MERRY CHRISTMAS

      Merry Christmas Everyone. Have a joyous Holiday. Eat and drink safely.

STILL LOVE YOU: PART TWO

“Sophia!’ he shouted in agony. They both panicked and quickly separated from each other. Chris walked out heartbroken in a down casted spirit. Sophia chased after him but he drove off before she could come close.

          “Oh my God! What have I done?” She scowled, filled with regret.

          “Sophia, who his he?”

          “Please Frank, it’s no time for questions, you have to leave now.” She perturbed, joggling her legs.

           “But why?”

          “Leave!” she roared like an angry lion into his face.

          “Okay…” He nodded randomly and walked out. Another round of tears began to pour out, followed was continuous gushing out of catarrh from her angry nostrils.

          After she was done crying and agonizing, she went to visit Chris, to apologize, and explain the picture of what he saw. She took her time to look beautiful as it is one of the reasons why he loved her. But when she got to Chris house, he was not ready to listen to any of her apologies. He turned deaf and chased her out of his house. Followed with a serious warning never to step her foot in his house forever, else death with be the option

          She went back home a furlong fellow dejected and continued in the terra firma of tears, Where tears had originated She loved Chris from the depth of her soul he had showed her love. He had become the flower that never fades away her shining light in the corridor of darkness, always there for her when she needed. There is no way she would stop loving him.

          Her friend, housemate Cynthia also went to apologies to Chris on behalf of her friend, but what she experience made her to took on oath not to step her foot there again The threat and anger of his face is enough to respect yourself, save your life and remain in your shell Sophie looked slimmer she lost weight she had no appetite of food. Each day she remains in her chain of tears and pain. Her friend became a loquacious because of her situation. She talked and talked to her to let go off Chris and not to killed herself because of a guy who is not ready to accept her back. But she would listen she kept pouring blame on herself that for her stupidity Chris has abandoned her.

          One evening, she stood close to her window and looking through it in her bedroom. She was burial in the several thought of how Chris showered love to her

There first sex which was a parading of pleasure, the way they played together at the pool, his touches and kisses ,going to watch movies at cinemas ,his expensive bouquet of flowers. Her heart clumped in sadness. Waves of sorrow slapped her face. She looks down casted and neglected. She began to cry again like a baby deprived of breast feeding she sang in throere swollen with tear.

          “It’s okay, love.” “It’s okay.” Cynthia said in a meek tone and pulled her together “you’ve cried enough.” “I’m afraid your eyeball will rip out of its socket” She hugged her. Cynthia looked as if she wanted to join her in the table of tears but she held it.

          “What have I done to deserve this?” “Is it a crime to love?” Sophia wailed, still in tears. “Haven’t I done enough sacrifice for my wrong?” poor Sophia.

She looks humiliated.

          “It’s okay, love. It’s okay.” Cynthia consoled, putting her on the back and wiping off her tears with the back and front of her hand. “It’s good you’ve cried for your pain.” “You can’t kill yourself.” “After you are done crying, you move on.” “It is time to move on, love.” Sophia nodded like an agama lizard as Cynthia dried her tears.

          On the day of Chris birthday, Sophia made a special birthday cake for him. She paid a professional cake baker to baker her best cake. She made the cake to win back his love. She took the cake to him, and to her shock; he smashed the cake on the floor, stepped on it and rained beating on her body. He had warned her never to come to his house and she summoned the gut to come with a ‘buff day’ cake. Who told her he was interested? Sophia went home humiliated. It was done for her- that ended her love for him- their love became a rotten Egusi soup that hade not be heated for three days-broken into piec: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">          “It’s okay, love. It’s okay.” Cynthia consoled, putting her on the back and wiping off her tears with the back and front of her hand. “It’s good you’ve cried for your pain.” “You can’t kill yourself.” “After you are done crying, you move on.” “It is time to move on, love.” Sophia nodded like an agama lizard as Cynthia dried her tears.

