THE WITCH’S DAUGHTER Episode 5 – Tim’s Stories
It had been 23 years now. I was now a grown man. I was almost thirty years and a lot had happened in my life. I had graduated from the university, had a masters degree and now work as an accountant in a famous bank in the country. I had aslo gotten myself a beautiful girl and we were about to marry. Sorry to disappoint you, my fiancee was not Lily, the witch’s daughter. It was a beautiful girl I had met at the university.
Talking about Lily, I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her for almost 23 years. I had completely lost contact with her. I wondered how big she must be now. However, she had become very remote to me and I hoped and trusted the fact that, she must have forgotten about our foolish oath. But then, in spite of the fact that I hadn’t seen Lily physically, she had been plaguing my dreams.
I remember one dream particulary. She appeard to me in my bedroom and told me that she had not forgotten our vows. She said she had come to make me rich so that when we marry, I would not be poor. She asked me to look under the bed. I did and saw a strange creature with a golden ring on one of it’s fingers. She pulled the ring from the creature’s finger and handed it to me. She told me that with that ring, I would be extremely rich. I refused to take the ring and she disappeared, angrilly and I woke up from the dream.
In another dream, she came to me and told me that she had been busy with her mother’s craft and that was why she had not been able to see me often. She said I should’t bother because she still loved me and will henceforth send a messenger to act as a go-between between us. She begged me to be curteous to her messenger and I accepted. The nextday, I saw a big snake crawling into my house. I raised an alarm and my neighbours came and killed the snake. She came to my dream and told me she was angry at me for killing her messenger.
Other times, I dreamt how she came to my bedroom at the dead of night, took my soul with her and went flying at night to distant places. When we were exhausted, she brougt back my soul. While were flew, we both had yellow palm fronds in our mouths to ward off any force that wanted to attack us. I always woke up from these dreams feeling terribly frightened. The height of it all was when I saw a black cat on my verandah. I was terribly scared that day and didn’t leave home for the rest of the day.
Two days to my traditional wedding, I was in my office at the bank when I was told that someone wanted to see me. The security man said it was a lady; a beautiful lady. I asked him to usher her in and I almost jumped out of my skin when she walked in. It had been many years but I recognized her instantly. It was Lily. She had grown big and beautiful. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Jesus Christ!!” I exclaimed, as she walked in. “Lily, you have grown big and beautiful. How did you find me by the way.”
“Good afternoon, Sammy. I see you have grown big and successful too. As for your question about how I found you, I asked around. It’s always not very difficult to locate a handsome man.” She said without smiling.
“Anyway, welcome. As you can see, I am still at work. What can I offer you?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yes, nothing.”
“Wow!! Well, what brings you to my office?” I asked.
“I came to remind you of our vows. We promised not to love any other person and we promised to marry each other. I have come to fulfill that promise. I have stayed a virgin all these years because I promised myself I would give myself only to one man. You are that man.” She said.
“You still remember those childhood promises? Look here Lily, if I kept to all the promises I have made over these years, I would be married to about ten women now. Please, those are childhood promises. Disregard them and let’s go our separate ways. We are adults now.” I told her offhandedly.
“No!!” She said, firmly. “I have come for you. The only thing that prevented me from coming to you to fulfill my oath was my mother. She passed a while ago and I am now free. I have come to get my love and nothing will stop me.” She said in a threatening voice.
“Oh!! Your mum passed. That is sad. What happened?’ I asked.
“She messed up with the wrong person. She tried to bewitch a man that was stronger than her, spiritually. She was struck, went mad and died in a lonely place, all by herself. Her corpse was discovered a few days later in an advanced state of decomposition. She was dumped in a shallow grave.” She narrated.
“You sound as if you do not miss her.” I said.
“I don’t. She got what she deserved.” She said, frankly.
“Well, Lily, I am afraid to say this but there is no other way. I am engaged to be married. My traditional wedding will actually take place in a few days.”
“You are not serious, are you?” She asked with rage.
“I am serious, Lily. I am sorry for all those childhood promises we made. Please, I belong to another woman now and I will be making it legal in a few days. You are a beautiful girl; very very, beautiful. Someone will marry you, but that someone is not me, please.” I tried to make her see reason.
“I promised to love only one man in my life and that was you. No one will ever take you away from me. This is a warning to you, desist from any attempt to marry anyone else.” She was spitting fire now.
“Go home, Lily. I am engaged already. Noithing can stop it, not even you. My wedding will go as planned. So don’t stand there and threaten me. In fact, leave my office now before I show you why the bat flies at night.” I threatened.
“You dare say that to me after all these years of waiting? You have guts. You really have guts. You seem to have forgotten whose daughter I am. Anyway, go and marry your wife and have as much fun as you can because it won’t last. I promise you it won’t last.”
She walked out of my office and slammed the door behind her. I sat on my comfortable office chair and sweated in spite of the air conditioner. I couldn’t believe my innocent past was coming to hunt me. Something that was just a childhood game was coming to hunt me now. I decided I would tell my dad about what had just happened.
TO BE CONTINUED…
