3:15

After she had told him to get out of the car,Deji stood on the Road helplessly watching his girlfriend   struggle to bring the White Range Rover back to life.
With each failed attempt,her frustration grew worse.
"CRAP!" he heard her yell as she desperately tried the ignition yet again.
This was bad.He thought.
Deji knew how angry Belema could get.  He knew she was going to blame him for this.

As the chill of the night breeze tickled his skin through his T-shirt,he suddenly wished he hadn't insisted on driving them back to the hotel that night.
He wished he'd just allowed her drive from the party But what else was he supposed to do?For so long,she'd accused him of not "taking charge" of the relationship.
Before they'd left the party that night, he could tell Belema was a little drunk.

He tried to blot out from his mind the fact that she'd been flirting with his friend Abu most of the night.She was drunk.He had convinced himself.........She was drunk.



As he stood there he realized just how lonely the road was.There seemed to be nothing for miles except a long Road with thick bushes on either side.
He had been so sure this was a short cut he had used once before.
But now........he wasn't so sure.There was nothing familiar about the road.
He had realized that after ten minutes of driving through what seemed like an endless stretch of road.
There was something creepy about this place.
The fact that he couldn't hear ANYTHING,(not even the sounds of crickets)made him uneasy.
He rubbed the back of his arms as more chill went through him.
And that was another thing.
It wasn't supposed to be this cold this time of year.
Everything about this road felt wrong;
The deathly silence, the cold and a sudden weird feeling he had that they were not alone.
The only comforting thing were the street lights that stood silently in the chill, casting their glare down upon the road.

He nervously glanced at his watch.
Odd.He thought.
His watch had stopped at  3:15am.
He had just had the battery changed.But then again what could he expect from an "Aboki" Watch Repairer?
More chill tickled his skin.They really should get off this road.he thought.
"What did you do to my car?"Belema's voice demanded.

Deji knew what was coming and it wasn't going to be nice......... for him.
"Please,Belema......"
"Don't you 'please-Belema' me!"she said glaring at him from the car.

Deji was a little concerned that the noise they were making were the only sounds in this deathly stillness. He desperately wanted to tell her to keep her voice down. But he knew that would only make her raise her voice even more.
It really bothered him how quiet The road was.

"Why does your friend put up with all this?"Chika whispered to Abu  in the backseat as Belema began hurling loud insults at Deji.
"I've told him so many times,he simply refuses to listen."Abu whispered back.

Chika loved the way he smelled.His cologne was a little intoxicating.She also loved the sound of his voice. Deep and husky.It was a man's voice.The kind of voice a woman wanted to hear next to her in bed.
When she'd met him for the first time that night she'd literally held her breath.He was scarily handsome to behold.
When Deji had whispered in her ear the words; "That's my friend Abu,the Guy I want to hook you up with",Chika's legs had suddenly felt weak as she watched Abu approach.
She had felt a tingle as his gaze lingered on her.She suddenly understood his reputation with women.
Abu was just irresistible.
"Belema,doesn't respect him"Abu continued whispering as Belema continued insulting the silent Deji.
"Some people call that love,"Abu went on.
".....I just call that stupidity"he said finally.
Chika could literally listen to him talk for hours.
Just being this close to him,aroused her.She had no illusions about what was going to happen when they got to the hotel.
Belema had paid for two rooms,one for her and Deji and the other for Chika.
So when Abu flirtatiously asked at the party if he could come along,she found her mouth saying;"Sure why not?"
Somewhere in her heart she was hoping that Abu would see her more than just a fast "Nack" and maybe even want to date her.But who was she kidding?A guy as hot as Abu wouldn't settle for someone like her.He was just too fine.
"What time is it,?" Abu asked her staring at his watch.Chika brought out her phone.But the phone wasn't on.She tried putting it on.Nothing happened. Odd.She thought.
She was sure the last time she'd checked, the battery was at 70%, and that wasn't up to 20minutes ago.
"My phone is dead" she Said with a frown.
"That's weird"Abu said still staring at his watch.
"What?"She asked staring into his face.
"My watch has stopped"he whispered still holding up his wrist.
Chika quickly checked her wrist.
"hmmmm"she said.
"What?"he asked.
"Mine too....at 3:15am"

".......I don't even know what I'm doing with you!"Belema was saying to the clearly frustrated Deji.
".....you don't have money,your family is poor...."

