Cracked Sources – B03E01

The sound of sirens blasting filled the air. Outside the magnificent
skyscraper of Lewis Chamber, thick smolder
puffed ceaselessly out through the east wing. Personnel of the Nigerian police
force, firefighters, and the Army were on site to ease the tension caused by the
explosion. Lewis chambers was situated at one of the busiest corners on the
Lagos Island. Debris and corpses littered the building’s surrounding – out of
the rubbles, excavators scampered for survivors, but none had been found.

Two hours ago…

Akin hurried after Andrew, they had a lot to talk about. They stopped
on the floor of the conference room, where an important stakeholder’s meeting
was happening: They had a lot to talk about as the journey to create the
father-son dynamic their relationship needed was just starting. Akin needed to
sincerely ask for Andrew’s forgiveness concerning the many sins he had committed
against him and his mother, but he wasn’t sure how to proceed, Andrew’s hostile
takeover of the firm months ago took him by surprise. Before that time, he had
contemplated telling Andrew the truth about his parentage, but things took a
downward spiral from thence.

They hadn’t spoken for long when Akin noticed Dimeji approaching in a
funny manner. He drew Andrew’s attention towards him. Both men chased after
him, because he walked and looked guilty. Dimeji hurried into the conference
room, and before father and son could enter, an explosion happened on the
inside. Andrew and Akin were both thrown backwards by the magnitude of the
blast, they fell hard.

Dimeji ran as though his life depended on it. The end of his short but
miserable life did depend on him entering the conference room unhindered. For
the weeks since Mother refused him
the money he demanded as payment for his silence on Imelda’s death, he had
become suicidal, devising different ways to get back at her and the Firm as a
coping mechanism. Then came Patricia, with her coherent plan, which was exactly
what he needed to hear at that time. It didn’t take, coercion or hypnotism for
him to agree to her idea to sacrifice himself, he just wanted to go out with a bang. He threw himself on the door to
force it open to avoid Andrew catching up to him.

Within split seconds of him entering, he observed and recognized the shock
on everyone’s face and the fear when he opened his jacket to reveal the bomb
fitted in. Without much thoughts, he continued with the decision that brought
him there. The closest person to Dimeji’s position tried to play the action
hero, he dashed to stop the detonation. He was the first to die. The flame
originated from within Dimeji’s torso and engulfed the man in less than a microsecond;
it quickly spread to all sides of the room.

In those microseconds, the panic in the
room was at overdrive, and a pixelated frame by frame view of the situation
revealed a lot:

Mark
hurriedly embraced Anna. He threw his weight on her and they fell hard to the
marble-floor that was fast gaining heat from the increasing flames. As the
flame spread towards them, Mark tried unsuccessfully to utter the words, “I
love you.” Before Anna’s eyes, his back caught fire as the flame passed over
them.

The
fire quickly broke through the ceiling; it sent bricks, support beams, and
chandeliers falling from the top. The stylish pane that gave the ceiling a
deluxe feel shattered into many pieces, causing its debris to fly sporadically
into the supple skins of frightened individuals awaiting their possible deaths.

A
heavy piece of broken glass was headed Patrick’s way. He rolled over to avoid
it, only to be greeted with the weight of a falling chandelier fitted to a
large chunk of POP board, and the passing tide of fire that burnt his trapped
legs.

The
energy released by the explosion threw three men sitting close to the open-door
of the balcony, two directors and a pressman, over. It threw them indifferently,
burning, into the open air-space. Their emergence in mid-air, and the emerging
flame and debris caught the attentions of the people in the surrounding, and
within five minutes the paramedics and firefighters were around, the police
soon followed and assisted in orderly evacuating the building while the
paramedics and firefighters did their jobs.

In the midst of the persisting noise caused by the running and crying,
out of fear, of the many staffs around, Andrew opened his eyes. He had blurry
vision, but from the position he was he could see the inside of the conference
room: it no longer had a door. His first thoughts were for Anna’s safety. “Anna!” He passionately cried out; he
struggled to move, but the pain from his hard-landing moments ago troubled his
legs and hands as much as it did his head and vision, yet, he didn’t relent, he
needed to be sure that the love he held dear to his heart wasn’t already dead.
He pushed himself to the limit, crawling as he repeatedly cried out Anna’s
name. Someone obscured his vision; he looked up to see the face; with his
blurry vision, he tried to make a name.

“Patricia!” He called out.

Ambulance
sirens blew louder outside as their numbers increased. As the building was been
evacuated, onlookers surged to see firsthand the tragedy that had befallen
Lagos state. Individuals toppled over themselves for a front-view of the action.
In two’s stretchers emerged from ambulances, hoping to carry injured victims
out. Members of the press fought hard to take pictures of the living and the
dead, everything was news. Even the sporadic shooting in the air by the Army to
scare them off didn’t do much to dissuade them.

Anna was rolled out. She had her left arm injured and was crying
uncontrollably; the words in her mouth bore only one name, Mark’s. She was
inconsolable, it was as though her life depended on her stretched hand touching
Mark’s corpse, which was been rolled immediately behind. The scene was chaotic,
the press, overly excited; men of the force tried to calm all nerves; this
presented Anna with the opportunity to jump-off. She quickly unzipped the body
bag to the chest region. Her wails knew no bound: seeing Mark’s badly scarred
face and lifeless body caused her more pain than she was already in.