ANNABELLE PART 6

Annabelle took total control of my body  and she held me down in my own mind with chains , I was literally held in chains I couldn't control anything I was like a figment of an imagination and soon it felt like I was fading from existence , I tried to talk to Annabelle, I begged, cried, negotiated but she ignored me totally, soon I got tired of talking and soon I became totally silent all I did now was sit, watch and feel sorry for myself.
Deji my sweet Deji am sure he has been trying to reach me but he won't be able to,  Annabelle had made sure she had wiped almost everything about me  She had deleted all my social media account , threw my phones away, burnt my clothes, changed my name to Annabelle Philips , the only things she kept where my certificates from school.

I watched helplessly as Annabelle turned my life around, she worked her way into modelling through one of her sugar daddies and boy she was good she brought sass and fire to the runway she started getting bigger and bigger contracts modelling for big agencies secretly I was happy she was modelling somehow she was making herself known and by God's grace my family will find me.

She travelled frequently having vacations and photo shoots in Milan, New York, Tokyo, Dubai. I went for parties with ministers, actors, comedians and the likes, I met new people and made new friends, scratch that Annabelle did all those, she was so popular travelling to have brunch with this and drinks with that, she had stopped her sleeping around with money bags, she now had her own money, she had houses in various locations all over the country and she had about eight boutique also. I saw new places through her eyes or my eyes I don't know again, she was becoming successful, living the fab life being things I would never be even in my imagination.
Then I had an idea , yes the tables have turned Annabelle now controls my body and I am the disembodied voice in her head so I had to act somehow like Annabelle, I have to make her think that I am on her side. She loves fashion, glamour, fame , I need to get comfortable with her so the chains on me will gradually loosen I had to act fast, I have been in chains for five years now, I bet Deji and my family think am dead and the way things are going I would soon be dead.

ANNABELLE PART 5

"Annabelle are you alright my dear" the strange man behind me spoke, *what* he called me Annabelle , oh my God save me, she has killed me Deji won't forgive me.
Mr sugar daddy walked naked towards me still calling my Annabelle  he looked like a dried up prune what was Annabelle thinking , I vomited a little more when I felt a bit better showered , but no amount of bathing could wash away how dirty I felt.
I ignored the naked old thing still asking what was wrong I packed my things and wore the  dress I found as usual it was a skimpy barely-covering-my-parts dress I wanted to die , on my way home in a cab I started to remember all the times my memory had failed  I should have known Annabelle was behind it.

Immediately I got home, I went to the mirror and started yelling like a dog in labour
" Annabelle come out this instance"
No response
" I know you can hear me come out"
No response
" You think you are clever abi, you sat in my body for ten months making me think you were gone but you just still here using my body like a rag, Annabelle come out now or I would called my mother"
The laughter I heard scared me
" Hello Chicken neck long time no talk "
" Stop using my body for trash Annabelle " I was fuming with rage
" I am just trying to have fun, unlike you chicken neck "
" that's it I am calling my mother"
As I tried to move my head hit glass.
I looked up Annabelle was opposite me with a triumphant grin, she walked toward my bed laid on it and was soon snoring softly. I tried to scream but no words left my mouth.

ANNABELLE PART 4

I found my ring at the lost and found, the woman holding it gave me ugly stares, apparently in camp some married women would take off their rings so they can have flings with strange guys they meet in camp and from the way things looked I wasn't  different either.

I didn't see Annabelle for a long time after that day, I called for her but she didn't answer.

I was posted to a coca cola company in Ring Road, Akinyemi, Ibadan. I was to work with the Engineering department .

Four months into my primary assignments I started having serious issues, all this time I haven’t seen Annabelle, I probably bored her away or so I thought.
I started having memory troubles I couldn't account for things,places time and money spent anymore, it was worse on weekends, sometimes I would get calls from work asking me why I hadn't come to work for days, it was weird because the last memory I had was me in work the previous day.

It only got worse!! I started waking up in clubs and hotel rooms, sometimes with clothes I would never wear if I had half a brain, sometimes my purse would be empty and other times it would be filled with wads of cash.
I was getting scared, I would try to call my mom but I kept forgetting.

I would lock myself up in my room and still find myself in a club in the pool of my own vomit and alcohol, wearing pieces of clothes.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the day I woke up in a white room, I was naked and the person next to me who was also naked was old enough to be my grandfather, immediately I stood up ran to the bathroom and threw up.

