Tag: fiction

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Aug 11

SHORT STORY: Magpies

“Fast forward seven years and I was in the same situation again. I was working at a not-for-profit firm in Lagos and used to frequent a restaurant across the road from my office. It was small and greasy and the food was cheap and cheerful. I hated going in at lunch time because it would be full of lawyers from a court nearby in their mostly ill-fitting black and white attires and they would be talking at the top of their voices like it was a competition to see who could out-shout the other.”

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Jun 12

The Last Prayer [2]

Read Part [1] HERE Papa wrapped his belt around his hand. How many times had he told Ade that he should walk like a man anytime he called or honked? He had had to open the gate himself to drive in his rickety beetle car. The sound of the car could be heard a 100…

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Jun 5

The Last Prayer [1]

He wrapped the belt around his left hand in anger. Lines of fury turned his face into a monster. He gritted his teeth in mad anger and lifted up his belt. The boy cowered, raising up his arms to receive the thrashing. His body could not take them anymore. It was already torn in various…

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Apr 27

The Witness

I stare at the men in uniform patrolling the living room, a sunken aura revolving around them. Alex’s body lay there lifeless, in an unattractive crimson pool. Her eyes staring into nothing and thoughts sauntering off the edge of the universe. There’s a bullet hole by the left side of her head and her body…

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Apr 19

Stranger Things Have Happened

I had often heard that good things come in threes, but I’d never given any thoughts to it, because I hate trite sayings. As usual, fate conspired to show me that as much as I thought I knew a lot, I knew nothing. Falling for you took the form of a three part drama staged…

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Apr 15

Our Last Night Together – Part 2

Previous Episode – Episode 1. Click here to read. I had recovered from the somewhat excruciating pain that I felt in my left eye which was an effect from the collision of the bullet and the wall. I escaped blindness. In confusion, many thoughts had run through my head. What if my house was blown…

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Apr 12

Where War Left Us

A wise quote once said, You are not responsible for who you attract but you are responsible for who you entertain. It’s the eyes, they always get to me. I like to think they don’t. He had the softest unrelenting eyes that looked at me like I was the prettiest thing he had seen in…

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Apr 10

Despondence

Rufus sat in the chair at the back of the class, as he had become accustomed. To compound the misery, he was shortsighted, which made his decision to sit at the back even more bewildering. He would struggle to see what Mr. Tamuno scribbled on the board, but then give up after a while. While…

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Apr 8

Our Last Night Together – Part 1

I lay on the bed awake staring at the ceiling. It was so quiet that the sound from the intermittent ticking of the clock hands could be detected by the sound recorder hung on the wall. The room was also very dark except for the faint rays of moonlight piercing through my gold and blue…

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Nov 22

The Untold Tale

If only he knew that my beautiful eyes had shed unspoken tears If only he could see beyond the bright smile into my hidden fears Then maybe he can begin to understand the tale never written The words never spoken. A torn picture carefully hidden by a beautiful frame A heart full of scars obscured…

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Nov 10

Broken: Episode 11 – No Greater Love

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). That night, I dreamt I returned home to Ope, and had prepared a speech to tell him how sorry I was for breaking his heart.  But when I arrived at our home, another woman opened the door, and…

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Nov 5

On African Horror Fiction, Halloween, Lights Out: Resurrection, Writing and Reading – A Conversation, with Wole Talabi and Nerine Dorman

Last week, TNC published the anthology Lights Out: Resurrection, which features a crop of African authors of horror and dark speculative fiction, edited by Wole Talabi. It features a story by Nerine Dorman who is an active figure in the South African horror fiction scene. Today, we present a conversation between them on their writing, African horror fiction,…

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Nov 4

Entranced

Those who lived in the outlands lived very differently. Unlike their inland counterparts, they lived very individual lives. Everyone for him or herself was the order. Like every other who occupied the outlands, Zoiki was banished there with his mother. The inland dwellers lived communally. This meant that everybody brought something to the table. From…

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