Ben sat in his living room, doing what he did every Wednesday night, erasing most of what he had written the night before. His eyes wandered over to the clock by the kitchen sink, the clock starred back obstinately ticking away....it was four o'clock and a sharp ring echoed through the bare apartment. At first, he thought it was the clock, but then he knew it was the phone.... he slowly walked over to the phone, took a deep breath and picked it up.
Ben: Hello?
Voice: She is dead
Ben: Who?
Voice: You know who
Ben:She is dead.....
Voice: Yes
Voice:You have nothing to say...
Ben: No, there is nothing to say about death
Voice:She died at exactly 3'o'clock
Ben: How?
Voice:Nobody knows, she was alone
Ben: One less human being
Voice:....in the world. Is that all you have to say?
Ben: About what?
Voice: About her death...
Ben: Who can say anything about death?
Voice:Plenty people....Preachers, philosophers, teachers....plenty people....
Ben:I have nothing to say
Voice: She left a letter for you
Ben: Death can not speak
Voice: I read it
Ben: Death can not speak
Voice: She says she loves you
Ben: Like many others have....
Voice: She says she is sorry
Ben: Like many others are...
Voice: She says good bye
Ben: Don't they all?
Voice: She wants you to take that trip...she says you know the one...
Ben: Death can not speak, she is dead
Voice: She gave everything away...except her typewriter....she wants you to have it.
Ben: She is dead....
Voice: Yes she is. Goodbye Ben, I will send the typewriter by post. Take care of yourself, I suppose you won't be at the funeral?
Ben: No, Good bye.
As Ben hung up the phone, he slowly lay down on the cold floor and closed his eyes..... an inhumane shriek echoed through his brain. It was a while before he realized the sound was coming from him,the darkness and wildness of the shriek scared him, it was nothing he had ever heard before but.... it was coming from him.
He slowly stood up and walked over to the calender, the only other thing that hung on his walls apart from the picture...the picture of Abbey. He crossed out a date, and underneath it, wrote "Abbey is dead". He took the picture of Abbey and placed it on top of the clothes in his open suitcase. He slowly picked up the phone and made the call he had been dreading for the last two years....
"Good afternoon, I need to know when I can get on the next possible flight to Havana, Cuba"
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12 comments:
I'm not sure I understand this but Would i be wrong if i said that Ben wasn't touched by her death or that he actually wanted her to die?
Hmm interesting tale......
Seems to me that he wanted her dead or was he just a cold person...
ewo...
where is the part II? Biko, help a sister out?
wats in cuba pls? i don ask u b4...wetin de der abeg,i think say cigar o!
Wow!-Waffy you come out with some stuff somethings...
@Oracle- what I think was whole story was talking about living life in the now...Life have a voice, death has no voice.
@oracle, nneka's world, refinedone, I'll leave you readers to decide.....
@gypsy girl: you don't want to know...hehehehehe
@catwalq: you mean Ogbunike? soon oh, make I just settle small, I go continue.
waffy, babes whats up? i...i...i dont know... maybe its me... but why do i feel melancholic anytime i come around. u know the feeling dont u? u vist a friend, and her room is always dimly litted, there's soft sad music oozing from a music box on the table, and she is...crying!
babes, are u in tears? is something wrong. u've been too sad lately.
talk to me!
@isi, ah! pls don't worry yourself oh, I am okay, this is just a "side" of me, I am a complex creature. Maybe this side is coming out more in my writing. A friend of mine once said I was a "fatalist", perhaps I am. I am okay Isi, I really appreciate your concern and the fact that you "dare"(I am sure you know what mean) to see beyond..... I appreciate your concern. I will keep in mind your kind gesture and will certainly turn to you if I need to talk, but for now, i dey kampe!
hmm, na wa! i don blow grammar- 'litted' lol!!!!
no probs babes, call on me anytime!
I like Ben already. He reminds me of Patrice Mersault and Meursault.
Hope we hear more from Ben, but Ben being Ben, less is probably more.
I could feel the suspense and tension. Very well written.
Will there be more?
i don't think he was untouched by her death. neither do i think he wanted her dead. he was probably so out of touch with everything, including himself that it did even register that he'd lost someone. i bet abbey lived in cuba...
r we going to find out, waffy?
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