AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD Episode 8 – 9 By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD (And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery) By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

Episode 8

Opening her eyes, Amarachi discovered that it was morning already; the pigeons cooing by the window as the curtain danced to the tune of the wanton wind.
She heard indistinct gunshots from afar. The droning gunshots got her jittery as fear loomed within her taking her mind straight to the bullet she saw in the brown envelope.
It was then that Amy realised that she was still putting on the same dress she came back with the previous day.
“How long have I been sleeping?” she murmured rhetorically and got up.

It was morning already but not even one person in the family woke her up, even to have convinced her to have her dinner of the previous night.
‘What is going on?’ She thought.
It was surprising to Amy that as she fell on the bed with fear the previous night, she slept off till morning.
Tearful yawns ensued, her eyes red, while sudden weakness and cold feet set in. As she tried to walk, she discovered that she was feeling numb on her legs, so she trudged to the bathroom for a shower.

Amy likes using a hot shower but it seemed that the water heater wasn’t actually in order. Everything about that morning was strange and she couldn’t understand what was going on; even the ominous sounds that kept rumbling in her head was scary too.

Wearily, she entered the bathroom and had a hasty cold bath.
Coming out of the bathroom, she realised how wintry the air conditioner had been, so she took the remote control and switched it off.

Amarachi kept feeling that the day didn’t break well. She wished she could go back to sleep to have a longer dreamless slumber to regain her strengths at first light of dawn.
After getting prepared for Akara business of the day, her mind flashed on the fact that she needed to talk to Dave about the live bullet she saw in her house, but that would mean revealing that her truck was burnt; an occurrence she resolved to conceal.

She underwent an endless search of the bullet in her room but didn’t see it anymore. Something wasn’t just right. Checking her door, Amarachi discovered it was still locked the way she left it when she returned the previous evening but couldn’t understand how the bullet disappeared.
There was absolute serenity in the house, but normally, others should have been awake by that time of the morning, especially Oji Isi that was always the one to give her the morning compliment; telling her how beautiful she looks even if she feels so ugly that morning.

Still searching for the bullet, a hard knock at the door startled her. She knew she needed to find the bullet so that no other person would get a glimpse of it; at least the bullet would be a shred of evidence for Dave to believe her story.
“Who’s there?” she asked and opened the door.

Amy was surprised to see her mom enter the house. She saw how Ego looked curiously, getting her a bit grimaced. When her mom entered, she locked the door but remained standing like a sentry while waiting to know what made her look troubled.
“Sit,” Ego Oyibo vexedly said and pulled her forcefully to rest her ass on the bed beside her.
“Mom, you act strangely,” she said observantly; looking confused.

“Can we pack out of this house and go back to our old life?” she demanded in a vehement tone.
Amy was more surprised this time as Ego remained encased in total muddiness. The last time she checked, Ego Oyibo never wanted to wake up from the luxury she enjoys in GRA. What then could have prompted such anomaly?
With smiles on her face as she pretended not to take her seriously, Amarachi said: “Mama, what have you been drinking?”

Amy was stormed that her jokes created no impact but bred an intense shout from her mom who couldn’t be controlled, even though she didn’t want anyone to be aware of the family discussion.
“Let us leave from here,” Ego yelled as she gnawed a candy she had in her mouth.
“Hia,” Amy exclaimed with dysphoria, “This is funny, mama, to make this behaviour of yours an open secret. What has come over you, please?”

Ego remained calm but still furious because even though she mothers over Amy, she sometimes acts like her child around her. “Since we parked into this house,” she began gloomily, sounding abysmally sad, “I lost that daughter of mine to busyness, even to the point that we’d stay for some days without even seeing you,”

It was then that Amarachi understood her point, but she was convinced that her busyness wasn’t because of the new life of the riches but due to what had been going on in her life lately that she couldn’t share with her mom due to ill state of her high blood pressure.

“Mama, you are getting it wrong because since I’d been in this house, I never used the e-Vogue to go out other than using Keke napep as a means of transportation,” she said in other to outwit her mom and make her piteous but Ego was steadfast and stubborn to what she believed.
“You can’t confuse me here, Mkpulumma,” Ego maintained and shook her head resolutely, “If you don’t use the e…e…what?”
“E-Vogue,” Amy stressed.