"Don't talk about my family like that" Deji spat as he took an aggressive step towards the car.
Belema had a surprised and yet somewhat amused expression on her face.
"What are you going to do....eh?"she said stepping out of the car and advancing towards him defiantly.
Deji glared at her with anger she knew he would never express.
"Weakling"she whispered into his face in disgust.

"Guys,relax!"Abu said as he and Chika came out of the vehicle.
"We need to get off this road....can I call with anybody's phone,.....and what time is it?"Chika asked walking towards them.

"3:10 or 3:15am...last time I checked."Belema said offhandedly.

Silence

Chika and Abu exchanged curious looks.
"What....?"Belema asked staring at the two of them questionably.

"Well...."Chika began nervously looking about as the temperature around them seemed to drop a bit more.
".....our phones are dead.....and....so are our watches.....they both stopped at 3:15am.

Belema continued to stare at the two of them,wondering what to make of all this.

"Em....mine too!"Deji added.
Now Belema stared at him,wondering if this were some weird joke they were pulling on her.

She raised her wrist to look at her own watch.For about a minute, she just stared at it saying nothing.

She began tapping at the watch as if in a bid to bring it back to life.Nothing

She quickly went to the car,and through the window,reached for her phones.As she did this,her already short skirt hiked up a few inches to reveal a small section of her buttocks.
Abu gazed at this and licked his lips.He felt himself getting hard.

The truth was,It was BELEMA,Abu really wanted.He'd been fascinated about her from the moment he saw her.
Deji was his best friend,Yes. But Belema deserved to be with a real man.

A man that she could respect.

Abu sensed Deji's eyes on him suddenly.He quickly tore his gaze away from Belema's body.

When Belema  retrieved her phones from the car she looked at the two dead devices in her hands like they were alien artifacts.

"Doesn't make any sense",She muttered to herself as she tried both Power Buttons with no success.

Deji fished into his pocket for his Iphone.It  had been a Birthday Present from Belema.It was easily his most prized possession.

He recalled charging it before they had left the party.There was no way it was dead too.He thought to himself.........But it was.

The Night grew colder.

Five dead Phones,

Four dead watches,

All stopped working at exactly 3:15am.

What were the odds? Deji wondered.

The four threw nervous glances at themselves, the road and the thick bushes on either side.

"Okay,....."Abu began."I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for this",He said raising his hands in the air.
"Like what?"Deji asked with enough sarcasm to fill a room.
"I don't know!"Abu replied evenly.
Belema rubbed her hands together." It's so cold"

"Deji do you have any Idea where we are ?" Chika asked.Her tone indicated that she wanted to hear something hopeful, something that made sense in all this weirdness.

All three sets of eyes zeroed in on him as he fumbled for words.

"I-I....I'm not....."

"He doesn't know" Belema cut him off staring at him in disgust.

"He doesn't know anything" She said finally as Chika walked back to the car and returned with two jackets.She handed one to Belema,

By now their breaths were coming out in thick fogs.

"We can't stay here" Abu said.

"....the last thing I want is to be gang-raped by armed robbers this night" Belema said putting on her jacket.

"Please don't talk like that" Chika said, exhaling a small mist from her mouth.

"I mean,look at this place......"Belema began, as Deji rolled his eyes. 

"We're just sitting ducks for any well meaning armed robber or ritualist.....and its all because of ....YOU!"Belema launched her finger into  Deji's face.