ANNABELLE PART 3

Life with Annabelle was getting more complex and more exciting, even Deji noticed the change in me but he never asked maybe he guessed it was because I had graduated from school and all that or maybe he just liked the change
Annabelle and I always quarrelled about Deji, she said he was a broke ass Nigga , had no swag, no ride. She said I needed a guy who could spend the dough I hated the way she talked about Deji , sometimes I would be so angry I would threaten to tell my mum about her, she would pout and tell me that she is just joking that  I shouldn't vex , She was just like that friend you know has a bad influence on you, profits you nothing but yet you can't stop being her friend , she was stuck on me like glue.
" Omoye if I had a body I would tell you to shoot me in the head, you are killing with boredom joor" she said pretending to swoon
" Well I like a calm life "
" You mean you like a boring life " she snorted
" Let's go clubbing for once now, I am sick and tired of staying in this room with you and your boring gist, I want to get high " she pleaded
" If you want to go and go by yourself"
" Boring chicken neck "
" you better stop calling me that"
She made an annoying clucking sound with her tongue and backed me , I felt like smashing the mirror.

Months later, Deji got a job as a sous-chef for an oil offshore company, he was to be paid four hundred thousand naira a month, I was so happy  when I told Annabelle the news she just snorted saying some men could give me four hundred thousand naira in a day, I ignored her as usual, she was supposed to help me but I just couldn't see the help she was giving she was just trying to make me wild and I didn't want that but I had promised I won't get rid of her plus sometimes she was entertaining when she wasn't annoying.

Three months after Deji left, I received my call up letter and I was posted to Oyo state, Annabelle made a shoot-me-now-face every day, she kept urging me to pay some money and get posted somewhere more groovy after all Deji now gives me about a eighty thousand a month but I was going to Oyo whether she liked it or not.
A week to the day I was to travel to Oyo, Deji came to visit, we went shopping for things I needed for camp, we also went shopping for clothes and shoes. In a classy restaurant he proposed to me with a really cute ring just the way I wanted it silver and simple, I thought I would go mad with joy, it was the best week of my life.

Nysc camp wasn't so bad, In fact I kinda enjoyed everything about it except the hot sun, Annabelle kept nagging me saying my shorts were not shorts, she kept calling them deeper life shorts or British man pantaloons as usual I ignored her but not for long, I didn't have to look in the mirror to talk to Annabelle anymore, I started to see her in my head like we would be having conversations in my head, she became like a shadow always with me. 
It was weird, I would be walking on the road having a conversation with her and no one can see who am talking to when I get caught talking to Annabelle people would give me weird stares, I had to start walking around with an earpiece so it would look like I was on a call , I had to sometimes it gets really hard to ignore Annabelle.  With time it  got weirder, on the last day of camp there was a huge party I didn't want to go for and Annabelle almost cried on my neck she begged me for days but I told her *NO* I didn't like parties.
I don't remember what happened next I just remember waking  up with a banging headache , it felt like the entire room was spinning,  my mouth tasted like alcohol, my body felt like it was bitten by a thousand fire ants and my corper whites had grass stains and vomit , I tried to move but the headache just got worse,I called for Annabelle but she didn't answer it was as if she was asleep or something , I looked at my phone messages  and a strange number had texted me

*Thanks for last night I had a great time, love Nkechi*

Who the hell was Nkechi ???

Trying to make sense of what had happened, I tried to stand up from my bed and out of habit  I looked at my left hand, my engagement ring was gone , I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach

ANNABELLE PART 2

I don't know how long I was down but when I stood up, I was convinced my mind was playing tricks on me. I stood up and looked at the mirror, my reflection stood straight and tall with her hands akimbo still with a frown
" you have always been a whimp, I swear " She said

I was still staring like a man seeing fire for the first time slowly I regained myself, she was really there in the mirror staring at me.
" Annabelle what the hell, how did you...."
" Come back, fash that one, wetin dey sup, you look horrible "
"I don't look horrible" my own reply shocked me
" You do joor don't tell me it's with that powder and lip gloss, you are going to class "
She said rolling her eyes
" Hello chicken neck stop gawking at me , just look at your untoush sef,  for why, I am so glad I came back, you need help "
" I don't need help " my voice was shaky
I have to go am late for class"
" Ok oh, sha sha make your hair, what kinda hair is that one, better relax it "
I didn't talk, I walked out of the room shaking like a banana leaf  ,why is she back ? why today of all days? when my final exam was this morning  and I was too shaken to take a bus It felt like I had forgotten everything I had studied, Annabelle's return had clouded my mind.

Lucky for me the exam was a breeze somehow seeing the questions opened my brain and I wrote well, I totally even forgot about Annabelle. When the exam was over I couldn't wait to call Deji and my Mum. I took out my phone to call mum but the beautiful yet annoying voice reminded me that I didn't have sufficient credit to make a call. I opened my bag to get my wallet but I probably left it on my bed, I wanted to borrow from the network but I hate paying for debts, so I decided to go home and get my wallet. 

