MIDNIGHT SACRIFICE Episode 2

MIDNIGHT SACRIFICE Episode 2: The Breaking of Chains

Junior’s heart pounded so loudly he thought Madam Nkechi could hear it.

She was walking toward him slowly.

Too slowly.

That smile on her face was no longer seductive.

It was predatory.

Her eyes were darker now almost smoky, like something else was staring at him from inside her body.

“Come here, Junior,” she whispered again.

He stepped backward.

“No,” he said, his voice shaking but firm. “You’re not touching me again.”

Her smile faded.

For a split second, her face twitched like a mask slipping.

“You don’t get to refuse,” she said calmly. “You belong to this house.”

Junior’s back hit the kitchen wall.

His mind raced.

He needed to survive. Not fight blindly. Survive.

“I’m not strong enough today,” he said quickly, pretending weakness. “You said I might die after three more rounds. If I die too early, won’t the ritual fail?”

Nkechi paused.

That caught her attention.

She studied him carefully.

“You’re learning,” she said softly.

Her voice changed deeper, layered.

“You’re right. The vessel must not break too soon.”

She stepped closer anyway, placing a cold hand on his chest.

Junior felt that same draining sensation starting again the pull, like something invisible was trying to leave his body.

He quickly grabbed a bowl from the counter and smashed it against the wall.

The loud crash echoed through the house.

Footsteps thundered from the dining room.

Chief Okon burst into the kitchen.

“What is happening?” he barked.

Junior pointed at Nkechi.

“She wants to do it now! You said midnight only! If the ritual timing is broken, won’t the spirits be angry?”

Chief Okon’s eyes widened slightly.

He looked at Nkechi.

For the first time…

There was tension between them.

“You told him too much,” Chief Okon muttered.

Nkechi hissed.

“He’s getting clever. I don’t like it.”

Chief Okon turned to Junior.

“Go back to your room,” he ordered coldly. “Rest. Tonight is important.”

Junior didn’t argue.

He walked out slowly.

But inside, something had changed.

He had seen it.

They weren’t united.

They were desperate.

That meant they could make mistakes.

The Locked Room

Back inside his room, Junior pressed his ear to the door.

He could hear faint chanting downstairs.

Clara’s voice.

His father’s voice.

Nkechi’s voice.

They were preparing early.

He looked around his room.

Locked windows.

Steel bars.

A heavy wooden door.

Then his eyes landed on something he had ignored for weeks.

His late mother’s old Bible.

It sat dusty on the shelf.

Junior grabbed it with trembling hands.

He wasn’t the most religious person.

But right now, faith was all he had.

As he flipped through the pages, something fell out.

A folded piece of paper.

His breath caught.

It was his mother’s handwriting.

“If anything ever feels wrong in this house… the truth is not what it seems.

The power in this house is borrowed. And borrowed power always demands payment.

The prayer room beneath the staircase is not a prayer room.

The real altar is under the floorboards in the master bedroom.

Break the black candle and the chain will snap.”

Junior froze.

The master bedroom.

Midnight.

The black candle.

He remembered it clearly.

His father danced with it during the ritual.

If he could destroy it

Maybe the connection would break.

Maybe the spirits feeding on him would lose access.

Midnight Approaches

At 11:47 p.m., Clara unlocked his door.

“Time,” she said casually.

She looked different too.

Her eyes had that same smoky haze.

Junior walked calmly behind her.

Inside, his heart was ready to explode.

They entered the master bedroom.

The curtains were closed.

Black candles burned in a circle.

Smoke filled the air.

Chief Okon stood in white traditional attire.

Madam Nkechi was already seated on the bed, chanting softly.

Junior noticed it.

The black candle.

Thicker than the others.

Placed beside the bed.

Chief Okon began to speak loudly.

“Tonight, the renewal is complete! The boy will surrender fully!”

Junior dropped to his knees.

Not in submission.

But to move closer to the candle.

Nkechi stood.

Her presence felt heavier than ever.

“Do not resist,” she warned.

Junior pretended to weaken.

He crawled forward as if dizzy.

Chief Okon laughed.

“Yes! That’s it! Accept your destiny!”

Junior suddenly lunged.

With every ounce of strength left in him, he grabbed the black candle and smashed it against the floor.

It shattered.

The flame exploded outward like a small burst of lightning.

The room shook violently.

The other candles flickered wildly.

Clara screamed.

Nkechi shrieked not like a human but like something ancient being torn apart.

Chief Okon staggered backward.

The smoke thickened, then reversed like being sucked into an invisible hole.

Nkechi collapsed to the floor.

Her glowing skin faded instantly.

Wrinkles spread across her face.

Her hair turned grey before Junior’s eyes.

Chief Okon fell to his knees.

“What have you done?!” he cried.

Junior stood slowly.

For the first time in weeks 

He felt strong.

The draining sensation was gone.

The air felt normal.

Clara crawled backward in fear.

Nkechi tried to stand but couldn’t.

Her voice was weak now.

“You foolish boy… do you know what you’ve unleashed?”

Junior stepped back toward the door.

“No,” he said calmly. “But I know what I stopped.”

Suddenly

Police sirens wailed outside.

Bright headlights flashed through the curtains.

Chief Okon’s face turned pale.

“What is this?”

Junior smiled slightly.

Earlier that evening, while Clara was distracted, he had managed to send a silent emergency message from his hidden old phone to a church member his mother once trusted.

That church member called the police.

The gates were forced open.

Security guards scattered.

Within minutes, officers burst into the bedroom.

They froze at the sight.

Broken candles.

Smoke.

Three adults trembling on the floor.

And a shaken but standing young man.

“What’s going on here?” an officer demanded.

Junior looked at his father.

At Nkechi.

At Clara.

Then he spoke clearly:

“They were sacrificing me.”

The Aftermath

Investigations followed.

Hidden rooms were discovered.

Strange symbols beneath floorboards.

Financial records showing sudden unexplained wealth spikes every year.

Madam Nkechi was exposed as a ritual fraud who preyed on desperate wealthy men.

Chief Okon confessed after three days in custody.

The “renewal ritual” was built on fear and manipulation.

Psychological control.

Drugs in the smoke.

Junior had been weakened physically, but much of the “soul draining” was chemical and mental torture.

The illusion broke once the candle ritual ended.

The wealth?

Money laundering and hidden business deals.

Not spirits.

Just evil.

Nkechi aged rapidly in custody her glamour gone.

Chief Okon lost everything.

Clara entered rehabilitation.

One Month Later

Junior stood outside the house that once felt like a prison.

It was sealed by court order.

He held his mother’s Bible tightly.

He wasn’t the same.

He had seen darkness.

But he had survived it.

A journalist approached him.

“Do you have a message for others who may be trapped in situations like yours?”

Junior looked straight ahead.

“Yes,” he said firmly.

“Darkness survives on silence. Speak. Break the chain.”

He walked away from the gate.

Free.

For real this time.

And somewhere deep inside

He knew something powerful:

The spirits were never hungry.

The greedy were.

The End