THE LAST SURVIVORS
Episode 1
Melinda was a few minutes late to an executive meeting in the company where she worked for, but she had to take a brief stop at a drug store to buy some lozenges. She drove into a large shopping mall, darted out her car and dashed into a drug store.”Please do you have any lozenges? I think I am about to have a sore throat”
“Yes I have one”, said the store attendant. The attendant fetched a packet of tablets from the rack. Melinda grabbed it from her, tore open of the sachets in the pack and dropped two tablets into her mouth and began to lick them quickly “How much is it?” “Five hundred Naira only” replied the attendant.
Melinda dug into her bag in seach of money, when she raised her head to offer the attendant the Five hundred Naira note in her hand, the attendant pointed to someone standing behind Melinda’s back and said “He has taken care of it”. “Who?” said Melinda as she turned to see who was standing behind her.”Holy Moses! MICHAEL! Ghost! Ghost!”
Melinda literally leapt over the counter and ran into the room behind the store. The attendant following suit believing that the man who stood in her shop was a ghost. Michael called for Melinda to come back, assuring her that he was no ghost. Melinda came out.
“This has to be your ghost, right? Tell me this your ghost?”
“I am here in flesh. If I was dead, then who is standing in front of you?” Asked Michael “Your ghost! The ghost of Michael is standing in front of me! I heard you were dead. You died in Malta.You died in a plane crash in Malta.Ehm..Angelique! Yes Angelique! She told me everything about your burial;she even snapped photos of it” Replied Melinda.
“She told you that I was dead? But here I am in flesh and blood.I am no ghost! Okay do your test,prove yourself that I am no ghost”. Melinda grabbed as much flesh on Michael’s hand as she could and pulled hard. “Aw!” Shouted Michael;bleeding. “You are not dead”, “Now do you believe that I am not dead, Melinda?” “Okay you are not dead. But you being alive leaves a lot of questions. There is a grave somewhere which is supposedly your grave. Who is in it? Where on earth have you been all these years? Do you have a contact where I can reach you? Maybe a ghost contact. I have to dash off to a meeting”.
Michael and Melinda exchanged phone numbers and Melinda left for work.
As Melinda drove to work, she couldn’t stop wondering why Angelique told her that Michael was dead. Melinda picked her phone and dialed Angelique’s number. It rang severally and no one picked it. She arrived at the company and was parking her car when her phone rang. She checked it and saw it was Angelique’s number “Hello Anjo(Angelique’s nick name) guess who I saw…” The words of the voice on the other end of the line made Melinda stop cold.
The masculine voice said, “Am sorry, this is not Anjo. If Anjo is the owner of this phone number calling you, then I am sorry to tell you that she is dead. She just lost her life in an Auto accident”. “No she can’t be dead! You are wrong!” Melinda shouted crying. “Hello”, said the male voice “…I am calling to inform you of her death because you are the last phone number to have dialed her phone”.
“How did my friend died?” Asked Melinda amid heart-wrenching sobs “Her car screeched to a stop on Maya avenue and she ran out of it as though something in the car was after her. She was shouting incoherently and looking back at her car while trying to cross the road…a car ran over her”.
Melinda began to tremble terribly.
Melinda recovered much later in the day and went home. She then called some of her friends to inform them about Angelique’s death. By the time Melinda was calling, Angelique’s parents had already been informed and have come to identify Angelique’s body as their daughter’s.
Melinda called Michael to inform him about Angelique’s death. “You won’t believe what happened after I left you. Angelique is dead! She died earlier today…” “Are you sure… Oh my God! What.. Oh God… I don’t know what to say. Are you sure she is dead for real?”
“Believe me Michael, she is dead”.
“How are you feeling now? I know this must be hard for you? Can I come over and be with you?”
“No don’t worry my boyfriend is on his way here”.
“How did it happen? I mean Angelique’s death” asked Michael. “What I was told is shocking, it sounds like something from the movies. I was told she was running away from something in her car when a car rammed into her”.
There was silence on the other side of the phone conversation. “Michael are you there?” There was still silence. “Hello Michael are you there?”
Then came a heart-stopping shriek from Michael’s own end of the conversation. “AAAH! O GOD! AAAAH! NO! AAAAAH”.
The shout jolted Melinda so much she threw her phone on the bed and fled from her room. She was heading for her door when it creaked and began to open. Melinda stood in front of it frozen with fear and her heart pounding away like the rumbling of the sky suring rainy season…
To be continued
