Midnight Reckoning

Night Hours

Night-time descended, smothering Ade's mansion in a darkness that seemed to breathe. Unable to stand the suffocating atmosphere, he hurried to the only place he felt safe. His small study was lit by candles and furnished with an armchair, table, and bookcases. For a minute, his demeanour calmed. Without a reason, Ade's gaze flickered to an old pendulum clock in the corner of the room as it relentlessly ticked, ticked closer to midnight. He suddenly stood rigid.

Then it chimed.

Had a shadow moved? Ade shrieked for dear life breathing heavy and deep, and darted across the room behind the armchair. His trembling hands wiped his face drenched with sweat, oblivious to the stuffy room as none of the windows were opened. His body shivered as he heaved in more air, and his eyes flickered the room endlessly, but all he saw were moving shadows caused by the candle as the farmer's haunting words echoed in his head: "...be gone, lifeless by midnight... lifeless by midnight."

His heartbeat deafened his hearing as he trembled beneath the weight of his agbada—once a symbol of pride, now a suffocating shroud of fear. All too much to take in, Anger overcame fear as he spoke loud with a shaky voice.

"No! I refuse to be taken so quickly, especially b–by this curse! I am Ade, the mighty farm owner and the most im–important man in Ikare. Not after everything I've done, every I've given—"

The employees of Ade's household soon gathered outside the study's entrance to hear the loud commotion inside their oga's study. With worried expressions, they banged on the door.

Ade clutched his chest like a man on the verge of a heart attack as the door banged louder, just as he stepped in front of the chair.

His arrogance faded, replaced by overwhelming turmoil as he felt and possibly saw his formidable wall fall into the clutches of the unfolding nightmare he hoped never to relive.