NOT DEAD YET… (ll)
My body twitched and my eyes opened up to sheer darkness. Fear suddenly engulfed me and I could hear my heart thudding rapidly against my ribcage. I am alive. I thought otherwise.
I tried getting up but the pang returned. I winced and reached for my side, feeling the open wound where I was stabbed. The pain was unbearable, and the bleeding resumed.
I was unclad. My body stripped off every bit of clothing. I tried to feel my environment, only to realize that I was not only trapped in a wooden case, but also had company.
On my both sides were fresh dead bodies, equally unclad. I could feel their body parts as my hands browsed around. The case was in form of a casket, though four times larger, and could comfortably house three adults therein. I soon reached for the lid that confined us and gently pushed, luckily it wasn’t locked, but it was damn heavy. As the lid made to open, creaking sounds ensured. I began hearing pattering footsteps. I stopped pushing.
“Not today, please!” I heard a male voice rant “I’ll do that first thing tomorrow morning…”
“Tomorrow? you want the bodies to start decomposing? we need these organs fresh remember…” A petite voice that sounded like Irene’s replied him
I became curious.
“Why not cut them open yourself?” The male voice countered “I had been busy all day and I need quality sleep”
“I know you think my role here is easy, huh?” The petite voice replied “Now for your information, blindly luring people to their death is no walk in the park. I always put my life on the line, my identity, my reputation…”
“Not now Sis. I’m not falling for those” The male voice cautioned emphatically “I’m doing it tomorrow and that’s on period”
And with those words he stomped off as his footsteps began to recede into the distance. I soon found a small crack in the wooden confine and peeped through. I could only spot the lady’s legs up to her thighs. She wandered from one end to the other before eventually departing the scene.
“Irene? can’t be…” I mumbled, retrieving my gaze “The voice… Perhaps not. Maybe someone with a replica”
As I lay back, My thoughts returned and went wild. I began to plan and strategize my escape. I knew it wasn’t feasible, but I needed to build hope out of misery. I knew if I must boast any chance of escape, i must be very willing to go against the storm.
My thoughts then drifted to Mama and Papa. How they’d keep waiting endlessly for my return. I thought of the eventual repercussion of my fate on their failing health if they ever come to find out I may never be returning home. My thoughts went on and on as my eyes welled up and burst out tears. I began to sob uncontrollably, quietly.
Like a thick blanket, darkness soon covered the forest as the midnight hour was now close at hand. I could hear the chirping of crickets amidst the flapping wings of hunting bats. I knew it was right about time.
I carefully studied the environment to be sure no soul was close, and inch by inch, I began to push open the lid again. At every opening, the creaking sound became evident, but I kept on, until I made a space big enough to accommodate my head. Gently but stealthily, I began to creep out.
I was already halfway through when I heard someone cough. I stopped abruptly. My heartbeat increasing by four times.
After waiting a couple of minutes hanging at the spot, I resumed my escape bid, but the cough came again, this time more intensely. Just like I, someone amongst us wasn’t dead yet.
The guard on night duty soon arose from his sleeping spot and turned on his torchlight, navigating it towards the direction of the wooden cases. There were about eight cases, all lined up and filled with human dead bodies.
I was now out of the case, so I lay flat on my abdomen, enduring the stings of insects and the funk of rotting flesh. The light from his torch wasn’t too brilliant, but it captured a good part of the area before going off again.
When the cough came the third time, the curious guard began making his way towards the cases with his torchlight on. On his other hand was a sharp wooden spear.
He walked up to the first case, opened the lid and began to pierce the dead bodies to be certain they were as good as dead. He finished with the first and came to the second, did the same and moved to the third, then the fourth and so on.
I was sprawled out on the floor of the sixth case but couldn’t move as to not attract further suspicion. And as the guard drew nearer, my hopes faded away. I knew it was the end of the road for me… And I could feel the cold hands of death roughly caressing my whole being in preparation for my final funeral.
To be continued…
Úncle Nnamdi wrote it ✍️
