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@_iamarome: The Baker- Episode 3 (Y! Fiction)

by Arome Ameh

-Read Episode 1 of this compelling story [HERE]

-Read Episode 2 of this compelling story [HERE]

Five months, six days and 4 hours, that is the exact amount of time I had spent working for the baker, and I had never met him, the closest I ever got to him was through Gbenga, who seemed to be much more than just a manager.

Everything ran through Gbenga, from security updates to shipping and dispatch reports, and to say he was efficient was understating it, Gbenga was an organized fellow, totally different from the goofy and laid back fellow I knew back in our school days.

The money was rolling in, and I meant rolling in, because by this time I had moved out of my former apartment, into a more luxurious pad, and I had bought a nice car, well nice enough to move me from point a to point b, yes I had come a long way, and I was loving it.

Well, at this point, any normal human being would be asking questions, I mean how could one make so much just from bread, or was the word bread just a cover word? I didn’t have time to ask myself or anyone that question, after all I saw bread, and I saw flour, so what was my own, and at this point I can safely say I wasn’t normal.

All good things they say must come to an end, but don’t worry this wasn’t about to come to an end, I just felt like saying that, just to make me seem wise and in control, but don’t let me throw you off, I was working late one day, just after finishing my rounds on the production floor, I decided to pay gbenga a visit in his office, I headed up there and just as I was about to knock, I heard voices, well not voices, I heard one voice and one whimpering sound, and from the whimpering I could vaguely hear some pleading, and without thinking I barged in, and I wish I hand not, what I saw was straight out of a movie, gbenga was sitting comfortably behind his desk, there was a guy tied up in a chair, blood dripping from various parts of his face, the same chair I had sat months back when I first walked into this very office, and a man standing right in front of him with a gun to his head, I immediately recognized the man with the gun, he was Mr Ronald, not Ronald, not ron, not ronny, but just plain old Mr Ronald, he always made sure everyone called him that, and I can safely say he was the only person in the entire organization that never smiled, forgive me, I have a habit of going off topic, but I guess it’s probably just a coping mechanism for me, anyway back to the story, i barged in, the whole scene blew my mind, I was trying very quickly to process all I was seeing, and suddenly gbenga called my name very gently, “tony, what are you doing here? I thought you were done for the day, I heard gbenga speak but my eyes kept darting from the man in the chair, to Mr Ronald, to his gun, and then back to the man in the chair, my head was pounding, my heart was racing, my intestines were doing a native tribal rain dance, and I thought they would jump out and run away, since my feet were obviously failing at their duty.

Tony…… Gbenga raised his voice a little bit this time, jolting me and forcing an automated answer, I was just doing my usual end of day rounds, when I decided to see how you were doing, I said without taking my eyes off Mr Ronald and his gun, gbenga got up from behind his desk and walked over to me, he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently, you shouldn’t be here, he said, I slowly turned my head and looked straight into his face, his eyes were not dark as I expected them to be, in fact they were bright, and there was a faint smile on his lips, this scared me the most.

I opened my mouth to speak, but it was dry, the last time my mouth was this dry, I was standing in front on an eatery watching some kids play with their drinks, while I was wishing I had enough money to buy one, Gbenga squeezed my shoulder, a bit harder this time, and I spoke, I just wanted to see if we could hang out tonight, but I guess you are tied up, so I’ll catch you some other time, Gbenga burst into laughter, tony tony, always the funny man, he said as he walked back to this seat, don’t worry about this, it’s just a small internal problem we are dealing with, he continued, and in my mind I was like, if you deal with internal issues this way, what hope is there for external issues.

Gbenga went back to his seat behind the desk, you are free to go tony, I’ll call you later tonight, he said casually, Mr Ronald will escort you to your car, we need to keep our employees safe you know, he continued calmly, my eyes immediately darted back to Mr Ronald, who was already putting his gun away and adjusting his tie, his face was totally expressionless, and I can confidently say at this point I almost peeped myself, oh who am I kidding, I was already peeing myself, and I wanted to tell Gbenga not to bother, but something told me to keep my mouth closed.

I turned around and walked out of the room like a zombie, I didn’t turn back once, I thought if I didn’t he would by some cosmic force disappear, and I would run like the wind, but as my luck would have it, those in charge of the cosmic force had closed for the day, so I was stuck with this no smiling, gun wielding sadist that never had anything to smile about.

