AMARACHI THE BEAUTIFUL POOR CHILD
Amarachi The Beautiful Poor Child - Chapter Fifteen (Part 1)
Theme: And Her Journey to Destiny-Discovery
By Erasmus Ugochukwu Okafor
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NOTICE:
Copyright ©:
No unauthorized reproduction, reprinting,
plagiarising, commercialization, or rewording of
this fictional work is allowed.
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Akunna remained in a coma because of the near-death experience she
had as she was earmarked for sacrifice for the perpetuity of the Sisterhood of
the Slay Queens.
Dave and Amarachi couldn’t get any information from her due to her
state of health. With Amarachi’s plea, Dave took Akunna to Onitsha to his
family hospital to ensure she was properly taken care of and to hide her away
from the public to avoid the cartel locating the poor girl again to complete the
sacrifice.
Amy and Dave still never discussed anything about Uremma because they
were both reluctant to do so with their different personal reasons.
Amarachi missed some classes just to take care of Akunna at the clinic.
Even though Ego Oyibo advised her to go back to school so that she’d take care
of Akunna but Amy insisted. The worst of it all was that no one knew whom
Akunna’s parents were and how to locate them because it was obvious that
they would be dying of heartbreak or agony.
As the heartbeat monitor beeped; showing that Akunna was still
somewhere inside her body, Amarachi remained glued to the couch as she
monitored every bit of the vital signs. She was on the verge of sleeping off but
she felt as if Akunna’s life depends on her being asleep or awake. She nodded
severally but kept keeping her face awash just to remain awake but that never
helped.
After a while of making some efforts to remain awake, she was surprised
that her eyes suddenly became wide open as if the uninvited sleep checked the
next door.
It was surprising to Amarachi to see Akunna’s eyes open gradually.
Amarachi was so surprised and rushed towards her but afraid to stress
her with an embrace.
“Baby, welcome back to the land of the living,” she whispered with great
joy and gave her a peck on her forehead. “You’ve been in a coma for five days
now,” Amy hinted and continued observing her haggard face and weak eyes.
Akunna was weak and full of surprises. She didn’t know what to say but
remained thankful to God with a wave in the hair as she demonstrated her
state of thankfulness to her creator.
Amarachi didn’t want to say anything but remained there and smiling.
She didn’t know how to go and consult the doctor because she felt that leaving
the room might make Akunna die.
After a while of gazing at Amarachi with a face full of gratefulness, she
smiled and said wearily: “I’m sorry for all I’ve done...”
“Hey, stop that, please,” Amarachi said, “you won’t understand how happy
I feel right now as if a part of me just returned to life. I’m happy that you’re
alive,”
“Thank you,” Akunna replied wearily and exhaled a lump of air, “where
are we?
“You’re in the hospital now and you’re free from the cartel,” Amy assured
her and looked at her with admiration, “you’re still that cute friend I missed,
but you’d get better soon okay,”
Akunna smiled faintly and tried to get up but Amarachi didn’t allow her.
“I need you to be strong,” Akunna said as tears began to gather in her eyes
and about to let its beads get her face blemished.
“Sure, I am strong,” Amy said assuredly, “do not talk much because you
need to save some strength. I need to call the doctor to know if you could eat
and what you need to eat first. You have stayed some days without food and
that is the reason you look lean and starved,”
Akunna had lots on her lips to say but she was too weak to utter a word.
She kept gazing absently and fighting to remain strong. “Come closer,” she
mumbled and held Amy by the hand, “I need you to know that there is a mark
like a single back dot on your head but you may not have noticed because it’s
by the backside and the long hair of a woman must have covered them, and
it’s not big enough for the eyes to see. That mark is also on Uremma’s head and
that shows that...”
Amarachi was shocked at this point, “what did you just say?” she asked
impromptu and suddenly had to add more pillows to help her raise her head a
bit, “Is Uremma my sister?”
“Yes, she said and smiled effortfully, “you have a blood match with her,
that’s why...”
Akunna didn’t complete her statement but suddenly began to cough
repeatedly until it became scary for Amarachi to withstand.
