Chapter 17 – The Locked Chest & Aunty Sade's Secret
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The door creaked as we stepped into the hidden room Aunty Sade had entered just minutes ago. She was gone. Vanished. But the smell of camphor and old perfume still lingered like gossip after a church meeting.
In the centre of the room sat the chest — carved, dusty, and wrapped in faded red cloth. On the floor beside it? A single bangle. Eunice's.
"Don't touch it yet," I said, pulling Femi back. "This might be the trap she was warning us about."
Femi squatted beside the chest, inspecting the lock. "It's old. Like, 'colonial era' old. But it's also… fresh. Someone's been cleaning around it."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning this isn't just abandoned. Someone's been coming here. Recently."
Just then, we heard footsteps. Fast. Shaky. We hid behind a shelf.
Aunty Sade entered, muttering to herself. She locked the door behind her.
> "They shouldn't know. She told me to keep it. To protect it. I didn't mean for her to disappear..."
I froze. Femi's hand clutched mine. Aunty Sade knelt in front of the chest and pulled out a key. Not the one in the photo. A newer one. She unlocked the chest slowly.
We peeked. Inside were:
An old diary
A packet of dried herbs
A necklace with a cracked red gem
And... a small bottle labelled Obinrin Ajogun – Do Not Touch
I gasped. Aunty Sade turned sharply. "Who's there?"
The shelf creaked. We were caught.
"Temi. Femi. What are you doing here?"
"No," I said, stepping out. "What are you doing with Eunice's things?"
She stared at me — and then sat down on the floor like her legs had given up.
"She came to me crying one night," Aunty Sade began. "Said something followed her from her last job. That she needed help locking it away. She said the bottle must never open. And now she's gone…"
"And you hid everything?" Femi asked.
"She begged me to. Said it was better if nobody knew. Even her own family."
The room went quiet. The fan outside began to spin again.
Just then, a loud knock banged on the hidden door.
Three knocks.
Silence.
Three more knocks.
Aunty Sade whispered, "She's back."
Femi's eyes widened. "Wait — what do you mean she's back? She's missing!"
"No," she said shakily. "She's here. But not how you think."
And the door handle slowly began to turn…
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To be continued…
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