The Voice – Episode 1

The Voice – Episode 1

A story by Alabede Jude

 

It was a monday morning in the city of Calabar. People could be seen walking to and fro. Every young and old folk were walking briskly to their destination.

The city of Calabar is always a beehive of activities. People going to their various workplace could be seen rushing to avoid getting late to work.

Some stood on the road flagging down vehicles that would convey them to their destination. There was a sonorous noise in the whole city which was incessant and clamorous.

The noise which came from the fast moving vehicles accumulated with the noise of the hawkers, who were displaying their wares.

All moving vehicles suddenly came to an halt . It seemed as though, there was a gigantic traffic congestion that hindered them from moving.

All drivers peered outside through their window with a puzzled look on their face, wondering what was happening.

All the cars queued up within a short while causing a heavy traffic jam. Different car honks blared loudly as the drivers tried to create a way but all efforts were futile.

The hawkers were elated and gratified at the traffic jam, as they saw it as an opportunity to sell their wares. They moved from vehicle to vehicle propelling passengers to patronize them.

Detective Cole sat in his black BMW car and was behind the wheel. He was extremely infuriated at the traffic jam as he checked his golden wristwatch persistently, which was a gift from his newly wedded wife.

He was running out of time and he disdain getting late to work. He angrily hit the honk of the car with a clenched fist.

“holy sh*t!”, he cursed under his breath and removed his seatbelt.

He decided to go have a look of what caused the traffic. He adjusted his suit tie properly and alighted from the car. He hadn’t taken more than three steps when he heard an explosion which came far away from where he stood. Before he could comprehend what was happening another sounded and swept everyone away from their feet.

The second explosion reverberated and flung him far away.

Just like flash, everything happened within a second. The cloud of debris and pieces of car’s fragment with a huge puff of smoke was all one could see.

In no minutes, the police came rushing to the scene with their sirens blaring loudly accompanied with tons of Ambulance vehicles.

Three officers jumped down from the van andbwalked closer to the victims while the other officers made way for other Ambulance vans.

They rushed out an carried the remainant of dead bodies on stretchers into the waiting vans and immediately sped off.

• ••••••••••••••

The light stung her eyes as she opened them, Nelson Nora shielded her eyes with her right hand and pulled herself up from the sofa with her left. She rubbed her forehead, as they banged in a way she had never experienced before. She had just dismissed Cole her heart throb for work an hour ago before she slumped on the chair and slept off. It was the headache that woke her up and the pain she felt at that moment was unbearable, as they threatened to split her head.

She reached for the television remote control which laid on a low stool in front of her and turned on the Tv set.

She never wanted to do so, but something she couldn’t attest to, propelled her to do so. The sound coming from the television was going straight into her head and she decided to switch it off but something caught her attention. It was the news flash. She restrained and squint her blurry eyes to read the headline.

‘A bomb blast in calabar city.’ was the breaking news headline and a video footage of the explosion was shown afterwards. She readjusted her sitting position to have a clear view of the footage.

She saw dead bodies and fleshy part being carried away into the vans in haste, then the reporter was shown.

It was a female reporter which one could guess was in her mid-twenties.

“This is the first bomb blast of this kind that this city has seen and experienced. Five hundred and three (503) people were confirmed dead who were victims of the unfortunate incident and twelve (12) were found injured including our beloved Detective Cole who was trapped in the traffic jam before the explosion”

Nora suddenly sprung up as though, she was being poured hot water.

 She was aghasted and petrified that Cole was also a victim. Beads of sweat immediately began to form on her forehead and her legs started vibrating. The bangs in her head doubled from worse to worst. She tried to catch up with the last details as she concentrated on the Tv screen.

“The police are yet to comment on the bomb blast. We will be back with an official police statement. Its lance Precious reporting. Thanks for

watching, stay with us.”

The reporter said and her pretty face gave way for a bank advertisement. She switched off the television and began to pace up and down with worriment. She touched her forehead and the pain was severe. She became dizzy and her legs began to twitch. She couldn’t hang on any longer, it gave way and she slumped to the tiled floor.