          On the day of Chris birthday, Sophia made a special birthday cake for him. She paid a professional cake baker to baker her best cake. She made the cake to win back his love. She took the cake to him, and to her shock; he smashed the cake on the floor, stepped on it and rained beating on her body. He had warned her never to come to his house and she summoned the gut to come with a ‘buff day’ cake. Who told her he was interested? Sophia went home humiliated. It was done for her- that ended her love for him- their love became a rotten Egusi soup that hade not be heated for three days-broken into pieces of glass that cannot be mend- it became a miscarriage that cannot be recovered. It was obvious and clear in her eyes that she is no longer wanted. The hand writings are written on the wall.

          “It is time to move on Sophia.” She confidently whispered to herself

“You wan kill yourself?” Indeed it was time to move on.

          Chris slowly walked inside. He walked close to her and gently touched her shoulder. She palpitated and turned to him. To her amazement, she saw Chris. Her face wrinkled with surprise.  She became quite and cold inside. Chris bent down and picked up one of the torn pictures. He started at it. She melted gradually like a burning candle and then trembled. She remained speechless. Slowly he let go off the half picture, dried her tears with his hand planted a kiss on her succulent lips. “I STILL LOVE YOU.” He said and wrapped her.     

STILL IN LOVE : PART ONE

“It’s over, Chris! It’s over!” “Enough is enough! She replied through her sobs. “I know I’ve offended you.” “I tried all my best to make you realize how sorry I am.” “To make you come back to me. But it seems you do not love me anymore.” She wailed. Her tears like block of ice fell on the portrait. “You hate me,” “it is now clear.” “It’s over, Chris!” “It’s over!” Sophia smashed the portrait on the floor. The portrait was enclosed in a frame. Her face was rained in tears. She was done enduring for love. Her heart would no longer burn in heartbreak. The bruises had caused so much pain in her flesh. Her numerous attempts to make him come back again, drown in the mud. She mustered courage to pick up herself and let go the stab in her soul.

She bent towards the broken frame and picked up Chris picture. She tore it and cried loudly. What seemed like her last tears to her forgotten ex-lover.

A portrait she had always cherished. A portrait she wakes up every morning stole a look at it and allowed a smile on her lips. It hung’s at the edge of her bed besides her pillow. There was always an euphoria that moves through her body each time she looked at the portrait. It was like a crowd of butterflies in her belly, troubling her in a pleasant way. Her life depends on the portrait. She cherished it like a monkey and banana. She remembered how Cynthia her house mate would get jealous seeing the portrait hung on her bed, and she had warned her in a cheeky manner not to touch it. She cuddled the portrait around her chest sometimes.

          Her first Sex with Chris would always stick in her skull: the pleasures, the touches, kisses, fondling and finally the intercourse; almost took her brain off, an experience never to be forgotten. Though it became their last Sex, but something happens in one’s life once and it speaks forever.

          She rapped gently at the door, the kind Chris would notice. He opened the door and immediately gasped at her looks. She was putting on a red tank top that had a “Love Symbol” inscribed at the centre and a white jumper-short exposing her hot laps that would make a man salivate and allow semen drench the boxer. The laps were tempted to touch. Her lips were coloured with orange lip gloss, you would want to steal a kiss from. She wore pink bracelets and yellow fancy finger rings, standing on gladiator shoes and holding a pink hand bag.

          “Evening, my love.” She grinned and kissed her lips. She walked inside. Chris stood lost. He scanned her as she walked inside. He followed her and held her waist. His stare was stained with emotions. She trembled and wondered why the so much emotions revolving in his eyes.

          “Baby, I love you.” He softly whispered into her ears. He began to kiss her. She loved it. Her hand bag gently slipped down to the floor. She pressed down his head to connect perfectly with his lips which tasted like cream berry. Their lips interlocked. She loves to kiss and be kissed preferred it most than any other romantic words in the dictionary of romance. She kissed him so deeply as if her whole life depends on it. She opened her mouth to get erogenous pleasures. They sucked their mouth almost wanted to eat off their tongues.