"Belema, relax nau, we have a bigger problem" Chika pleaded as she pulled her roommate away from the confused Deji.

Long silence.

"I vote that we walk" Abu said after a long silence.They all turned to him  like he were losing his mind.

"Walk?......walk to where?"Belema asked between shivers.

"Staying here is dangerous,...like  you said we're sitting ducks...If we walk in the that direction...."he said pointing to the long stretch in front of them.

"....if we keep going in that direction, I'm almost certain we will find a house,...Filling station....or at least a place that has a phone we  can use"

His logic was sound.Deji thought.He hated the fact that he hadn't thought about that himself.He hated the way everyone, (especially Belema) was staring at Abu  as if he'd just saved them....like he were their hero.

It disgusted him. And yet he couldn't deny that it seemed like the best Idea.

"He's right"Chika concurred. 

Belema's eyes were on the Range Rover.

"...the car should still be here by the time we get back.....just take anything of value that's inside"Abu said as if reading her mind.

Once again, Abu saves the day.Deji thought.

The girls got their bags from the car and shoes.As Belema locked the Range Rover, Chika could have sworn she heard something coming from the bushes behind her.
She turned around sharply.

But only the cold stillness of the night greeted her.She continued to look.She was Fairly certain she had heard something.
It was a sound somewhere between a whisper and a hiss.

Though as she looked, nothing stirred in the bushes, she had a  feeling something was watching her.

She felt something touch the back of her neck.

"JESUS!" she yelled as she spun around.

"Are you okay?"Belema asked with her hand on her roommates shoulder.

Chika stared back at her as her heart continued to race.Her breath created a large fog as she tried to calm herself.

"I'm fine," she managed to say to the concerned expression on Belema's face.

"Let's go" Belema said.

Chika took one last look at the bushes, And wondered if she had imagined it all.




Ten minutes later, they were still walking.

Deji and Chika lagged behind whilst Abu and Belema walked in front.This arrangement had been Belema's idea.
As soon as their trek began Belema simply walked up to  Abu and said;
"Do you mind if I walk with?.......I'd feel safer in the company of a Real man" with the last statement,she had eyed Deji as if he were a strange form of Bacteria she had just discovered.
Abu had accepted with a smile and mild shrug.

As they walked, Chika could barely contain the malice in her heart towards her roommate.
Abu was hers. What gave Belema the right to "corner him off'" like that?Of course Chika knew that what ever attraction Belema had for Abu was mutual.
She'd seen the way Abu had been staring at Belema all night.She had no illusions what would happen between those two behind closed doors.
It just wasn't fair, she thought as she squeezed her arms to her body to fight the chill.
Belema  was clearly finer than she was.She had more money and had a far better body.But did she have to rub it in her face all the time?

"Could they at least not make it so obvious that they were into each other?" she said to Deji who had been quiet ever since they had left the car.

"Abu is trying to confuse her" Deji said staring at the couple in front of them.

"Hian!...does she look confused to you?" Chika asked shocked at what he was saying.

"I mean,....why do you even put up with her?....she treats you like crap"

Deji was silent for a long time.Then he said.

"I just need to prove myself to her......I just have to show her that....."

"....that what....you can be a man?"she scoffed.

"Well, suit yourself,"she said.

"...our two best friends want to shag each other and you're worried that its your fault?" Chika said shaking her head.
"You wont understand" Deji said, as if about to explain.

"You're right,"she said simply.

"I wont"






"This is one time  I wouldn't mind seeing a police van" Belema as she shivered.

Abu smiled "As long as they don't search under the driver's seat of your car....and find my bag of weed"

Belema made a shocked face.

"You put weed in my car?" She asked slowing her pace.

Abu continued smiling.

"Wow," Belema said then quickened her pace.She seemed genuinely intrigued by this.

"Its the sort of thing my so-called boyfriend would never think of....he's weak"

"Don't talk like that"Abu stealing a glance over his shoulder.

