When XVIII

He didn’t come last night. He hadn’t appeared in my dreams for ten days. Orie. Two more days, and I'd be able to tell if he was bluffing or not.

I didn’t want him within close range, but, his absence unsettled me, and each time, whenever I’d wake up, the fear which had been engraved into my chest, would seem to dig in further. The silence before the storm. It unsettled me.

I did tell Nene, and each day, the smile on her face thinned, and Chinwe came too, with heartwarming talk, and tight-lipped smiles. I could tell, that they too were unsettled. On the eleventh day, whispers became the norm in my home. They all got to me, Ada had eloped, and, Uncle Chuka was ill, and according to him, the doctors on the other side of the river firmly declared that they had seen nothing like Uncle Chuka's illness. It was puzzling, and at the moment, incurable.