          His right hand slid under her tank top and began stroking her body. He moved it from her stomach up her breast, sending strong shivers down her spine. She held her cheeks with her palms and continued to kiss him. She was lost in senses. All she wanted was sexual pleasure from her lover of One year. She loved every moment. It was the most exciting feeling she had ever experienced. They had both kissed copiously but this was the best ever. His hand found her Bra and fondled. It moved downwards and fondled her hollow abdomen.

          He kissed her until slowly she went down on the rug. He followed her and continued to kiss her. He pulled off her tank top, exposing her bra. He kissed her lightly feathery touch of his lips against her skin.

He carried her and placed her on top of the bed and began to unzip her Jumper shot. The door was left open as they rode on a horse into the land of ecstasy.

          Her Bra was off and she lay naked on Bed with only her white innocent pant. He fondled her erect nipples with his mouth. He moved his fingers down to her pants and slid it underneath the pant. He played with the black curly hairs on her pelvis and gently slid his fingers into her Vagina. She moaned and was wet in between her legs. He fondled the Vagina, her body jitters as if she was shocked by electricity.

          He pulled off her pant with her, removing her legs gently until the pant went off her waist, exposing her seductive Vagina. The hairs on her Pelvis were beautifully festooned on her genital organ. He quickly pulled of his pant trouser, his determined male organ erected on one side of his boxer. He pulled her legs towards himself and gently slid his dick into her bowel of paradise. She moaned loudly. Her fingers pinned tightly on the mattress. He rammed into her like a swing and finally gave a loud groan.

          Sophia walked on the tarred road. She was going to the salon. Her last hair was four days old; perhaps she wanted to look beautiful for Chris.

          As she was walking, an ash Toyota Camry car drove and pulled up at the other side of the road. A chocolate, tall, moderate guy came out of the car and screamed her name. She turned and saw the emotion killer, a gentle man but not a gentle soul. Who finds Joy sipping from the cup of emotional trauma others went through. He was dressed in a blue corduroy jeans and a red round neck. He also wore a gold semi-long chain that might have caused him a fortune and white snickers that had the logo of an Adidas. She sneered at him and walked on.

          Frank chased and pulled her hand, she angrily let go off her hand. The touch irritated her. The sticky, filthy and musty of his hand ran through her thought. Painting a face disdain, she stopped.

          “Are you sick?” “Who do hell are you to touch me?” she scowled. “Do I know you?” “Back out!”She moved on. The nice smell of his cologne disturbed her nose, but it smelled offensive and disgusting to her. That word “who do hell are you? Do I know you?” murdered his spirit and left his brain to streaks of thoughts. Shock and surprise knocked his skull – A lady, he dated for four good years would claim she knew him not. He suddenly turned a stranger in her face. Frank was her first lover before she met Chris.

          He quails behind her. He wanted to touch again to get her attention but her angry voice buried fear in him. He looked like a coward, wilting behind her as if he had a pain on his leg.

          “Please, let me explain.” He finally found a voice. “I know you are hurt and mad at me but please hear me out.” He softly spat.

          “What do you want to explain?” “What do you have to explain?” she snarled. “That you got to the state and become insane not to remember anyone and suddenly fall out of love.” “Ehh?” “Tell me!” her eyes widened, sending out threats. “All I need now is a breathing space.” She trudged on.

          “But just allow me to explain.” He said as he followed her. His words were hurting her ears. A bike pulled up after her wave and she was drove away out of sight. He stood humiliated and drowned in his stare.

          Sophia lay on the couch engrossed in a novel. She laughed to herself at the read of any hilarious moment in the novel.

Kpo Kpo Kpo

She heard a knock. She sat upright and focused her gazed at the door, painting a face of surprise.

She was expecting no one. Cynthia, her house mate had gone for lectures and will not be back till evening. She scanned her wall clock to found out the time. 10.30a.m the clock ticks. “No. Cynthia would not be coming home at this hour and Chris would not come without first calling. Who could that be?” She whispered to herself.

