AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
Amarachi The Beautiful Poor Child - Chapter Eleven (Part 2)
Theme: And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery
By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor
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“He didn’t use me for a ritual,” Uremma insisted, “he said that I have lots
of powers inside me. He once mentioned that I have a connection with the
source of his wealth...I just don’t know how to explain it ...”
“Don’t explain further,” Amarachi said, knowing full well about the
complications of the mystery, “but that never explained why you’re facing
eviction,” Amy insisted, still sounding suspicious because she felt that Uremma
was being economical with the truth.
The stubborn and insistent part of Amarachi just got evident, so Uremma
suddenly realised that she couldn’t conceal the truth so she had to be open and
bare.
“I knew that after Akunna’s tenure I’d take over as the queen mother, but
that dream I’d prayed never to come through came staring at me. My father
and I went into a serious battle when he convinced me to take up the
responsibility but I remained stubborn and unyielding,”
Amy was impressed with her at this juncture for Uremma’s bravery and
steadfastness, so she applauded her with a clap of appreciation.
“I think I love this,” Amarachi said joyously and smiled, “but if I were you,
I’d have simply denounced and be free than take up the position as the queen
mother and be enslaved by the fraternity,”
Uremma smiled knowing full well about the options she’d explored.
“Well, this same suggestion of yours kept me in this condition,” Uremma
said as she remained abysmally gloomy.
Amy grimaced when she heard this but that ignited the curiosity in her
and roused her attentiveness.
“Tell me about this, please,” Amy said and pulled her to sit because she’d
noticed the worrisome of Uremma’s throbbing heart.
“I have denounced the slay queens,” she said without mincing words.
“Wow, yes...” Amy echoed with happiness.
“But my father insisted that I must have to choose between continuing to
be the source of his wealth and still remain under his auspices, or denounce the sisterhood and have my entire entitlements, benefits, and immunity I enjoy
from him stripped of me,”
Amy’s glee suddenly collapsed into dispiritedness and she remained
daunted. It was then she knew that there was something about Ozo Odenjinji
that the mind couldn’t comprehend or the heart discern.
It was obvious that Uremma was still far from knowing the real story
behind her Dad’s connection with her concerning his wealth.
“I’m still lost,” Amy said, not because she couldn’t wrap it around her
lucid mind but for Uremma to give her the chance to talk about Dave; the
reason why she came.
“I never believed my dad until I started seeing things turn difficult for
him since I denounced the fraternity,” she said to Amarachi’s greatest shock,
“leaving the fraternity affected him so much because my dad started moving
from one problem to the other. This even made him beg me fervently to come
back to terms with him and reconsider my options and decisions but I
remained stubborn and adamant, even though I’d been tempted to concur,”
More complications located Amarachi because of this revelation but that
never offered a promise of revealing the exact reason why Uremma was
pivotal to her dad’s wealth.
“You need to grill him for lots of explanations,” Amy suggested but
Uremma didn’t have to consider going back because she’d been abandoned
and disowned by her dad.
“The only huge effort and suggestion I made was reminding him that he
still had Chisimdi, and could initiate her since she’s his offspring too,” Uremma
said and snorted her anger, “but that triggered an unexpected reaction that
made me wonder if Ozo Odenjinji was still my dad,”
“You mean this?” Amarachi asked with her mouth agape.
“My dad who pets and pampers me a lot gave me a hot slap that got my
earlobe red and painful,” she replied as her eyes suddenly got blurred with
sorrowful tears.
The more Amy was engulfed in an unquenchable craving for answers, the
more she became confused about the information being divulged. Amid her
preparedness to end the confusion, her inquisitiveness wouldn’t allow her to
end the interrogative session.
“Now that you’ve stopped enjoying the patronage of your dad,” Amy
asked and held her warm hands, “what will you do to maintain the status of
the classiest girl in your faculty, let alone continuing your competition with...”