"Please, don't act like you give a crap,....I know you want to DO me" She said with a mischievous grin.

"Hmmm,...so...what if I do?" Abu said evenly as they exchanged an intense gaze.If Belema were Caucasian, she would have blushed.

"Guys" came Deji's voice from behind.

Belema rolled her eyes.

"I think he's a little jealous" Abu said with some mischief.

Belema threw him the same look.

"Guys?", Now it was Chika's voice.
"What?" Belema went,clearly exasperated  as they both turned around.

Deji and Chika had stopped and were staring into the Bushes at something.

"What?" Belema asked impatiently.

"Look" Chika instructed, pointing.
Abu and Belema's eyes followed her hand to see. A red glow in the trees.

"Could be a camp fire" Chika said hopefully.

"How far inside do you think that is?"Belema asked.

"I'm not sure....Three,....maybe Five Minutes away".Chika said blowing warm air into her hands and rubbing them together.

They all stared at the faint glow.

"So how do we.....?" Deji began

"There's a path" Abu interrupted him .As he walked towards the edge of the bushes.

"Be careful" Chika and Belema said together.They  exchanged a quick glance at each other but said nothing.

Whore! Chika said in her head as she looked away.

Abu threw Deji a triumphant smile.Then pointed to a small bush path on the ground.
It was so small, anyone would've missed it.

Long silence.

"So what should we do?"Belema asked.

I don't think going in there is a good Idea,.....we should keep on walking" Deji said hesitantly.

"Did I ask you?" Belema responded coldly.
"Do you see the road ahead of us......?"Abu scoffed
".......It just keeps on going and going........and going.This is the first sign of life we've seen so far....I vote we take our chances in there",Abu concluded.

With all these "votings" he should be in Politics Deji thought. Abu  just loved being in the spotlight
" I agree" said Belema standing next to Abu.
"Me too" he heard Chika say from behind him.

Deji shrugged. Once again Abu had won.



The bush path was small.There was barely enough room for them to go through one at a time.
Abu went through first, in an instant his slender form was engulfed by the darkness.
It was a lot colder in here.Chika thought as they walked towards the glow.
Several twigs  under her feet snapped as she walked.
Occasionally a small branch would catch her face,...painfully.

Ah!" Belema exclaimed,as Abu brushed past a tiny branch that whipped backwards into her face.

"See my eye oh!" she complained.But it was difficult to see anything in the thickness of leaves,trees,and dark shadows.

 Deji hated  the fact that Abu was leading the group. Belema couldn't be falling for him.....could she?

Belema was scared..Everything about this night was scary.As they moved through what she could only describe as a forest.She found solace in the fact that Abu was leading the group.Somehow his presence made everything all better.

We're here" Abu said over his shoulder.

The first thing all four of them noticed upon entering the clearing, was the temperature.It wasn't cold....It was freezing.
It was a large open space  with a circular pattern drawn with what looked like a series of white balls.The fire sat in the center of the pattern.Its flames casting crazy shadows across the clearing.

There was something else that caused the four of them to hold their breaths almost at the same time.
Seated by the fire was a small figure with its back to them.

Abu felt his teeth clattering inside his head as they approached the small still figure.
"Hello...?" Abu said to the back of the seated figure.So still was the figure in fact one would have thought it were a statue.

But Chika knew it wasn't a statute.Just as she knew suddenly with every fiber of her being that they should leave......NOW!
Abu was scared but he didn't dare show it.Not if it meant losing his chance with Belema.

As they moved...carefully around the fire,Chika's heart was racing.Something was wrong here.Very wrong.
In the light of the dancing flames,she caught Deji's eyes.
He could feel it too.

As Abu moved around the figure,he saw that it was a child maybe Eight or Nine years of age........An albino.It was impossible to discern its gender.The child was naked save for a strange cloth wrapped around its waist.It's eyes were closed.


