THE BESTSELLER (2)

#Episode_Two

"One of them bolted the door while the other three pinned her down. She had lived in the same compound with these boys, she thought they would be the ones to protect her dignity should any stranger attempt to rob her of her womanhood. But they are now ravaging her entire being. She had spent almost thirty minutes screaming and struggling. She has become too weak to defend herself. She fainted when a gruelling pain tore through her soul." Wama was reading about Wabuji from her novel "TO BE THE BEST", to a teary-eyed audience at the Eko Hotels in Lagos. Where she was scheduled to later meet with the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Jack Bauer. 

Last week after the event, Wama spent the night in jail for what the government propagandists called, "defamation of character, and blackmail" targeting Gov. Adda. 

She was visited in jail by the first lady, who couldn't wait to see Wama behind bars. "You want to ruin me and my family because you are now seeing some chicken change in your bank account?" Asked Mrs. Adda. 

"At least I have my own money, what do you have besides being the governor's wife? Nothing." Replied Wama, with a wry smile on her face. 

Mrs. Adda raised a hand to punch her nose in but knew the legal implication, so she restrained herself. She had a better plan; "Keep her here for the night, no visitation, no phone calls, no special privileges. And when she's released, I want you to arrange for your boys to stage a robbery at her house, and make sure they really rape her silly this time." Mrs. Adda ordered the DPO as she slipped an envelope housing $10,000 into his hand. 

"Consider it done, Your Excellency." He replied with a salute. 

On the following cold Sunday night after her release, Wama couldn't sleep. She had read all the news and insults on social media. Many people hated her for speaking up now...

"Why did she have to wait this long before telling her rape story?"

"The opposition party must have paid her handsomely to ruin the good man's political career."

"She is just being a typical frustrated single lady. Jealous that her good friend is married to the governor, while she still can't find a man who wants her."

What she didn't know, was that a team of Special Ops police unit was in the woods planning a raid on her house. 

The leader of the team, whom they called Andy, crawled to her bathroom window and found it open. He then began to cut the security bars quietly, after breaking the security light above him. The others joined him in the dark as he cut the last one and peeped into the bathroom to check if it was safe to enter. 

At that same moment, Wama got up and decided to go ease herself, take a warm bath, and see if she'd finally be able to sleep. Three burglars were already inside her bathroom, their boss ordered them to kill her after raping her. He wouldn't want her telling any story again after tonight. So they came prepared to finish the job. 

As Andy stretched a hand to twist the doorknob, Wama switched on the bathroom light from outside and yanked open the door. 😲😲😲

..........................................................

Back in Lagos, Wama had just finished signing a copy of her book for the last person on the queue, when her phone rang. She couldn't answer because many people were trying to take selfies with her. 

The phone continued to ring off the hook, so she stepped aside to answer... 

"Hello Sis, I came to the house again, and it was still locked. So I went round the back and saw the bathroom window smashed. I think someone must have broken in, but I still can't find #Comfort anywhere." Said #Tallepi, her little cousin. 

Comfort was Wama's only surviving sister who has lived with her since she was able to afford her own place. But Comfort's decomposing body was the awful smell Tallepi perceived in the air, yet she didn't know. 😷😷

Comfort was raped and stabbed to death by unknown men who broke into the house while she slept on a couch in the living room, where she dozed off after watching the new LIVING IN BONDAGE movie. The men mistook her for Wama, and did their job perfectly, as directed. They even took photos of a job well done, to show their boss who wanted proof. 

Wama didn't go to the house after leaving prison, she needed to be alone. She didn't want to cry in the presence of her kid sister, so she lodged at the Star Exclusive Hotel close to the airport, from where she flew out of town the following morning, not wanting the local press invading her privacy. 

She'd been trying to reach her sister since she arrived in Lagos on Monday, but no one answered the phone. 

"Check under the flower vase by the front door, there's an extra key there. Go inside and check what the thieves might have taken from the house." Wama said, now beginning to worry. 

Tallepi was scared to go inside alone, so she went outside and begged the young cab driver to please come in with her. 

Immediately they opened the front door, the stench that greeted them from the living room almost destroyed their sense of smell. They covered their noses and peeked further inside. That's when they saw the corpse with its eyes popped out of their sockets. 😢😢

"Why are you screaming?" Wama asked, sounding troubled. 

"She's dead sister, she's dead. Comfort is deeeaaddd. Ohhh my Gooooood, Comfort is deeeaaad." Cried Tallepi. 😢😢😢

The phone slipped from Wama's hand. She suddenly felt woozy. Her knees couldn't hold her weight anymore. She sat on the floor, and all the photographers rushed for shots, instead of trying to help. 😠😠

She let out a loud cry as she rolled on the floor. Some of the organisers had to jump in and carry her out through the back door. 

At the police station back in Dampar, Andy has been looking and searching everywhere for his ID Card. The first lady had called the DPO to threaten his job for collecting her money and not doing his job. 

News and pictures were all over social media, that Wama had slumped in Lagos while attending an occasion. Meaning she was still okay after all. 

#Sunny the cab driver managed to enter the room to check on the body. Her throat was severed, she was stabbed more than a dozen times in the chest and stomach, and she was completely naked with a torn shirt used to tie her mouth and hands. 

The smell was too much to handle, so he made a dash for the door, that was how he slipped on something and almost fell into the smelly, gluey, and sticky blood on the floor. 

He steadied himself, and now saw what almost fell him. It was a police ID Card. 

"But what was it doing here?" He thought as he used a piece of rag to pick and wipe it. 

Then he recognized the name and photo on the ID. ANDY AUDU, it was his older brother's. 🙆🙆

TO BE CONTINUED... 

#Fiction 

©JBZ_2020