CHAPTER 5: DESCENT INTO MADNESS

Ugochukwu’s life, one time orderly and predictable, had straightaway turn a disorderly storm of paranoia, care, and fixation. Every turning point of Lagos experience like it was close down in on him. The street that had once been familiar now seemed alien, filled with out of sight dangers loiter in every vestige. People he had known for year—admirer, fellow worker, still menage—had suddenly turn strangers, their smiles deceptive, their gestures unsettling.

It had been three daylight since he’d learned the wide-cut extent of the betrayal that had been orchestrated against him. Three daytime since he realized that Tunde and Adaobi, the people he had entrust the most, had trade him out to survive. The betrayal was nevertheless clean in his mind, wear away at him like a ceaseless itch that could never be scratched.

Ugochukwu sat alone in his murkily lit apartment, the only speech sound the ticking of the clock on the wall. He had no idea how long he had been model at that place, staring at the white wall in front line of him, his brain racing. It finger as though his thoughts were slip away from him, like food grain of moxie slipping through his fingers.

He had always plume himself on his ability to last out in control, to continue unagitated under pressure. But now, everything was splay out of his grasp. His every thought was take in with one matter: revenge.

The phone on the table bombinate. Ugochukwu shoot out of his trance, his gist racing. He grabbed it, half-expecting to run into a message from Tunde or Adaobi, maybe an excuse, maybe an account. But instead, the message came from an unsung number:

“You’re not the only one that wants to ruin them. ”

The words were dewy-eyed, yet they carried an ill weight. Ugochukwu stared at the screen, his head bucket along. Who else have it off about his antics? Who else wanted Tunde and Adaobi’s heads? His finger reduce around the phone, and for a brief mo, he considered bemuse it across the room in frustration. But he didn’t. He want answers.

Before he could respond, another message appeared:

“Meet me at the Old warehouse. Midnight. Come alone. ”

The subject matter was clear, and Ugochukwu knew he couldn’t brush aside it. He birth no idea who it was, but he was desperate for answers. He couldn’t trust anyone anymore, but he needed to find out who was pulling the cosmic string behind the scenes. Whoever it was, they screw thing he didn't set up, and that alone makes them dangerous.

His mind swirled with a thousand idea as he quickly grab his jacket and err into the night. The streets of Lagos were suffocating, the air thick with humidness, the smell of exhaust and drivel overpowering. The familiar disturbance of the city had suit a invariant buzz in his spike, like an incessant humming that exclusively added to his mounting anxiety.

As he approach the old warehouse, a sentiency of apprehension square up over him. The place had been give up for class, a souvenir of the past. It was set apart, cut off from the repose of the metropolis, and perfect for whatever louche business was hold up on. The shadows seemed to stretch out long hither, swallowing everything in their path.

Ugochukwu stepped cautiously into the darken warehouse, his every horse sense on mellow alert. He wasn’t sure what he was ask, but the void felt oppressive. The smell of mildew and rust reach him as he take the air deeper into the erectile space. The only brightness came from the light-headed incandescence of the Moon, percolate in through broken windows.

“Hello? ” he spoke out, his vocalization repeat in the vast emptiness.

For a moment, there was nothing. Then, from the darkness, a flesh stepped fore, emerging from the shadows like a ghost.

It was a piece, improbable and lean, with tart features and eyes that gleamed with a mixture of wonder and malevolence. His face was unfamiliar, but the unagitated confidence he exude made Ugochukwu’s blood run cold.

“Who are you? ” Ugochukwu necessitate, his voice downcast, stiff, though his heart beat in his chest.

The man smile, though it didn’t get through his eyes. “That’s not authoritative flop now. What weigh is that we both want the same thing. ”

Ugochukwu peg down his eyes. “And what’s that? ”

“Revenge, ” the person answered merely. “Tunde and Adaobi. They’ve taken on you, just like they’ve played so many others. But now, they’ve made a mistake. And it’s a mistake they won’t populate to rue. ”

Ugochukwu’s heart decamp a musical rhythm. This gentleman's gentleman have a go at it exactly who he was after. But there was something unsettling about the way he address, as though retaliation wasn’t but an act—it was a commodity to be traded.

“I don’t need your help, ” Ugochukwu grumble, his script tremble with passion. “I don’t need anyone. I’ll help myself out. ”

The man laughed quietly, as though Ugochukwu’s anger divert him. “You think you can do this alone? You think you’re the only one hunting them? You’ve already been outplayed. You’ve been manipulated. Don’t you get that? You don’t have the entire picture. ”

Ugochukwu’s chest reduce. He had been so focused on his ain pain, his ain betrayal, that he hadn’t stopped to weigh the clear picture. What was really materializing here? Who was playing who?

“You don’t know everything, ” the man continued, coming closer. “But I can help you. Together, we can bring them down. But you need to trust me. And you must let go of your anger before it ware you. ”

Ugochukwu’s face twitched, rubbing his forehead. The weight of the weapon system was a incessant reminder of the vehemence he was prepared to commit. But the man’s word of honor take a heart. He had already been devour by anger, by his demand for revenge. It had exchange him, twisted him into something unrecognizable.

The world’s oculus gleamed with understanding. “You’ve already crossed the communication channel, Didn't you? You’re not just searching justice anymore. You’re seeking end. And once you fail down that road, there’s no turning back. ”

Ugochukwu didn’t resolve. He couldn’t. The truth was too much to bear. He had get over that line of products a long time ago. His mentation, his mind, had become a prison. Every face he saw was a potential scourge. Every Book, every gesture, was a sign of perfidy. He was deign into madness.

The man's grinning widened, sensing Ugochukwu’s internal struggle. “We all have our breaking head. I can help you despite how you had make the biggest error of your life. But you have to trust me. ”

For a longsighted moment, Ugochukwu remain firm frozen, staring at the mam, rupture between his thirst for revenge and the need for control, for clarity. His entire worldly concern had move around upside down, and he didn’t know if he could trust anyone—not even this stranger.

Finally, Ugochukwu verbalize, his interpreter hoarse. “Who are you? ”

The man’s grinning deepened, and for a present moment, Ugochukwu retrieve he date something more sinister flicker in his eyes.

“Someone who can help you, ” the man said lightly. “If you allow me. ”

And with that, Ugochukwu’s descent into madness stay on. His head was no longer his ain. The system of weights of his choices, the fire need for revenge, and the chilling presence of this alien began to pull him profoundly into a world he might never escape.