03/02/2026
ALREADY COLD
©Franca Uwuigiaren
Ufuoma kissed her daughters on their foreheads, sniffing back tears. Then she stood beside the bed where her two daughters slept, their small chests rising and falling peacefully.
"I'm going to miss them."
Then she walked to the doorway where her husband stood and rested her head on his chest.
"I will miss you, George."
"I know. Don't worry. I will call you every morning, afternoon, and evening. I will send you messages that will make you blush," he said, and she smiled. "Just keep your phone close by."
She nodded.
Ufuoma was travelling to Effuru, Delta state. Her elder brother was having his introduction that day. Her mother had been on his neck to get a wife, and now that he had gotten someone to marry, she wasn't going to miss the introduction for anything.
"My regards to your family," George told her, and she embraced him tightly. He kissed her and told her she would miss the first bus if she continued to hold him like that. She laughed. He held her hand as they walked to the sitting room. She picked her handbag from the chair while he carried the travelling bag. He locked the door with a key, then they stepped outside.
The morning air caressed their skin as they walked down to the bus stop, gisting. She boarded a bus, and as the vehicle moved, he waved at her.
When he returned home, the kids were still sleeping. He told himself that the kids wouldn't go to school and he too would stay back home but would call his sales boys later. He went back to bed.
Later, the kids woke him, crying that they could not find their mother. He explained that she had travelled. They were not happy and wept. He promised to make it up for them.
"No school today, okay? I will take you out to get ice cream later."
"And chicken?" Vivian asked, with teary eyes.
"Yes."
"I want... I want... oh, I want chicken too," Kendra, the youngest, said.
"It's a deal, Kendra," he said, wiping her tears with his palm.
Later, he called Ufuoma on WhatsApp video call, where she spoke with the kids. She promised to buy them many things when she returned from travel.
"So you won't buy anything for me?" George asked her and chuckled.
"You know I will get you something, plus starch and fish."
George laughed. He loved starch and banga soup well garnished with fish. He blew her a kiss and then hung up with a promise to check on her later.
After breakfast, he spoke briefly with his sales boys, then focused his attention on his laptop while the kids watched television with occasional reminders of their outing. Soon, Vivian fell asleep, leaving only Kendra to watch cartoons.
George called Ufuoma around 12:30 p.m., and they spoke briefly. She told him their vehicle had a flat tire but it had been fixed. She asked after the kids, and he told her Vivian was sleeping while Kendra was focused on television. He hung up after cracking small jokes that made them laugh.
It was almost 2 p.m. before he took the kids out to get ice cream, and while they were returning, Vivian asked her father why they didn't have morning devotion.
"I'm sorry... we will have it this evening."
"But can we pray for mummy now?" Vivian asked.
"Like now? We can do that when we get home," he told her.
Vivian said nothing.
In the car, Kendra ate her snacks except Vivian, who stared into space with her fancy bag on her lap.
"Aren't you going to eat your chips?" Kendra asked.
"Call my mummy, I want to talk to her," she said to her father.
"You will talk to her when we get home. I just need to concentrate on my driving," he told her.
George drove home and when they got home, was surprised Vivian had fallen asleep. He handed over Vivian’s snack bag to Kendra to carry, then locked the car door. He dropped Vivian on the bed in their room, then he and Kendra settled in the sitting room, munching on what he had bought from the eatery.
He busied himself with his laptop and soon fell asleep too. When he woke, it was dark, and Kendra was still watching television.
George looked at the time and wondered why Ufuoma had not called to inform him she had reached Effuru. He picked up his phone and dialed her line, but it was switched off.
Then he called his mother-in-law to confirm if Ufuoma was already with her, but the woman was surprised.
"Ufuoma didn't tell me she was coming today. I thought her journey here would be tomorrow. She never told me she was coming today. I was expecting her arrival tomorrow."
"She left here very early. She promised to call when she reached, but her line is switched off," he said.
"Let me call my other children. Maybe she stopped at one of their houses. I will call you back," she said.
George hung up and dropped the phone beside him. He suddenly felt uncomfortable. He picked the phone up again and dialed his wife's line, but it was still switched off. He dropped the phone and, to distract himself, went to the kitchen to prepare noodles for them, then woke Vivian, bathed her and Kendra. They ate dinner and the kids retired to their rooms.
He remembered that Vivian had not touched what he bought for her. He took the bag to her, but the girl said she wasn't hungry. He took the ice cream to the fridge and left the chicken in the bag.
It was almost 9:00 p.m. before his mother-in-law called back to say that Ufuoma wasn't in any of her children’s homes.
"Maybe she checked into a hotel... or at a friend's house."
"I can't think of any of Ufuoma's friends living in Effuru... I don't know anyone there," he said, confused.
"Let's keep calling her line until it goes through... maybe her phone is down," she said.
"Alright!"
Even as he dropped his phone, he was still worried. Even if her phone was down, it didn't explain why she wasn't at her mother’s house at this time. He thought about what to do and dozed off.
The knock at the door jolted him awake. He dragged himself out of the chair to the door.
"Hello, who's there?"
"It's me, Ufuoma. Open the door quickly."
"Oh my God, Ufuoma?"
He opened the door, and Ufuoma entered the house. She looked tired and angry. No bag or phone with her.
"What happened? You didn't go to Effuru again? I have been worried. Your phone was unreachable. I had to call your mom. What happened to your phone?"
Ufuoma sat on the chair and sighed.
"God saved me... we had passed Ore a little when suddenly we saw men in soldier uniforms blocking the road. The driver stopped, and before you knew it, there were gunshots everywhere. Screams filled the air."
Ufuoma stood up suddenly.
