Child of god | book 1 ✅

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Em❤️.

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School was over for the day and the children were heading home. Ala-onwu's government was known for their gross incompetence. The primary school they had built after years of monarchy was a single bungalow that stretched for miles long and was slowly looking dilapidated for lack of due renovations. Most of its louvres were missing and there were multiple holes in the roof which leaked water. In short, you had to look twice to be sure it was a school and not a dumpsite.

It was that bad.

Dike was still in class looking around. He was a dark skinned young boy of eight who glowed in the sun, was masked with childish purity and never failed to be afraid of almost everything. He should have rushed home like he usually did but he decided to wait for the road to be filled with students before he joined because his overworked brain had managed to convince him once again that he was being followed and of course, by an evil spirit.

And he truly believed it.

He heard a thump and a low huff before him and on raising his head from his arms which he'd folded on his desk, he saw nothing. He had been so lost in forming a snuggling-curve ball position that he did not realize when all his mates had piled out.

And now, the road was almost empty, heightening his fear.

Unlike other kids whose parents usually came for them, Dike had learned a long time to be self sufficient but it still was not enough.

Since yesterday, anytime he hit the road to go home, his memory would bring up an image of him, bound and gagged with blood slipping down his hairline, and chubby demonic hands covering his face.

Till now, he tagged it all as fragments of his imagination and would have shelved it to the back of his mind if his brain had allowed it. His coping mechanism: walking with crowds, praying and not making friends had been helping so far until now, when he just managed to let the bodies of student disappear before hitting the road. So he took what he could, hands gripping his patched school bag in fear until he made it out to the open market air.

It was Eke market day: tribe women chatted about the latest ongoing in their 6umunna, freshly tapped palm wines were sealed in bottles and on display under hay shades, rare crops were also on exhibit to be sold and buyers were all situated at the stalls of whatever caught their eyes. Since market days were the days when goods were sold at a cheaper rate, mostly because of uneven competition, it was mostly crowded.

As Dike walked, the sun burned his green cap. So far, there had not been a sign of anything extraordinary but he still found it hard to relax. He was out of the market square and on a narrow path. The grasses crunched beneath his feet, the air made irregular noises and then, he was alerted. Something wrong was happening. Intuitively, he could feel it and physically he could see it, especially when he looked behind him. The sounds of grasses crunching were not in sync with his steps and the shadow behind him proved that he was being followed. The shadow moved like a mist; a formless thing it was. He'd never seen a thing like that in his life.

Without turning back, he burst into a sprint. There was no time to remove his sandals so they disturbed him. Twigs snapped beneath his feet but all of it could not derail him. He did not check if the stalker was still on his tail. His focus was on getting home, safe and sound without turning prey to a demon.