HAPPILY EVER-AFTER???? PRT2

THURSDAY 6:56AM
"Bae...Darego are you okay.?" It was Iris' voice. He opened his eyes to find her crouched by him. She had a worried look  in her eyes.
As his eyes opened, he felt a searing pain at the back of his head.
"What happened?" she asked as he struggled to sit up.
His head was pounding.
"I woke up and found you on the floor" she said
 Darego wasn't certain if she were serious.

Was that supposed to be a joke?"he asked.

"Why are you sounding so harsh,...what happened?" she asked defensively.

He stared at her for long time.

"You don't remember  standing by the bed stark naked and speaking some weird language?" he said staring incredulously at her.

She opened her eyes real wide.


"Bae,...how much of that wine did you have?" Iris asked .

Darego stared at her like she were an alien life-form masquerading as a human being.

"....seriously.....? he asked.

"....you don't remember doing anything weird...?"

Now it was HER turn to stare at him like he were the Alien-life form.

"hmmm....you know what?... I think you got up to use the bathroom, tripped fell hit your head and had a bad dream." Iris said as she kissed his fore head and made for the corridor.

"My husband to-be should be getting ready for work.....can't wait to show the girls my ring....aaaah! so excited," she said over her shoulder as she went.

"And we need to do something about Nunu,she's really acting weird" he heard her call out.

Darego sat on the floor.
Was she right?
Had it been a dream?
Maybe it was.
But why had it seemed so real?

 "EHI RE DEE!!!"

He had heard and felt the sound of the voice like the tremor of an earthquake.

He shuddered.

It had to be a dream.He thought.
It had to be.

THURSDAY 3:47PM
"Wow" Chioma said as she stared at  Iris' hand.

They were standing outside the NYSC Secretariat. Her friends seemed really excited about her engagement ring as all four of them gathered around her.

She felt like she was burning up.

It felt like her lungs were filled with fiery air.

She took another long sip from her bottle of coke.No matter how much liquid she drank, she couldn't get get rid of the heat inside her.

"It's so beautiful...check out the glow"Brenda  said touching the ring.

Iris' chest was on fire, she almost couldn't breathe. It felt like she was going to pass out.She swallowed some more of her coke

"Babe..you're lucky....Darego is quite a catch."Telema said playfully.

Suddenly, something inside Iris snapped.

The temperature inside her suddenly became like Ice.She felt her heartbeat slowdown and somewhere in her mind heard a faint chanting in a strange language.

It seemed like she blacked out.

Suddenly she found herself in a dark room.The chanting was louder.But the words were meaningless gibberish to her.
"EHI RE DEE-EHI RE DEE-EHI RE DEE!!!"

On and on the sinister chanting went as the cold inside her became like freezing winter.The room(if she could call it that)was a pitch-black place with the feeling of a dark presence watching her.

"JESUS, IRIS!!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU????"  she heard Telema scream.

Iris blinked and instantly and all the darkness faded away.Suddenly she was standing in front of her friends again.

They all had retreated from her from her and had the same look of horror and fear on their faces.

For a few seconds, Iris just stood there wondering what was going on.Then she looked down on the ground and instantly recognized the  smashed fragments of a coke bottle.

She looked at her hand, she was clutching what was left of it.Several corpers nearby turned in their direction.

She  had no recollection of breaking the bottle.And for a split second, she could have sworn  she saw the ring with an unnatural glow.

What's happening to me? she thought to  herself.

SAME TIME.
Darego stood staring at Nunu.
The puppy suddenly seemed fine.Even the Vet was a little puzzled by the Visit.

Darego remembered the look in her eyes before. He had never seen Nunu so upset before. Or had he imagined that too like with Iris?

He didn't want to think about that. It was just creepy.

"Maybe she saw a rat or something"the attractive Vet said.
"There are no rats in my house"
"....Please...no offense o"she replied defensively.

He realized his tone had been a little harsh.

"I'm sorry,"he said .

"I've just been a little rattled lately"

The Vet smiled.Her name was Tiana. She was very good at her job. Darego  often wondered how come she was still single.

"It's okay....maybe Nunu just got rattled too" she said with an understanding smile.

"Good point" he said. But he still couldn't shake his head away from what had happened(or what he thought had happened) with Iris.

Everything since the engagement was just wrong.