“Please, call it Jeep,” she said with firmness of purpose, “stop confusing your mother with all these foreign names,”
Ego felt the funniness of her mom amid her seriousness in trying to make a point.

“Mom, there are some things I’m trying to sort out first before…”
“Hey, don’t confuse me,” Ego retorted, “My problem with this place isn’t that it’s not beautiful but it’s too big that I sometimes get lost trying to find my way to places. Besides, that river at the back frightens me so much. Whenever I pass the river or even look at it from the rear balcony, I feel like it’s drawing me into it. I feel like I’m seeing that ‘Mami water’ (mermaid) that they drew on your hips,”

Amarachi tried to figure out if there was any river in the compound but couldn’t comprehend at first. She remained thoughtful trying to understand her mom.
“Oh, you meant the swimming pool,” she said and burst into laughter.

“Whatever you call it,” Ego Oyibo said and tried not to smile but she still did, “Please, can Dave nwoke oma (handsome man) remove that river?”
“Swimming pool,” she still corrected.
“Leave me, biko,” she voiced in a louder tone, “I’m not here to learn the name or get formally educated. Once you understood what I meant, I’m okay,”

“So what exactly is your complaint,” Amy said and held her mom with love, trying to make her feel that her daughter wasn’t metamorphosing to another woman just because they had a touch of affluence.
“I wish to go back to our small room where we sleep on the same bed,” she said regrettably, with her mood shrouded in nostalgia, “I think this place is too big, and before I come to you, it would be difficult. Must I use a telephone to call you first?”

“It’s called intercom, mamaaaaa…” Amarachi corrected again, and then realised she was warned against correcting her English, so she covered her mouth with her palm, “Oya, continue,”
Ego smiled and stroked her daughter’s hair fondly.
“Mkpulumma, I’ve missed you a lot that’s the point,” she said jejunely and pouted like a little child.
“Okay, let’s do it this way,” Amarachi suggested while he mom listened, “I’ll tell Dave to ask Oji Isi ebu mgbo to park out of his room that is next to mine so that you’d relocate there and…”

“No…noooo,” She intervened,” I like that boy a lot and wouldn’t allow my selfishness to make him relocate. Besides, I love the way he makes you laugh even when you’re sad,”

Amarachi never had the intention of to actualising the suggestion she made to her mom but already knew that her mom would fall for it and accept to remain at the same room she complained about.
“Okay, then,” Amy said and gestured; signalling that she didn’t know what else to suggest, “what do you want us to do since you didn’t accept my suggestion?”

“I’ll manage, nwam (my daughter),” she said submissively, “I will, but try as much as you can to make me see your face every day, no matter the urgency of your movement. A mother’s morning prayers and good wishes follow her daughter and bring lots of luck for the day,”
Amy’s eyes got tearful hearing those words. She’d always been so fond of her mom but the distraction that got her busy of late wouldn’t let her be.

“Mama, from today, you’ll always give me your blessings before I go out for the day,” Amy said with assurance and gave her a peck.

With happiness, Ego Oyibo left; feeling fulfilled and happy.
Checking on the time, Amarachi realised that she was already about thirty minutes late for her Akara business, so she got prepared quickly and left the room.
Surprising for Amarachi, she met Dave on her way going out.

Dave who was usually meant to be sad that Amy didn’t give him her unalloyed attention the previous night, was smiling as if there was a surprise on the way as usual.
“What’s the issue?” she asked gleefully and hugged him, “I’m sorry for last night and didn’t even know when I slept off on my dress without even having a night shower,”
Dave smiled at the pre-emptive apology from Amy and observed her beautiful face.

“You don’t need to apologise. Close your eyes let me show you something,” Dave said and veiled her eyes with a handkerchief, then led her to the garage.
Opening her eyes, she saw her truck parked before her but looking so refined, neat and upgraded.

This was confusing to her because a burnt truck wouldn’t just come back to her looking so fine-tuned and sweet.
“How did you know about the incidence, and how did you fix the truck overnight?” she queried with a high sense of inquisitiveness. “I’m sure you bought another truck,” she said and jumped on him with appreciation.
Dave carried her like a baby and planted a kiss on her nape, and then dropped her gently.
“Check it out, babe,” he encouraged.

