When the Crow Flies: Chapter 4

The night was thick with silence as Adesuwa lay in her bed, her mind churning over the events of the past few days. She could still feel the sting of Tayo’s words, the unease that seemed to hang around him like a shadow. She knew he was hiding something, but she couldn’t figure out what—or why. Just as she was drifting into a restless sleep, a noise shattered the quiet.

She bolted upright, her heart pounding. Someone was inside her house. She slipped quietly out of bed, moving as silently as she could through the darkness. The floor creaked beneath her feet, and she froze, straining her ears for any sound. Her breath came in shallow gasps as she listened to the intruder rifling through her belongings in the next room.

After what felt like an eternity, the noise stopped, followed by the faint sound of footsteps retreating. She waited until she was certain the person was gone before she dared to move. She flicked on the light and gasped at the chaos before her. Her belongings were strewn across the floor, papers scattered, drawers pulled open, their contents tossed aside like garbage. Whoever had broken in hadn’t been looking for anything of value. They had left everything—jewelry, a small stash of cash, anything worth taking—untouched.

But on the wall, scratched deep into the paint, was a chilling message: Stop digging.

She stared at the words, feeling a cold wave of fear wash over her. Someone wanted her to back down, to abandon her search for the truth. But instead of scaring her, it fueled a quiet rage. She hadn’t come back to be frightened into silence. She had come back for answers, and she wasn’t going to stop until she had them.

Her hands shook as she began to tidy up, gathering the scattered papers and shoving them back into drawers. But her mind was racing, paranoia starting to creep in. Was she being watched even now? She glanced toward the window, half-expecting to see someone staring back at her from the darkness outside. She could almost feel eyes on her, following her every move.

She forced herself to breathe, to calm the wild thoughts racing through her mind. She couldn’t afford to let fear take over. But the warning carved into her wall lingered, a sinister reminder that someone was watching, waiting, ready to strike if she continued down this path.

As she finished cleaning up the mess, she came across a photograph she hadn’t seen in years. It was wedged beneath a pile of overturned books, as if it had been deliberately placed there. She picked it up, her heart tightening as she recognized the faces staring back at her. It was a picture from before the nightmare of her imprisonment, a snapshot of a simpler time. She saw herself, Tayo, and Kemi, all smiling, young and carefree.

But there was a fourth person in the photograph, someone standing slightly apart from the group, their face violently scratched out. The sight sent a chill down her spine. She could vaguely remember the day the photo was taken, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall the person’s name, their face, or what they had meant to her. It was as if they had been erased not only from the photo but from her memory.

She sank to the floor, clutching the photo in her trembling hands. Who was this person, and why had they been erased from the image? She had always known that returning to her hometown would be painful, but now it seemed as if the ghosts of her past were not content to simply haunt her. They were determined to bury her under the weight of secrets she had long since forgotten.

The fear she felt was different now, a deep, unsettling realization that her quest for the truth had stirred something dark and dangerous. Whoever had broken into her home hadn’t just left a warning—they had sent a message. And she knew, with chilling certainty, that they would do whatever it took to keep the past buried.

Adesuwa stood up, her resolve hardening. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by shadows and threats. The scratched-out face in the photograph was just another clue, another piece of the puzzle she was determined to solve. And she would find out who was behind it all, no matter the cost.