《Unrecognized Evil》


 CHAPTER ONE

    ¡®Please¡­ please Lord¡­¡¯ she prayed while running as fast as her legs could, gripping tightly to her phone in her left hand. As she got closer to her destination, she got the feeling again; that fearful feeling that it was too late. She feared she was not fast enough. She was tired but could not stop running. Stopping would mean her doom.


    ¡®Please God¡­¡¯ she prayed again as she got nearer. She cursed at herself for her lack of stamina as her speed began to slow down.


    Hitting her leg on something hard, she stumbled and fell to the ground. Her lips and nose were bleeding.


    ¡°Aargh¡­¡± she moaned in pain. She tried to stand, but the pain was excruciating. Her right leg was hurt. Now she was not only tired but injured as well.


    She tried to stand for the second time, then realised she was not holding her phone. She looked around for the phone as if her life depended on it. ¡°I¡¯m running out of time,¡± she kept saying frighteningly. Her eyes and hands moved around, searching for it. The last time she looked at the time, it was 7:27 pm.


    She needed her phone so as not to miss his call. She must not miss that guy¡¯s call.


    ¡°DAMN IT!¡± she franticly searched.


    ¡°At first, I was afraid; I was petrified. Kept thinking could never¡­¡± that was the sound of her ring tone. Her phone was closer than she thought. She rushed towards the sound and quickly picked it up.


    ¡°I¡¯m here¡­¡± she answered the call quickly while panting, but there was silence at the other end of the line.


    ¡°He-hello¡­?¡± tears were welling up. But, unfortunately, the other person on the line was not speaking.


    ¡°Please¡­¡± she pleaded. ¡°Please stop this. I was wrong¡­¡± she begged with tears falling from her eyes.


    ¡°What took you so long, Jean?¡± A male voice asked.


    ¡°I-I-I am sorry, it will not happen again,¡± Jean quickly pleaded.


    ¡°I told you, Jean. I HATE waiting,¡±


    ¡°I-I-am sorry. The phone fell and-¡±


    ¡°Excuses, excuses, excuses. Always giving excuses. I guess it runs in the family.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m-¡±


    ¡°Shush¡­¡± he silenced her. ¡°¡­do you hear that?¡±


    Jean was confused, ¡°¡­hear what?¡± she asked in a low tone.


    ¡°The ticking clock Jean. Hehehe¡­¡± he laughed. ¡°Tick-tock, Jeanny Jean. Tick¡­tock,¡± and then he hanged up.


    Her heart pounded crazily. Jean checked the time on her phone.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Oh no,¡± she cried as she struggled to stand.


    Screaming in pain, she managed to stand and resumed running barefooted towards her home, limping on her right leg.


    Her house was in view now, but that was not all she saw. There was smoke coming from her home. Jean Panicked.


    ¡°No. God, no¡­¡± she cried. ¡°EMMA¡­AIDEN¡­¡± she called to her siblings. She kept calling out their names as she got closer to the house.


    ¡°EMMA. AIDEN, WHERE ARE YOU?! COME OUT! EMMA¡­ AIDEN,¡± she called out in frustration, fear, and panic.


    She was closer to the gate now.


    ¡°BOOM!!!!¡­¡±


    The force of the explosion sent Jean flying. She fell on her back, hitting her head. For almost a minute, Jean could not move. Her head was pounding; she could hear nothing but a loud ring in both ears. Opening her eyes was difficult because it felt like her eyes were filled with sand.


    Though the explosion sent Jean flying, she suffered no severe physical damage; but the blast was loud enough to deafen her ears. Jean shook her head slightly to come to her senses. Her head was bashing. She could barely sit up. Slowly, she rose to a kneeling position, her hands covering her ears with a painful expression on her face. She raised her head steadily; slowly but surely, she opened her eye.


    Her eyes widened in shock.


    ¡°No¡­¡± she whispered. The psycho did not keep his word. She still had about three minutes left. Her hands were shaking, ¡®this was not happening,¡¯ she thought. She could not believe her eyes.