A knock again

          “Come inside the door is not locked.” She said. Her fingers dug in between the page where she stopped reading and focuses at the position of the door. Slowly, the door opened and Frank entered in a creepy manner. A smell of palpitation moved in his veins. Instantly, Sophia became dumb. She lost her tongue to speech. She couldn’t believe what stood at her front. She died in shock. He was the last human she expects to see in her house. She was confused by his temerity to walk into her house. To have located her house and still have the guts to walk inside is enough for her to be charged to court for murder case. Some one’s heart was racing breathing faster and that was Sophia.

 Silence roamed the house for about one minute before she finally broke the silence with exasperating questions.

“First of all, how did you locate my house?” “And what do you want, Frank?”

          “I want you.” He quickly knelt in front of her, holding her legs. Sophia opened her mouth dumb founded. “Sophia, I need you.” “My life had crashed without you. It had become an oven of fire burning my heart to ashes.” “A seed fallen on pebbles of thorn.” “My soul is hell without you.” he said through his sobs. A pang of tears clouded his vision, wanting to trickle down his face. Sophia felt attacked; she was not that emotional strong.

          “But what happened?”She managed to ask.

          “When I got to the state, I was blackmailed by my friend and the cops got me arrested for a crime I did not commit.” The tears began to pour out freely from his eye. “I spent one year and seven months behind bars.” “After I was released, I lost everything. I lost contact of everyone, my family, friend and you ….” His tears fell on her leg and on the floor. Sophia looked remorseful and guilty, she felt pity for him and she began to sob. “I became lonely, rejected and dejected; walking on the street and began looking for job to start all over again.” Tears began to stream down Sophia eyes “I begged to buy food.” “The other day I ran into…”

          “Shh…” Sophia interrupted him, placing her second right finger on his lips. “Its okay.” she softly said through her sobs. Rains of tears from both eyes flooded the sitting room.

          “Come here” She said stretching her hand to hug him. She pulled him up from his knelling position gently and made him sat beside her on the couch. She wrapped him. He buried his face on her breast; sobbing and she patted him like a child who had his mother singing a song of lullaby to make him stop crying and sleep.

          Unfortunately, Chris walked in. It was obvious; he did not called her of his coming. The door was left open when he came. He saw them enveloped each other like love bird. He saw Frank laying his head on the breast of his girlfriend. They didn’t notice his presence as Sophia also buried her face at his back, humming. For Thirty second Chris stood like a statue doubting his stare. Shock occupied his senses.

          “Sophia!" he shouted in agony.

THE BATH SHORT STORY AWARD

       The bath short story award is a new international short story competition sponsored by Cornerstones Literary Consultancy. The bath short story award 2013 competition is open for entries until 30 March, 2013.