She entered the truck, ignited the engine without much stress like her old truck, and then moved a bit forward and reversed. “I love this one,” she said with mirth, “I love you so much and nothing would ever make me stop loving you all the days of…”
“You lie!” Uremma shouted and showed up with a stainless golden pistol, fully loaded, “You can’t take my man away from me and I’ll allow you to be happy,”

Dave rushed towards Amy and blocked her from the gun pointed at her face, “what has come over you, Uremma?” he asked, still feeling uneasy at gunpoint but had to be strong for Amarachi’s sake.
“When last did we see, and when last did you call or return my numerous calls to your phone?” Uremma asked with wrath and disgust. With tears of anger in her eyes, she said: “I never knew that it was this gold digger that had been enjoying this strange romance with you; a butterfly thinking itself a bird. That’s what she is,”

Amarachi was so tensed and shivering convulsively at the sight of the gun, thinking about the grief of death but that didn’t help because Uremma finally engaged the pistol, with her hand well placed at the trigger, ready to fire at a slightest provocation.
Amy kept hiding behind the Capone whom she believed could have some Odeshi (charms) as someone in the critically position as the leader of Ndi Obodo fraternity.

“Stop this madness now!” Dave screamed, stretched his hand out and demanded she hands over the gun, “you don’t have to do this, please,” he pleaded, “give me the gun then we can talk,”
“You lie,” she wailed with excruciating tears of sorrow, and then shot Dave ten times all over him.
Dave fell, even though he tried to be manly and withstand the warheads that pierced through his entire body, especially the ones that got embedded in his heart.

When the tall handsome Dave fell, he began to breathe faster and pulsating with a fight to stay alive, making Amarachi to be filled with both rage and fear.

The deafening sound of the gunshot threw everyone in the compound in turmoil, making the entire people take to hiding, except for Ego who couldn’t withstand seeing her daughter killed.

Amarachi held Dave as he panted heavily and about to give up. She was bathed in the pool of his blood, with tears rolling down uncontrollably down on her cheek and raining down on Dave’s lifeless body for he’d already died. She shook his lifeless but that had gone cold, but he didn’t wake or move.
Uremma wasn’t even moved to sympathy but came closer to Amarachi to give her a close-range shot, but Ego rushed and blocked her.

“You must have to kill me before you kill her,” Ego said to Uremma and held Amarachi and Dave in her arms. “Since you’re now a killer, kill us all, but I need a favour from you if you’d…,”
Uremma didn’t even heed to her request, and then shot in the air twice to make Ego Oyibo and every other person who’d want to be a hero to know that she wasn’t going back with her resolution.
“Now, you have to die too,” Uremma said and fired the first shot at Ego but missed the heart; even though she was hit on the left hand.

Amy couldn’t take it anymore, so she rushed towards Uremma and started struggling with her over the possession of the gun.
As the fight went on, every other person couldn’t help. Oji Isi who could have found a way to use Dave’s private gun wasn’t around at the moment.

Uremma got the slightest advantage, used it, and pulled the trigger. She sprayed grains of bullets on Amarachi.
Amy fell on the pull of her blood and remained there, breathing hard and about to pass out.

Ego rushed at her daughter notwithstanding that she had a bullet wound with blood gushing forth. She placed Amy’s head on her laps as Amy’s eyes started going dim as she was about to die. Ego Oyibo with a loud cry and tears blurring her view kept slapping Amarachi to wake up but she was almost crossing the line into the land of the dead.

“Can I take my daughter to the church, please?” The loving mom begged the enraged shooter and cuddled her Amy closely.
Uremma laughed and said: “This isn’t a matter of the church anymore because she’d die here and I’ll die too, so that three of us will continue our fight in either heaven or hell if any of these exists. But the fight must continue afterlife,”

Uremma shot Amarachi four times in the heart to ensure that she stayed dead, and then put a bullet through her own head and died on the spot, splashing her blood everywhere.
Suddenly, Amarachi got up from the bed and began to pant heavily with sweat profusely all over her.

“Jesus! That was close,” She wailed with a quivery tone, “This was so close, or am I awake in afterlife or in the land of the undead?” she touched her body without any wound let alone blood, “what a nightmare,” she added, accompanied by a dead sigh of relief.

In that tensed state and fidget, she got up and realised that she was still putting on the same dress she came back the previous night with. With the feeling of a metal that was enclosed in her palm, she opened her clenched fist and saw the live bullet that fell off from the brown envelope the previous night. The door remained locked as she left it.
With grave fear, Amarachi dropped the bullet like it was hot and it clanked on the floor thrice before rolling to the wardrobe side but her shoes that were lying casually on the floor stopped it.

