THE FOREBOODING
CHAPTER ONE0
“grrrhhhhhhhh……ggrrrrhhhhhh’’ the grumpy man snored loudly.
Chidi Nyeson is everything but a decent sleeper. He is a young man in his late twenties, a loyal friend, a good kinsman with a sharp business acumen. He is a super- calculative personality, hence very slow in decision making.
Nnenna, his wife covered her ears with the old wrappers near their bed. These are carefully selected clothes that serve the purpose of ear-plugs at bedtime. If she must have a fair sleep despite the deafening sound emanating from her man, then she has to put the wrappers to use for a better part of the night. The down side of this act however, is that she is always drenched in her own sweat due to excessive covering in their small space. She detests this feeling.
“ggrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhh’’ he snored on.
She hissed lightly and resorted to tapping him. This also works too, sometimes. It usually makes him adjust his posture and subsequently reduce the noise. However, it is always short-lived. The snores soon resumed in full fledge.
The woman sat up in bed feeling defeated. Sleep, to her, is a never a form of relaxation but a torture. She goes to bed only when her eyes are too heavy to stay open but end up getting an unfair share of sleep for no fault of hers. She cupped her chin in her hands and dozed off. She soon slided back into her initial laying position when took a hold of her.
The snores didn’t stop interfering in her sleep. They suddenly started sounding louder and even more disgusting, to her infuriation. She casted a scornful look to her husband only to behold a shocking sight. Laying next to her was an ugly monster instead of her husband!
She screamed! and screamed again but couldn’t hear herself. A strange feeling enveloped her. Why would a monster share her bed instead of her husband? Why would her screams not leave her throat? She wondered beneath her fright but could only think of running to safety, not the answers. Her sense of reasoning was still intact, she thanked her stars for that at least.
Nnenna crawled towards the corner of the room where a dim light shone from an old lantern. It was the only source of light in there. She crept towards it taking every precaution to not wake the sleeping beast on her bed. Her hands touched the lantern but at a wrong spot. The light went dimmer and went off suddenly. A new wave of fear gripped her making her heart beat wildly against her chest. The scary snores were frightening but the darkness heightened her fears the more. Not giving up, she crept towards the door navigating through the dark.
A familiar voice was heard just outside their house. It was Obi’s; Chidi’s friend. Nnenna breathed in an air of relief. With him around, she knew help has arrived because he is a powerful wrestler. She quickly reached the door with high hopes. With all her might, she yanked it open. A ray of light rushed in. To her dismay however, a swollen-faced man stood at the doorway. It was the same Obi but didn’t look himself. His face exuded a burning anger as he perused the room.
The woman swallowed hard as she sighted the man burning with fury. How could she ask for his help in this angry state? Caught in between two difficult situations; the beast on her bed and the furious man at her door ready to unleash his anger on his prey, Nnenna left her fate for the gods to decide. Her face buried to the ground, in fresh fear.
Obi did not relent in his search. He soon found whatever he was looking for on the only bed in that room……the same bed the monster laid on. He launched a great attack on his prey who was still fast asleep and rained torrents of punches on him.
Surprisingly, the stranger didn't fight back. He only let out painful moans as he got the beating of his life. And still chosed to remain in sleep, perhaps trapped in there. Nnenna was bewildered at how resilient the creature could be to still remain in dreamland despite the torture. She quickly peeped at the brawl going on on her bed and buried her head once again. The sight of Obi venting his anger on his opponent wasn’t pleasant but it assured her of safety, in the long run.
Reminiscing further, the opponent no longer looked like a monster; Nnenna thought. He looked human and that baffled her. To satisfy her curiosity, she looked up again to steal yet another glance. This time longer and detailed. Obi’s opponent was none other but Chidi…….his friend!
Nnenna screamed. This time she heard herself and jerked back to life, still cupping her chin in her palm but in a lying position. She hurriedly checked around the room, her heart still racing. Her husband laid next to her in still in deep sleep. There was no monster in view, no angry Obi neither and obviously, there was no sign of fight in that room. She sighed heavily and breathed a huge air of relief. It was a only nightmare!