***************

Nora felt her back lying on a soft bed which she presumed not to be hers as the bed made her uncomfortable. She slowly opened her eyelids and saw a white ceiling instead of a brownish customized ceiling. She was surprised as she swiftly turned her head sideways to be sure of where she was. She realized she was on a hospital bed but how she got there was a mystery to her. She recalled back what happened earlier four hours ago and realization hit her.

The bangs throbbing her head was gone and she felt much more better . A big thanks to the nurses who quickly took charge of the situation immediately she was brought in.

She remembered Cole and her face turned pale and worried stiff.

She thought about what might have happened to him. The more she thought about him, the more she got herself worried.

She was too engrossed in her thoughts that she never knew when the door to her ward was opened, not until she felt a hand tapping her which jerked her back to reality. She looked up and saw Emily’s smiling face.

“Emily?”, she heard her own voice say in a muffled tone.

Emily smiled. She knew the questions throbbing her mind but its just a matter of time before she will let her know how she had saved her a$$.

Emily and Nora were bossom friends right from childhood till their adulthood. They were the ideal meaning of real and true friends

 

They were always there for each other, in times of needs and wants.

Back in the day, Emily used to be a hard headed person, a naughty-girl as Nora would term her but then, time passed, they both are grown women now. An independent one, strong,

powerful women who is sufficient to rule a community.

.

“Hey doctor am okay.

Am i not good to go?” Nora asked as she couldn’t figure out why she was still held captive on the hospital bed since she was very much okay.

“Sorry ma’am, you’ll be discharged soon but you really need to rest a little bit more, only then will you be good to go”, Doctor Okon said with a smile while Nora shrugged. He wrote somethings into his notepad and left afterwards with the nurse.

Nora looked at Emily with a questioned look who was now seated on a harmless white chair beside her.

“How did i get here?”, she asked her waiting for an explanation

“Nora! So you’re this curious?”, Emily

asked surprised at her curiosity demeanor.

“Yeah! Sure, why won’t i be?” she said in affirmation with a raised brow.

“But you know curiosity kills the cat, don’t you?”

“Yeah, i know but am not a cat”, she replied while Emily laughed.

“Was that funny?”, she asked laughing herself.

“Oh, if it wasn’t, then why did you laugh?”

“i don’t know, but your laugh compelled me to.” she replied and winked at her.

“How is Cole?, did you hear the news?” Emily asked with a serious tone while Nora’s expression changed immediately to a sober one.

“Yeah i did. I heard the tragic news.” Nora replied with a teary face..

“c’mon Nora, he isn’t dead, he was only injured” Emily said consoling her.

“But do you know how worse it is? Tell me, do you?” Nora asked trying to fight back the tears.

“No, i don’t but be rest assured that he will be fine” Emily replied feeling defeated.

“Please, lets go see him” Nora said sitting upright.

“Actually, that was why I came but unfortunately I saw you sprawled on the floor almost dead and I had to rush you here” Emily said standing up and started pacing the room.

“You came for us to go see him together?” Nora

asked with a raised brow. She found it hard to believe.

Emily stopped in her tracks and gazed at Nora. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Not really, but the truth is, i came to ask a few question about his own part of the incident, to gather information and merge it with others. You know my job could be ludicrous at times” Emily

said and chuckled.

“So because you’re a journalist, you came to question Cole who we don’t know his fate yet huh?” Nora said agitated obviously in a raised tone as she rose up from the bed and walked to the door, turning the door knob open, then she paused, sighed and turned back to Emily whose head was bent down in remorse.

“Emily, I’m sorry for the way i shouted at you and thanks for the other time. I need to go see the doctor, will you come with me?” Nora asked still standing waiting for her response.

Emily raised her head up, smiled and got up. She took her handbag which she kept on the table and walked closer to Nora.

“Sure” she said, smiling broadly.

“Thanks”, Nora said and smiled too.

She opened the door and they both went to see the doctor who appended the discharge file.

• •••••••••••••••

Detective Cole opened his eyelids slowly. The rays of the sun which pierced through the open louvres penetrated into his eyes and he quickly shot them back. He blinked his eyes repeatedly so his pupil could adjust to its surroundings.

He eventually opened them and looked up straight. He felt some pains on his forehead and he closed his eyes abruptly and opened them back.

“You’re awake”, a familiar voice said

To be continued.

 

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