“I’m done competing with Osisioma. She can take the wins,” Uremma
admittedly said indicating that she’d changed for good, “Even though I’d been
thinking of dropping out from school because of shame but that would be
disastrous. It is better I face the inimical comments and reactions from haters
and wallow in shame than drop out. I’ve even decided to be born again,”
“Ha-ha,” Any burst into an unwished laughed, then fought it back so that
Uremma wouldn’t mistake it for a mockery. “I’m sorry I laughed but I suggest
you be yourself. You must not be born again to be good, but with the best of
my intuition, you just wanted to pretend to be born again and not that you
actually would be one. Am I lying?”
Uremma knew for sure that Amarachi was right in her insinuation, so she
couldn’t give her an answer. She didn’t need to be verbal to confirm that Amy
was right but her short-lived smile confirmed it.
“I have my success in my palm; to be rich or poor,” Uremma said with
vehemence, “If I go back to the sisterhood, I’d become rich, if I remain firm on
my decision, I’d remain cashless. So you see that the decision to liberate myself
from poverty is like giving my soul to damnation that I wouldn’t be freed
from,” Uremma said looking meditative and sad.
Amarachi was so sympathetic at this point because she knew the kind of
mental and emotional stress that Uremma found herself drowning in. She
didn’t even know what to advise her to do. She imagined how difficult it would
be for her to reject the palatable offer of going back to the frat if she were in
her shoes.
Even though she was moody because of Uremma’s decision, she was so
proud of her.
“So, what do you know about Dave and Akunna that got you so frightened
to the extent of denouncing the fraternity just to avoid what happened to them
from happening to you when you assume office?”
Uremma didn’t even know the answer to the unforeseen question because
she was never privy to such information.
“The only people that can have a concrete answer to that are the cartel,”
she answered, raising more concerns and curiosity in Amy’s mind.
“Cartel?”Amy asked and stood to go since she got no information about
what she came for but ended up going back with some family secrets that got
her mind obsessed without a quest for a solution.
“At least I’m happy that you promised to buy the house,” Uremma said
thankfully but Amarachi’s smile got her confused and wanting, “you’re still
buying, right?”
“I’m not,” she replied bluntly, “where can I get the money to buy such
house. I simply bought some time, for you to avoid embarrassment,”
Even though Uremma was grateful and happy for Amy’s role in making
the mortgagers let her be, she was still dispirited knowing that she couldn’t
help her out the way she made it seem with a promise to buy the property.
“The cartel is the league of secret elders; those who run the affairs of
different school frats and even run the government if they're allowed to
penetrate. And if not allowed, they’d overheat the polity and cause mayhem to
the incumbent government in power,”
That sounded like an unruly group to Amy, so she didn’t have to seek
solution about what happened to Dave other than go home and pray, then
wish that fate turns in favour of the man she loves.
Uremma felt like keeping Amy with her a bit longer but there was
nothing she could do since the visitor would still have to go back to Onitsha,
and the sun was already retiring to the west.
Amy left Uremma to her fate because she was sure that the mortgagers
would still come back. She was still worried since she learned the truth about
what kept Uremma in her current condition. She pondered the mystery that
Uremma couldn’t even unravel about her personality and family life. It was
even surprising for her that Uremma never got interested in matters relating
to Dave, not to mention trying to know why the same girl who dropped out of
school and had no connection with Dave would be the one championing his
release.
Uremma’s attention was no more with Dave because her family-induced
tribulations and personal trial had taken her mind off the bad guy just for her
to remain aloof and shun the same guy that could convince her to fall for her
dad’s temptations.
**
Nightfall had assumed its nocturnal duty while the day gone for a rest
when Amarachi got home. It was then she realised that she didn’t take any
calls while in serious discussion with Uremma (a habit she couldn’t stop).
When she was still outside the gate, there was lots of noise in the compound
like there was a loud cry; especially hearing Ujunwa’s voice that towered
above others. It was obvious to Amarachi that Dave must have met his
waterloo; hence, the cries.
