**Taken in the Night**
He couldn't see anything at that moment as his eyes were tied with a black cloth, both his hands were bound behind his back, and he felt rough hands pushing him forward. It was late that night when he was attacked by three men dressed in black and wearing masks. He had tried to shout to draw the attention of passersby, but they had pointed a gun at him and one of them had said, "Make a noise and meet your ancestors."
He had obediently obeyed, not that he wouldn't fight them later, he thought, but it was better to cooperate now or be killed. And now they were pushing him roughly along the back alley of one of the streets. He couldn't see, but the smell and the trash cans told him more than he wanted to know.
---
**The Door with Red Eyes**
"Stop," came a voice when he supposed they had reached a door, and a slot slid open revealing only two blood-red eyes. "Na who dey there?" [Who is there?] the voice asked.
"Na big Shady," [It's big Shady,] came the reply from his captors.
"Wetin be the package you carry so?" [What is the package you're carrying?] the voice from the other side asked again. He could not place where they were from. It was as if their voices were muffled, or they had drugged him, because he felt like his head was swimming.
"Na new fish wey wan swim," [It's a new fish that wants to swim,] his captor said.
"Haba, him strong to see blood?" [Haba, is he strong enough to face blood?] the other voice asked.
"No be my problem oh, open the door and you go find out," [That's not my problem, open the door and you'll find out,] said his captor.
And he heard the lock disengage and a steel door with rusted hinges open. He heard his captor grumble, "This door need oiling sha, make e no cast us oh." [This door needs oiling, we don't want it giving us away.]
---
**Descending Into Darkness**
A hand was placed on his shoulder and he was steered along a passage, and then they were descending down a staircase. The hand moved from his shoulder to his head, forcing him to bend, from which he figured the place was low and below ground. They walked for a few minutes and then entered a room where he was placed in what he believed was the middle, and left alone.
Everywhere was quiet for a few minutes, and then a voice boomed, "I SEE A NEW FISH HERE. CAN HE SWIM IN THE LAKE OF BLOOD? WHO DARES BRING A NEW FISH TO THE GOD OF BLOOD? WHO DARES WANT TO THROW A FISH FOR THE GOD OF BLOOD TO CONSUME?"
"Master of Blood, it is I, Shark, that brings the new fish."
At this, the blindfolded man stiffened. He knew that voice. He could never mistake it no matter how hard the owner tried to disguise it. He knew that voice belonged to his best friend, Declan. How did he end up here? He tried to say something but couldn't, and so he kept quiet, not giving them room to do anything that would harm him.
---
**Unmasked**
"YOU BRING A NEW FISH FOR THE GOD OF BLOOD," the master's voice boomed.
"Yes, Master, him say him go for swim," [Yes, Master, he says he wants to swim,] said Shark.
"THEN REMOVE HIS BLINDFOLD. BUT FIRST, USE THE TAIL OF A SNAKE TO CIRCLE HIS HEAD THREE TIMES."
Shark did as he was told, using the tail of a snake to circle the blindfolded man three times, and then he removed the blindfold.
The man squinted for a moment before adjusting to the low light coming from candles arranged in the six corners of the room. He looked around and was surprised to see that the entire wall was covered with black curtains and the floor was covered with a soft red rug bearing the symbol of the ocean drawn at the middle, where he noticed he was standing. There was a long table at one side of the room with twenty-two chairs — ten on either side and one at each end. As he looked, twenty-one of the chairs were occupied, leaving just one at the end facing the head of the table.
When he saw those sitting around it, he wasn't entirely surprised. He had suspected his friend Declan to be a member of an occult group and had begged his friend to let him join, but his friend had refused, claiming it was risky and that he didn't want him to lose his life. He had argued that it was his life and his friend had no right to tell him how he could risk it. He looked from face to face, and when he saw his friend, he simply nodded, knowing he had been right all along.
He looked at the man at the head of the table — the one with the booming voice — and that was the only thing that truly surprised him. The man wasn't human, or at least that is what he thought. He had the head of a gorilla.
---
**The Price of Power**
"YOU WANT TO JOIN THE GOD OF BLOOD. CAN YOU SWIM IN THE LAKE OF BLOOD?" the one his friend had called Master of Blood asked.
Alfred sat there looking at them. He knew they were all wealthy and powerful, and that had been his motivation to join them. He wanted to be powerful too, and to have the kind of wealth he could flaunt. "Yes, Master of Blood, I can swim."
"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
"Alfred, Master of Blood."
"THE LAKE OF BLOOD NEEDS TO BE FILLED SO IT WILL NOT RUN DRY. THE LAKE OF BLOOD FLOWS SO OUR WEALTH AND POWER WILL FOREVER FLOW. ARE YOU WILLING TO ADD TO THE LAKE SO IT CAN OVERFLOW?"
"Yes, Master of Blood, I am willing to add to the overflow of the lake."
"WHY DO YOU WANT TO JOIN US?"
"I want power and wealth. I see how my friend over there flaunts wealth all around town and I want to do the same. I want to live in the best house, drive the best car, and bed the best women."
There was a general laughter at this, and Alfred felt he had gone too far. He swallowed hard, not daring to take his eyes away from the Master of Blood, who had not joined in the laughter.
"YOU SEEK WEALTH AND POWER, AND TO BED BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. CAN YOU KILL YOUR FRIEND? THE LAW OF THE GOD OF BLOOD IS THIS — TO BE WEALTHIER, YOU MUST KILL THE ONE WHO BROUGHT YOU HERE, BECAUSE THE MORE THE SOUL CRIES, THE MORE THE LAKE FLOWS."
Alfred couldn't bring himself to look at his friend. He had said something he knew he shouldn't have, and so he quietly replied to the Master of Blood, "No. I can never kill my friend."
---
**The Surgeon's Calling**
"THEN BRING ONE OF YOUR BALLS, AND THE EGG OF A VIRGIN, AND YOU WILL HAVE THE WEALTH AND POWER YOU SEEK."
Alfred was shocked. His ball and the egg of a virgin. No way. How would he even get that? But his ball — that wasn't easy at all. He couldn't just give it like that. "My balls... how?"
"THERE IS A ROOM HERE WHERE ONE WILL BE CUT OFF, AND YOU WILL HAVE SEVEN DAYS TO BRING THE EGG OF A VIRGIN, OR YOU WILL DIE SLOWLY AS YOUR BODY ROTS FROM THE LEG AND CREEPS UPWARD, SLOWLY BUT PAINFULLY."
"You mean I'm giving my balls now and not later?"
"YES, NOW. AND YOUR TASK STARTED THE MOMENT YOU SET YOUR FEET IN HERE."
"But I wasn't aware."
The Master of Blood wasn't listening to him anymore. He had turned his attention to a mirror resting near his chair. Alfred hadn't noticed it before, and as he looked at it now, he saw that it was made of skin. A face appeared in it, which the Master of Blood addressed: "SURGEON, YOU HAVE WORK TO BE DONE. COME TO THE CHAMBER AND CARRY OUT YOUR DUTY."
Alfred knew he had entered a trap. He knew there was no escaping this — even if he ran, they would hunt him down, and they had the money and power to influence events. He could never outrun them. He looked at his friend, who was avoiding his eyes, and when their gazes finally met, Declan mouthed words that chilled him to the bone: "I told you not to, but you were too stubborn. And now I get to eat your balls."
Alfred simply sat down on the symbol of the lake and waited for his dreaded destiny — the one they called the Surgeon — to come and carry out his task, not knowing how it would end.
---
*If you were Alfred, how would you try to get out of this jam?*
Comments
Post a Comment
"share your thoughts below"