Taking a deep breath as she kept panting with fear, she raised her eyes with uncontrollable tears of gratefulness to her creator, knelt on the floor, and began to pray fervently against the nightmare that she just woke up from.

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD (And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery) By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor

Episode 9

Her head suffering from a strange migraine, the ticking sound of the clock suddenly became noisy and mind-troubling. The entire roof seemed to be collapsing on her as the thoughts of the dream of the previous night growled in her head like a thunderbolt. Fear brooded all over Amarachi as she kept thinking deeply about the significance of the dream; a bad omen?

“I think it’s time for me to take this nightmare more seriously and be more careful,” Amarachi muttered and kept gazing absently at the rusty bullet lying on the floor.

The pigeons began to coo by the window side just like it was in her dream. The next line of action according to the sequence of the dream was meant to be a gunshot but she heard none, even though she remained hopeful that she would, but still wished that it would never happen.

Leaving the room was so hard for Amarachi because she’d developed cold feet and thinking through the menace of the perilous dream she just woke up from. Amy was pessimistic as she became unconsciously eager to know what comes next but at the same time afraid of the answers she’d get.

It was time for her to go for her Akara business but fright and uncertainty got her totally engrossed in such deafening silence.
Summoning courage, she got up and said, “After all, I’ve prayed and God hears,”

She undressed, took her towel and girded around her. When she entered the Jacuzzi, her mind flashed straight to the water heater that mysteriously stopped working in her dream. She became afraid, entertaining much fearfulness and paranoia as her eyes got affixed to the switch of the heater.

Shaking her head to shake away the vivid thoughts that wouldn’t allow her rest, Amarachi went straight to the heater and checked it out. Truly, it wasn’t working. Untold shiver of uncertainty and sweat got her drowned in goose pimple. She couldn’t move but remained calm knowing full well that the dream was about to become a reality.

As she stood agape, with her hands akimbo and lips fallen apart, she kept reminiscing on every part of the dream. She tried to create a connection between dream and reality.
“Is it that I’m awake in another dream?” she grumbled as that unwelcomed restiveness characterized her entire being at the moment.

As she continued staring at the heater switch, she then realised that she forgot to put it on, so she took a deep breath but wasn’t sure that putting on the switch would make it work.
With heavy concern and fright, she wearily switched on the water heater. The red indicator light responded forthwith; indicating that the heater wasn’t bad, so she heaved a deep sigh of relief and entered the bath tub.
“Thank God,” she vocalised and lay on the Jacuzzi and rested her head on the headrest while she waited for the water to be ready for a hot bath.

In that state of great fear, a knock at her door got her startled as if a ghost was coming after her in a jiffy.
“Please, who is this!?” she echoed angrily, “I’m in the bathroom if you can hear me!”
‘Please, let this not be my mom’ she prayed as she wished the dream remains in dream realm and not come to reality.

The anonymous knocker didn’t say anything but left in shambling but heavy steps as the knock from the footstep gradually became indistinct, indicating that the knocker had gone away.
Amy was still fazed because the shock of the dream never left her mind’s eye.
Amarachi conjured sudden audacity, bearing in mind the kind of woman she is. She deliberately shut out such negative thoughts and remained optimistic that she’d always conquer her fears.

With a loud cry as if she was having a battle of words with an enemy, she yelled, “I have a wolf and a lamb in my mind! My life depends on the one I feed, and I hereby choose to feed the lamb! Let the wolf die of hunger,”
That clamour against her fears really helped Amy a lot and made her conquer that unnerved mind but that didn’t completely erase the fact that she still had lots of fears unconsciously registered within her.

Quickly, she got dressed to a classy girl and opened her door. She walked with sedate steps to Dave’s door and knocked.

Hearing the creak of the inner door, she knew that he could be in the bathroom and probably wanted to come and open the door for her.
Thinking about what her mom told her in the dream concerning giving her a motherly blessing, she left hurriedly to her mom’s room so that she’d be the first person she’d meet and receive the undiluted morning blessings before seeing any other.

Dave opened the door, still having his unsullied towel around his waist, with some lather all over his hair. Seeing no one, he had to finish showering first, so he went back to the bathroom and had a hasty bath just to ensure he meets Amarachi who suddenly became hard-to-find lately.
When Amy wanted to enter Ego Oyibo’s room, the door suddenly unlocked and opened before she could touch the knob.