In a bid to keep her alive, Amy rushed out of the clinic ward and straight
to the doctor’s office but no doctor was found because they all went out for
lunch. She rushed for the nurses but they were not there too. She suddenly
took a bottle of water and rushed back to Akunna.
“Take! Drink some,” she urged and held her head up to force some water
into her system, “Doctor! Doctor! Can somebody hear me?” she echoed and
echoed until she started hearing some footsteps approaching with quickly,
announcing the arrival of a third party.
In an exceedingly short time, the doctor arrived and pushed her away.
“Hey, you shouldn’t have given her water but glucose,” the doctor wailed and
rushed out again, and then came back with glucose and gave her but she
didn’t respond to it. Suddenly, she became cold, numb and lifeless. Her eyes
closed permanently. The doctor checked on her pulse and discovered that she
was gone.
“Doctor, you aren’t talking,” Amarachi shouted, feeling that something
bad had happened, “why not say it for once and stop keeping quiet like a
statue,” she yelled and held the doctor and started beating his chest but the
Doctor cuddled her until she calmed down.
“I’m sorry, but she died out of your mistake,” Doctor said and left.
Amy fell on the floor and began to cry, feeling so sad for killing a friend.
As the cries lasted, she opened her eyes and discovered she’d gone a bit far into
sleep. She suddenly rushed at Akunna and saw that the monitor showed that
she was still alive but in a coma.
“Oh, God! Another frightening dream,” she murmured and took a
handkerchief and cleaned the sweat on her face. That was so real,” she said as
the door creaked open.
Amy looked and saw Ego Oyibo entering.
Ego was sympathetic as she saw how Akunna lay helplessly on the bed.
She came closer to Amarachi and sat, and then held her for comfort: “She’d
pull through, I know that” she assured Amy, “I have really missed you a lot,
and here you are. Not that I’m happy for the misfortune of your friend but at
least her state of health brought you back to me,”
Amarachi smiled. “But, Ego Oyibo,” she called and relaxed on her mom’s
bosom, “The last time I checked, you asked me to go back to school for you to
take care of Akunna. Now, you’re saying you were happy I’m here. Where do
you stand?”
“I don’t know,” Ego said and smiled, “a mother’s love can’t be subdued,
even though I’m not your biological mom but no love for you is lost in me. I
even feel more attached to you than to my biological children. You’re one of
a...”
“Mom,” Amy called, making her feel she’s still the woman she raised as
her own, “I want to say that you’ve done so much for me but there are lots of
questions that I’d want to ask you,”
Ego Oyibo took a deep breath and braced herself for some difficult
questions. She knew that any question from Amarachi demands absolute
carefulness for one to give a satisfactory answer to it.
“Bring it on,” Ego said in readiness, “but I hope I can answer all,”
Amarachi smiled while her attention was still centred on Akunna. “Sure,
you can, or let me make it snappy,”
“That would be good too, or do you need to take your time?” Ego asked
and looked at Amy whose eyes were already heavy due to sleeplessness.
“If you’re really from Urhobo, how then is Uncle Onyedika your brother?”
she asked, getting Ego Oyibo off balance because she never expected that Amy
would be coming from that direction. “Or is it that his name is faked too? If
that’s the case, what’s his native Urhobo name?”
It took Ego Oyibo a long time to find a way to answer the question. She
was enveloped in surprise but still tried to abate the effect of the thunderbolt
to her.
Amarachi knew that Onyedika may not be Ego’s brother based on how
stunned the question made her be.
After drawing a deep breath, Ego cleared her husky throat: “It was against
my tradition in Urhobo but not easy for a woman to stay for about twenty
years without a man,” she began narratively, “I dated Onyedika because I had
no one to take care of me when I found my way to Onitsha on my exilic
adventure,” she paused to draw some psychologically comforting breath and
continue.
Amarachi was impatiently listening for Ego to get to the bottom of the
narration. “Go on, I’m listening,”
“Onyedika was my boyfriend who took care of you and me before you
came of age,” Ego continued, “he was a good man, even now, he’s still a good
man, but his fault is women. I endured a lot and tolerated that fault of his for
long until he molested you. That was when I couldn’t take it anymore and
called it all quits with him. Till date, he still comes around but I won’t have
anything to do with him again, especially now that I’ve reunited with my
family. I need to face my family other than have time for some touchy-feely
kind of man whose lower head wouldn’t allow him to focus on one woman,
Amy shook her head in disappointment against the so-called Mr.