I got home and Annabelle was there in the mirror waiting for me, oh my gosh I totally forgot Annabelle was back
" congrats girl, how will you celebrate? "
I did say anything I just picked my wallet and started to leave the room
" Chicken Neck where are you going to now? She said with a voice so stern I almost peed myself
" I am going to buy credit to call mum and Deji " my voice was still shaky
" Ehen before I forget, Omoye please don't  tell anyone I exist I beg you trust me, Let me be your secret, are you hearing me? "
" I must tell Deji, I tell him everything "
" Don't be a mumu Chicken neck, tell anyone about it and they would lock you up in a psychiatric home, don't tell your mum especially, I am not here to hurt you, I am your friend remember the fun we used to have "
I looked at Annabelle for the first time, she looked just like me only more bold,sassy,boisterous, fiery, sassy and sassy ,there was something hot about her eyes .
I agreed to keep the secret and I didn't know it then but it was the greatest mistake I had made.

ANNABELLE PT 1

ANNABELLE

First time I told my mum about Annabelle, I was five, If I were a white kid my white parents would probably laugh it of and say it's a phase, but I was black, African, Nigeria, Edo and I was esan. My mum didn't waste time she took me that very minute to a firebreathing pastor, crying that I had been possessed and they prayed a lot, I remember having my entire body coated with olive oil (anointing oil) and when it was over, Annabelle was gone, I told myself I would never forgive my mum, she took away the only friend I had.


When I was twenty-four ,I was so frustrated, I was severely always broke, I had lost my dad and I had to manage with what my mum would give me, I was grateful but I just had to struggle, my boyfriend Deji was beautifully made, he was always there for me and everything, he was sweet, romantic, kind and everything I always wanted in a guy, but he was like me broke, he came from a poor background and he had to consistently work to fend for himself and his siblings, but he would still take me out on dates even when I refuse but as an undergraduate ten thousand a month compared to the forty thousand I used to receive was a nightmare.
I was looking at the mirror one day combing my natural hair which was all matted, dry and in need of deep conditioning, my reflection in the mirror had this frown which was weird because although I wasn't smiling, I didn't frown either, I tried making funny faces but my reflection still had a frown, I felt the hair on my neck stand as I stared in horror at my supposed reflection. Then it spoke not in my calm and barely audible voice but in a more sharp and boisterous voice.
" What have you done to our body chicken neck??"
Chicken Neck
The only person who calls me that is *ANNABELLE*. the room began to spin and everywhere turned dark

PARADOX

PARADOX
Eniye knew she should have left the church earlier but Mrs Abode needed an extra pair of hands to take down the decorations on the church altar, immediately she had finished she picked up her things and decided to run home , the new assistant pastor offered to drop her off at about 10pm if she could wait till then but she declined not even giving him a chance to convince her.

It was really dark and the street was just too quiet there were a lot of shortcuts to her home but she decided to take the main road because the shortcuts were usually filled with predators at night, the time was 9:20pm and shops were usually closed by 9pm she kept saying a prayer as she walked, her slippers making a loud tap tap noise on the tarred road.
In front of a tree close to an uncompleted building was Thompson, he was a well know hooligan, agbero extraordinaire , thug and thief, he had come out to smoke some weed when he saw Eniye walk by, she didn't see him. She had been the itch in his loins for years and a major participant in his sexual fantasies , he had tried to talk to her rather toast her on many occasions but she always snobbed him, she was probably coming from church he thought , throwing away the remainder of his joint he decided to follow her, her house was still about ten minutes away, he walked slow and discreetly so she won't know he was following her many thoughts were going through his mind.

About five minutes later, a scream from Eniye pierced through the dark reechoing for about ten seconds, then suddenly, it stopped. A few moment later there was a loud howl from a male voice and it rapidly graduated to screams, then it stopped and the street became quiet once more.

Ten minutes later, Eniye's brother heard a loud knock from the gate, he had stayed awake to close the gate after Eniye comes . She was supposed to have arrived by 8:30pm and as usual she left her phone at home, so he couldn't reach her. Dropping his phone and reaching for his torch, he walked to the gate thinking of ways to scold her, he didn't  see Eniye immediately instead he saw Thompson with Eniye in his arms, she wasn't moving, he quickly opened the gate asking Thompson a million questions at the same time.

Apparently, Thompson had followed at a respectable distance to ensure she got home safely. A man suddenly sprang out of a bush path, one of the shortcuts to Eniye's home. He grabbed her, half dragging her to a nearby uncompleted building, she tried to fight him off and he hit her on the head until she passed out, Thompson  had sprinted to where they were, the man was already yanking at her skirt, he had got there just in time to save her, he gave the man a sound beating, knocking him out with a blow to the head. He scooped her into his arms and immediately carried her home. Eniye was placed on a couch and was attended to by their sister.Thompson and Eniye's brother went after the man and found him still unconscious, Eniye's brother recognised him immediately , he was the assistant pastor.