disgust, I swallowed my saliva and looked at my plate. The clink-clink sound could still be heard from nearby, I was shaking, My clothes were soaked with sweat, I couldn’t breathe, I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance even if I tried fighting the monster, I prayed for a miracle to happen.
I looked at my reflection in the blood stained mirror on the wall opposite me, I looked tattered and pitiable. My tear-streaked cheeks were tainted with blood, my lips, my clothes, everywhere, nowhere was left out. I looked down at my plate again, my mum’s blue eyes still staring at me, there was no way I would eat my mum’s eyes, definitely no way. How horrifying could this creature be, killing my family, butchering their bodies and now plucking out my mum’s eyeballs and putting them on my plates for me to eat?
I glanced at the mirror again frantically, my reflection looked back at me and smirked licking her bloodied lips. I gasped in shock, my jaw dropping to the floor, what just happened! The monster started laughing melancholically, His laughter echoed throughout the room. My reflection joined in the laughter and after about two minutes raised a table knife to her throat and slashed herself with it. Her face slid backwards, gushes of blood ran down her body to her clothes. After few seconds, her chest stopped moving, she had stopped breathing, she was dead. The monster was now laughing louder than ever, I slumped on my chair crying, I tried running out of the room but it seemed like my body was glued to the chair, my wobbly feet wouldn’t move. I stared at the mirror, all I saw was a girl who looked exactly like me, who was me, with a slit throat and blood soaked clothes: I saw a dead me. I cried bitterly willing for all this to be a nightmare, I looked at the monster from the mirror, he was still laughing loudly I wondered what was funny in all this, why he was doing this, why he decided to kill my family, why he was here tormenting me.
As if to answer the questions in my head, He moved his hands to his face, pulling at his eye and skin aggressively. That was when it struck me… all this time he was on a costume, he wasn’t really a monster… he…he was human? I stared at him from the mirror wondering who he was, what wrong we had ever done to him and why he chose my family. He stopped laughing and eventually pulled the mask out of his face, raising his bald head up, he said slowly. “Enyem, dear.” “DAAAADDDD!!!!” I shuddered not believing my eyes; he smiled at me his huge mustache settling on his lips. No way! This mirror must be lying, surely my father wouldn’t do any of this, it could never be him, he was with us at the dinning before all these madness started; I turned my back to face him to really be sure of what I saw.
Suddenly, the lights went off, there was darkness, total darkness and an eerie silence.
I shook my head witlessly I was sick of everything, I just want all this to stop, my mind was already going bizarre. I felt him moving closer to where I sat. I closed my eyes shut with my palms and waited. Waiting for what would come next, although I knew what would come next, I knew I would die, Just like my reflection in the mirror had died, I knew but I still waited. Sitting with closed eyes and waiting.
It was about five o’clock in the morning in the outskirt of a quiet town, a bald headed man in his late forties could be seen rushing out of a building, carrying an unconscious dreadlocked girl on his shoulders and making his way towards a blue sedan car parked across the road. The bald man glanced at the teenage girl on his shoulders worriedly, thin lines of wrinkles flustered his forehead as beads of sweat ran down his hairless head down his neckline. it was indeed a case of emergency and he worried they wouldn't make it to the hospital on time. A little girl of about six, a boy of twelve and a woman with bright blue eyes in her mid-thirties were trotting behind them also making their way towards the blue car.