Onyedika. She was filled with rage and disgust even to the extent that she
wished the man never had any financial role played in her life while she was
growing up.
“I think it’s okay here and I’m happy that you told me the truth,” she said
and gave her a peck, “you’re a woman of virtue and I admire you a lot,”
Ego Oyibo suddenly began to feel like a child around Amy. She was happy
and smiling as she heard the compliment. “You’re one of a kind, my daughter,”
she said and took a deep breath.
“Second question, and the most important,” Amy said, making Ego develop
a sudden stomach upset out of anxiety.
Ego didn’t know if she was ready for the second and most important
question because it would end up making her have a need to poo (an attitude
of hers whenever she’s highly tensed)
“Shoot,” she said and remained poised and prepared to take it and reply to
her.
“You made mention of knowing the real story about a secret around my
mom’s death, right?” she said and hummed but Ego kept waiting for her to
conclude with the question, “If that’s the case, tell me about it and also tell
about the missing or dead sister of mine,”
Ego knew it was the exact question she expected, but asking about the
dead sister, she had nothing to talk about that except that she was dead.
“One thing I will say is that Mkpulumma was killed by the same man that
comes around to sleep with her, even against her will,” Ego revealed while
Amy remained shocked but listening.
But why didn’t you stop him or report?” Amy said with tears as she
imagined the agony of rape that the mom underwent in the hands of those she
considered monsters.
“I never met anyone but I knew, based on what she shared with me then,”
Ego said with deep thoughts getting her mind busy, “she was always the happy
woman but that part of getting some visitors at night or strange times was
what got her more concerned,”
Amy was disturbed by that reply because she thought it was just one
person but seemed they were many. “What did you mean by some visitors?”She
asked looking perturbed, “how many were they?”
“I don’t have a clue but the madwoman suffered,” Ego said with sorrow. A
drop of tear announced its presence in her eyes but she cleaned it with her
wrapper, “your mom suffered in the hands of men because of her beauty and I
kept wondering if she was the only woman in town,”
Amarachi felt like begging her to stop because the more she listened to
the story, the tearier she became. Her heart wasn’t just broken but shattered to
shreds as the revelation lasted. “Go on,” she said, with her tongue clung to the
roof of her mouth in anticipation of more unpleasant disclosures,”
“Are you sure you want to keep listening to this mind-troubling story?”
Ego Oyibo asked with tears in her eyes.
“Go on,” Amy said as her face turned reddish and dejected.
“To cut the story short,” Ego said, trying to cut the chase, “I think your
mom was used for a money ritual,
What!” Amy hollered and then remembered that she was in a clinic’s
ward, then controlled her emotion. She fell on the floor and began to weep
without ceasing.
Ego held her and tried to pull her up but being that she wasn’t that strong
anymore and also fighting with arthritis, she couldn’t get her up. She simply
went on all fours and began to cry with her.
The tearful moment lasted between them until they realised that they
could be affecting the mental and dream state of Akunna was still in a coma.
Amy helped Ego Oyibo up and made her sit back on the couch. “I can
withstand the shock. I’m just being human,” she said with a nostalgic smile,
“shed more lights on that ritual thing,”
Ego Oyibo wiped her tears, sat on the couch and continued: “There was a
rumour then that Mkpulumma came from a lineage of luck and prosperity.
This made men come around and seek a fortune from her, not minding her
mental state. That old truck she used to stay as her abode belonged to someone
we knew nothing about. We’ve searched to know how Mkpulumma came to
Onitsha but no one could trace her origin. It was even more surprising that
she came with her kids to the truck. Everything was just so strange.
Mkpulumma was always with money with her, so I started collecting it for
keeps so that hoodlums won’t collect it from them. I remained so...”
“Sorry for interrupting,” Amy said as she tried making more meaning out
of the entire story. “You said you never saw any man coming to visit her but
you already knew that she came from a lineage of luck and fortunes...”
