Dora And The Water god!
Episode 8
… My stepmother and her children stood outside the house crying their eyes out.
“What exactly have I done to the gods that’s making them punish me this way” She lamented still in tears, opened the living room door and then returned in, while her children followed from behind.
Now in my room wondering if that could be Neon’s handwork too, I stood by the window watching the cloudy sky pour down its content on our neighbour’s roof and I shook my head.
“Only the gods know what offence this woman has committed this time if at all it’s her fault” I muttered to myself.
When it later stopped raining, my stepmother came into my room with an empty container of water telling me to go to the river to fetch water, I didn’t argue.
I took the container from her but I noticed she was staring at me. I became so uncomfortable and I turned to leave but she called my name all of a sudden, still staring at me.
“Where did you get that? ” She probed pointing at the necklace Neon gave to me.
“This?” I asked, touching it, and she nodded with a hand on her waist.
“A… a friend gave it to me” I said already so fr!ghtened.
“This is not an ordinary necklace, and I’m sure you must have stolen it from someone”
“No no ma, I swear on my late father, I didn’t steal it. A friend gave it to me”
“No problem, put it in my palm” She said stretching forth her hand.
“I can’t ma” I said.
She tried to force me to remove it but I refused, and she asked me to get out of her sight , which I did immediately by zooming off.
“I give you just an hour to fill up those three drums in the kitchen” She said at the top of her voice when I was already outside the house.
I sprinted to the river without singing this time around so that Neon wouldn’t come out and delay me , fetched my water and then hurried back to the house but to my surprise as soon as I stepped into the kitchen, I started hearing my stepmother telling her children that the necklace I wore wasn’t an ordinary one.
“I know that necklace, it costs a fortune. Only the gods know where she must have st0len it from” She said.
“If I lay my hands on it, I’ll just sell it and buy myself a motorcycle ” I heard her son say.
“Mor0n. Who’s talking about a motorcycle? That necklace can build ten modern houses in this village if you don’t know ” She said.
“Wow! So, I’m sure we are not going to continue watching her wear it like it’s valueless ” Said her daughter.
“What do you want to do? Let’s keep watching her first to know where she st0le it from before we take action ” Said my stepmother.
I tiptoed back outside the house with the water still on my head, waited for a few minutes and I went back into the kitchen to pour the water in one of the drums and as soon as they heard me, they paused.
I left almost immediately back to the river as I walked slowly on my way there in sh0ck. I kept touching the necklace, and I pondered on all they said.
I thought of sitting by the river to sing but I didn’t want Neon to know anything yet.
By Blessing-Enejo Abrahams Elleywrites.
I fetched my water and I walked back slowly. Still on my way home, I had left the premises of the river when my stepbrother and her friend jumped out from a nearby bush holding a kn!fe.
“I need that necklace you’re wearing” My brother said in a baritone, widening his arms.
“What? Nedi, what are you doing here?” I said already in shivers.
“I said give me the necklace. You’re not de@f, or are you?” He quizzed.
“I’m sorry, I can’t “
“You say what?” He quizzed, walked up to me, grabbed my arms and my water container fell and got broken.
He called on his friend who rushed forward and wanted removing it f0rcefully but I bit his hand. He then got @ngry, and brought out his own kn!Fe and st@bbed me by my stomach but we were all sh0cked when the kn!fe refused to penetrate my sk!n.
He st@bbed me again but same thing, and my brother withdrew immediately leaving my arms, stood beside his friend and began to stare at me.
“Come, this girl is a w!tch” His friend said but my brother took to his heels leaving his friend behind, who also ran away when he saw that he was the only one left.
I got up, looked at myself, touched where I was st@bbed but felt nothing. I cleaned up myself but I was too sh0cked to either return to the river or go back home. And then, I decided to go back to the river.
I sat there crying without singing for almost an hour when a neighbour showed up to fetch water. She asked me what was wrong but I told her nothing. She took me by the arm, made me get up and she started dusting my b0dy.
“Let’s go home” She said.
“No ma, please let me stay here for a while”
“No, I insist. Let’s go home” She said pulling my arm.
I followed but I was sc@red, and I couldn’t tell her my encounter with my younger brother. She took me home to my stepmother who was already fuming, yelling that I came back late but the neighbour begged her not to touch me, and then left to her own house.
“So where’s the water you went to fetch?” She asked but as soon as she mentioned it, my step brother came out from the living room giving me an ugly stare, I immediately understood what that look meant and I lied to her that it broke.
She approached in @nger, and slapped me on my cheek but she grabbed her own cheek instead as soon as she slapped me, while I felt no pain.
“Again? I understand” She said, nodding her head, pushed me away and then left the house, walking away in a rush but I didn’t know where she was going.
Well, she returned later and made me make a sumptuous meal for the family. She gave me a large portion but I was surprised at her sudden change and I devoured the food without mercy.
I woke up the next morning without the necklace on my neck and when I approached her in the presence of her children, I was be@ten up, and the son str@ngled me to death…
To be continued.
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©️ Blessing-Enejo Abrahams Elleywrites
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Chei poor Dora