THE SHADOW OF SLEEP

THE SHADOW OF SLEEP

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀.

I was in my two-piece suit and derby shoes, moving surreptitiously, when a man gently slipped a piece of paper into my breast pocket just as I opened the door and stepped onto the rooftop. I walked gingerly forward with my long rifle. About five men with their backs towards me looked eagerly at the sky.

I brought out the paper in my breast pocket to read the content. It read, “Execute all the men.” It was an order, but an order I was reluctant to obey. I had not expected to see a group of unarmed men together on the rooftop, watching the sky.

They looked harmless, even docile. Looks can be deceiving, so I asked what they were all doing together on the rooftop. They said they were waiting for the sun to set. The view there was beautiful, and in 30 minutes, I could see it for myself.

Aww, they were just innocent men waiting for sunset. Why do I need to execute them? I thought.

Then, I remembered I was on a mission. Their offspring were half humans, half beasts. It was so chilling and scary to behold. The faces of their offspring took the form of a hawk.

I set my rifle to pull the trigger, and I awakened.

CHAPTER ONE—Running is only what I imagined.

The government of my country, Jira, has failed, and we were on the run.

It started just like a small safety match struck against its box, and lo, the fire kept growing, engulfing everything in its path and reaching where I live.

The very first confirmation was the death of my friend, June. ‘Kraa,’ I had heard over the line just as I spoke with her over the phone, she lying on her bed in her hostel. The line went dead later.

The next few days were filled with condominium and anarchy. The military juntas took power, and some mean-meaning people of Jira decided to share the power with them by killing its citizens.

Then we were on the run with dead bodies strewn across the streets and fearsome youths with guns roaming at every intersection.

In the midst of this, we had no knowledge that the world was also about to be in chaos. This was not a case when you could say that another government would send aid because they wouldn't be only willing, but that they just couldn't. --This was highly classified information privy to a few presidents of the world.

Monsters and creatures they had created in their covens had broken free and couldn't be contained and were soon to disrupt the world. World leaders, not willing to cause confusion and unrest, kept it a secret while secretly planning their escape to Mars, where they had found it was conducive and livable, while some still thought there were chances that the world could still be saved.

That is where I come in.

Underground recruitment of agents was at its climax. People they thought could save the world, and so I was stolen from the eastern Waston of Jira I knew, where I struggled to keep myself and my family alive pending when the country would be stable, to an unknown destination to fight a higher cause.

I can't tell what they thought of me or what they saw in me, me who had never left a square inch from my homeland, when a slender, tall caramel chocolate man in a uniform I had never seen before stood to address a group of confused sects of people like me that we would be fighting monsters, creatures, and super beings.

Is this for real? I had learned not to question the possibility of anything at all, as anything could be possible if not anywhere, in Jira. That was how the war in Jira started, like a play, from political tension.

I was not done fighting humans to start fighting superhumans. Is my family safe? My major concern

My teeth chattered, and I felt spikes of needles piercing my skin, with my tummy rumbling. I might as well die from cold before I might truly know why I was here—in the middle of nowhere in a queue.

The most bizarre thing ever, usually, now in Jira, if you were in a queue like this, it was mostly for your death but in this particular one, the tall young man before me was Asian and the lady behind me might have been Indian, and the surroundings were a curious thing to behold. It seemed like we were hedged in by mountains.

It quickly got to my turn, and I entered the office manned by two guards at the door. I was quickly relieved to find that the office was warm. It was a small office with an adjoining door that was almost imperceptible. A young Black man, perhaps 35 years old, with a two- or three-day-old scruffy beard, sat in a chair with a table disrupted with paperwork and books, glaring at me and a soldier beside him.

I allowed him to look all he liked; I was a chocolate-complexioned, tall, skinny woman of 30 years old with grey eyes that most people said were too piercing and a small nose and mouth, nothing too peculiar. I was neither beautiful nor ugly.

He finally cleared his throat and began the expected speech,

“Mrs Florence Scoan”

Of course, they would have my name and personal details

A split second passed where he thought I would respond. “You have been called to a very high assignment—to help the earth before it goes into extinction.”

“Where are my husband and children?”

“They are safe.” He paused and continued, “This is a very classified mission, which would only be possible if you were a ghost.” He said it as if it were a fact.

“ Safe in where?”

He sighed in exhaustion, and a glimmer of anger passed like lightning—so quick across his visage that it could only be seen by the quickest eyes.

Who knew that a stolid-looking and gruff man could easily lose control of his patience? I didn’t care. I needed an answer.

I didn't care if I had to stay there longer while the crowd outside waited for their turn with him.

“As much as they can be. They need not know you're alive till the mission is completed. It is for their good as well as yours. You would reunite with them once the Earth is safe.”

“Is that so? I’ve learned that the Earth can never be safe. Are they in Jira?” I looked into his eyes. My mother always said you could know what a person isn't saying by the look in their eyes while reading between their speech.

“Until the Earth is safe to a certain degree, then,” He replied, unnerved while waving my dismissal.

My family might still be in Jira. I concluded.

I hope they were safe. I’ll have to find out.

A soldier from his right hand came forward to usher me out through the side door.

“Why did you bring me here?” I turned my head. “ You know I'm of no use to you.”

“We need your subtlety and cleverness.”

I chuckled. They had brought the wrong person. Exactly the person to sabotage and jeopardize their mission.