Evil Rising – An OAU Story
The bird squeaked noisily overhead. Ben traced its wide wings with his eyes and followed its path along the bright sky. This was the only day he could escape the bittersweet “Struggle” of Obafemi Awolowo University Campus Life.
“Why is this sun so hot?” he said to himself. He was walking through the Market to see his aunt and get some cash from her for the weekend. “Sapa” was showing a whole lot of “shege”, if not, why would he be trekking?
The spherical beads of sweat forming on the face of the pretty salesgirl trailed a nice path down in between her chest. She beckoned on him to get something from her. He felt the urge to do so but he couldn’t, for obvious reasons. Maybe he would get back to her after getting money from his aunt, and probably get her number too.
Evil Rising – An OAU Story
“Boboyi, leave the road now” a car driver shouted while honking really loud. Ben realized he had been staring for too long.
“Na woman go kill this one” A man close jokingly told his companion.
Ben couldn’t bear to look back at the girl and hurried on to his aunt’s place. He had always complained about how far and secluded it was from the rest of the market.
On getting there, he could see that the shop was closed, however, it wasn’t locked. He should have called before coming. The fact that the padlock wasn’t in place gave him hope, she couldn’t have gone far.
The electrician opposite her shop worked away at the television in front of him, he greeted him cordially.
“Good afternoon, daddy. How is work Sir, have you seen my aunty today?”
“Good afternoon Benji, how are lectures going? I heard they are rushing you guys, how are you coping?” He answered.
Evil Rising – An OAU Story
Ben looked on, confused about which question to answer first.
“Fine Sir, we are trying our best. Have you seen my aunt today?”
“No oo, I came not too long ago. Tolu was the one around and he has gone to eat. But the door is open and I have been hearing some noise from inside since. She might be inside.” The electrician answered, not raising his head from his work.
This raised Ben’s suspicions, his aunty was mildly claustrophobic. She would never lock the doors of her shop unless she was outside it.
As he moved close to the door, he could hear the sounds too. He recognized those sounds, however, the picture coming to his head was a very disturbing one – it must not be his aunt. He moved to knock and saw all the hairs on his arm rise like nails attracted to an invisible magnetic force. He knocked and noticed the sounds stopped a little. Ben looked back at the electrician and the old man shrugged, he was also paying keen attention.
Evil Rising – An OAU Story
Ben knocked for the second time and still got no response. Something was wrong.
He pushed the door open and was shocked at what he saw. A half-naked lady, probably in her twenties, a young man sitting on the bare floor and another standing by her side. Nothing made sense, however, he was relieved that he didn’t find his aunt amidst the confusing scene.
He took his attention back to the young lady in front of him. She has unclad apart from the loose-fitting shorts that just went above her knees. He stared at her face and saw that she was dangerously beautiful – from her semi-triangular face to the roundness of her breasts and her perfectly shaped hips.
“Ben, get a hold of yourself,” he said to himself.
“Who are you guys?” he asked. The old man was standing by him now also astonished by the scene.
Evil Rising – An OAU Story
They kept on staring at him without answering. He noticed the girl was holding a knife by the blade.
“Who are you guys and where is my aunt?” He asked more sternly.
He made to disarm the girl while the electrician tried to talk to the other guys. She made no move to stop him but held on to the knife firmly. When he pulled it from her grasp, he noticed blood on it. He had cut her during the process.
She looked at him and licked her lacerated palm while smiling at him. He had never seen so much power and evil in anyone’s eye before.
Almost instinctively, the guy on the floor stood up and they all started moving in unison. Ben dropped the knife and quickly pulled the old man towards the entrance. The three followed behind faster.
“Daddy, run,” he said to the old man before dashing out the door.
After some minutes, he stopped around a corner and brought out his phone. A million scenarios went through his head at once but he couldn’t seem to make any sense of any of them.
Evil Rising – An OAU Story
He sent his roommate a voice note, turned to keep running and in a twinkle of an eye, the world around him went black.
Bismarck Izibealoa Faola with the pseudonym (ThePebbleInThePond) is a 200-level Student of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, Obafemi Awolowo University.
First published on https://themedivoiceoau.com/blog/