Belina (Tender Beauty) EPISODE 5

© Nissi Adeola

There is a saying that it is when there is trouble that you remember your creator, but I would advise you to remember your creator always so that trouble would flee from you. ***

Adewale arrived at Living Faith Bible Church and met the place open. He hadn’t been to church for more than two months so he was surprised when he saw some changes in the church.

He headed towards the altar looking like a prodigal son and when he got there, he knelt down and all he could do was stare blankly. He stared at the pulpit and remembered the times the pastor had preached on Faith but it made no sense to him then.

He held onto the pulpit and tried to say something to God but nothing seemed to come out of his mouth so he let his thoughts do the talking.

He laid on the altar some minutes later and felt peace from within. All his thoughts and worries seemed to have flown away and within minutes, he was asleep.

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Tunji laid on his extra-large bed in similarly massive room thinking about what he had planned to do for the night. His mind kept on telling him that it was not a good idea and that it was too risky but he ignored it.

He had seen Belina at his dad’s birthday party and had instantly fallen for her. He had bragged and told everyone that she would be his girl soon but he had tried all his possible best and hadn’t been able to get her to at least smile in his direction for the past one month.

His phone started ringing and he when he noticed that it was Belina’s father, he picked up immediately. After talking for some minutes, he hung up and really had a reason to smile. He dialed Tolu’s number and he picked almost immediately. “There is going to be a change of plans, meet me here in thirty minutes”, he said and hung up immediately.

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As Tony and Richard made their way home, Richard was busy thinking about the damsel in blue gown and therefore was very silent, Tony noticed this and joked about it but Richard said he was just stressed up.

Richard got home and made a mental note to relax well in order to banish the reoccurring thought and immediately he opened his wallet, a passport slipped out of his wallet and as he picked it up, his nightmares returned. He stared at the passport of Tonia which he took her to snap about a year ago and all he wanted to do was work until dawn so that he would not sleep and have nightmares.

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Mr. Badmus dropped the phone on the table and smiled. ‘Now things are going as planned’, he thought. If she would not accept the easy way, she would accept the hard way.

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I walked into my ever silent street around 9pm in the night after the concert. My ministration had gone so well that I had been thanking God all through. I banished all thoughts of Kelvin as I made my way home cos I wouldn’t want him to spoil my day.

After the service, I received so many thanks from people around and the coordinators gave me an envelope which I hadn’t opened yet including a bag which I guess contains beverages and other things. I had just stepped out of the church when a girl of eighteen walked up to me and said, “Miss Belina?” I turned around, “yes?”

“Pls ma, i love your voice, your song and everything about you and I would like you to be my mentor, plsss?”

I laughed, “for starters, I am not ma, you can call me Belina, and why not, I would definitely be glad to be your mentor”, I said. She was so happy that she jumped on me and apologized later and I laughed. We later exchanged numbers and she promised to call me.

I was about entering my compound when I made a mental note to jot down everything that happened today in my diary, the day seemed to be a blessed day. I entered my house and I was instantly grabbed from behind. The last thing that came to my mind before I passed out was, “I don die”.

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“Brother Wale..”, pastor Adewuyi called. Adewale opened his eyes slowly and the first thing that he saw was a ceiling fan. I don’t have a ceiling fan in my house, he thought.

“Brother Wale, are you ok?” the pastor asked looking worried. Adewale turned to the speaker and noticed that it was Pastor Adewuyi and became more confused. Am I here for deliverance? He wondered but when he sat up, he noticed that he was on the altar and everything that happened including the reason why he was there became clear to him. He looked at the pastor and said, “Pastor, I am not ok, in fact, I am distressed”.

Pastor Adewuyi took Adewale to his office and Wale relayed the events of the past two days to the pastor.

Pastor Adewuyi sighed and said to Wale, “you have to be strong for yourself and for your friend. The devil puts fear in our hearts in order to make us doubt God. You need to be close to God now more than ever because surviving a coma can only happen with God”.

Adewale sighed and nodded before he joined hands with the pastor and they prayed for more than twenty minutes. Adewale left that place feeling confident that God would definitely do something spectacular.

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Prisca dialed Belina’s number the ninth time that night and still heart, “the number you have dialed is switched off, pls try again…”. She hissed as she threw the phone on the bed. She was terribly worried cos she had promised to call around 10pm when she was sure that her father would be asleep to conclude on the time they would carry out their plan.

Belina had explained everything to Prisca and even though Belina didn’t like being a burden, Prisca had been able to successfully convince her that moving in with them was the best option. She had always wanted her around since she was the last born and also the only unmarried child of the house. She had become lonely and Belina being her best friend had visited a couple of times and she had enjoyed her company immensely. She had talked to her parents and they had supported their plan.

She looked at the time and noticed that it was almost 12 midnight and she became more worried. She contemplated calling Belina father in order to stylishly ask for Belina’s whereabouts but cancelled it immediately, then she picked up her phone and dialed Tony.

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I opened my eyes and the building I found myself started changing colour. It was after some minutes that my sight regulated. The room was very dark that it took sometime for me to see anything important. I remembered my abduction and made sure I was completely still. I heard a snoring sound ahead of me and carefully as I could, I traced the sound and was not surprised when I found two guys.

I remembered that I was drugged but it is either that the drug was not so powerful or that God made me with extra tire for a time like this.

I noticed that they were fast asleep and I tried to stand up but my legs were unstable. I gathered all the will inside me and pushed my weight up. I swayed but didn’t dare fall for fear of giving myself away. I noticed that my shoes were gone and I didn’t bother about it. As I tip toed out, I saw my bag extremely close to one of the guys and making a cross sign, I bent to pick the bag. As I was lifting the bag, it mistakenly his the guy lying beside it and i froze. The guy turned and to my relief, he changed position and continued his sleep.

I creaked the door open and it made some funny sounds that i expected that someone would have woken up but i did not hear anything. I sneaked out of the place with my heart in my mouth, hoping that there was no one outside and glory be to God, i found myself running towards the road within seconds bare footed.