When she entered with grave fear and shivering hands, she was wowed
to see Dave looking more handsome as if he just came back from a summer
holiday. She couldn’t understand how the same guy that made her take a few
hours’ driving to Awka be back as if he was busy enjoying himself all the while
that he was gone. She was all flushed with both joy and embarrassment.
At this point, the nature of a woman overtook her. She imagined how
Akunna and Dave must have been enjoying each other while she was sick with
concerns and drowned in restiveness. It was obvious to her because from what
she observed, Dave wasn’t tortured but well fed.
Amy became curious, jealous, happy and angry. She couldn’t just fathom
what she felt anymore but a general feeling of joy could be said to be more
dominating in her. She alighted from the car and kept dangling the keys on
her finger as she observed.
Dave suddenly rushed at her and embraced her. He was so happy that he
finally came back to meet her.
Seeing such happiness written all over Dave, Amy couldn’t get mad at
him anymore but remained grateful in such bliss. She was fussy too but a tinge
of happiness overtook every other feeling in her.
After a while of remaining clamped to his arms, she raised her eyes full of
joyful tears and asked: “Dave, can you start talking. I’m so curious right now,”
“I am happy to see you,” Dave said, trying to avoid going into the details.
Amy knew he was avoiding something but wasn’t ready to fall for the
alluring words this time, so she remained insistent: “Where have you been and
what happened?”
“I left distressed but came back happy,” he replied and dragged her into
the sitting room but Amy was still not relaxed.
When Ujunwa, Ego Oyibo, and others had gone upstairs to their different
rooms, Amy knew it was time to engage Dave in a serious talk. But before then,
she was eager to know about Akunna so that she could visit her too and
congratulate her for coming back safely.
In that silence, she asked: “What of Akunna. I hope she looks as good as
you do. Well, she’d have her explanation to make later when I meet with her
so that...”
“Akunna didn’t come back,” he said abruptly in a painful tone. “She
couldn't make it,”
Amarachi was rattled by that thunderbolt, getting her entire body system
changed. The last happiness still left in her suddenly disappeared.
Tears couldn’t allow her to talk. All she had in her mind that moment was the
last time she met with Akunna in Dave’s house, the entire fun they had in school during the previous tutorial class and the way she used her lesson notes
and textbooks to prepare for the exam class. All got stuck in her memory,
making her flushed with fever.
“What happened to my friend?” Amarachi asked in a sonorous voice,
“why did you come back and she didn’t? I know nothing about the internal
politics of your ferocious group but what politics did they do to kill my friend
and then bring you back?”
Dave was utterly dumbfounded as he tried to explain but the truth about
the whole issue was that he couldn’t explain it. After a while, as he remained
lost in thoughts, he said: “All I can say is that I was released after the entire
preparation for the usual ritual but Akunna wasn’t, so they murdered her as a
sacrifice to pass the mantle of leadership to Uremma,”
Uncontrollable tears kept her eyes busy. Amarachi couldn’t stop that loud
cry because she loved her friend so much even though she betrayed her trust.
The entire people in the compound were concerned about Amy’s cry but
they didn’t have to interfere because she was with Dave and must have had
her reasons to cry. They were speculative though.
“Then why did you not face the same penalty?” she asked sobbingly, with
warm tears raining down her cheek.
“I don’t have an explanation to this, but was simply told that the
juggernaut got me freed,” he replied.
“Then who is this juggernaut that could influence the decision of the
cartel?” she asked, looking so worried and tensed.
“The Cartel?” Dave phrased looking bemused, “how did you know about
the cartel?” he asked, demanding to know how the language of the frat filtered
into the mouth of a novice.
“It doesn’t answer my question,” Amy maintained with anger as her neck
suddenly became veiny with excruciation, “who is the juggernaut that set you
free, Dave?
Dave shook his head because he didn't even know who the juggernaut
was. His reply left Amarachi more curious and disturbed for the truth.
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