“I’m glad you came, Nwam,” Ego Oyibo said and pulled Amy into the room, “sit down, please,” she demanded humbly.
“Good morning, mommy,” Amy greeted, looking confused and waiting for her mom to talk about packing out of the duplex as she did in the dream. “Mama, you make me afraid with such reception,” she said and closed the door behind her, and then sat and waited.

“How was your night?” Ego asked and observed her daughter’s pretty face closely.
“It was fine, ma,” Amy replied but still uneasy as she braced herself for the inevitable complained she already envisaged.

“This dress of yours is fine and lovely but…”
“Mom, don’t bother about my cleavage being revealed,” She replied; knowing that her mom wanted to complain that her chest was almost bare and the dressing indecent, “I have a jacket here with me,” she said and unzipped her bag, and then brought out the jacket, “I’ll use it to cover the top,”

“Asikwam! I know my child isn’t an indecent one,” she said with pride and observed Amy’s makeover, “but are all these dressing for the Akara business or are you going out again and not coming back on time as usual?” she asked observing Amy’s face to the point that Amarachi became bashed with shame.

“Mama, I have some things to take care of,” she replied and tapped her mom gently on the nape, “but, seriously, you now look younger, Ego Oyibo Nnem,” she complimented and observed her mom too, “I’m happy we’re here in this house. So don’t think this place is too big and that I won’t be having the time to come and see you or stay with you,”

“I don’t understand,” Ego said, looking a bit confused, “have we discussed anything about leaving this life I enjoy in these rooms filled with big fridges that chill my body. Mbakwa (No at all), we’ve come to stay and we’re not leaving, just that I want you to marry Dave and …”
“Hey, mama,” Amy yelled but in a controlled tone, “I never said I’m dating anyone and I’ve not even given a chance to him …”
“Then give him a chance,” she interjected the clever words, “You love him, don’t you?” she asked making Amy speechless and dumbfounded in thoughts.

“Well, I didn’t say that I don’t love him, mom, but…”
“But what?” Ego asked looking directly into her daughter’s eyes, “It’s written all over you but you keep fighting it. Even when truth lies permanently on your lips, you still pretend. Or do you want Urhobo people to come and take me away when I’ve not seen my grandchildren?”
Even though Amy was happy with the discussion, she was confused with the last part of her mom’s statement. She pondered the words in her mind but couldn’t fathom what she meant by that.

“Who is coming to take you from Urhobo?” Amarachi queried sounding more concerned. She was taken aback by that strange statement and needed answers.
“Please, don’t talk about that now,” Ego said with chuckle, trying to trivialize the issue. She never meant to let the words out at all at first.
“No one is coming for me now, but I’m fine and promise to be okay,” she lied.

Even though Ego Oyibo said she was fine, Amy wasn’t convinced because she wouldn’t want to lose the same woman that had made her life more beautiful.
“I hope you’re not dying soon and….hmmm,” Amy left the statement uncompleted.
“God forbid!” Ego growled and snapped her finger in rejection to that question, “I’ll outlive my enemies. So don’t panic, Mkpulumma, my daughter”
Amy got up to leave because she was already late but her mom stopped her still.

“Ego Oyibo, what else do you want us to talk about?” she asked and checked on her wristwatch to know how late she was for the business of the day.

“Always remember to visit the church because I still believe in the existence of the Supreme Being that controls our lives,” Ego urged, and then bowed her head in reverence and said: “I pray that you go out and come back with good news of your life. I know you have a secret you may not want to share but let the solution come back with you. Your legs would take you where you’d be celebrated, and not where you’d be tolerated,”

It took Amarachi some time as she digested the prayers, in relation to the nightmare she had. She finally broke the loud silence with a loud: “Amen oooo,”

It was just like in the dream when she was throbbing with the fight of her life to stay alive and her mom begged Uremma to allow her (Ego Oyibo) take her daughter to the church. Not just that, even the morning blessing was as it was in the dream.
That morning blessing was a huge encouragement to Amy. She was assured that she wasn’t coming back with bad news but a good one as Ego Oyibo prayed.