THURSDAY 7:58PM
Iris sat in front of the TV,staring but not seeing or hearing  the characters of Game Of Thrones. She couldn't explain her behavior that afternoon. She had told her friends she was under stress. She told them the pressure of being proposed to by the man of her dreams was just a little too much for her.

She knew they hadn't bought it.
What sort of stress makes a woman act like that? She wasn't a violent person.As far as she knew, she was mild mannered. She was the type of woman that would rather cry than even raise her voice when she was angry at someone.

So how had she gotten from that to threatening  her friends with  a broken bottle in broad daylight?

It didn't make any sense.




SAME TIME
The night was warm when he got home.The second he got Nunu out of the car,she started barking again.It was almost as if something in the house frightened her.He had a hard time getting the small dog out of the car.She was so nervous.
As he carried her towards the house. She kept on barking and growling.She almost bit him a couple of times.
What was going on with her?
Iris heard Nunu's barking.The cold in her was growing again.

"Baby what sup?" Darego said as he entered the flat.In a snap, Nunu was out of his arms.She landed on the floor with a light thud and then scuttled towards the corridor.

He just stood there watching her go.
Iris remained seated.She didn't even turn around or acknowledge his presence.

Something was wrong.He thought.

He just didn't know what it was.




FRIDAY 3:45AM
It was dark again.
And this time, the curtains weren't drawn.His skin was damp and the echoes of the nightmare still lingered in his mind.

"Control your breathing."He told himself.

Once again, the stillness of the room was like a presence....an oppressive presence inside the house.
He reached for Iris .

She wasn't there.
Once again, her side of the bed was empty.

He jumped off the bed and went to the curtains.The floor was freezing again and His heart was racing.
He pulled back the curtains.
He realized he was holding his breath when he turned around to see if she were standing by the bed again.

She wasn't there.

There was nothing but an empty stillness in the semi-darkness.
He checked the bathroom, being careful not to make too much noise.

But she wasn't there.

Nunu quiet.

But there was a noise coming from the corridor.It was barely audible, but it was there.He strained his ears as he carefully reached for the flashlight on Iris'side of the bed.

The sound was getting louder.

It was a slurping sound.

Now he was hearing a low growl.

Nunu.

He slowly opened the bedroom door.The door's creaking sound was like a mild roar in the stillness.

More slurping sounds... and  growls.

There was a strange stink in the dark corridor.The stench was strong.It made him feel nauseous.
There was a faint glow on the far side of the corridor.

More slurping sounds.

Now the growling was more intense.It was coming form the floor.
He fiddled with the flashlight, he could barely breath in the foulness of the corridor.

The flash light came on.
The beam sliced through the thick darkness.He threw the beam in the direction of the noise.

It was Iris.

She was naked, bent on all fours.Her long beautiful hair pouring on the floor.

She seemed to be licking from some  dark fluid that was soaking up the tips of her hair.

The sounds continued.

The dark fluid was spreading.

And she was oblivious to his presence.

The glow was coming from her ring.

Darego felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest.He stepped cautiously towards.....her.

Was this another nightmare?he thought.

"Iris" he whispered.His voice sounded alien to him.
She paused.

Then slowly....very slowly raised her head.
The eyes that stared back at him were peek holes into an abyss.They were the eyes of an unearthly entity......a dark soulless entity.

Her mouth was smeared by the dark liquid.

The growling was coming from her.

As her hair left the ground,he saw.........

"Jesus!!!" he whispered as he realized what he was seeing.

The Nunu lay under her
The Puppy's stomach had been torn open.....the dark liquid was.....

"Oh my God"he heard his voice say.

Iris was....EATING her.

"EHI RE DEE-EHI RE DEE-EHI RE DEE!!!" came that dark voice from Iris as she slowly rose to her feet.

The ring was still glowing.

"....Baby...please I..I think you should...take off that ri....."

He never got to finish that sentence. She launched herself at him at a speed that was unnatural.The flashlight was knocked out of his hand casting the corridor into darkness. Darego's screams seemed endless amid-st the sounds of GROWLING and a strange unearthly laughter.




Police report,

 The Victim's body was literally torn to pieces by what could have only been caused by animal attack.
Witnesses claim they heard screams,a violent struggle,.....and a strange laughter coming from the house early hours of that morning.

The Victim's Fiancee Iris is missing. Her whereabouts remain unknown.

The ring is still out there.

LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIEND
SO CHOOSE WISELY
ENOUGH SAID