A Collection of Short Stories

Raymond Elenwoke
Wanted: For fear Study
On the other hand, Arthur J. Westermayr posits that ‘Fear is the great force that prompts
acts of self-preservation and operates as effectively in the brute as in the human animal.’ He
goes as far as to suggest that fear is present in some way, even in plants. Plants, however,
are not the subject of this study.
What follows is a live test conducted on Abimbola Olukoya, who for the purposes of this
study shall be called Subject No 3.
Stop.
He stretches his neck first one way, then the other, pushes his chair back from his
impeccably organized desk, and rises to his feet, taking his recorder with him. He turns and
walks to the closet and puts on a surgical gown, gloves and a hat, and then walks out. He
leaves the mask behind so that his voice will be clear in the recording. He goes down the
hall to his left, then through a plastic curtain into a brightly-lit, white-tiled, windowless room.
There are various air vents on the wall. A table runs along the wall opposite the door, ending
in a sink. It is covered with various medical apparatus: scalpels, surgical saws, syringes,
various vials and other medical assortment. In front of the sink is a table on wheels, with a
large, covered metal container on it. And in the centre of the room, beneath the glare of
a light bulb focused downwards, connected to a heart rate monitor, is a woman. She is
covered with a sheet, and her head, wrists and ankles strapped to the bed frame whose
base is bolted to the floor. The sheet covering her is stained in some places; red, pusyellow.
There is movement beneath it in various places, from her writhing and from…
something else. She is crying; her voice hoarse.
Dr Ahmed walks in, and when she sees him, she screams with renewed vigor, bucking
against her straps. She begins to plead, telling him she will tell no one if he just releases her.
Dr Ahmed pulls the table in front of the sink and sets it beside her, then takes out his
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