"George, I don't know how I escaped. I saw our driver being hit on the head. I saw bodies. People from other vehicles were running, and bodies were falling."
"Jesus!" George screamed. "How... how did you escape?"
"I... I don't know. Maybe I ran... I don't know. When I heard the gunshots, screams, and running feet, my thoughts went to you and my kids."
She rested her head on her husband's chest and began to cry.
"Thank God... thank God for being alive. God brought you home safely."
He held her tight. Then the phone began to ring. He picked it up, and his mother-in-law said she had been trying to reach Ufuoma, but her phone was switched off.
"Ufuoma just returned home, Mama," George said and handed the phone to Ufuoma.
"It's your mother."
For a while, Ufuoma spoke with her mother, narrating her ordeal.
"Thank God He didn't allow me to cry. How would I have explained it if you had come for your brother's introduction and died on the way? God forbid! I didn't even know you were coming today," she said.
They talked, and Mama told her to go rest and that they would speak the following day. When she handed him the phone, she said she was going to sleep.
"Bath first, eat, then go to bed."
The kids, hearing voices, came to the sitting room but soon stopped in their tracks and moved back. They refused to go closer to Ufuoma.
"Your mum is back home, hug her," George said, but the kids started crying instead.
"Why are you girls crying? Aren't you happy to have me back?" Ufuoma asked, moving closer to them but the kids ran to their room.
"What's wrong with them?" George asked, surprised.
"Just leave them," she said and started walking toward the bedroom.
George stared after her, wanted to say something but instead went to the bedroom and met her un******ng. He sat on the bed and watched her undress and go inside the bathroom. A moment later, she returned to the bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and selected one of her nightgowns.
"Let me prepare food for you... something hot to calm your nerves."
"I won't be able to eat. I just want to sleep because I am really tired. With the terrible experience I had, food is not what's on my mind right now," she said and lay stretched on the bed.
He left her in the bedroom, checked the kids, and discovered they covered their faces with the bedsheet. When they noticed their father in the room, they sat up.
"She doesn't look like mummy." Kendra said.
"I don't want her close to me." Vivian.
"I understand that you girls are still angry with her for leaving the house without telling you. Go to sleep, she will talk to you tomorrow. Right now she's tired and traumatized."
"What's traumatized?" Vivian asked.
"Not now Vivian. Good night."
He kissed their foreheads and left the room.
He went to the sitting room, ensured that the doors and windows were properly locked and that the electrical gadgets were switched off.
When he returned to the bedroom, he knelt down and prayed, thanking God for protecting his wife and bringing her home safely.
George went to bed and slept off beside Ufuoma. He woke up almost a hour later and met Ufuoma sitting on the edge of the bed.
"You can't sleep?"
Before she could respond, his phone rang.
"Hello, is this Mr. George?"
"Yes... you're speaking with George."
"Okay. This call is from the General Hospital. We are calling to inform you that a woman named Ufuoma... do you know Ufuoma?"
"Yes, she's my wife..."
"Can you come to the mortuary to identify..."
"Please, I think this is a mistaken identity. My wife, Ufuoma, is here with me," he said.
"Sir," the caller continued, "before she died, she..."
"Can you please stop this? I said this is a case of mistaken identity. My wife is here with me. Please check the number you were given... it could have been..." he stammered.
"Sir, can you please calm down and listen to me? This is Dr..."
"I won't listen to you Dr. Yes, my wife's name is Ufuoma and she's with me right now. Do you want me to give her the phone to talk to you?"
"It's alright, sir. Sorry to bother you Mr George."
Can you imagine this..." He said and discovered he was the only one in the room. He went to the sitting room, saying, "Honey, can you believe the..."
Then he paused because there was no one in the sitting room. He heard sounds in his daughters’ room and found Ufuoma sitting beside their bed, caressing their faces.
"You're here. Can you believe that..."
"George... I was shot and rushed to the hospital. I got rejected by two hospitals..."
"Shot? How?" He asked confused.
He rushed to her, but she told him to stand far away.
"I died... George, I died. I knew I wasn't going to make it, and I told the doctor to call you... I gave him your name and phone number and begged him that I wanted to hear your voice and that of my children... then I..."
George began to laugh.
"I don't understand what..." he said, trying to move closer.
"Don't come close," she said, standing firm.
"Ufuoma!"
"My body is lying at the General Hospital, Mortuary, Ore.
A kind of cold swept through the room.
"Ufuoma, what are you..."
"How do you think the doctor know your name and how to reach you. You should have asked him the right questions."
"Ufuoma...I...I..."
"I'm lying cold in the mortuary, George." She said, and vanished.
Ufuoma disappeared into thin air. George stood there dazed, and confused.
“Ufuoma!” he screamed.
His knees gave way, and George collapsed heavily to the floor beside his daughters’ bed. The scream ripped through the night.
Vivian and Kendra je**ed awake.
“Daddy?” Vivian whispered, sitting up, her eyes wide with fear.
“Mummy?” Kendra cried, scanning the room in confusion.
George lay on the floor, gasping, clutching his chest, unable to speak.
Then his phone, still in his trembling hand began to ring.
Vivian’s gaze dropped to the glowing screen.
INCOMING CALL - Dr. Adeleke
“Daddy… your phone,” she said, her voice shaking.
The phone kept ringing.
Outside, hurried footsteps rushed toward the apartment, neighbors responding to the scream, doors opening, voices rising in alarm.
George couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. The ringing grew louder, and harsher, in the room. Then the call went dead. The children stared at their father in confusion, while the sound of running feet drew closer to the door.
Have you heard stories like this before?
Franca's Pen ✍️ 2026
