LAUGHTER

Chapter 7 The horror

Annabelle's POV

Time blurred.Hours melted into days,days into months.Life as I knew it slowly unraveled and reformed into something I could barely recognize.I was no longer Annabelle Dean,I had become Annabelle Clark,wife of Alexander Clark.

To my surprise,my husband was not the simple market vendor I had first assumed.Beneath the modest facade was a man of quiet wealth.He owned a house,drove his own car and held a reputable position at a bank.The small shop in the market?It was merely a side business,a hobby.I learned that his father had once been a pilot,the very same pilot on the ill fated flight that claimed my parents. Alexander,too,had lost family that year.Perhaps that was the unspoken bond between us,grief nestled deep in our veins.

It was on a calm evening,one painted with the soft hum of television light,that tragedy knockedsoftly, deceptively.

Two gentle taps on the front door.Innocent,almost polite.

"Who's there?"Alexander called out,his voice steady.

Silence answered.

Curious but unworried,he opened the door and in an instant,chaos exploded into our home.Five masked men stormed in,armed with knives and machetes. Their presence sucked the air from the room.

"On the ground!Now!"they barked,voices sharp and merciless.

Alexander dove to my side,shielding me instinctively as we collapsed to the floor together.His arms cradled my head as though they could protect me from everything that was about to follow.

"We were told money was brought into this house"one of the robbers growled.

"Yes yes,it was"Alexander stammered through tears, "but it's been taken back.It's gone"

A cruel chuckle escaped the lips of the one who seemed to be their leader.

"So we're late,"he sneered."If we can't have the money,we'll take something else."His eyes turned to me,cold and predatory."Your wife is beautiful.Boys take her upstairs."

Panic seized me.I screamed,thrashed,begged. Alexander rose in desperation to follow them,but before he could take a single step"Bang".

A single shot silenced everything.My husband fell. Gone.

I wailed as they dragged me away.That night,I endured horror no one should ever face violated by five strangers while my husband's blood still soaked the floor of our home.

"Leave?Mortgage?Advised?"I repeated,stunned,the words tumbling through my head like a foreign language.My voice trembled as I tried to process it all."I don't understand.Why is this house on mortgage?What about the cars?The shops in the market?"

The man with the white beard adjusted his glasses and sighed,as if rehearsed in this kind of heartbreak.

"As I explained,madam,we're representatives from the bank.This house was used as collateral for a loan,₦33.6 million in total.Your husband only repaid ₦1 million before his passing.To recover the debt,the bank will seize and liquidate the house,the cars,and the market shops.”

He softened his tone slightly,as if trying to make the blow hurt less.