She was beautiful.
Suddenly she came and sat across from me and held my hand.
“Everyone has more than one doubt.
Not without cause these feelings can sprout
But why do you harbor rather than shout?
Murdering trust rather than speak out.”
I looked away from her accused eyes feeling rightfully accused. I replied, with as much conviction as I could muster,
“Does an archer with one arrow shoot carelessly?
In the dark with one match, is a candle lit so easily?
I needed evidence a little concrete
…To not appear a jealous half wit.”
She shuddered suppressing a sob. Sometimes the expected still stings unexpectedly. She said,
“And did you find your evidence?
Did you find any proof of my pretence?
What questions have you answered tonight?
But put yourself in a difficult plight.
It is said, ‘The truth is bitter’, but is it really a surprise? As her words got interpreted by my brain, I was surprised. I was getting angry,
“You left our bed without a word
And here you sit, your tongue uncured.
Instead of re-established trust
You fuel my fire and freeze my frost.”
She didn’t waste time in replying,
“Waste your time and chase the wind
You might meet my lover.
For as long as you grate and grind
To me you’re still improper.
How dare she?! How dare she?!
There was no Dew sitting in the chair when the Cross opened the door. I blinked rapidly.
I had been dreaming.
The Cross looked at me and said they had sent someone for me. He looked liked a child whose toy had been forcefully taken. I followed him out of the Cross station and he stood there watching me walk away.
A young man passed me by going into the station. I was wondering what he could be doing at a Cross station at this time. I walked past the gate into the chilly, dusty, harmattan Mega night. The Cross mobiles – cars for and of the Cross – were parked inside the compound and there was just one car parked outside. It was clearly not a Cross mobile but it was empty.
I was about to go back into the station to start a fire about how they had woken me from my dream and there was no one here but I thought better of that. So I just stood there thinking of what to do, when the young man I had walked past earlier walked up to me.
“Good evening Dear sir, I know who you are,
And I was sent here to fetch you via car…”
My hand went up on its own tired accord stopping him mid-sentence. My patience had worn out and I just wanted out of here.
From Mega we were supposed to go straight to the Armor. He drove until he got to the cross-junction that pointed left to Kass, right to Aja quarry and straight to Passoh. Then he stopped in the middle of the deserted road.
He must have seen the alarm on my face but for some reason he thought pulling over – which he did next – might erase my fears.
I screamed,
“Is not one ordeal enough for tonight?
To what end is this serial fright?
I have been cheated, robbed without a fight,
And of my composure, this is the height.
He smiled disarmingly and replied,
“Calm down Dear Sir, think no worse of me.
Your very ordeal has turned you a celebrity.
24 lines make up the speech heard by victims
Prey of the killer known to the Cross as ‘Hymn’.
2nd Daniel 