The Gangster Duke

The kitchen was hot.

Not ordinary hot.

Lagos hot.

The kind of heat that made me feel like I was standing in the middle of a desert.

I wiped my forehead with my handkerchief.

“Only God understands Nigeria weather. This heat is not normal,” I complained.

I continued stirring the pot, but my energy was slowly disappearing.

“Perfect,” I announced proudly.

A notification popped up on my phone.

I tapped it open.

My eyes widened.

“God forbid!”

I quickly looked away and closed it.

“Who keeps sending me things like this?”

I shook my head in frustration.

After finishing my meal and cleaning the kitchen, I collapsed into my massage chair.

The soft humming sound relaxed me.

Finally.

Silence.

Then something caught my eye.

A notebook.

Plain.

Black.

And I was sure it wasn’t there before.

Slowly, I reached for it.

Then stopped.

“Adeola, what if this is juju? Did you not watch village movies?”

I stared at it.

My curiosity won.

I picked it up.

The cover felt strangely cold.

I opened the first page.

Blank.

Second page.

Blank.

Every page was empty.

Then I reached the last page.

Words appeared.

I read aloud:

“The Gangster Duke.”

The letters shone in silver.

“The kind names people they put for anything these days , o ga.”

I hissed and dropped the book.

“Iru kini wo le le?”

Before I could take another step, the notebook appeared back on the table.

My smile disappeared.

The pages began flipping on their own.

One.

Two.

Three.

The sound filled the room.

Then words started forming on the empty pages.

My heart raced.

“Ki lon shele?”

I reached for the book, but before my fingers could touch it, a strange force pulled me forward.

I screamed.

The world around me twisted.

The last thing I heard was the sound of the pages turning.

Then everything went dark.

I landed hard.

“Ah!”

Pain shot through my head.

My eyes struggled to open.

For a moment, I lay there, confused.

“Ala ni eleyi ma je.”

I pinched myself.

Hard.

Nothing changed.

Slowly, I sat up.

Trees surrounded me.

Tall trees.

The kind I had only seen in movies.

My breathing quickened.

No kitchen.

No house.

No phone.

No Lagos.

There was howling in the air ,the wind grew cold.

Fear climbed up my chest.

“Mo gbe leni.”