Seven collapsed on his bed. The lights were still down. He uncomfortably adjusted the pillow supporting his neck so he could stare directly at the ceiling. The conversation he earlier had with his sister replayed and he dissected the dialogue word for word to find the hidden meanings as it is a habit of his.
Remembering what his sister said made him sigh heavily. He wished someone believed in this relationship as much as he did.
He fell into a deep sleep after plugging his phone into a socket, hoping that electricity comes back on.
So he could talk to the love of his life.
***
A light haze flickered before two purple-hued entities. Then a sudden warped space appeared where the two hues danced about like two distant fairies. Everything began to move closer before it disappeared. A white room materialized. Someone was inside, wearing a white robe. The floor of the room tore apart, having a form similar to a mischievous grin. It swallowed the figure into infinite darkness. Screams were heard inside the darkness. Woes, cries, and pleas to be set free.
Their voices made Seven realize that he was falling into the darkness. Fear gripped him. He looked around, calling out to someone. Janet's face materialized out of the darkness and he found comfort knowing that she was there with him.
He reached out to her with a hand. As he touched her, the image broke into a thousand pieces and drifted off as if carried by the wind. Seven was petrified and perspired when he woke up from the mare. His heart rate was climbing panic but the sound of the television stiffened him back to reality.
There was light.
His phone was charging. 32%. He powered it on, swiftly opening F******k Messenger. He has been off for hours; surely babe must have dropped hundreds of worried text messages, probably attaching angry emojis to hide her panic as usual.
The excitement of watching her messages pop up never got old. The messenger opened and...
Strange.
He clicked her chat head. But the last text there was his, and it has not been delivered. This has never happened before. Maybe it was the network over there, he thought. However, the network has never been shocked.
On the other hand, maybe it was his network. So he decided to wait for fifteen minutes, and he got messages from other friends, but not from Janet — it was weird. She was always online around this time.
Damn, I hope you are all right, babe.
He left his phone to charge and went to the living room to sit with Angel. She was watching The Thundermans on Nickelodeon. Seven joined her. He wanted to get his mind off things. So he occupied himself by thinking of a new twitter thread idea.
Three days now, and still no message from Janet.
Seven was not eating right. He was not focusing in class. He spent most days staring at his phone. Expecting a call or a text or anything. He missed her badly. Everyone noticed the change in his countenance.
Especially his mother, she asked if he knew any of her family members so that they could reach them. Perhaps there has been a power outage in their area or something happened to her phone that she could not reach him.
Seven highly doubted that was the case. Plus he did not have any of her relative’s number or social media page. He never asked and she never gave. His mom gave him an odd look when he told her. After which she walked out on him.
He heard her later yelling at his father: “How can you be in a serious relationship with someone and you don't have any of her relatives, a brother, a sister, or a cousin's contact? He is over there beating himself up over this girl. Unbelievable!”
“Nkem, calm down.” His father was pacified.
Seven wondered why his father never attacked him.
He sighed.
Janet never gave him her line. She always called from a public phone. Because whenever Seven tried to return her call it was always redirecting. He wished he knew another way to reach her. He felt like a goof for not probing her to know more. Now in dire situations like this, he is unable to take action.
In a panic, he picked his phone to make a call. The number picked on the second ring.
“Milkos, what's up?”
“Dude, what’s up?” Michael Kome, a Computer Engineering major at the University of Benin, was Seven's childhood best friend and a god when it came to web development and machine learning. Seven believed Milkos could help him find Janet's direct line number or at least help him find a way to reach her family.
“School and other kinds of stuff. I’ve been a little bit preoccupied with some personal projects.” Seven said.
“Well, I understand that. But you could check up once in a while.”
“Normally.” Seven had nothing else to say.
“So what's the levels na?” Translation: you certainly did not call me just to check up on me.
“Well, you remember Janet?” He began.
“Your babe? Why of course. How is she?”
“I don't know man. She's been inactive for days now and that's not like her.”
Milkos shifted to a serious tone too. “Hmm. Why don't you call her line directly? She might be caught up in some things; I remember you told me she's studying medicine or something?”