COMPETITION DETAILS

1. Stories can be on any theme or subject but must be original and written in English. They must also be for adult or young adult readers. Non-fiction and fiction written for children under 13 years is not eligible. Entrants must be 18 years or over.
2.  Maximum length is 2,200 words. Entries should be typed, double or 1.5 spaced, in a plain legible font. Each page should be numbered and carry the title of the story but no personal details about the author. Postal entries should be on A4, single-sided and paper-clipped together. Online entries must be submitted as an email attachment in PDF format only.
3. Closing date for receipt of entries is Saturday, March 30th, 2013 at Midnight BST.
4. Entries can be made online or by post and are open to everyone (locally/nationally or internationally). There is no limit to the number of entries but there is a fee of £5 for each story submitted. You may pay via PayPal (there is a PayPal button on the online entry page) bank transfer or cheque. Go to the online entry page for more details of the  payment options. Postal entries should be addressed to Bath Short Story Award and sent or hand delivered  to 12 Great Pulteney Street, Bath, BA2 4BR.
5. Entries must not have been previously published in print or online, been broadcast or won a prize.
6. Entries will be read and judged anonymously so do not put your name on the pages of your story. Contact details (name, address, tel. no, e-mail address); the title of your story and the wordcount should appear on the entry form or on a separate sheet of paper.
7. Entries will not be returned so please keep a copy. No corrections or alterations can be made after entries have been received. If you require acknowledgement of receipt of your postal entry, please enclose a stamped addressed postcard marked ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
8. Prizes for 2013 are, as follows: 1st £500; 2nd £100; 3rd £50, with an additional local prize of £50 for the best entry from any BA, BS, GL or SN postcode unplaced in the main competition.
9. The results of the competition will be announced on the Bath Short Story Award (BSSA) website. A longlist will appear mid-April 2013, followed by a shortlist, judged by Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, in early May 2013. Those shortlisted will be invited to an optional award ceremony to be held in Bath in June 2013, where the prizewinners will be announced. Following the announcement, the results will be published on the website.
10. No single story may win more than one prize. By entering, competitors accept that prizewinning stories, with the authors’ names, may be published on the BSSA website or in local media and/or be read out on local radio stations for up to a year from the closing date without extra remuneration. Competitors also accept that Cornerstones Literary Consultancy will be in receipt of entrants’ names and addresses and may contact them. Copyright remains with the author.
11. By entering, an acceptance of all the BSSA rules is implied. Entries that fail to comply with rules and requirements will be disqualified. No correspondence can be entered into and the judges’ decisions are final.

ONLINE ENTRY

ONLINE ENTRY IS OPEN NOW AND CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON 30th  MARCH BST  2013
Payment Options
1. Via PayPal using the ‘add to cart’ button below (if you do not have a PayPal account don’t worry, you will be invited to set one up)
2. Bank Transfer (BACS) to Bath Short Story Award’s Lloyds TSB bank account. Sort code: 30-90-54 Account Number 50587960
3. Cheque payable to Bath Short Story Award. Send to Bath Short Story Award, 12 Great Pulteney Street, Bath BA2 4BR
How To Submit
After paying your entry fee of £5 per story,   please send an email to us at bathshortstoryaward@gmail.com with your name, address, postal code, telephone number, word count and the title of your short story, date and method of payment so that we can trace your payment and attach your short story or stories as a Word pdf file. Please note that we cannot accept Word doc, docx, or rtf files.
If you prefer to to send us a hard copy, please see our postal entry page.

Please ensure you have read the competition details before you submit your story or stories, remembering not to include any personal details on your story so we can judge anonymously

AFRICA

Africa O Africa,
the place of my motherland,
dominated by the negros
with their black unique complexion.
They call us black monkeys,
but we are black and beautiful,
black and intelligent,
black and powerful,
fabulous in style.

Africa O Africa,
a land of culture
with different tourist craven,
that fascinated the eyes of researchers,
a journey of adventure
littered with ethnic groups
and speaking in different languages
with copious colonial ties.

Africa O Africa,
a land flowing with milk and honey,
a land of aquatic splendor
with many human resources.
Oil, Gold, Cotton name them.
A paradise of talents,
buried with bunch of literary minds
with likes Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe
who had placed africa above the map.

Africa O Africa,
a land of peace,
free from natural disasters
of rich soils and minerals.
I am proud to be the generation
of this great continent called

AFRICA.

THE SELFISH TORTOISE

Once upon a time, there was famine in the animal land; they had no food to eat. Every animal is for himself competing for survival in the land. Some animals cannot survive the heat of the famine as a result they felt sick and eventually die. Most of they looked like Kwashiorkor, thin and dry. Hunger ravages the land. If any of the animals have some little food, they manage the food little by little until it got finished and they began to search for any thing called food in any way possible .They stole there fellow animal food .that is why every animal is on the look out. Some, who had small food to eat, wrote no visitor at the entrance of their house after the food had been prepared.