Amarachi left immediately, forgetting to go back to Dave to have a brief chitchat with him before leaving.
As she was about to open the compound gate, she heard Dave say: “You’re already forgetting something,”
Looking back, she saw Dave and Ujunwa at the balcony as if they were stalking her to know when she’d sneak out as usual.
Amara felt she just erred because she was always in haste to leave, forgetting to exchange pleasantries with the people that gave her a comfortable life.

Amy’s life had always been that of an independent woman, though she tried her best to ensure she managed the life that Dave welcomed her into.

“Good morning charming lady and gentleman,” Amy greeted with smiles, radiating love and concern.
Her magic worked on Ujunwa but Dave knew that he would have been accorded a more welcoming and endearing closeness other than the casual greetings he gets from her.
“How’re you pretty?” Ujunwa asked; smiling down at her with affection and tenderness. “Babe, you look so sweet for an Akara seller this morning. I hope no one is taking you away from my brother,”

“Hmmm, Uremma, of course,” Amy muttered indistinctly to herself, “Oh…I don’t know the answer to that question,” she said openly and cast a lewd look at Dave who was just putting on his gym figure-hugging tracksuit.
“Funny,” Dave mumbled with sadness, and then threw down the keys of the e-Vogue. It was funny how Amy struggled to catch it. He then said: “I’m surprised that you’ve not made use of the car since the day I bought it for you. It seems you don’t like it?”

Ujunwa knew that Dave wasn’t really happy, even though he pretended to be, so she winked at Amarachi and asked her to come and meet Dave upstairs, though it wasn’t verbally done but with a signal so that Dave wouldn’t understand the language of the women.

Amy knew that she was already late, but wouldn’t want Ujunwa to feel bad about her being insensitive to her signal, so she stooped and picked the car keys and then began to go back into the building to meet them. As she was about to walk up the staircase, she looked up straight ahead and saw Dave coming down as his footsteps announced his arrival. She then waited for him to meet her downstairs.
Just looking at Dave got her clouded with affection but the memory of the gunshot from Uremma still lingered and preoccupied her mind.

“You look dashing and inviting,” Dave complimented when he came to her and held her by the arm with a caress, “I have missed you a lot but seems you’ve been engulfed with the thoughts of fixing your friend’s engagement; even though I’d warned you to stay out of their business,”
Amarachi rolled her eyeballs and smiled; with her eyes affixed to his cute face that was favourably beautified by that well-carved eyebrow.

“I missed you more,” she said shyly and pulled back to make him more spellbound with her natural endowment, “but I have to start going now,” she added and thrust the car keys back to his palm, “I’m sorry to say this, but it seems like I’m accustomed to a lowly life. Take back the keys,”

Dave smiled, seeing how beautiful and innocent she looked as she tried letting him know that she was used to the life of a simple girl. That humble part of her made the feeling he had for her grew more and more.
“Can I whisper something to you?” Dave asked smilingly, flashing that white set of teeth that glittered without blemish.

Amarachi was eager to hear what he had to whisper, even though she was already shy, knowing it could be an additional strategy to woo her.
“Why not say it openly?” she insisted, even though she wasn’t firm with that insistence. “Since we’re alone, you can say it without a whisper,”

Dave smiled as he felt outwitted but still remained firm and determined to whisper to her. “Why not allow me first,” he reiterated.
Amy had to give up and let him have his way since what he wanted to whisper was of utmost importance to him. “Fine, I give in,” she said admittedly and pushed her hair aside to offer her ear for the whisper. “Here, you go, sir,” she said and waited with anticipation of hearing something sweet and pleasant.
Dave came closer, pulled her ear closer and said: “If this is how Akara sellers dress, then no one would ever buy a cake,”

While Amara was still feeling the sweetness of his words, he nibbled her ear that got her tickled.
“Ha-ha-ha,” she laughed; feeling those sweet words that kept dangling in her imagination. “You got me there, especially that gentle bite on my ear,” she confessed.

Amy knew what could come next if that romantic chat lingered, so she left immediately as she continued laughing.
Dave watched her leave, with his lips fallen apart as he kept gazing at her edges and curves with passion and admiration. He imagined such pretty and perky girl like Amarachi as she left.

Since she hadn’t the time to return the car keys, Amarachi had to use the e-Vogue that very day for the first time. But as she entered the exotic car, she remembered that in her dream, it was her truck, and what happened afterward was death and disaster.
A tinge of fear gulped Amarachi’s emotions but she avoided wallowing in such negativity, and then ignited the engine and drove out of the compound without delay.

