Keywords: Once Upon A Forever, Prologue, Free Web Novel, Nigerian Story, Reincarnation, Doomed Love, Fated Love, Slice of Life.
Kira
Kira pulled a puff from the shisha bottle, held the man next to her face, and blew the steam into his mouth before pulling back and laughing.
“You’re so naughty!” He laughed and pulled her closer, “More drinks!”
The waiter who was standing by hurried off to bring their drink.
Kira’s beautifully manicured fingers moved up the man’s neck till they caressed his ear. “I’m only naughty because my daddy’s powerful.”
The man laughed and kissed her, earning cheers from the people around their couch.
Kira had gotten a last-minute call that night to join him on a cruise. She had wanted to stay behind to help her friend cope, but this was her source of livelihood. She pulled back softly and whispered into his ear
“We have the whole night, Zaddy.” She smirked at him.
He was an old man, most likely in his middle fifties; he looked fit, like age was yet to catch up to him. He didn’t have a distinguished look like most old men his age did; if she hadn’t sneaked a peek at his driver’s license once, she would have thought he was a 40-year-old hoodlum. But his age didn’t matter to her, after all, he was a job.
She picked up her drink and took a sip.
“I swear! With your charm, I bet you could easily seduce that uptight nephew of mine!” He laughed.
“Why would I want a child when I could have a man!” She smirked.
“But seriously, Mark,” One of the men at the table said. “David is too much! The girl I sent to him last time returned crying.”
“Just crying?” Another said. “Remember that guy who gave Alexis those drugs to drug him? He vanished.”
“A guy like that, so guarded.” One of the women at the table added. “Why would any woman be interested in him?”
Kira nodded absent-mindedly, tuning out of the conversation, wondering if Lara was okay. She had been missing for a week while Chief was in the hospital, only to show up the day after he died, telling her that she’d been captured and tortured by Tyrie all the while, and now she had returned to the same house with the bastard, hoping to get her bag and run away, but run away to where?
I shouldn’t have come. Kira thought. ‘What if she tries to…’ she pushed the thought down.
Her phone rang, bringing her back. She hurriedly picked it. It was Lara.
“Baby, it’s family.” She said to Mark, and he nodded his permission.
She kissed the air directed at him and walked to the railing of the ship, looking out into the night sea, at nothing.
“Lara, are you okay? Where are you? Did you get out?” She asked.
“Yes,” Lara’s voice came from the other end. “But where am I going to run to? What if he chases me?”
“I…” Kira wondered what she was going to say.
“I am 25 million naira in debt, the loan shark, and the only person who ever looked out for me is dead, and two weeks ago, I was in a dungeon being tortured by Mark just so that he could let me know who is now in charge! Everybody knew I was missing, and nobody did anything! He only released me because the Lawyer refused to read Chief Badmus’ will if I did not show up unharmed!”
“Did you see the note I left next to your bottle of Cyanide?” Kira asked.
“Yes! But how do I fight him?” Lara asked. “I might be a fighter, but he is way stronger than me. When it comes to power, he just inherited his father’s gang! He is the crime lord of this territory! The police are on his payroll! The only agency I have is that I can take my own life!”
“You are right.” Kira swallowed before speaking again. “You are right. But listen to me. Tyrie is full of himself, he knows he can get you anytime. So he is not going to chase after you this night, so you can live one more night. Go to my place, open the cabinet, you’ll see that bottle of Tenjaku.”
“You said it’s for a special occasion.”
“This is a special occasion, Lara,” Kira said. “We are celebrating you staying alive one more night.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be back tomorrow, and we’ll talk better.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t let me meet a dead body in my apartment,” Kira warned.
“Any dead body?”
“Well, if somehow you kill Tyrie, that will be fine, I guess.”
They both laughed.
“Oh! And Lara, I took offence with what you said?”
“What did I say?”
“The only person who cares about you is not dead. I’m still alive. Just on a cruise with my sugar daddy.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ahh,” Kira sighed. “I can’t stay mad at you.”
They both laugh.
“I love you man.”
“I love you too.”
“Bye, stay alive and wait for me, okay.”
“Okay.”
Kira cut the call, stared out at the sea for a bit, “God, I know I’m a sinner and will most likely die one, but please, if there is one prayer you answer for me in this life, please give Lara a way out.”
“And that night God answered her prayer.” Fabling smiled at Fate.
“What do you mean ‘answered’?” Ekwe asked.
“In order to prevent the maid from ever being with the prince, you placed a darkness in her that will morph into whatever will keep her away from him, then made a deal with death that if that fails, death will take her,” Fabling said.
“Why would you do that?” Fate asked.
“Because I am the guardian of free will, ”Ekwe said.
“But isn’t the essence of Freewill that it changes?” Fate asked.
Ekwe stared at Fate, wanting to speak but holding back.
“Of course he knows that.” Fabling smiled. “The fact that the pack still works means that, irrespective of her reincarnation’s choice, her Chi, her spirit being, still does not want to be with the Prince.”
“Why?” Fate asked. “He loves her?”
“Love?” Ekwe scuffed. “You clearly do not understand the extent of what you did.”
“Anyways, stop the bickering, I need to figure out how best to answer Kira’s prayer.”
“Remember what’s done cannot simply be undone,” Ekwe said.
“I know, I’m simply going to merge her with her spirit being and give her all her memories, that way the darkness, which is the spirit beings, will no longer need to be.”
Ekwe scuffed.
“And for the way out,” Lara snapped her finger, and a slender woman, almost thin like a skeleton with no female curves visible, and dressed in a white cape with white hair, appeared.
“Fabling, you summoned.” The woman said.
“I just wanted to let you know that it’s against the creator’s will to take Lara’s life till she is 100, even if she hands you her life herself. You can’t take it.”
“Okay.”
“Wait, that’s all, Death!” Ekwe jumped off his stool.
“Ekwe, you are the second rank god in the fablingverse. Fabling is the first; her word overrides yours.”
Ekwe sighs.
“Is there something else?” Death asked Fabling.
“No, that’s all.” Fabling smiled. “You can go back to hell, or you can stay here and watch.”
“Well, I’ve always wondered if they really would end up together if I didn’t interfere.”
Fabling snapped her finger, and a throne of bones appeared. “Don’t know why I keep snapping my fingers, it just seems fitting. This chair seems fitting, right?”
Death smiled and took a seat.
Ekwe looked at his stool, snirked, and nodded.
Back on the cruise, Kira took in a breath and decided to return back to work, but as she approached the couch, she noticed that the atmosphere had changed, so she stopped and took a step back enough so that she wasn’t seen.
“What? Accident?” Mark was shouting into the phone. “I was not meant to happen this night!.. Fuck! He got the mechanic… Fuck!”
The others at the table seemed apprehensive.
“Sure! I’ll return.”
Mark threw his phone across the deck, making a dent in the floor.
“Party is over, everyone!” He said, and one of his guards came forward to meet him.
Kira took in a breath and walked up to him as coquettishly as she could.
“What happened, baby?” She asked.
“A business deal went bad.” She answered.
She placed her hand on his chest, and the other traced the back of his neck. “Can I do anything to make you feel better?”
Marked looked at her as if considering the offer, then shook his head.
“Chukwudi!” he called one of his guards over. “Make sure she gets home safe.”
Kira pouted.
“You like alcohol,” Mark said. “Pick as many as you want, and get home safe. I’ll call you when I’m better.”
Kira’s face lit up; she had just been thinking of how she would sneak some to replace the drink she gave Lara, and to give Lara one more reason to live.
Mark smiled at how happy his gift made her, then he left.
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter