Sunday, 12 February 2017

Beware of strangers by Odey Cecilia Iripe.

This is a short story put together by Miss Cecilia Odey Iripe..please  read and enjoy:

BEWARE OF STRANGERS
I woke up to the shrill sound of my alarm. Gosh! That sound could wake the dead.it was 6:45 am. What! I had a meeting that morning with my supervisor at 8 and I also had traffic to beat. I quickly dashed into the bathroom and did what boarders call "rub and shine”. It simply means not having a full bath, washing just the face, legs and veejay. Yeah, call me dirty, (whatever) I’m guilty as charged.
 After my 'bath’, I got dressed up as fast as I could .By 7.01am, I was out of my house. Luckily for me, the road was still quite free. By 7.35, I was already in school. I walked down to my supervisor's office which isn't far from the school gate. On getting to her door, I knocked gently and plastered my ear to her door waiting for her usual 'come in please'. I heard her soft voice and went into her office wearing my 'innocent' face. Every student has an innocent face he wears before facing his lecturer. I walked briskly to her desk with a " good morning ma'am' and remained standing. I must have stood for almost 5 minutes before she raised her head from the big book she was buried in. She smiled at me and said in that sweet soft voice of hers " I'm very busy, come back tomorrow by 8.30 am, OK?” For a few seconds, I couldn't say a word, I just kept looking at her. I mentally dealt her several blows in the face. I even broke her nose. Satisfied with the picture of her broken and bleeding nose, I smiled and said in an even softer voice “OK ma’am, thanks for your time". I left her office still wearing that smile.
  I decided to go eat at the school cafeteria since I had nothing before leaving home earlier. The cafeteria was just behind my supervisor's office. In about 5 minutes, I was already seated in the café and devouring a plate of jollof rice and beef with a bottle of coke. From the corner of my eye, I saw an image. The most beautiful image I had ever seen. OK, scrap that, I saw a guy. He had the face of Alex Ekubo, the body of Inyanya with the height of Lynxx.He was so handsome and was coming towards me. Oh no! Not today, I didn't even have a complete bath before leaving home..."hi, gorgeous “he said in a baritone. "Hello" I stammered. It came out like a frog croaking. Words can't describe how flustered I was talking to him. We got talking and in summary, his name is Teddy, a banker who came to check on his sister. He offered to drop me off at home in his car. Of course I was done eating. As a matter of fact, I dropped my spoon as soon as I saw him walking towards me. Yes, I was cool with him dropping me off at home, so we both walked down to his car parked just outside the café. Teddy already had me under his thumb in minutes. Don't call me cheap please. Every girl falls for a cute guy with smooth talks.
  We got into his car and he drove out of the school. A tiny voice whispered a warning my mother gave me the last time we spoke"...beware of strangers". I drove the voice out by telling myself Teddy was too cute to be dangerous. More so I really needed the free ride. Teddy drove me straight home and even walked me to my door. A perfect gentleman. I invited him in and offered a cup of coffee for his troubles. We talked about how good a musician the late king of afro beat Fela was and even compared him with Michael Jackson. All of a sudden, Teddy started laughing. I checked if I cracked a joke or something, but I was sure I didn't. "What's so funny Teddy?" I asked. "You" he said still laughing, then, he brought out something from his pocket and shot me point-blank in the heart.

 Everything went quiet except for that tiny voice whispering 'beware of strangers'....

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