“ICT.” Seven corrected. A short pause, “And bro, I don't have her direct phone number.”
Milkos was silent.
“Guy, are you kidding me? You do not have YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S phone number? Did y’all ever talk over the phone or were those stories just lies?”
Ouch.
Mildly offended by the remark, Seven managed to let out a fake chuckle. Finding Janet's whereabouts were of paramount importance, so he ignored the inquisition and answered his friend straight. “No, I never lied to you. We spoke through F******k, moved to W******p calls. She called with direct lines but they were public ones.”
“Hmm.” Milkos’ voice was heavy with a liter of skepticism.
“Please bro,” Seven continued, “I need your help. I cannot sleep at night. I can't brush off the feeling that something terrible has happened to her and it is freaking me out.”
He noticed that his friend was not pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing but…
“Alright. I will help you run a search. I suppose there is no need to ask you about her family members?”
“Yeah, I don't have any of their contacts.”
“I thought as much. Do you know their name? What's your girlfriend's last name?”
“Kwesi. Janet Kwesi. Her elder sister's name is Joe.”
“How can a girl answer Joe?”
“It is possible. I've heard of a few Joes.”
“Alright, bro. Got it. I'll look her up and then I'll get back to you, alright?”
“Thank you so much, bro.”
“No wahala. Just don't stress yourself too much. Sha school palavar is enough to weigh a nigga down don't let woman weigh you down o.”
The fool, haha.
“Alright, Minister of Women Affairs. I hear you. Oya get out of my phone!” Seven said with a grin.
“Your papa!”
He dropped the call but he was still staring at his phone. This feeling, similar to warm feathery pillows, lighter than clouds, this is the Milkos Effect. And my, did he miss it!
With a cyber-beast like his friend, he was very confident that there would be positive outcomes and so, he was able to rest that night without panic.
Still, he said a word of prayer for her before going to bed.
Vertical Technologies Ltd., Lagos Headquarters.Prime dealers in computer hardware components, accessories, and leaders in the mass importation of smartphones, laptops, desktops, printers, cameras, and other gadgets. The building was a modern marvel. You could tell that it has undergone numerous renovations. Old as the Tafawa Balewa Stadium. The High-rise building towered at six-stories and the company insignia constructed at the top.The black Venza came to a stop at the front entrance and a pair of Italian shoes kissed the washed interlocked tiles. Mr. Oladele Olalekan's fitted navy blue three-piece suit was knit-sharp as his slender 5-foot-ten frame smartly made it to the front entrance.The motion sensors picked up, welcoming the billionaire. The secretary’s greeted him with a warm inviting smile. He gave her a slight nod. A couple of ‘good mornings’ from his employees had him nodding like a Lizard. Never really paying m
A round of laughter rang in his head while staring into the distance with his phone still in his hand. Seven was not aware of the tears. He remembered the times he spent talking to her — too scared to call her name.It was not even an actual name. All made up. The name. The person. The emotions.They talked about practically everything. How she would tell him about her greatest fears. Losing him topped the list. She had many dreams and one of them was to finally meet Seven and reveal to him the things she believed he was not prepared to know.The idea of withheld information gave Seven a sense of thrill. Anticipation. Of the unknown. The picture was so clear in his mind and it gave him hope for a brighter future. A future with her in it. Getting to touch her every single day. And getting to finally know her. Bare. That future did not seem like forever anymore and Seven enjoyed the moments before it was to come. Nigeria would be heaven, amidst
Okonta Daniel whizzed through Vertical Technologies’ Customer Care unit. He brought his wrist to view to check his timepiece and saw that he was late for the meeting. His colleagues could not help laughing at the comedy of a man as he ran across their cubicles with crumpled files loosely clenched under his left arm, and the other adjusting his glasses.He knew he would have to apologize, once again, for his symbolic tardiness.Normal employees would have lost their jobs if they tried to pull the stunts Daniel pulled. Everyone knew that it was Daniel’s significant skills that kept him in the job.Daniel was panting as he darted up the stairs.If only I had a girlfriend.He practically barged into the room.“I’m sorry, everyone. Sorry for keeping you all waiting.”Grumbles all over the General Meeting Room.The room had a whiteboard mounted on the wall close to the door. The center table was
After three matches, Gentrix was convinced that there was something off about tonight. Half an hour ago she had woken up with phlegm stuck in her throat which she rushed to the bathroom to spit out.The sleep was long gone so she decided to play FIFA on her PlayStation 4 console. Of which she’s been losing to Madrid woefully. Ball possession was not in her favor. Not only had Madrid smashed her with four goals, but they had also taken a 65% ball possession.Gentrix dropped her gamepad in frustration and groaned.Just as she rested her head on both her palms, her phone came to life.It was a specific alarm, different from her normal iPhone ringtone.Jaden Smith’s “U” rang to life, and that tone was assigned to only one contact.Only him.Gentrix picked up the phone and stared at the screen.3 NEW UNREAD MESSAGES.She unlocked her iPhone to check who the message was from.Him.