    She crawled bit by bit towards the house and felt a scorching pain in her palm. Jean quickly lifted her hand off the ground and looked at her palm. There was shock on her face when she saw she had burned her palm.


    Looking at the floor where her palm had been seconds ago, she saw broken bricks and glasses and was in disbelief. Then, with trembling hands, she touched the brick with the tip of her fingers and was burned.


    Tears were running down her cheeks, her lips quivering.


    ¡°No¡­¡± she whimpered. It felt as if she was in a bad dream. She looked straight ahead and yelled at the top of her lungs.


    The house was in flames.


    The explosion was so loud it could be heard from miles away. Not knowing what had caused the blast, some neighbours locked their doors, fearing it could be armed robbers or the beginning of a civil war. Some neighbours ran towards the sound to investigate. As they drew nearer, they saw the flames.


    ¡°Eeeiii! That¡¯s the accountant¡¯s house,¡± one of the neighbours noticed. Immediately, calls were made to friends, family members, the police station, and the fire service department.


    Jean was desperate. ¡°Emma!¡­ Aiden!...¡± she kept yelling their names repeatedly, hoping that they would come running from the burning house by some miracle.


    Jean was sobbing bitterly. What was she going to tell her parents when they got back? How would she explain that a sadistic psychopath burned their home, killing the twins?


    ¡°AAAAAAAH¡­What have I done?¡± she blamed herself.


    Jean was weeping terribly while looking at the burning house.


    Her eyes were blurred due to her uncontrollable tears. She thought she saw a car parked outside the compound. She wiped her tears to see clearly and saw that there was a car parked facing the house. Could that be the psycho, she wondered.


    She looked for a weapon and found wood from a broken window frame. She picked it up and proceeded to walk toward the car. She could not think straight. At that point, she did not care if she lived or died. All she could think of was revenge. As she got closer, the car looked familiar.


    The house was fenced with a transparent wire, five feet high, to prevent animals from getting into the compound. This was because most of the inhabitants were farmers who reared animals for a living, meanly cows, goats and chickens. The fenced wall had two gates; a big one in front of the house and a small one at the back of the house.


    She looked closely. The car looked like her father¡¯s Jeep, but it could not be her father''s.  Jeeps like that were common in that area. Moreover, her parents were in the city celebrating their anniversary, so there was no way it could be them.


    As she got closer, her fears increased. It was dark, but the fire made it bright enough to see. Colour drained from her face instantly. She was living a worse nightmare.

 CHAPTER TWO

    Two months earlier


    An invigilator went around the classroom to make sure nobody was copying. All the students were silent. Some were busily writing, and some were desperately hissing for help from their colleagues. A few read through their finished answers, but non got up to submit their paper.


    ¡°Three minutes more,¡± the invigilator announced. The room became a little bit noisy. ¡°Silent!¡± the invigilator warned. Some students clicked their tongues in annoyance.


    They dreaded it when the noticeboard showed that Professor Linda Buhari would be their invigilator for their first exam paper, which was Calculus. This Professor was unnecessarily strict, a no-nonsense forty-one-year-old virgin who did not know how to loosen up a little. Several students from the university had been suspended thanks to her, and a few had been dismissed.


    ¡°Jean, Jean¡­OBJ question 3,¡± a lady who sat diagonally behind Jean whispered. The guy seated in front of the lady listened attentively.


    Jean looked around her and spotted Prof Buhari. The Prof was not looking in her direction, so she quickly whispered back, ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I think it¡¯s D,¡±


    ¡°One minute more. Get ready to stop work,¡±


    ¡°Devil,¡± the lady muttered and hurriedly started writing. The guy in front of the lady quickly began writing on his paper.


    ¡°Jean questions 13 to17,¡±


    What? Jean thought. Professor No-Nonsense is watching like an eagle. Does she want my paper cancelled? Jean did not mind her and concentrated on her paper. She pretended she did not hear her call out to her.


