“Jesus!” Chima yelps. “Where did he go just now?”
Zuby takes the torchlight from Amaka amd shines it very well on Emefile’s seat. He is not there. He directs the beam across the entire bus. Still, no Emefile.
“I think Emefile is a wizard.” David says quietly. “It’s 12:00clock already.
“Don’t be superstitious.” Amaka says forcing out a laugh. But behind that laugh we sense a certain fear: the same fear we are all having now. So Emefile is a wizard and he has been sitting with us?
“Maybe it was he who turned into the creature.” Doris is very quiet now. No more whimpers.
“But when the thing was here, he was snoring na. It can’t be him.” Peter says, sneezing.
“And now the thing has left, he is not here. All the doors are closed.”
“Maybe he is a very powerful one.” I say.
“Hey guys, we need to start thinking of how to get out of this goddamn place.” Zuby speaks with a little frustration in his tone.
“But how ehn. How?!” It’s Beola.
“We gotta use our brains man!”
There is whispering in the bus now, like the voices of ghosts in a dark night.
“I think we should all pray for morning to arrive quicker. Then all of this will be over and we can look for a passing car and we will get fuel and go to the conference.”
It surprises everybody how we all have forgotten about the conference. Team Emmanuel saw us stranded, couldn’t they help to send word for aid, to us? And how can anyone at the conference not have noticed that this particular team is missing?
“My love?” Jewel’s voice carries worry. Zuby replies with a hmm?
“Something hairy is on my leg. It’s itching me.” She says, her voice ridden with fear. Zuby flashes the torch towards her feet and almost jumps in shock.
It’s Emefile!
Emefile? What is he doing at the bottom of the bus, folded like a tortoise, his head on Jewel’s legs?
Zuby hits his head with the torch he is holding and the young man screams.
“What are you doing down there?! We taught you had disappeared!!” Zuby cries out, hitting him again.
“You mean all these while, he was sleeping?” I asked, not wanting to believe it.
Emefile grumbles and rises from his position. “Why can’t you guys let somebody have a peaceful sleep?”
“Ekpa!” Ifeoma hisses.
Ken is about to say something when… we hear the sound of voices talking behind the bus. We all keep quiet, questions on our minds : who’s out there? So we are not alone here? People stay around here?
Then there is a knock on one of the doors and the driver’s door is yanked open. The powerful beam from a huge torch flashes in, blinding us momentarily.
“Everybody freeze!!!” A very deep scary voice orders.
We are already frozen, so nobody makes a move. Then we hear several other deep voices.
“Everybody come down!! Now!!! Orelse we we will blow your heads off!!!”
Nobody makes a move. Then a shot is heard and we hear Emefile screaming that his hand has been hit.
Damn.
We don’t have to be told twice. We all scurry out of the car, pushing each other out of the way and falling on top each other in the process.
P. S: This series was first written in 2017 and posted on Fortune Aganbi’s facebook wall. For reasons personal to the writer, she has decided to not alter, edit or change anything about the original stories.
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