1. Mary curled up like a millipede setting up a defense against a predator on the bed. Her eyes were red and heavy with tears and her heart was pounding heavily against the thin flesh that covered it, threatening to pop out if she continued to wail. Her friend, Modupe was seated on a stool close by, her face was drained of life too. She had tried to console Mary, but it was impossible to bring her out of the grief that consumed her. All she could do now was punctuate every surge of wail with “ Pele”, “ Small small dear”, “ it’s okay”. They received the news of Dele’s death earlier today. Mary was cooking their breakfast in the kitchen, and her music turned high as usual, filling the room and making the whole house vibrate. She had left her phone with Modupe who was playing Candy Crush on it. When the phone began to beep, she paused the game and went to the kitchen to give Mary the phone. After a while, Mary started screaming and she had not stopped since then. Modupe later got a call from Lawrence who told her the bad news. Mary stood from the bed and rushed out of the room. Modupe followed her. Mary could be up to some crazy ideas, she was unpredictable now. Dele was her childhood friend for christ’s sake, his death had overturned things in her head. Grief could make you mad! Mary rushed down the hallway to the Bathroom and slammed the door. When Modupe got to the door it was locked. Behind the locked door was the fragile girl leaning over the bathroom zinc, vomiting. Her eyes, a blurry screen, were darting about, magnifying things as they went in that endless circle. 2. I couldn’t believe the news when my mother told me over the phone this morning. I was writing the last part of an email when the phone icon popped on the left side of my phone’s screen. I pressed it quickly and regretted it the second after. “ Dele is dead ooo, mama Dele is at our house o, joor mabo nile” I collapsed against the table, the upper part of my body went limp and my leg treacherously became heavy, dragging me down as though someone was pulling me by my heels. This state was not strange to me, this was my body trying to react to the news. It happened for the first time when I received the news of my uncle’s death three years ago while driving and I had struggled to pack my car by the roadside and allow my body to return to its normal form. I wheeled on my buttocks to the only cabinet in the office and pushed my back against it. Now, a skull-splitting pain started to form at the back of my head. By luck, my secretary came in with a file she wanted to submit and it was she who helped me back to my chair and began to fan me till I could call Mary. 3. Mary was propped against a pillow in her bedroom after they returned the next day after Dele’s Burial according to Islamic rites. Her hair was scattered from constant scratching and pulling and an eerie silence enveloped her. Lawrence, Andrew, and Modupe were in the living room, they were silent too, and still like statues. It seemed that every one of them was in their minds, pondering over Dele’s demise. When someone close to you died, you mourned them because they are dead. Gone. But when they died a horrific death, you mourned their loss and an alien pain arising from pity settled on you as an additional burden. That was Mary’s state now, and her head was clogged with thoughts. The scene of Dele’s death, like a video on replay, kept flashing through her mind: Dele on his bed with a hole in his chest and a knife stuck in it, Dele’s face still and cold as though he were in a hangover induced sleep and a stupid fly clinging to the eyelid of his left eye. She regretted saving the pictures Lawrence sent to her Whatsapp, she would have to deal with it for the next few days before it would fade away. 4. When the police searched Dele’s room, they couldn’t find any trace of the killer, it was a smooth job. But they found something, a Teddy. It was nothing, believe me, it could be one of Dele’s girlfriends who dropped it there. But the police insisted that I ask around. Telling Mary about Teddy now would be quite insensitive and would pique an unnecessary curiosity which would further hurt her. Dele, Andrew, and I met at the University. We were studying the same course and we happened to be from the same town. It was a week before our graduation when Mary, who shared facetime with Dele every week, visited for Dele’s Graduation. It was pure Bliss after we met that day. 5. Mary was sleeping when Modupe arrived from the market. It was three weeks already and they decided to have a good meal for a change after endless watery meals Mary fed them. She opened her eyes when her friend shook her, jarring her from sleep. “ How you dey?”, She asked and set the nylon she was holding on the ground. “ Fine, you are back already?” “ Yes,” Modupe replied and walked to her section of their wardrobe and dropped an item in it. “ So what are we cooking?” Mary said and rubbed her eyes. “ Okro soup and eba”, Modupe replied and held her friend in her gaze, her lips pulled taut in a wild wan. “Ha, that one na bad combo, I won’t eat that one with you o” Mary replied and feigned irritation. Modupe stood still trying to maintain a straight face, then she let out her infectious laughter and Mary couldn’t