    ¡°Stop work, pens down. If I see you writing, I will cancel your paper. If I see your lips move, I will cancel your paper. Remain seated until I come for your exam paper.¡±


    ¡°This is wickedness. How could she do that? Giving us one hour to finish a two-hour paper. I¡¯ve never seen an invigilator invigilate her on paper.¡±


    ¡°She definitely ¡®mafiaed¡¯ us,¡± Jean agreed. ¡°Were you able to finish?¡±


    ¡°You see that cute guy who was sitting in front of me?¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°The glasses guy in the engineering department.¡±


    ¡°Faith, many guys wear glasses in the engineering department.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Faith sighed, ¡°The guy with big teeth that seem to be more than thirty-two in his mouth.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Freed! How could you forget his name? if I remember correctly, he usually sits in front or behind you anytime we have a combined exam.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s him. You know I don¡¯t usually remember the names of people; that¡¯s why I call them all ¡®sweethearts¡¯ and ¡®boos¡¯,¡± she shrugged her shoulders as if it was normal. ¡°Anyway, he literally let me copy his work,¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Jean was amazed.


    Faith nodded excitedly, liking her friend¡¯s reaction, ¡°yes, he did.¡±


    ¡°How? Prof. No-Nonsense was watch like a hawk.¡±


    Faith licked her lips, excited to tell her everything. ¡°He raised¡ª¡±


    ¡°Hey, guys! How was the exam?¡± they were interrupted. ¡°Jean was writing like her life depended on it. Not even bothering to help a sister out,¡± It was the lady who was sitting diagonally behind Jean during the exam.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t help you out?¡±


    ¡°I called out to you, and you did not mind me.¡±


    Jean snorted, ¡°you wanted me to leave my unfinished work and attend to yours when it was less than a minute to stop work?¡± she turned to Faith and asked, ¡°does that sound reasonable to you?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    They both turned and stared at her as if she was being stupid.


    ¡°Okay, okay, I know. I was being unreasonable.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± they both agreed.


    ¡°So, how was the paper?¡± Faith asked


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask,¡± the lady sighed


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you wearing your hajib?¡± Jean noticed. ¡°You were wearing it this morning.¡±


    ¡°That sexually frustrated demon took my hajib,¡± she snarled.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe your name is Adara,¡± Faith shook her head. ¡°Do your parents still think you¡¯re a virgin?¡±


    ¡°They think I have not seen a man¡¯s naked chest before,¡± Adara chuckled, ¡°in this ethnically diverse country where religion is bullshit. I am so glad I left home. They were suffocating me.¡±


    ¡°At least, I¡¯m not a forty-year-old virgin,¡± Adara added. They hooted with laughter.


    ¡°Maybe someone tipped her off?¡± Jean asked.


    An hour before the exam began, Adara wrote down formulas and some solutions to questions that were rumoured would appear in the exam on a piece of paper and hid it in her hajib. The next time she saw her was in the exam hall without her hajib.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but who knows the ways of a witch?¡± she answered venomously.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, that was too much. Why do you hate Professor Buari so?¡± Jean asked.


    Adara looked at her in shock, as if she had asked a stupid question. Faith began to laugh.


    Jean cleared her throat and continued, ¡°I know she has a shitty personality, but It¡¯s not that bad.¡±


    " Do you remember in our second year, the first semester? That bitch taught us algebra.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I remember.¡±


    ¡°And you don¡¯t remember what she did? I thought you were smart,¡±


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t tell me if you don¡¯t want to, okay?¡±


    ¡°Hey, hey, chill,¡± Faith tried to calm them down, ¡°this is not a fighting matter. I¡¯ll tell the story since I remember a little bit. During her lecture, when we were in level 200, she made Adara stand in front of the class and embarrass her in front of everyone. It was the day she was sharing the mid-semester exam papers.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah. That day, I was not in class when it happened. I was called to the office by Mr. Diallo to receive a package, but I heard a gist of it.¡±


    ¡°So you missed the whole show. She called Adara a ho and a good for nothing dummy¡­ in front of everyone. That¡¯s the shortest version of the story.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Jean wished she had not asked when she saw the hate on Adara¡¯s face. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have asked. Sorry. Can you try to let it go? It¡¯s been more than a year already.¡±


    ¡°I will never let it go. I pay back dirt with dirt. I¡¯ll make that bitch curse the day she met me.¡±