Cynthia Adebanjo was living a simple life in Ajaokuta, a quiet town in Kogi State, Nigeria. She ran a small grocery store, knew her neighbors well, and spent her free time caring for her chickens in her poultry . It was nothing like the busy streets of Lagos, where she once lived. Ajaokuta felt like home.
Then one day, everything changed.
A letter was posted to her from the post office . Her name, Cynthia Adebanjo, was on it, but there was no return address. She was surprised and curious as she opened it.
The message was short yet terrifying:
You can’t run forever, Cynthia. Samuel Jackson knows the truth.
Her hands shook as she read it again. It had been over seven years since she left Lagos. She thought she was free from her past. But now, it was back.
Before she relocated to Ajaokuta and was the quiet grocery seller, Cynthia went by Victoria Martins. She was a hot-shot lawyer in Lagos, working for a top law firm, Maxwell & Partners. Everyone knew her for her sharp skills and tough ways.
Her downfall started with the case of Henry Okoro vs. Genesis Industries. She defended Genesis, a company accused of dumping toxic waste into the Ogun River, ruining Henry’s village, and harming the water and land. Henry fought for justice for his community.
But Cynthia twisted the evidence, bribed witnesses, and won the case for Genesis. It was a big win for the firm, but it haunted her.
A month later, a child from Henry’s village died from polluted water. The news hit her hard. She decided to leave it all behind. She quitted her job, changed her name, and moved to Ajaokuta.
But now, someone had tracked her down.
Cynthia spent days in fear. Who was Samuel Jackson? Was he from her old firm? Or possibly Henry’s village, looking for revenge? She avoided her neighbors and hardly opened her store.
One evening, she heard a knock at her door.
Peeking through the curtain, she saw a serious looking, tall man with gray hair. He held a folder.
“Cynthia Adebanjo?” he asked.
Her heart raced, nervously she asked “Who are you?”
“I’m Henry Okoro,” he replied. “Do you remember me?”
The name struck her like a bolt of lightning.
“No,” she lied, sounding shaky.
“I think you do,” he pressed, stepping closer. “We met in Lagos seven years ago. You were Victoria Martins, the lawyer who twisted the evidence for Genesis and won the case.”
Cynthia froze. She wanted to deny it, but her guilt showed.
“What do you want?” she whispered.
“To talk,” Henry said plainly.
Henry spent the next hour sharing what happened after the court case. The pollution had continued to wreck his village. Farms died, kids got sick, and many families left home.
“I found you because of this,” he said, pulling out a letter. It looked just like the one Cynthia got.
“Someone sent this to me with your name and address. They wanted me to find you.”
“Who?” Cynthia asked curiously.
“I don’t know,” Henry said. “But I think they want to punish us both. You for defending Genesis and me for not fighting harder.”
Cynthia felt a mix of terror and guilt.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“We find out who sent this,” Henry answered firmly.
The next day, they went to a cybercafé in Lokoja to trace the letter. Sadly, they hit a dead end. It had been sent through a courier service in Abuja, and no leads showed up.
That night, another message popped up on Cynthia’s phone:
Meet me at the old warehouse by the iron factory. Come alone.
Henry insisted on coming with her. “What if it’s dangerous?” he urged.
“No way,” she said. “If they see you, they might run. I’ll go by myself, but you stay nearby.” He agreed.
When she entered the warehouse, her palms were sweaty. The air felt damp and musty.
A man stepped out of the darkness Tony Maxwell, her old boss.
“Tony?” she gasped.
“Well, well, Victory, oh wait, Cynthia now, right?” Tony said with a sinister laugh. “Did you think you could just disappear?”
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice trembling.
Tony laughed. “You left quite a mess when you ran. Genesis ditched our deal, and I lost a ton of money. But now, I found you.”
He handed her a flash drive.
“This has documents for a new case. You’ll take it and win like before. Or I’ll expose your real name and what you did with Genesis.”
Before she could speak, Henry stepped out from the shadows, holding his phone.
“That’s not needed,” he said. “I recorded everything.”
Tony chuckled “You think that scares me?”
“It’s already sent to the EFCC and the press,” Henry shot back. “You’re done.”
In the weeks that followed, Tony was arrested. His involvement in shady deals, including the Genesis case, came to light. Genesis faced renewed scrutiny, finally making reparations to Henry’s village.
For Cynthia, it was a chance for redemption. She chose to stay in Ajaokuta, no longer hiding. With Henry’s help, she began working with local NGOs, using her skills for the environment.
Her life in Ajaokuta would be different now, but for the first time in years, Cynthia finally felt a sense of freedom.
hello @ojochegbesammie. This is a nicely written piece, although it is usually better to focus in on a few scenes in a short story and develop them properly, while avoiding narrative summary to conclude a piece. There are a few admin points that we need to draw to your attention:
It is often better to select one or two striking images for a story than to drop images throughout your submission, especially when the images reflect a repeated scene but with different people. It can become a little jarring. Images also break up the flow of a piece and when too many are used, it becomes burdensome for community curators to sift out the image links when checking posts for plagiarism and AI. Your fourth image in this post also has the incorrect image sourcing and we cannot curate your post until this is corrected. Please do let us know when you have fixed the issue.
We note that you have not supported any other community writers this time around, and last time only supported one writer two days after posting your submission. In The Ink well we require all writers to support at least two other stories in the community each time that they submit one of their own. We always check and it is therefore crucial that you first support other writers by reading their stories and then engaging meaningfully in the comments to their posts before submitting your own story 🙂We know that you are new here but we are sure you get the hang of things soon. We recommend that you read the welcome note that was shared on your first post and follow the links to read our FAQ and Guidelines for posting to ensure that you remain within the parameters of what is required by the community.
Finally, this piece felt like a work of fiction but you tagged it #creativenonfiction. It is important for us to know which it is as it affects the reading of the piece. Please could you confirm. If it is a creative non-fiction, kindly clarify your knowledge and involvement with the events in this story.
Thank you for choosing to write in The Ink Well. We do look forward to reading more of your stories.
Noted
Thank you very much
I'll do the necessary corrections and also support other community writers henceforth
Thank you for the corrections
I've fixed the issues already
Thank you for supporting other writers in the community :-)
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Wow 😲. The twist!
I didn't expect it to be her boss who was sending the letters.
Some people are just devil's sent to ruin people's life, why didn't he find another person to take up the case and do his dirty work.
Thank God he didn't succeed and she had the chance to reflect and change.
Indeed, some people are devils sent to ruin people's life
Her boss thought he could get her to manipulate another shady deal, but he met his waterloo. That serves him.
It would have been less exciting, too, if she had returned to her former life. She seemed to have found peace in Ajaokuta and that is supreme.
Yeah that serves him
It really would have if she returned to her former life
She'll just keep living in regrets