Efezino stared blankly at Landlady's unconscious body. The stump on her arm grew gradually, it elongated like a snake raising its head. Baba Jide retched on his side, coughing and holding his stomach. He vomited the food in his stomach; pieces of yam and fried egg in a thick yellowish liquid. The strong smell of stomach acid and overseasoned egg unsettled Efezino. Some of it traveled to Landlady's chin, where she licked some of it. Even Baba Jide stared in horror as Landlady's tongue fell in the vomit. The demon's mouth morphed into a deep frown. It didn't waste time, sticking some of the pieces of food on the floor to Baba Jide's tongue.
It slapped Landlady's cheek hard with a stool. She woke up immediately, howling in pain. Her left hand barely covered the angry, bright red lump on her cheek. They all froze in fear. The confessions were finished, and the demon must have finished asking its questions. Landlady's hand almost grew back to normal. Stubs which used to be her finger folded back up in small, regular motions. The sensation was strange, but it felt ticklish to her. The demon sat still, not moving, not talking-it was frozen like a statue.
No one had the right or authority to speak at this point. When the demon was silent and unmoving, none of the members should speak. They would die instantly, no matter how quiet or how long they talked. Somewhere in her heart, Efezino felt safe because she told the truth. Everyone wondered who the demon was going to kill, because it wouldn't be Efezino. Landlady's hand was back to normal, but there was a small black thread dangling from the middle of her palm. "If you try to pull out the thread, you may end up pulling out your heart as well. I suggest you start covering it up as much as you can." Landlady shivered in fear and wiped her forehead. Her life now depended on a piece of thread staying intact. The demons head faced Baba Jide square in the face, staring deep into his eyes. Efezino and Landlady would have dashed out of the room if not for their strong will.
Baba Jide realized that his life was about to end. The demon glared at him with a beastlike ferocity, as if it would devour his head. "You lied, Jide. You lied to me. You even tried to use mind blocking juju on me. For the women, especially Efezino, they will leave this place alive. You, on the other hand, have to answer for your sin." baba Jide broke down into tears. His knees collapsed, and he could barely support his weight with his arms. When he talked about the woman who sold Landlady and Iya Dorcas the materials, he lied that he knew her. He thought his plan to lie to the demon was flawless. In the middle of the meeting, he slipped a chewing stick into his mouth. He stuffed black pepper and pieces of kolanut in the middle.
It was a mixture meant to ward off mind-reading juju, or telepathic people. It sounded easy to make, but the user had to be very powerful to use it. Kolanut and black peppers were some of the most refined and most precious materials. He had to cough up seventy thousand naira for them, and it was very disappointing when they didn't work on the demon. Right now, he stood to lose everything. The seventy thousand naira was all he had left until Landlady paid him. Even if he survived this, he wouldn't get money for a long while...
They were unable to run before the demon's punishment began. The demon's head rotated around its neck like a ceiling fan, increasing speed with every second. Thirteen hands broke through the ground and latched onto their arms and legs. Landlady and Efezino tried to break free, but the hands shot tiny needles into their skin, like harpoons. Huge, painful welts covered their skin from where they struggled. They could only brace themselves as the demon's head tore out of its neck. Small, slimy, blood coated pieces of flesh supported the head as it wobbled towards Baba Jide. Its flesh hardened and wrinkled, a texture that resembles aged leather. The stench of decay and death reeked from its mouth.
It landed on his left shoulder before unhinging its jaws. A sharp screech pierced their eardrums. Efezino shrieked in pain as one of the hands pinched her ear. Its jaws split into a perfect line, revealing a thick, spike-covered tongue. The tongue latched on Baba Jide's cheek before dragging across his face. The spikes tore off the skin and flesh on baba Jide's face and cracked his cheekbones. Landlady and Efezino's eyes completely bulged open while their mouths hung wide, releasing loud, painful screams. Efezino couldn't stop shouting, her voice bounced off the walls. Tears streamed down Landlady's cheeks, washing off some of the liquid on the hands.
Baba Jide gurgled as blood welled up in his throat and flowed down his chin. The spikes felt like they were tipped with poison; wherever they touched, his skin began to rot. The tongue lapped at his left eye, mushing the squishy organ and digging it out of his eye socket. He struggled, trying to shake off the head. The head screeched in regular, short bursts as if it was laughing at him. Finally, the tongue licked off the last piece of his eye socket and jammed itself into his brain. Baba Jide's mouth foamed while his other eye cried blood. He wailed like a dying pig, unable to make sounds properly. The pain was too much to handle for him. His head slumped to the right, and the brightness in his other eye dimmed until he died.