NEW MESSAGE (6)The laptop screen came to life when Milkos was removing his shorts. He was just coming back from the Akara joint two houses away from his, where he went to get breakfast. He opened the messages as he was munching on a piece. The message was from an unknown contact on WhatsApp. As he read the contents of the message, his eyes widened.This is too good to be true. Finally. He mused.He minimized his WhatsApp Web and opened his Tracking Software.And got back to work, stuffing the remaining Akara inside his mouth.****Unlike Wale, this was Seven’s first time inside an Interrogation Room. The closest to this he had ever been was on one of the many crime dramas he followed on Cable Television. Those had one-way monitoring rooms guise as mirrors, lights everywhere, an iron desk, and a chair for the suspect.But this one was dimly-lit, four chairs, an old table with the edges brazed
“W- w- what do you mean by ‘David is a computer’?” the entire room started to spin around Seven. He stared at this man with his irritable grins. Wishing he had never embarked on this in the first place. Now sitting beside a chronic lair and staring into the dangerous eyes of their abductor, he wished he had stayed home.Olalekan removed his suit and draped it around his chair. The tension brought the heat. Heat brought sweat, he hated to sweat. He has had a lot of successes across his entire life but he has never come close to achieving anything with children or teens which is why his long line of children gadgets and gaming software were managed by his partners.Kids are energy-consuming. The only energy he wants to be consumed is the one that is exhausted during one of his numerous heated one night stands. Not by an emotionally, mentally, psychologically underdeveloped human.The boy looked like the confusion and the impen
Firstbank, Lagos.Yaba Branch.Since crowded places made him nauseous, Milkos did not flinch when he got sandwiched into the stuffy Transaction Area of the banking hall. He had come to deposit some cash. The line of people on the deposit queue was almost fifteen feet long. So he opted for a cold cup of water from the dispenser while waiting for the queue to be decongested.When it was finally his turn to perform his transaction, he walked up to the counter, smiled at the beautiful bank representative and slid his fat wad of a thousand naira notes across it, the rep took the money and counted with the machine.While she was busy shuffling the cash and recounting, he placed a black square micromagnetic device on the slab, finger-flicked it. He aimed for her System Unit which fortunately for him was propped on the same desk where the Monitor sat.The device silently stuck to the System Unit.Milkos was delighted.The light-skinned repres
2014.Vertical Technologies Ltd.Inside the restricted area of the Information Department breathed a two-ton machine swarmed with hundreds of wires that were connected to monitors and work stations. Each work station had an operator and each operator was assigned to a particular web audience. Their job was to arrange and redirect the data provided by this monstrosity of a machine to the designated clients. There were however over fifty work stations and operators, it was a chaotic environment during operating hours.The elevator dinged open, he stepped out, clad in a three-piece navy blue suit and a briefcase, walking briskly towards the main office. His office. Hours earlier he had received an error report from one of his assigned assistants about the monster machine not being able to perform tasks. Such an error can be brutal. Clients who pay dearly for their goods and wears to reach their desired audience demand that they get optimum impressions before their