SilverTrees

"No, I am the only relative surviving her."

"Oh. Ok, Sir.", a young lady, probably in her twenties, said. She kept asking me questions and giving me documents to sign, none of which I understood.

"No uncles nor aunties? No cousins?"

"Oh. They are. Unreachable."

"Mr. Tobi...?", an elderly man, most likely in his forties, asked, popping his head through the door and into the room.

"Sir..?"

"Come with me, please."

He led me to a dark room at the far end corner of the corridor. There were two other men in the room, dressed in uniform. Police men.

"Mr. Tobi?", a fairly built man with bulging tummy asked, looking up at me through his tinted glasses. He was probably the one in charge.

I looked around the room. The only items in the room were two chairs, a desk, something that looked like a recorder, and a squeaking celling fan.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Please, sit."

I sat on the empty chair he had pointed at, facing him directly, with nothing but the desk separating us.

"Sorry for your loss. I hear she was the only relative you had left."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Did Bola have any peculiar friends she normally hung out with?"

"I'm not sure I understand, Sir."

"Well, we went through her phone. Asides your number which she had called fifteen times...", he looked up jugdingly, "there were two numbers she had called."

My eyes itched.

Silence.

"Whilst digging further, we came across some messages that had been sent and received on her phone. There was one word that kept being repeated.... SilverTrees. Does that mean anything to you?"

"SilverTrees? No."

SilverTrees, what could that mean? I kept asking myself over and over again. Was that a code for something? Perhaps, a secret password?

".....and the autopsy results. We will get to the bottom of this, be rest assured Sir."

" Huh? Oh. Thank you. Sir"

I wasn't listening.

The rest of the week went by. I got a coffin, found a graveyard, and buried her. Just I. And a Priest.

I was alone. The gravity of that reality had slowly begun to set in. I had no one left.

So, I picked my phone and searched.

SilverTrees.

Nothing. Just a bunch of nonsense about trees, and a school. But, I couldn't stop. The police had so much on their plate to actually give a crap about my dead sister. This was the only lead I had.

SilverTrees and death.

Many sites popped up as usual, and mindlessly, I just clicked on the first link I saw.

Interested in harnessing your true potentials? Join in the research of SilverTrees.....

Potentials? Did my sister get herself involved with nefarious people? Scammers? Ritualists?

At least, I owed it to her to avenge her, no matter how long it would take.

I scrolled down to the end of the page. There it was. An address. A clue.

There was no use sharing this with the police. If for anything, it could land me in trouble.

Ngor, Dakar.

That was where I had to go. Information on the site had been that a physical convention would be held in that place in two weeks.

I had nothing left to lose, not even my graduation. It all meant nothing if my sister laid in the ground, little more than trash.

I had money, so I packed my clothes, took my passport, locked the door, and took a bus to the M.M Airport. I would book a flight to Senegal if that was what it took to avenge Bola.

Tuhn Dun

"Attention please, all passengers to board flight KO24, AirPeace, to Dakar should please check-in now at Gate17 A.", a female voice rang allover the place as I sat, waiting with my ticket.

We moved fast, and even if I wanted to change my mind, it was too late. I had a feeling my mundane life as I knew it was about to be over. We checked in and boarded the plane.

The air was cold, and my heart was bitter.

"Ticket, please.", a thick woman said, smiling quite unnecessarily at me.

I brought out my newly purchased ticket and showed her, my face devoid of any emotion.

"Thank you for choosing to fly with us. Welcome on-board, Sir."

I walked to my seat; 21c; and put my bag pack up in the cabin. As I sat, I caught a glimpse of what rather looked like a fang than a teeth...but, what could that mean? Probably nonsense. I shut my eyes.

"Attention please, this is your captain speaking... prepare for takeoff."