As she was leaving, she saw her mom admiring her from the window of her room. Dave and Ujunwa were not left out as her audience, and many others.
Amy felt so loved by such a wonderful family, even though she kept wondering what could become of her if Uremma later discovers that the same girl that she disliked because of Osisioma was the same taking her boyfriend away from him.

“Amy,” she murmured to herself, “it seems that trouble locates you without your permission,”
She drove down through Ridge Road to Ose Market to see her friends at the motor park because it was obvious that she’d missed selling her Akara for the day.

The driving continued until she felt she was being followed. Using her rearview mirror, she saw a black Lexus Saloon coming after her. At first, she thought it was just another driver plying the same route of hers but was surprised that the more she navigated away from the car, the more it followed from afar.
Amy redirected her movement and continued on another route but the same car still followed. This got her gravely afraid, even to the extent that her legs started quivering; affecting her driving and making her navigate without caution.

Amarachi didn’t know what else to do at that particular time other than enter the church (Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha) where she believed would be a safe haven to her for the mean time.
Immediately she drove into the church, she went straight to the parking lot and parked. She remained for a while in the car to know if the tinted black car would show up. She was surprised that the car actually showed; though it passed her location and parked at the other side of the church compound.

Amy felt like screaming but didn’t have to raise any alarm since it won’t be easy to be abducted in a secure area like a church. She alighted and quickly went into the church.

There was absolute serenity; with the statues looking like they were going to communicate to her. She enjoyed the absolute repose of the church and sat to pray, but her mind was still troubled, so she couldn’t concentrate.
“Mom said that I should always remember the church,” she muttered to herself but fear still got her cocooned in that church. Uneasiness couldn’t just let her be because she wanted to know if the black car was still in the church compound.

Peering through the window for a check, she saw two hefty guys on all-black top and jean coming into the church too. The macho guys with thick abs and strong body build weren’t smiling at all, with their eyes shaded with thick black specs.

Out of great feeling of fear that something bad was about to happen, Amy suddenly got up from her sitting position and looked searchingly around to know where to hide.
In order to outrun the two guys, Amy quickly removed her high-heeled shoes and left them at the pew where she sat, and then rushed towards the back of one of the statues but it wasn’t the best hiding place.
She saw a priest on her way towards the back side of the church, and then pretended as if she was busy with her bag.

Being that she had nothing to cover her hair; she quickly used her handkerchief for that purpose, and then smiled sheepishly to the priest as pretence that all was well.
“Good afternoon, Reverend,” she greeted with a curtsy and passed.
The priest noticed that the girl was barefooted but didn’t stop her because, in the church, life-troubling issues can lead to certain behaviours.

Being that the priest just left the confessional, Amy quickly rushed into the booth and locked it up. She remained there and waited. The booth was the best hiding place for her at the moment.
As she remained in the booth incognito, she wished that the priest doesn’t come back too soon to see a woman hiding in the confessional of the Roman Catholic Church.

She held back until the two macho guys; after waiting for a while outside the church premises, entered the church. They scouted for Amarachi but didn’t see her except her shoes that they saw in one of the pews and took it; probably as evidence to whoever sent them. The macho men never suspected that Amarachi could hide in a booth that is exclusively reserved for priests when hearing a confession.
When they stayed a little longer in the church without any luck of seeing Amy, they left.
Amarachi wanted to come out from the confessional but decided to wait a bit longer to be sure they had gone for good.

When she was assured that no one was there, she tried to unlock the booth and come out but heard a knock from a confessor; maybe one of the church members that came to confess her sins.
Amy wanted to tell the lady not to go ahead confessing because she was just a laity but looking straight ahead; she saw one of the hefty guys coming back into the church so she remained there without a choice, other than to disguise her tone and pretend to be a priest.
She knew she could ask God for forgiveness later because at that point, she had no choice than to play along and remain covert and alive.

“Father, I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” the confessor said but Amara couldn’t reply because her tone could be noticed to be of a woman.
As the confessor waited for the priest to respond, Amy had no choice than to say: “Go on, my daughter,”
Her tone wasn’t deep enough but was strong enough to be likened to that of a man with a touch of a female voice.