Efe and Landlady looked on, pitying Baba Jide in their hearts. Baba Jide's worst fear was for his eyes and brain to be eaten out in such a manner. The demon knew this and tortured him to death. They looked at his corpse, eaten out, and ragged from the demon's persistent tongue. The head dropped down from his shoulders and waddled to Efezino and Landlady. It licked its lips and cackled. The hands immediately retracted back into the ground while the demon's head split itself into perfect halves. The hands released them and burst into pieces.
Efe and Landlady tripped on themselves while trying to scramble out of the room. The Garia's body twitched in a jerking, irregular motion, twisting its limbs so hard that its joints squeaked and cracked. Its body swelled up as blood seeped from its pores, filling the room until it burst. A loud bang blew them away, and in the process, they became deaf temporarily. Nneka and Dennis had long run away as soon as they saw the head finish devouring Baba Jide's head. They took the secret path behind Efe's house, reaching the streets before the women. Their only regret was that they couldn't salvage the house for anything precious. The demon's body would have blown the house to bits, or it would even have stolen some rare items for itself. Nneka regretted that Efezino would not be broke after this. The woman would definitely have more money stashed in another house. After thirty minutes of maneuvering through bushes and stepping on anthills, Nneka and Dennis were finally able the find the road that led to Mama Agnes's house. Mama Agnes was out for another one of Landlady's insane missions, and she wouldn't be back until the next week.
Dennis was exhausted after the conference. To Nneka's dismay, he didn't kiss her before jumping out the window. She turned away from the window, preparing to wash her face before she went to bed. Dennis tiptoed to the window and crouched for a few seconds. He hit the wall with the back of his hand and waited for Nneka to come. As soon as she stuck her head out the window, he grabbed her cheeks and made her look at him. They stared into each other's eyes. Nneka bent down further and kissed him on the lips. She pulled him up, and he entered her room. The loud sound of ripping cloth echoed across the neighborhood. A few neighbors complained as the couple's sounds disturbed them. One of them threw a dunlop slipper at the window, hoping to hit either Dennis or Nneka just to make them stop. The couple responded by increasing their voices. Nneka yelped when Dennis bit her stomach too hard, earning loud insults from the neighbors. They had no shame.
Mama Agnes was on her latest mission. Landlady instructed her to visit one of Iya Dorcas's distant sisters, Mama C. Mama C was one of Landlady's best suppliers. She always got the freshest, purest human parts needed for sacrifices or rituals. This time around, Mama C was supposed to instruct her to prepare a poison. Landlady sent her a text five days before. The instructions stated that Mama Agnes was supposed to meet Mama C near Iya Dorcas's stall on this specific day. Mama C would pick her up from there and take her to Ikeja, where they would make the potion. Currently, Mama Agnes was holding on to the seat of a keke napep, trying not to fly out of the speeding vehicle.
The driver, a fat, dark man with a long gash on his left cheek, drove at full speed on a busy road. He always barely dodged incoming cars, and he entered the other lanes more than five times. For some unknown reason, the driver stopped in the middle lane of a five-lane expressway. He reversed, made a U-turn, then drove into the other lanes. Mama Agnes felt that all of her hair turned white at that moment. Mama Agnes almost lost her head to a pile of yams on a small white Peugeot truck they zoomed past. She almost hit the man on his head, but they were about to squeeze between two Range Rovers. After five more minutes of sharp turns and squeezing into tiny spaces, mama Agnes made it to Mama C's shop.
Mama C sat on a blue plastic chair, holding a tightly wrapped black polythene bag in her hands.
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I didn't have the heart to delete anything from this chapter, even though it's a bit long. I'm back to my regular updates, after such a long time. I hope you're doing good! Please comment on what you thought about the chapter and vote❤❤❤
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I Know My Mother👩🏽(IKMM)✅
Mistério / SuspenseAfter Nneka's father almost loses his life and farm, her mother mysteriously vanishes. She then moves to Lagos to live with her grandmother, but she soon finds there's more to her grandmother's life than she knows. While hawking, she meets a boy...
