What lies within... Chapter five [finale]

Micheal hummed the chorus of the song Famous by French Montana which he was listening to with his wireless headset, while he raked up the trash littered around the entrance of the store. He had never liked his wageless job but today he was in a rather happier mood than the usual him, it was like a weight had been lifted off his heart. Earlier that morning he had deleted all the pictures he had taken with Grace and decided to move on with his life, it had only been a few weeks but it felt like the time was right.

"Someone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning" his mother said after watching him lay out a few dance steps.

Micheal smiled and said "I hope it was entertaining".

"Indeed it was" his father said joining his mother, "umm, Micheal could you hold the fort, I and your mother will be heading out this morning".

"Sure" he answered.

"What's gotten into you this morning?" his mother asked shocked at the fact that Michael hadn't grumbled or frowned at the request of his father like he usually did. She knew how much he detested the store and everything relating to it, after a second stare she decided to give up her worrying.

"What ever it is, it should always do this more often, John will come join you soon" his dad said and just as soon as he did a black Toyota Camry halted in front of the store. Out came two men, one dressed in a black long sleeved shirt and a black jean trouser, the other wore a green and white polo with the Action People's Congress logo printed at the center, and a blue jean trouser. Both men made their way out of the car and straight to the store.

"Mr Okpara?" the older looking man asked.

"Yes and who is asking?" Michael's father asked.

"I am Senior Detective Yinka and this is my partner, Detective Uzo, we are here to see your son and ask him some questions concerning a murder case we are investigating" He said flashing his ID as proof of his words.

"Yes and what has that to do with our son?" Mr Okpara asked examining the ID.

"We recently identified the victims as young Master Collins Onu, Master Sunday Osas and Miss Grace Ugbona, two of these victims have been in contact with your son, Michael" The detective explained.

"Michael?" Mrs Okpara asked turning her eyes to Michael who stood there trembling with the rake in his grip.

"Michael what are these men talking about?" Mr Okpara asked.

"Meeee... I don't... Know anything" Michael stammered.

"Michael, lying to us is an offense, do you know that?" the detective said.

"Well I do but that's not why I am" Michael paused and then stared at his parents.

"Oh! Can we talk to him in private?" the detective asked understanding that Michael wasn't comfortable with his parents around.

"But he is our son!" Mr Okpara said, these words sounded rather awkward to Michael who always felt his father didn't care much about him.

"I'm old enough to handle myself, I know my rights" Michael reminded them and walked away from his parents to a place not too far from the store, "This should be enough".

Seeing they had gone some reasonable distance, the detective said, "Now what have you to say?".

"Let's keep it simple" Michael said putting up a new and more confident attitude, "I didn't want my parents hearing this, I and Grace had been in a secret relationship which ended a month ago. She told me she had been in a relationship with Collins but she never told me she had been with that Sunday guy you mentioned".

"Is that why you tortured them?" Detective Uzo asked.

"I did no such thing or do I look like someone who has the strength to torture another person?" Michael said showing them his arm which had no sign of a muscle development.

"Muscles aren't the only means to overpower another person, look at this pictures" Detective Uzo said handing over some photos of the dead victims.

"Jesus!" Michael yelled in shock.

"There were signs of anesthesia in their blood streams which were used to sedate them while they were being tortured, before they eventually died from excess blood loss and pain or in Mr Collins' case, fisted to death" Detective Uzo said pointing at the nearly healed fists of Michael.

"Wait are you saying I did that to them?" Michael asked, his hands began to tremble once again and they noticed this.

"It all links to you, your father owns a pharmacy and that's where you got the anesthetics from, you drugged them and then tortured them to death" Detective Yinka accused. Silence and tension set into the atmosphere with Michael's head bent down low, he raised his hands in surrender.

"I must admit you guys have a vivid imagination" he said with a smirk on his face.

"Is that a confession?" Detective Yinka asked.

"You wish!" Michael said shocking them, "I don't have the heart to do such things, I'm just an innocent young man, also my fist are this way because I have been trying to get rid of my anger by fisting the tree in my backyard, you can go confirm yourself. Oh and the anaesthetics, you see my dad stopped selling those ages ago, it's clear you guys have no clue who the killer is and just want to poke your fingers around till you find what you are looking for. I don't have time for all these so if there's nothing left you would like to ask or pull, you would better be on your way" Michael said as both detectives stared at him helplessly.

"You think you are smart!?" Detective Uzo yelled grabbing Micheal's shirt but got held back by his partner.

"Okay, well if you have any information or notice anything unusual relating to this case, here is our card" Detective Yinka said taking his leave.

"I'll get you" Detective Uzo said following his partner to the car.

"What was that about?" Mrs Okpara asked as Michael approached.

"I don't know" Michael said lifting up his arms in the air innocently like he had no idea.

Michael reached for the rake he had kept aside, just as he did, it slipped from his arm and fell crashing to the ground. Michael froze in place as the memories came back to him, a tear dropped down and another followed suit. He remembered everything that had happened, his encounter with Sunday. He had gone to confront him only to find Grace in bed with him, he lost consciousness and then the voice took over, when he woke up they were both hung up lifeless and drained.

"I killed them" Michael sobbed.

"Look closer" the voice said making the memories rewind. He felt a presence behind him before he dropped to the ground, while loosing consciousness he saw a person standing over the two bodies and then he blacked out and came back again, before him was his beloved younger brother, John.

"Now you know who did those killings" the voice said laughing.

"Brother Michael" John said hugging Michael tightly, fear and shock ran their course through his bones. For the first time he felt something different from love towards his brother.

"It seems the hypnosis wore off, don't worry big brother everything will be alright, you won't cry anymore" John said grinning, he snapped his fingers causing Michael to return to his previous happy state.