SHORT STORY: Cursed, Sick And Deranged

Fred knew he was cursed. It wasn’t a secret to him. He accepted that phrase from anyone with glee.

It was almost laughable that people would expect a freaked out reaction from him. Heck, he knew he was cursed. He had to be. 

Everything that has happened in his 30 years of being in existence lent credence to that fact. 

He wondered why the hell God was in such a freaking bad mood the day he was created.

He was certain God in his annoyance, had given him as a pet project to Lucifer’s apprentice. 

That apprentice had put all the woes of the world into his diminutive self.

Not only was he created ugly, he was also short. The world often said that women wouldn’t care about appearance once a man had the cash. But there again, the wicked apprentice also blew him a curse. He was poorer than a church rat.

It wasn’t just right for someone to be this way.

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Life had played a huge joke on him. From the early mysterious death of his parents, to him being dumped on a family that had no love for him. His uncle and his family had treated him like a privileged outcast from the day he was brought to them.

He was barely one year old then. The fact that he stayed an extra one year before walking instilled further proof in his Uncle Amadi’s mind that he was indeed cursed. They often whispered that he killed his parents.

This fear also forced the family to train him properly against their wish.

Amadi and his family were dead scared that Fred Egwuonwu would harm them if they treated him badly, so while they distanced themselves from him, they made sure to provide him with all the necessities for school and life.

They shipped him off to boarding school and he got used to being with strangers.

How to sell anything using 'Guarantees'

Yes. I have been sold to that way. Many times.

I know folks who have been sold things to in the same ways. But it all became clear as day now.

Have you ever loaned someone N10, 000 (a high amount of money) just because when you loaned him N500 he paid back early without hassle?

I am sure you won’t think twice before buying something from someone who first gave you a trial of the product for free or offered you a guarantee before making a selling move on you.

Heck. Let’s get down to the familiar.

It is common knowledge that when you want to buy boiled groundnuts from hawkers anywhere in Nigeria, you take some first to taste. You believe doing that tells you if the groundnut is worth your hard-earned naira; even though it doesn’t cost much. But there’s something else you don’t know.

Her fight with the devil

By Chinwe J. Obinwanne

Mabel stared into the mirror. She couldn’t recognize the face that stared back. She didn’t know who the hell this person was.

This wasn’t the first time she was looking into a mirror. But this was the first time she saw a face unknown to her.

She lifted her brows in surprise. The strange face did the same.

Why was this person mimicking her?

She moved her hands over her face. It hurt. The strange face did the same. It then occurred to her that this was no stranger. This was her. Suddenly the events that caused her not to recognize her own face came pouring back.

SHORT STORY: The unspoken truth

By Chinwe J. Obinwanne

It could only be a mistake. It was surely just nature playing one of its biggest games. She stared closely at the image on her younger sister’s Facebook page and shrugged, a sad smile playing on her lips. Memories reminding her of the crazy but cruel twist that took her away from Nigeria a good six years ago. Reality gave her a resounding slap when she saw a birthmark on the face of that image on Sade’s Facebook wall. No, it wasn’t a mistake. This was him.

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Funke was over 5ft 9inches in height, quite tall for a woman; dark-skinned, had hazel shaped eyes that seemed to probe into a person’s soul when she looked into them, nose as pointed and defined as that of a Fulani lady; her lips were set in a pout and you could only imagine Angelina Jolie when you concentrated on her lips; she wasn’t exactly curvy but something about her build, face and eyes seemed to capture and hold the attention of men and women alike. She had an electrifying persona and seemed to make friends wherever she went. Men bent over backwards to do her bidding and she was well aware of the power she wielded over them.