THE STRANGER IN MY HOME

“Who- who are you?!” He stood up and suddenly, a knife came in front of his throat from behind.

“No. Who are you?” The deep voice with the knife said from behind.

Chief Okafor could not move. He was shaking.

“Where are my wife and twins?”

“Shut up!” The stranger from behind pushed him against the mirror next to them, “Who are you? And what are you doing in my house?”

Chief Okafor held onto the mirror and looked at the man with knife behind him through the mirror.

“I won’t tell you until you show me my wife and kids.”

The stranger growled and dragged him to the children’s room and pushed him on the floor. Madam Okafor, the twins and Emeka were tied against the closet with wires tied around their wrists and the closet handles.

Chief Okafor’s eyes grew in horror and before he could take a step towards them, the stranger stabbed him on the shoulder with knife, causing his wife and kids to scream.

“Shut up!” The stranger said to them.

Chief Okafor fell in front of them and groaned in pain at his bleeding shoulders. The stranger forced the knife out of his shoulders, causing him to groan louder.

“Darling! Come this way with the kids!” The stranger shouted through the door.

“You don’t have to tell me twice, honey.” The woman carrying Chidinma said in her American accent.

The woman appeared with two little boys that were around Chike and Chima’s age. They were all dressed in tattered and worn-out clothing like beggars, including the stranger with the knife. Madam Okafor trembled when she saw Chidinma in the hands of another woman.

“Sit on the bed while I talk to these fools.” The stranger said to the three of them, and they obeyed.

He brought out a chair in the middle of the room and pulled Chief Okafor to sit on it. Then he stood behind Chief with the bloody knife around his throat.

“Now tell me, who the hell are you? And how did you get into my house?” The stranger asked again, angrier this time.

Chief Okafor stared at a terrified Madam Okafor and the twins for a moment before he started choking. Then the choking turned to laughter. He began laughing like a mad man which caused everyone around him to be confused.

“No.” Chief Okafor shook his head, “What are you doing in my house?”

“Don’t even play with me.” The stranger yanked his bald head to face him, “Why the hell are you in my house, wearing my clothes, and even stole and deceived my daughter.”, referring to Chidinma.

“I didn’t steal anything, you agbero.” Chief Okafor stared back at him, “I took what is rightfully mine. Don’t you see?”

The stranger threw Chief Okafor back to the ground and growled at him.

“How dare you!” The stranger’s wife yanked the knife from her husband and pulled it in front of Chief Okafor’s face, “Speak now or you will forever hold your peace in hell when I cut your damn throat, you big ol fool.”

Chief Okafor, unbothered, glanced at Madam Okafor tied against the closet and said, “Nne, you sabi this yankee accent?”

“Shut up!” The stranger’s wife kicked his face, causing his body to roll on the floor. She kicked him once more before she left his side.

She squatted in front of Madam Okafor with the knife pointed at her face. Madam Okafor cried at the sight of the knife, but the woman hushed her.

“Now tell me, who am I?” The stranger’s wife pushed her medicated glasses up, the same medicated glasses Madam Okafor had been wearing all this time.

“You’re- you’re-” Madam Okafor stuttered as she stared at the stranger’s wife, “Madam Mbeze Okafor.”

“And who the hell are you people?”

Madam Okafor stared at her husband then back at the stranger’s wife before she shut her eyes and revealed everything she knew.

“My name is Uchenna Umeh. And my husband there,” She nudged her head towards the fake Chief Okafor lying on the floor, “he is Josiah Umeh. And... and we are the strangers in your home.”

TO BE CONTINUED....