A Dread in the Spine by Akintayo Akinjide - HTML preview

Excerpt

From 'Purified Tomorrow: The Mad Awakening'

Carl opened his eyes sluggishly, and took a long time to understand that he wasn't in a knock place. He tried to accustom his eyes with the thick darkness he was in. His eyes fluttered as he rolled his neck, trying to figure out where he was. At least if one was in a dark place, there was no way the darkness would be so thick, but the place seemed impenetrable by any ray of light, making him assume he was finally dead. One of those philosophy teachers in his school once theorized that when they died that everything might be dark and they might remain in the darkness of the abyss, useless and for nothing. But how could he be dead?

All he remembered was that he was coming out of Joyce’s house to get ready for his own part of the plan. He was being careful to check if the street was empty, when he saw a head materialize out of the air. He was so stunned that he couldn’t shout before the man covered his mouth. The man wore one of those chameleon types of uniform. They had a bit of struggle, but before he could get hold of himself, another head materialized and stabbed him with a syringe. Whatever was in the syringe made him lose consciousness immediately, but not before he saw the other man putting on a sort of cap that made him become invisible. His fear now was that the uniformed men he witnessed the other time later saw him after they killed the old man. If it were so, he had to find a way to escape from the place he was.

With every part of his body blaring an alarm, he decided to stand, but was stopped by something that held him down. The thing was metallic. It held him in place. There was also metal chains holding his hands and legs firmly to the chair. Staring about to check for any ray of light, or anything to help him know what part he was sitting on, he was sure he might finally meet his demise in this place. The thought of being there was infuriating on its own. His eyes roamed in its socket as he hoped his eyes would blend with the darkness. Everything was silent. He wondered what could have happened, and why they must have wanted him. He wasn’t from a wealthy family. He wasn’t exceptionally brilliant. He wasn’t a geek like Fred. So, he was so sure the person that kidnapped him would see his worthlessness and return him to help Joyce. There was no way she would even believe anything he told her, but he would still give it a trial. She must have been expecting him. No one could tell him how many hours he had been out. If he had been gone for long, then someone other than him must have gone to her rescue, and that meant they would have alerted the police.

Suddenly, someone yelled, ‘where am I?’

Carl almost jumped out of his skin, and might have probably jumped out of the metal chair if the metals didn’t hold him in place. He never assumed anyone was there with him.

‘Who is there?' Another voice yelled.

‘Where are we?’ Another voice shouted. He would have calmly watched them scream and not flinch, but the darkness was making him falter in his calmness. Everything made him edgy. The noise retrogressed to murmur, then sprung into a full-fledged hysteria. Noises diffused into the dark hole or room or whatever they were in. Carl was very sure the people in the place were mad because they were all getting on his nerve. He held his breathe with a little assurance that the humanity ingrained into them would soon resurface, but none of them seemed to falter. He was so annoyed and vexed now and was sure that the frustration was getting to the 100% of his breaking point. He assumed he would keep his emotions together until a lady began to shriek. That was the crux of the whole matter.

He screamed, ‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut your trap! Shut your trap! Shut it!’

Everywhere became silent. He cleared his voice as he tried to stabilize his voice. He still always wondered why humans have to behave like chickens whenever they are in terrible situations. They all kept quiet as if they were expecting an instruction. He wasn't the speech-giver type of guy. He never loved climbing the podium to address people. He was always the background type of guy. There was no way they were getting any word from him again, other than for him to yell, if they mistakenly reverted to their former noise.

Someone got tired of waiting and shouted, 'where are…’

The light came up, making the person's voice fade. Carl closed his eyes, and tried opening it again, slowly this time. His eyes widened in surprise as he glanced about in surprise. Like he suspected, they were in a train-like vessel. The top was rigged with strong metals, and air ducts that looked more like an exhibition than a real thing. Their chair was made of silver medals that held them together. Everyone in the place wore the same grey silver uniform that had semblance with swimming trunks; and the color stretched down the line until what looked like the end of the train, was as if one was staring at a tiny bird in the sky.

He could see the same look on almost everybody in the room. They all looked surprised, and he was sure he wore the same look too. The people that were shouting seemed too shocked to utter a sound. Before anyone could make a comment about where they were and before Carl could try to fathom what that place was, the door beside him slid open. Despite the silence with which the door opened, most people glanced towards the door, and those that didn’t see the door open were informed by their neighbors or they noticed what everyone was doing, and did the same.

A woman entered. She was wearing the same uniform as theirs, only that hers was red. She was followed by two people with the yellow uniform. They held guns and looked fierce. The lady was slim and could pass for a model. Only that she had an unusual gait, and balance that would make anyone continually scared of her. And despite her beautifully packed blond hair, she had a diamond shaped face, which looked like that of a robot’s. And her eyes were very tiny, black, lifeless; another reason to be afraid of her. Someone whimpered in front of Carl. He hurriedly glanced at the fearful person, and back at the lady.

‘Good morning, my name is Diana, and I welcome you to Etyes, the home of Peacemakers’ she said into a public address system.

Snippets From 'Grabbing The Hot Gate'

Immediately Stella switched on the light, Gladys held her breathe. The room was a home to the scariest objects she had ever encountered. It wasn't a room on its own. There was a pyre and there were a lot of statues. Different tools laid on the pyre. There were two cages that hung from the ceiling of the room and some were on the floor. The hanging cages were big enough to take ten full-grown people, but the scariest part was that it hung over a horribly dark hole, from where simmers of smoke climbed out in the shape of rats. Gladys stirred to face Stella.

Stella entered the room slowly, her eyes were fixed on Gladys. Everything seemed to fade away. The terror of the room was grounded out of existence as Stella's blood-red evil eyes stared back at her.

For some absurd reason, she turned again. Her fear wasn't about the ominous room or the fearsome way Stella stared and advanced towards her, it was for the fact that she remembered that place from her dream.

'What is this?'

'The seed has been planted. You know where you are'.

'Do you mean?' Gladys asked and hurriedly glanced about to see if there was any way to escape. It couldn't be true. There was no way she drank part of the blood. She touched her lips and excited laughter from Stella.

'Yes. You know where we are', Stella said with such grace as she strutted towards her as if four hefty men were behind her.

Gladys shook her head, hyperventilating and panting. Stella's body frame was thin and if she rushed into her, she would definitely be able to escape. Sweat covered her body. Stella kept edging towards her and Gladys withdrew. 'It's a lie...'

'Tell me which part is a lie. I think you know I'm not lying. This is the major inconsistency with the word of God you should have looked out for'.

'You are a liar'.

'It's not in my nature to want to say the truth, but this is the truth. I guessed I've sinned against lord Lucifer for saying the truth, but he wouldn't be as mad as if I told you it was a figment of your imagination'.

'I'm dreaming. I'll wake up'.

Gladys ran to the pyre, touched it. It was real. It couldn't be real. She jumped, screamed, turned to check if she would at least wake from her dream. Everything was real in the house. What of herself? She pinched herself and the pain lingered to show her they are real.

'I'm a child of God. You can't do anything to me'.

'Well, in your words, technically, I'm not doing anything to you. I told you I would be here with you all the way'.

Gladys felt her mouth become dry. 'Please, let me go. Whatever'.

'Gladys, fear not...You are in safe hands. You will get raw power'.

'No. I don't want. I invoke the curse of God on you. In the name of Jesus, I am freed from whatever thing you have done and want to do to me'.

Stella laughed hysterically. 'You know my father or one of my fathers as I have had many fathers; the Australian father once told me about the story of a soldier who left the shore of America to fight the Germans. When he got there, instead of accepting defeat he kept invoking the power of being an American. In other words, he had left American soil and no longer had the protection of their power especially as he went AWOL'.

'I'm a child of God'.

Stella shrugged. 'Well, it depends on which God you're talking about: You have no right again as a Christian to make any demands. You've broken the edge and a snake has entered. I have entered. In fact, the snake is so pregnant within you and would soon give birth'.

'Shut up! I rebuke you. You're nothing but a liar and I will show you what stuff I'm made of'.

Gladys ran towards her. If the name of Jesus wasn't working, the strength Jesus gave her would do. She struck Stella's head. She was thicker than the frail Stella, her punch should have brought Stella down, but Stella was as fast as light. She side-stepped and rammed her fist into Gladys's ribs. The pain surged through her body to her head. Gladys yelled and crumbled to the ground, holding her side, but she tried to rise when she saw Stella advancing.

'You're a devil...', she said with clenched teeth as she grasped the pyre for support, groaning. A hammer rested on the pyre. Gladys picked it and stood straight, still panting heavily.

'God forgive me', she muttered as she poised herself to strike Stella. Although it was painful to do, she used all her strength to slack the tight blue armless gown she was wearing. People had commended the clothe after she got it from Fundel Collections, now Stella was making her tear the beautiful thing. She would crush her, and beg God for forgiveness later.

'Wow. I've never been called a devil in my 950 years plus on earth. Even Lord Lucifer would agree that I'm the next in command'.

Gladys stared at her in awe. What was she doing? How did she get involved with someone like this? Was she crazy? Was she blind? But she couldn't give herself an answer before a kick sent her sprawling on the floor. The hammer flew out of her hand while her hearing aid rattled away to one side, and Gladys was so sure she heard another rib-cracking before her hearing aid fell off. She crawled towards the Pyre to pick her hearing aid. With quivering hands, she positioned it in her ear, firmly. There was no way she would die without trying to fight off this evil that called herself her mentor. Stella sneered at her and punched her jaw thrice before bending near her bleeding head.

'It's a simple thing. You can either take it compulsorily or willingly'.

'No', she grunted.