CHAPTER ELEVEN
1135 Words
THE CROW BAR
Something powerful enough to terrify even the people willing to kill for it.
The statement lingered in the room.
Heavy.
Uncomfortable.
Impossible.
Farida was the first to react.
"No."
Nobody looked at her.
"No."
She pointed toward Ellen.
"Absolutely not."
Tania frowned.
"What now?"
"We are already dealing with a dead sister, a missing notebook, a creepy man under a tree, murder, corruption, inheritance drama and billion-naira fraud."
She threw both hands into the air.
"Now there's something living in a river?"
Nobody laughed.
Which only made her more nervous.
"Guys."
Silence.
"Guys."
Their mother slowly rubbed her temples.
"I don't think Ellen means a monster."
Ellen remained quiet.
That worried everyone.
Because Ellen usually corrected people when they were wrong.
This time she didn't.
Tania felt a knot form in her stomach.
"What exactly did you see?"
Ellen stared toward the window.
Rainwater streamed down the glass.
The darkness outside seemed endless.
Almost alive.
Then another memory surfaced.
---
Six Months Earlier
Riverbank
The storm had become violent.
Wind howled through the trees.
Rain soaked everyone.
The stranger stood between Ellen and the approaching men.
Protective.
Alert.
Ready.
Eddie emerged from the vehicle.
Expensive coat.
Polished shoes.
Confident smile.
The same smile he always wore whenever he believed he had already won.
"Ellen."
His voice carried through the storm.
Calm.
Friendly.
False.
Ellen remembered her confusion.
"What are you doing here?"
Eddie laughed softly.
The sound felt wrong.
Empty.
"You ask too many questions."
The stranger immediately stepped forward.
"You shouldn't have come."
Eddie's smile vanished.
"And you shouldn't still be here."
The exchange confused Ellen.
They clearly knew each other.
The realization unsettled her.
Eddie looked toward the river.
His confidence disappeared instantly.
Only for a second.
But Ellen noticed.
Fear.
Genuine fear.
Then it was gone.
Replaced by anger.
Resentment.
Hatred.
"You ruined everything."
The words were directed at Ellen.
Not the stranger.
Ellen remembered frowning.
"What?"
"You should have left the companies alone."
Lightning split the sky.
For a brief moment every face became visible.
Every expression.
Every secret.
Eddie looked exhausted.
Obsessed.
Desperate.
Like a man standing at the edge of something dangerous.
"You had everything."
His voice shook.
"You inherited everything."
The hatred in his eyes terrified her.
"The companies."
"The shares."
"The properties."
"The influence."
"You took all of it."
The accusation sounded absurd.
Yet Eddie believed every word.
Completely.
Dangerously.
The stranger moved again.
Protectively.
"You know that isn't true."
Eddie ignored him.
His attention remained fixed on Ellen.
"You were supposed to fail."
The statement stunned her.
"What?"
"You were supposed to collapse."
His voice grew louder.
More emotional.
More unstable.
"You were supposed to sell the companies."
"You were supposed to run back to your family."
"You were supposed to prove everyone right."
The storm raged around them.
But nobody seemed to notice.
Because the real storm stood before Ellen.
A man consumed by resentment.
A man who had spent years waiting for her downfall.
A man furious because it never came.
---
Present Day
The room remained silent.
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody wanted to.
Because for the first time they were seeing the full picture.
Not just murder.
Not just greed.
Ego.
Pride.
Humiliation.
Eddie hadn't simply wanted money.
He had wanted Ellen to fail.
And her success had become unbearable.
Their mother slowly shook her head.
"He always felt entitled."
Farida snorted.
"Entitled?"
The older woman sighed.
"Augustus helped raise him."
Silence.
"He paid his school fees."
"He funded his businesses."
"He treated him like family."
Tania frowned.
"Then why hate him?"
"Because gratitude fades when greed grows."
Nobody argued.
Because everyone knew it was true.
---
The memory continued.
Ellen could feel it.
The fragments were finally connecting.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Like wounds reopening.
---
Six Months Earlier
Riverbank
The stranger refused to take his eyes off the river.
That detail bothered Ellen.
Even now.
Months later.
He wasn't watching Eddie.
He wasn't watching the armed men.
He was watching the water.
As if that was the true danger.
As if everything else was secondary.
Then he spoke.
The words were directed at Eddie.
"You promised you wouldn't come back."
Eddie laughed.
A short.
Humorless laugh.
"You think I had a choice?"
"Everyone has a choice."
"Not anymore."
The answer sent a chill through Ellen.
Because it sounded sincere.
Almost frightened.
The stranger's expression hardened.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"No."
Eddie looked toward the river.
His face pale beneath the storm.
"You don't understand."
Silence.
Then something happened.
Something Ellen hadn't remembered until now.
The river moved.
Not naturally.
Not because of the rain.
The water shifted.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Against the current.
The memory hit Ellen like a punch.
Even now she could feel the fear.
The confusion.
The disbelief.
Because rivers weren't supposed to move that way.
Yet this one had.
The surface darkened.
The water thickened.
And for one impossible second—
Something rose beneath it.
Not fully.
Just enough.
A shape.
A shadow.
Massive.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then lightning flashed.
And it vanished.
Gone.
As though it had never existed.
But Eddie saw it.
The stranger saw it.
The armed men saw it.
Everyone did.
And every single one of them reacted the same way.
Fear.
Pure fear.
---
Present Day
Farida stood up immediately.
"No."
Nobody answered.
"No."
She pointed at Ellen.
"Absolutely not."
Tania pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Farida."
"No."
"We've already established reality is broken."
"No."
Their mother unexpectedly laughed.
A tired laugh.
The first genuine laugh she'd had in days.
Even Ellen almost smiled.
Almost.
Then the fear returned.
Because the memory wasn't over.
Not even close.
The worst part was still coming.
---
The room grew colder.
Noticeably colder.
The lights flickered once.
Then again.
Ellen's breathing became uneven.
Tania immediately moved closer.
"Ellen."
The older woman didn't respond.
Her eyes focused on something far away.
Something only she could see.
The next memory arrived violently.
Harder than all the others.
And suddenly she remembered the final moments before her death.
The moment everything changed.
The moment she stopped being alive.
Her eyes widened.
The color drained from her face.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
And when she finally spoke, her voice barely rose above a whisper.
"It wasn't an accident."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Because this was it.
The truth.
Finally.
"It wasn't the river."
Silence.
"It wasn't the storm."
More silence.
"It wasn't my car."
Tania's heart pounded.
Then Ellen looked directly at her.
Fear filling every corner of her expression.
And revealed the memory she had buried deepest of all.
"Someone pushed me."
The room fell silent.
Completely silent.
Because the mystery had finally become murder.
And somewhere out there walked the person who had stood behind Ellen on the riverbank and sent her to her death.
- Writer