I walked past my office, not even giving my door a second glance, don’t you have anything you want to pick up, Mr Ronald  said coldly behind me, no, I have everything I need in my pocket, I can pick other stuff tomorrow, I said trying to feel optimistic. By this time, everywhere was deserted, we got to the parking lot, and I began feeling my pockets for my car keys, the keys were there, I could hear them jingle and I was pretty sure Mr Ronald could hear them jingle too, I tried to stall hoping someone would show up and at least give me hope, but no one came, suddenly Mr Ronald called out to me, I turned around, felt a sharp blow to my head, and I passed out.

I woke up with a splitting headache, opening my eyes was quite difficult, I felt something moist on my eye lid, and when I tried to clean it with my hand, I realized I couldn’t move my hand, I was restrained, my heart started racing again, I struggled to open them, and focus, I looked around, nothing was familiar, I was in a large room, with large crates all over the place, it looked like a warehouse, oh God, what have I gotten myself into, I thought to myself, as I tried to understand the gravity of this calamity, and as my mind went over different scenarios, I heard a familiar voice call my name, it was gbenga, and he sounded angry.

I don’t blame you tony, I blame myself, I ought not to have given you so much of a free hand, and that aside, didn’t your mother ever teach you how to knock? You just barge into an office like you own the damn place, now look where it has gotten you, he continued while walking around me, I couldn’t for the life of me understand what was going on, one minute I was a production manager, the next minute I was sitting in the middle of nowhere, with Mr Ronald pointing a gun at my face, and a man whom I thought was my friend giving me a lecture on proper office etiquette.

I didn’t get to where I am today by leaving loose ends my friend, gbenga continued with his lecture, you should have continued being the naïve moron you were, instead of poking your nose where it didn’t belong, Mr. production manager.

I looked up at him, sweating like I just came out of a sauna, wait gbenga, you don’t have to be like this, you know I am a team player and I have been working with little or no supervision, and I understand in your capacity as a manager, you reserve the right to handle both internal and external problems at your discretion, so let’s put this all behind us and pretend I didn’t see anything, no let’s not even pretend, because I didn’t see anything, I can’t even remember walking into any office, and I promise I will always knock from now on, I said trying to keep calm under extreme pressure, we can even call The Baker and straighten this all out, and once again he burst out laughing, look at this guy, he said facing Mr Ronald and pointing at, he thinks he is at an interview and is busy reciting the crap he stored on his resume, gbenga continued, listen tony, you have seen too much, and I know you are not as dumb as you look, so without further ado, I’ll hand you over to Mr Ronald, because you have simple become both an internal and external problem, and you need to be sorted out, gbenga turned to Mr Ronald and said, make it look like an accident, I don’t want too many questions asked, and with that he began walking away, I called out, no wait, I screamed out to him, he stopped suddenly, turned around and said, and by the way tony, I am the baker, with that he laughed lightly and continued to walk away, suddenly it all dawned on me, this man I thought was my friend was the master mind behind this whole operation, and the bakery had just been a front for something more sinister, shame on me for being so naïve and foolish, why didn’t I ask questions, what on earth made me take everything I saw for face value, and then suddenly I realized this man in front  of me was going to kill me, I began to struggle in my seat, hoping to would free myself and have a fighting chance, but the harder I struggled, the tighter my restraints became.

Mr Ronald walked up to me, he pointed the gun at my forehead, I died immediately I felt the gun, my whole life flashed before me, I closed my eyes tight and prayed to God, I heard him cock the gun, a loud bang.

I jumped up, looking around in the dark, was I dead, was I in hell, suddenly I heard the sound of a radio, I instinctively switched on the lights, I was in my apartment, I touched my face, and other parts to my body, I moved to my wall mirror and looked at my image, my heart beat was beginning to slow down, jeez it had all been a dream, no, a nightmare, I reached for my phone and checked the time, it was 6.30am, I collapsed on the bed, heaving a big sigh of relief, it had all been a dream.

I sat up and looked around, trying to familiarize myself with my surroundings, I remember meeting Gbenga, I remember being handed a wad of notes, that much was real, because I could feel what was left of the money under my pillow, there was something else there, his complimentary card, I picked it up, looked at it and gently tore it up.

I stood up and calmly walked to my makeshift reading table, I brought out a blank piece of paper, picked up my pen and began to write………………… RE: APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT.

 

The End

Written By Arome Ameh ( The Priest)

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Arome Ameh is a former Banker turned Screen Writer/Producer/Blogger. He has written both True Life/Fictional Stories Via his blog www.ameharome.WordPress.com.

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