As Abu moved ahead of the group,he threw a fearful gaze at Belema ...and the others.In that moment, he looked very afraid.More fog drifted from his nostrils sporadically.
''H-hello.....?"sound of his voice in the stillness frightened him.

As Chika stared at the circle, she realized what the white balls were.......Human skulls.

"We have to leave" the terror in her own voice frightened her.
 The leaves around them began to rustle........ violently as a  sudden Wintery wind blew across the clearing.The shadows cast by the flames danced about rapidly.
"W-whats going on?" Belema asked fearfully looking about. Deji moved quickly to stand by her side.

Then the child's EYES OPENED.

Abu nearly jumped out of his skin.The eyes that stared back at him were as cold as the  night.No Iris or Pupils,....just  an abyss-like  Blackness


"ABU,....RUN!!!!" Chika screamed

Then the Child spoke.

But it wasn't the voice of a Child they heard.

What they heard sounded like a legion of tortured souls all speaking at once

"STAY WITH US" it  hissed.

Then then flame at the center of the clearing went out. Casting the four of them into darkness.

In that instant, Abu felt the grip of a small pair of hands....then another,.... then another soon his body was overwhelmed with them.Their strength was unusual for creatures so small.He fought and screamed as he felt claws ripped into his chests splintering two of his ribs in the process.He felt something sinking its teeth into the back of his head.He heard the sickening crunch of his skull. He opened his mouth  but the scream was cut short just as his throat was savagely torn open by little hands.
His last thought was
"...this can't be happening."

Chika,Deji and Belema were running through the bushes....blindly.

"STAY WITH US" the voice sounded as if it was in their heads. Belema had been the last to follow.She had been frozen stiff with fear, when the flames went out.It was only when she heard Abu's screams that she had snapped out of her frozen State.All around them were the sounds of running feet and the rustling of leaves.Whoever their assailants were, there seemed to be at least a hundred of them.
"STAY WITH US"
The sound of running  was close. Belema's foot caught something she  fell forward slamming her face into the ground.
 Deji  heard her fall even as he could just make out the outline of a streetlight up ahead. He stopped to help her.

Chika made it to the road,but kept on running
Even though she couldn't hear anything chasing her.She ran without looking back.The sounds of Abu's screams were still ringing in her ears.She ran as if she were trying to outrun the memory of them.
Her heart pounded painfully in her chest as she continued in the direction she thought they'd come. .
She ran ....and ran....Until she couldn't run anymore.Then she stopped.

The night was deathly still again.She turned around expecting to see Deji and Belema trying to catch their breaths.But she was alone on the road.

Nothing stirred, there was no sound, save for the sound of her heavy breathing.
She looked around her wildly, the feeling of being watched was strong. Deji was just behind her, she thought.What happened?

Then she saw something, a figure stumbled out of the bushes and fall to the ground.
It picked itself up again.....only to fall down again.

"My God!" Chika exclaimed.

"BELEMA" Chika screamed as she ran to her .

Chika saw a sudden movement from the corner of her eye.It was swift.
Then the streetlights started flickering.The temperature dropped a few degrees as the Wintery breeze returned.
"STAY WITH US"

They were coming.
The street lights suddenly went dead.

The last sensation Chika felt was that of a small hand gripping her throat.In a distant part of her mind,she heard Belema screaming.Then she blacked out.


When she awoke, she was on a hospital bed.


She was told later that she had been  found on the side of a road.walking,bleeding and Muttering to herself.
She recanted the events of that morning to the police.
The police have checked and double checked the area.But no bodies,shrine,or albino child was ever found.
The Car registered under the name Miss Belema West was found on the side of the road.There is no  road matching the description of the one in Miss Umba's  account. All the police found in the car was a large bag of Marijuana under the driver's seat.

No traces of the other missing persons; Mr Abu Kida,Miss Belema West and Mr Deji Peters till this day.


LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIEND
SO CHOOSE WISELY
ENOUGH SAID