Fractures-Part 3
380 Words
The world snapped back with a wet, violent sound — rain slamming against metal.
Chike staggered forward, blinking through the downpour.
He was standing on a popular mainland bridge at night.
Traffic was frozen. Cars sat at odd angles, headlights cutting through sheets of rain, horns suspended mid-blare as if time itself had paused indefinitely.
A deep dread settled in his chest. He knew this place! Somehow, he knew his night, but for the life of him, he didn't just know why.
Suddenly, something caught his eye, and he turned. A single hazard light blinked ahead — the only movement in the entire scene.
A flutter of hope caught in his chest as he walked towards it, each step splashing through cold water. He saw his reflection in the puddles as he glanced down, but it didn't move quite in sync.
Halfway there, he heard it. Soft sobbing, coming from inside the hazard-lit car.
He approached the passenger window cautiously and wiped the glass with trembling fingers and saw....himself.
A younger Chike sat inside, drenched, gripping the wheel with white knuckles.
Something caught the eye of the older Chike and sucked the breath out of his gut.
A blood-stained envelope sat on the younger Chike's lap. It suddenly opened on its own, and a single sheet slid out. The handwriting was unmistakable.
Ifeoma's.
"If anything happens to me, check the keeper of stories.
Some debts refuse to stay buried"
Chike's stomach twisted.
He has never seen this letter
Never remembered it
Never remembered her being in danger.
He pressed his palm to the window and whispered,
"Ifeoma... what did you get involved in?"
His younger self suddenly looked up, straight at him with terrified, knowing eyes.
"Run, he mouthed, "before it finds you."
All at once, the car lights flickered, and the bridge groaned like a massive sea creature waking up.
Behind him, something huge began moving in the rain, slowly towards him, its form a shifting mass of shadows.
Chike spun around in blind panic, but the scene shattered before the creature could reach him.
He fell again, landing on the next mirror and heard the Messenger's voice in the dark:
"The fourth memory is always the truth"
And the mirror cracked open beneath him like an evil eye.
- Writer