          At time, the famine got worst every where was dry there was no pinch of food in the land. Tortoise has been observing that the bird looked fresh and fatter each passing day. He had observe that the bird go out early in the morning when the other animals are still asleep. The bird flew out at that hour to another land to go and eat a lot of food to his satisfaction and come back to their land. So the bird secretly eats food and was not affected by the famine of the land. The bird flew cross ten rivers as the distance was too far from the land.

          So one day, tortoise went to visit the bird, he behaved nice to the bird. When tortoise knocks on the door of the bird, he was sleeping but woke up when he heard the knock and opened the door. He was surprised to see tortoise.

          “Welcome tortoise.” Said the bird.

          “Thank you.” Said tortoise.

          “What brought you to my house?”  The bird asked.

          “You know you are my friend.”

          “Of course.” Said the bird.

          “Please, I want you tell me how you have been getting food and I want to go with you. Said tortoise. The bird smiled. “I will tell you but I want you to keep it a secret.” Said the bird.

          “No problem, I won’t tell any other animal.”

          “Okay. It is far away from this land, we have to cross pass ten rivers before we get to the place.” Said the bird.

          “But how can I get there since I cannot fly?” tortoise asked.

          “You don’t have to worry. I will carry you on my back and fly pass the river to the place and you can eat whatever food that you like.” Said the bird. The tortoise became happy and went away.

Early in the morning, tortoise went to meet the bird and they set out for their journey. The bird carried tortoise on his back and they flew passed the ten rivers. When they got to the place, tortoise eyes became very wide; he saw different kind of food in surplus and was so excited. He ate and ate until his stomach was almost to burst. His greedy senses had wished he finished the food in one day not thinking about another day. When it was time to go, tortoise carried some food along with him. The bird warned him not to carry any food as it will be difficult for them to fly but tortoise refused. The bird told him that he would always carry him to the place to eat food everyday and the other animals would not know how he survived but the tortoise paid deaf ears and did not listen. The tortoise carried a lot of food, he told the bird that how can he go home without any food, that the food is too surplus and wasting in the place. He carried tubers of yam, rice, beans, fruits and oil. As they were about to leave, the tortoise stared again at the food after he had carried much, he stared with his selfish eyes and quickly added some yams to the ones he carried. The bird shakes his head and carried him on the back. They began to fly. The items became too heavy for the bird, he could not fly, and so he told tortoise to reduce the items that he could not fly and the tortoise grumble and threw one of the items into the first river. They continued to fly. The food was still too heavy for the bird, he told tortoise again to reduce and he grumbles and drop another one into the second river.

They kept flying but the bird felt as if nothing was reduced, as he still could not fly properly, the load were still too heavy. He told tortoise again and tortoise grumbled and reduce another one into the third river. The journey continued and the bird was still not comfortable and tortoise threw another food into the forth river. Tortoise was not happy with the reduction of the food; they are getting little in size. He kept reducing the food at the journey to enable the bird fly properly else the bird would refuse to fly or fly without tortoise.

Not until the last river which was the tenth one that tortoise became stubborn and refused to neither reduce nor throw any more of the food into the river. The food had became small compared to what he intended to carry home. The food are still much but he claimed they had finished, as the bird told him to reduce the food, tortoise shakes his head as a sign of no that he would not reduce any more of the food and he refused to reduce it. Left on him was some yams, some fruits and rice. The bird warned him again and he stuck to his words of no more reduction. The bird kept flying very slowly he could not fly properly as the food were still heavy on him and made him to fly in an unstable manner. As he was shaking in the air and flying uncontrollably, tortoise mistakenly slipped off his back and fell from the air to the ground with the whole food. Tortoise fell on a big stone on the ground and crashed his body and he died. He ate the food in his dead world that was the price for a selfish person. He was too selfish and he got what he wanted.

MORAL LESSON

The story taught us that we should not be selfish and stubborn. Tortoise was selfish and stubborn and that was why he died.

QUESTION

1.     How many rivers did they crossed pass?

2.     How did tortoise get to the place?

3.     What happened to tortoise at the end of the story?