After 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...
Mama C barely pulled Mama Agnes away from Landlady's face. Mama Agnes could barely see with the number of tears in her eyes. If Landlady didn't plan the attack for them, maybe she, Jide, and Nneka would be living comfortably on Victoria Island, or in another state. She wouldn't need to go on dangerous missions, get into dangerous scenarios, and lie to her granddaughter. Landlady shot her a look, urging her to think carefully about her confession. Mama Agnes glanced at Mama C, and she saw her wearing one of Baba Jide's bracelets. When she visited Baba Jide for the first time, she saw it flung across one corner of the room. The revelation that Mama C was affiliated with Baba Jide almost made her faint. Her knees went limp, and she almost fell on the broken glass. Landlady did something terrible to Baba Jide, so Mama C came to seek vengeance for him.
This Landlady woman only knows trouble!
Landlady smiled grimly at her with wide eyes, mocking her for being weak. Mama C dragged a stool from the corner and nodded at Iya Dorcas. Iya Dorcas led Mama Agnes back to the chair and poured another glass of juice for her. "Agnes, we are friends now. Let me tell you what this witch was planning to do to you. She wanted to send you to an army base to kill you, then she would kill your son and granddaughter. This woman has killed countless 'helpers,' innocent people that she tricked into working for her. On top of that, she still had the guts to use my children for sacrifice, the children I could have used to buy quality lace for myself." Iya Dorcas's eyes were fixed on Landlady, almost succeeding in burning a hole through her.
Landlady never tried to deny the claims, making what Iya Dorcas said true. Mama C turned to Mama Agnes. "Agnes, we will relieve you of this woman. We just want you to leave this place, never come back, and to keep quiet about what you saw. We won't do anything to you." Mama Agnes noticed a small black mole growing slowly on Mama C's cheek. Landlady gave her a secret wink. Mama Agnes finally confirmed that the women were lying. Landlady's forced confession had some loopholes in it. Landlady would never confess to her deeds in front of her enemies unless she planned it. Mama Agnes's heart almost failed her. Why did Landlady have to drag her into those kinds of things?! Landlady shot her another glance to make her keep quiet. There was nothing Mama Agnes could do, so she just had to trust Landlady. Iya Dorcas clutched a bloody butcher knife in her hand, and she was confident to use it.
[Bolu's phone rang in his pocket, and he answered his call. Three minutes later, he was talking to his comrades again. "We have trouble this night. The girl that died with Oluwatosin, this matter is related to her. Let's go to the station and plan ourselves."]
"Mama Agnes, let me tell you an interesting story." Mama C's jaw swung in all directions as she spoke in a booming voice. "Oluwatosin Ebere, the USB seller living a fake life, and his girlfriend, died near a junction. Did you know that Baba Jide and I were partly responsible for that? There is a Bolu, one policeman that I know. He went to the junction when a shitting thief accidentally stabbed himself with a nail. That Bolu was my second son." Tears fell down her cheeks in short drops. Landlady sneered at Mama C while Iya Dorcas swung knife around. "That Ebere and Bolu both liked that prostitute. I only encouraged Bolu to see that...prostitute because I made the other girls around her infertile. They carried a stupid attitude I would not tolerate, they did not want to learn how to cook, and they were always on their phones! Bolu begged me not to touch that one, so I left her alone. Can you imagine that she still had the guts to go and be sleeping around? I found out that her latest sugar daddy was Ebere."
Iya Dorcas hissed and cursed Ebere under her breath. The man could not keep his hands off pretty women, especially prostitutes. Mama C continued. "The girl told Bolu about their affair, and harshly broke up with him. She even poured palm oil on his new white suit, the suit he was going to use to propose to her. He told me about her, and I told Baba Jide. We prepared two days ahead. Baba Jide told me everything about Landlady's plot, including the Bilkis going to Efezino's house. We were going to burn her with fire on the road to the junction, but Landlady intercepted my juju! I would have killed that woman for my son, but she stopped me! On top of it all, she was the one that made Ebere pee on himself. When we went there, we discovered that he and the girl already died. That day, Bolu and his partners were supposed to raid Efezino's house. Landlady gave them the wrong directions from their station and threw confusion powder in their faces. My son died from a stray bullet! Someone stole his body to sell organs o!" Mama C was on her knees, slamming the floor with her palm and screeching. "This woman killed my son o! On top of that, she killed my best friend!! Baba Jide, you have suffered o!!!"
Everyone watched Mama C scream, pulling her hair and slapping her face. Iya Dorcas grabbed Mama Agnes's juice and chugged down half of it. Mama Agnes counted three seconds. In no time, Iya Dorcas was rolling on the floor, clutching her neck and banging her head with her fist. Mama Agnes poisoned the drink with a syrup that ate someone's insides. It started eating you from your bones, then your blood, then your flesh. Blood seeped from every pore on Iya Dorcas's body and evaporated into the air. The poison already reached her lips, so she was unable to make a sound. Her body jerked uncontrollably, stiffening at odd angles as she slowly died. Mama Agnes swung her fist at Mama C's left cheek. The force Mama Agnes used made Mama C's jaw touch her left ear. Mama C's head fell near Landlady's feet. She howled like a suffocating cow, unable to move her jaw. Landlady seized the chance to stomp on her head. She didn't break her skull, but Mama C died after a few seconds.
Mama Agnes swiped Mama C's car keys from her black purse. Landlady hurried to Iya Dorcas's body and stole her belongings. To disgrace her further, she stripped her of her clothes and left her naked. Mama Agnes did the same for Mama C, but she almost vomited as soon as she saw a large tumor on her stomach. Landlady and Mama Agnes took the Iya Dorcas's basin and dumped the contents over them.
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This is the basin they carried.
A ghastly grey cloud in the shape of a skull wafted from their bodies. Their skin rotted, dried, and turned into dust, all within two minutes. Landlady spat at Mama C's pile of bones. This was all too much for Mama Agnes. She turned to Landlady, and asked the question tormenting her mind:
"Landlady, please, why did you call me on this mission?"
