RUNAWAY GHOST EPISODE 3

EPISODE 3:
By Mide Benedict 

‘Banned it is for a sole heart to bear
Such secret alone;
It’s a secret that no one can dare
Or struggle with every means to share.
 A secret every one ear must hear,
Yet a secret every ear must fear
For its whisper is an upset death
That could swallow any liver’s breath,
For if an alien’s ear beholds its half- dust,
One is apt to become a runaway ghost’

CONTINUED FROM THE LAST EPISODE...

‘I knew it couldn’t have been you. I said to her while holding the image I tore out from  the page of the newspaper.
I could dimly remember her name, but all I knew was that a stranger came knocking on my door the previous night, begging and crying for shelter and she was that stranger.
I had no choice but to let her in and that was due to pity. I disliked strangers coming into my home, even males, not to talk of females, especially those daughters of Jezebel: they would come into your home and ask for a sleep over, and before you know it, you would find their hands crawling all over you in the darkest of the night like a witch wanting you as her next meal. It’s only then you would know you’ve allowed a whore into your house and if not careful, you are definitely going to be in that kind of usual big mess that sends you down the pit of adultery, and that, I seriously disliked.

‘I was scared, though.' I said to her.

'I thought you were a ghost or something. Sorry for scaring you.’
I apologized, for I really gave her the shock of a life.'

However, I was not convinced with all she had said about the image being a resemblance of her and the idea of God creating people in twos and in threes; that was totally off the hook. It might have been true that people looked so much alike and confusing, but not like hers, the resemblance was off the radar. At least one thing I knew was that identical necklaces cannot be found hanging on the necks of two people who look alike coincidentally. I knew she was hiding something, something so important that I still couldn't figure out. so I pretended as if I was charmed by all she had told me and began to come in shady terms with her.

‘It’s alright, sir. It could have happened to anyone.'

She replied, with her face turned down and somewhat confused.

'Yes. True. Anyone. Thanks.’

‘Alright’

‘So where did you come from and where were you going before yesterday, I mean before you came knocking on my door?’

She must have been too surprised at the question that she couldn’t answer it without making a...

‘Hem… I was… haw….’ She muffled for some moments, then finally, she said something .

‘I came from a neighboring village, some miles away from here. I have been in the city for three days now in search of a greener pasture. You know we villagers don’t want to remain as we are, we also have to upgrade.’ She said, with a falling smile on her face, which was very obvious.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. You don’t trust me do you?’ she asked with her eye balls almost pulling from their roots.

No, I don’t.’

‘Why or have I done something wrong?

‘No, you haven’t. I was just wandering what ghosts do in their realm?

‘Ghosts?’

‘Yeah, my dad once told me that ghosts, who were unjustly killed, sauntered the face of the earth, seeking revenge and some even trying to find a way to break into the land of the living, so as to continue the lives they had been denied of its full access.’

‘And you believe in that?’ she said with a look that had made me fear she was really a ghost, rolling her eye balls three times before she finally gave them a sudden pause.

‘Of course, I do.’

‘Well, people can believe in whatever they want to believe. But who might know what they do and look like? Moreover, what rapport does that have with you not trusting me?

‘So many things, for only the ghost of a maid of Davis could answer that question of what they do beyond.’

Immediately she heard me call the name Davis, she became dazed, her hair stood up like a sword pointing to kill an enemy emperor. She started to shake all over and made haste run out of the room. But instead of doing what I should have done, by running towards her and stopping her from escaping, I didn’t move an inch from where I was seated.

‘I wouldn’t try to go out if I were you; I said, raising my head to look at her face. People around here are not scared of ghosts. They could even lock them in bottles or tie them down just to restrict them from escaping. You should know better, hem… Miss Benita.’

I advised with funny words but true. It's a thing that had happened so many times, even before my eyes. And I've heard that in villages it was more rampant.

‘But how did you…. How did you know I was the one?'

'Knew that you were what?'

'Please, don't play hide and seek with me. You know what am talking about?'

‘Anyway, that’s a very funny question, you know. Anyone could have known, as far as your picture is all printed in every newspaper all over the country.’

‘God, this is damn serious!’

‘Sure, it is, and especially for me, I never knew I could have a celebrity in my home overnight.’ I giggled . But tell me the truth this time: are you dead or alive?’

‘I am not dead. If I were dead, you would have joined me the moment my cover was blown. Though, she had confirmed of being alive, yet I swallowed my saliva two times down my throat, because I knew what could become of me if she was truly dead, joining her would be my only option.

‘And that’s why I was on the run.’ She said further.

'Now I know why your body has not yet been found and if I may ask; running away from what?

'It's not what, it's who.'

'Oh! then who?'

‘Away from my master.’

‘You mean Mike?’

‘No, not Mike, why would I run from Mike?

‘Mike was the….’ I quickly swallowed my words. ‘Then from who’. I said.

‘Am scared of Barr Davis and that’s who am burying myself from.’

‘Barr Davis!’ I said with a surprise.

‘Yes. But now that my cover is blown. Only God knows where I would run to that his eyes wouldn’t reach me’

 ‘This is getting a bit complicated: but I thought you should be scared of Mike instead of your boss?

‘And why would I be scared of him?’

I was becoming more confused and frustrated at all the replies she was giving; words started to die from my mouth that I began to scratch my head intensely, while in search of what I would utter next.

‘Or is she truly a resemblance.' I soliloquized. ‘No, it can’t be. She couldn’t have known so many details about the Davis and Mike; she is really the one, no doubt. But…but…; how could she not know or remember anything about her own death? That Mike had to murder her to hinder her from revealing….’

‘What are you murmuring about me? She butts into my words. Who did you say had killed me while trying to hide something?

‘Don’t you know Mike was arrested by the police in church during the wedding?

'What wedding?'

'Which wedding will that be again...: his own wedding of course.'

‘Jeez! What did he do?’

 ‘Hey! Look here, if this is a joke, it's right time you stopped it before you make crazy.’

‘I don’t understand a single thing you have said and I swear am not lying to you.’

'Ah! It was widely believed, even by me, until now that he was responsible for your death and with all the evidences against him, it’s sure he’s either going to get a life sentence or death. Are you sure you don't know this already?

‘What! No, seriously i don't. ’

‘Wait a minute… am not getting something here. Was an attempt not
made on your life?

‘Yes, an attempt was made but not by Mike but by someone else. Oh… poor Mike…. ’

‘If not Mike then who did?'

‘I don’t think I can tell you that.’

‘Why can’t you tell me? Do you know he’s probably going to be hanged if….’

‘I just can’t.’

‘Why!’

‘Because you might also be declared dead the next minute I tell you!’

To be continued in EPISODE 4: The last chronicle

coming soon....

Hello dear reader, I hope you enjoyed the third episode of the Runaway Ghost. Please do well to drop your comments in the comment box.