17/09/2026
THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
Episode Two — The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
“Emeka!”
Amaka's voice woke him before sunrise.
He sat up quickly.
“What happened?”
She was standing beside the bed, still holding the pendant.
“Ada found this in that abandoned house yesterday.”
Emeka took it from her.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
He knew it.
There was no doubt about it.
His father had worn that pendant almost every day.
“Where did she get it?”
“That's the problem.”
Amaka sat on the edge of the bed.
“She said an old man gave it to her.”
Emeka looked at her.
“An old man?”
“Yes.”
“And she said he lives in the house?”
Amaka nodded.
“Exactly.”
Emeka rubbed his face.
“Maybe she was frightened and imagined someone.”
“She wasn't imagining anything.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was there.”
She lowered her voice.
“We heard the footsteps.”
Emeka looked toward the door.
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
“Then we don't know who it was.”
Amaka stared at him.
“Emeka, your father's pendant was inside that house.”
He didn't reply.
Later that morning, Emeka went to see an elderly neighbour, Mama Ngozi, who had known his family for decades.
When he showed her the pendant, she became unusually quiet.
“Where did you get this?”
“Ada found it.”
Mama Ngozi looked at him carefully.
“Your father came to that house shortly before he disappeared.”
Emeka's face tightened.
“You knew this?”
“I heard people talking.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“What would I have told you? I didn't know the truth myself.”
Emeka stood up.
“Then who does?”
Mama Ngozi sighed.
“Maybe the person who was there that night.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Chief Nwosu.”
Emeka stared at her.
“That is impossible. Chief Nwosu disappeared twenty years ago.”
Mama Ngozi looked away.
“People can disappear without dying.”
That sentence stayed with him.
That evening, Emeka returned to the abandoned house.
He pushed the gate open.
This time, something was different.
The compound looked cleaner.
Someone had cleared part of the weeds.
He walked toward the house.
The front door was slightly open.
“Hello?”
No answer.
He stepped inside.
There was a small table.
A chair.
A cooking pot.
And beside the wall was a pair of old slippers.
Someone had been living there.
Emeka's heartbeat increased.
“Who is here?”
Silence.
He took another step.
Then a man's voice came from behind him.
“You shouldn't have come.”
Emeka turned sharply.
An elderly man stood near the doorway.
His clothes were simple. His face was older, but there was something strangely familiar about him.
Emeka couldn't move.
The man looked directly at him.
“You look just like your father.”
Emeka swallowed.
“Who are you?”
The man said nothing.
“Who are you?” Emeka asked again.
The old man slowly stepped closer.
“My name is Nwosu.”
Emeka's eyes widened.
“No…”
The man looked at him.
“Yes.”
For twenty years, the village had believed Chief Nwosu was dead or had disappeared forever.
Yet here he stood.
Alive.
Inside the very house everyone had been warned to avoid.
Emeka's voice became unsteady.
“What happened to my father?”
Nwosu looked toward the floor.
“That is a long story.”
“I have time.”
The old man looked at him sadly.
“Your father didn't leave this village because he wanted to.”
Emeka's heart began pounding.
“Then why did he leave?”
Nwosu opened his mouth to answer.
But before he could say another word, they heard a loud noise outside.
Someone had slammed the gate shut.
Both men turned toward the door.
Nwosu whispered,
“We are not alone.”
To be continued…