“I am not really here for a confession but seeking a counsel,” The beautiful voice said.
Amarachi was so uncomfortable for usurping a priest’s duties but she had no other option left because one of the hefty guys was already kneeling at the rear pew of the church, faking being in prayer mood but seriously looking around to know if he could catch a glimpse of the girl they came for.

“Go on, my daughter,” Amy said again with such monotony in her voice.
After clearing her throat, the girl continued: “Reverend, I’ve been pretending to be whom I’m not, just to find my way into some documents and treasure hidden in a building where my fiancé is occupying,”

Amarachi wanted to shout as a result of being wowed at hearing that but that would make the covertness of her position revealed, so she remained calm and dedicated to the accidental impersonation already going on.
“Tell me about it, please,” she asked and listened.
With faint sobs, she shook her head in anguish and went on with the confession: “I entered a family and pretended to be in love with my fiancé but I was simply playing to the gallery,” she said while Amarachi listened.
As Amy heard the confession, she still didn’t lose attention on the macho man sitting in the church and observing around.

“I’m listening,” Amara said and remained calm.
“The problem I have now is that I’ve come to fall in love with this guy for real but there is no way I could avoid the claws of my boss who happens to be my boyfriend and my handler,” she confessed with tears. “When I made up my mind to tell my fiancé everything about my mission, I met him proposing to another girl who was actually the cause of our problem with him initially,”

Amarachi was startled to hear this part because she already knew that it was Ugwunwa. She was wowed to ascertain that Ugwunwa was just an informant and mercenary and not actually someone meant for Chike. It was then bare and an open secret that Ugwunwa was just feigning being madly in love with him.
Amy was determined to hear the entire confession in order to know how to rescue her childhood friend from the unscrupulous plotters.

“This is serious, my daughter. But you can go on,” she said in a deep voice.
The girl paused for a while, making Amarachi suspect she could have known that the person in the booth wasn’t a priest, probably there was something a priest should have said that she wasn’t getting right.
“Now, I want to go back to him and continue playing the game, but I’m afraid of two things,” Ugwunwa continued, still weeping as her tone grew dimmer.

“What are the two reasons for your fears?” Amy asked and waited to hear the rest of the secret plot.
Taking a deep breath, she said: “He may have moved on with the other girl I forced him to propose to. That’s the first,”
“And the second?” Amy asked and waited.
“The second is that, even if he accepts me back and asks for forgiveness, how then will I remain the bait in this perilous game? The problem with being a bait is that the bait always dies; either it’s killed by the hook or eaten by the fish. In any way you see it, the bait won’t survive,”

Amy felt sympathy at this point, but the problem and danger awaiting Chike definitely outweighs the sympathy she felt for Ugwunwa’s ordeal.
Ugwunwa tried to balance between her mission and her love.

“But now that it has come to be like this,” Amy continued grilling Ugwunwa for more, “Why not meet your man and settle things with him because I’m sure he hasn’t married the girl that caused the trouble between you guys,”
Amy certainly didn’t know when she made a mistake of sounding as if she knew about the other side of the story. She felt like taking back her last words but it was already out.

“Reverend, how did you know about this?” The distressed girl queried curiously, making Amarachi speechless.
As Amarachi was about to outwit the confessor cleverly and make her continue, she saw the priest standing behind the girl.

“Oh, sorry, I went out for lunch but I’m now back,” The gentle priest said looking surprised and wondering who Ugwunwa was confessing to.
“What about Fr. Paul,” Ugwunwa asked, looking confused, “maybe he’s the one…”
“Father Paul is on a retreat in Enugu,” The priest said and began to knock at the confessional but Amy remained calm because she didn’t want Ugwunwa or even those hefty guys trailing her to see her.
It wasn’t easy for Amarachi to unlock the confessional because she knew the implications, so she remained calm.
Ugwunwa was so curious and furious at the same time for divulging her secret to a stranger.

The macho man suddenly became interested in the drama and came closer to inquire what was going on.
“Fr. Augustine,” Ugwunwa called bewilderedly, “who then is in the booth if the whereabouts of the two priests meant to be here are known?” Ugwunwa tried forcing the confessional open but Amy kept the door bolted and was determined to remain there unless it’s broken.

In this situation, Amarachi was left between the devil and the deep blue sea.
“Wait, let me break it open so that we’d know who the impostor is,” The macho man said and brought out a revolver and went to the confessional to force it open by crook or by hook.

AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
#OpraDre

TO BE CONTINUED…

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