“I know where you’re heading to with the question,” Ego cut in,
“Onyedika told me everything,” she let out.
NEXT CHAPTER
had as she was earmarked for sacrifice for the perpetuity of the Sisterhood of
the Slay Queens.
Dave and Amarachi couldn’t get any information from her due to her
state of health. With Amarachi’s plea, Dave took Akunna to Onitsha to his
family hospital to ensure she was properly taken care of and to hide her away
from the public to avoid the cartel locating the poor girl again to complete the
sacrifice.
Amy and Dave still never discussed anything about Uremma because they
were both reluctant to do so with their different personal reasons.
Amarachi missed some classes just to take care of Akunna at the clinic.
Even though Ego Oyibo advised her to go back to school so that she’d take care
of Akunna but Amy insisted. The worst of it all was that no one knew whom
Akunna’s parents were and how to locate them because it was obvious that
they would be dying of heartbreak or agony.
As the heartbeat monitor beeped; showing that Akunna was still
somewhere inside her body, Amarachi remained glued to the couch as she
monitored every bit of the vital signs. She was on the verge of sleeping off but
she felt as if Akunna’s life depends on her being asleep or awake. She nodded
severally but kept keeping her face awash just to remain awake but that never
helped.
After a while of making some efforts to remain awake, she was surprised
that her eyes suddenly became wide open as if the uninvited sleep checked the
next door.
It was surprising to Amarachi to see Akunna’s eyes open gradually.
Amarachi was so surprised and rushed towards her but afraid to stress
her with an embrace.
“Baby, welcome back to the land of the living,” she whispered with great
joy and gave her a peck on her forehead. “You’ve been in a coma for five days
now,” Amy hinted and continued observing her haggard face and weak eyes.
Akunna was weak and full of surprises. She didn’t know what to say but
remained thankful to God with a wave in the hair as she demonstrated her
state of thankfulness to her creator.
Amarachi didn’t want to say anything but remained there and smiling.
She didn’t know how to go and consult the doctor because she felt that leaving
the room might make Akunna die.
After a while of gazing at Amarachi with a face full of gratefulness, she
smiled and said wearily: “I’m sorry for all I’ve done...”
“Hey, stop that, please,” Amarachi said, “you won’t understand how happy
I feel right now as if a part of me just returned to life. I’m happy that you’re
alive,”
“Thank you,” Akunna replied wearily and exhaled a lump of air, “where
are we?
“You’re in the hospital now and you’re free from the cartel,” Amy assured
her and looked at her with admiration, “you’re still that cute friend I missed,
but you’d get better soon okay,”
Akunna smiled faintly and tried to get up but Amarachi didn’t allow her.
“I need you to be strong,” Akunna said as tears began to gather in her eyes
and about to let its beads get her face blemished.
“Sure, I am strong,” Amy said assuredly, “do not talk much because you
need to save some strength. I need to call the doctor to know if you could eat
and what you need to eat first. You have stayed some days without food and
that is the reason you look lean and starved,”
Akunna had lots on her lips to say but she was too weak to utter a word.
She kept gazing absently and fighting to remain strong. “Come closer,” she
mumbled and held Amy by the hand, “I need you to know that there is a mark
like a single back dot on your head but you may not have noticed because it’s
by the backside and the long hair of a woman must have covered them, and
it’s not big enough for the eyes to see. That mark is also on Uremma’s head and
that shows that...”
Amarachi was shocked at this point, “what did you just say?” she asked
impromptu and suddenly had to add more pillows to help her raise her head a
bit, “Is Uremma my sister?”
“Yes, she said and smiled effortfully, “you have a blood match with her,
that’s why...”
Akunna didn’t complete her statement but suddenly began to cough
repeatedly until it became scary for Amarachi to withstand.
In a bid to keep her alive, Amy rushed out of the clinic ward and straight
to the doctor’s office but no doctor was found because they all went out for
lunch. She rushed for the nurses but they were not there too. She suddenly
took a bottle of water and rushed back to Akunna.
“Take! Drink some,” she urged and held her head up to force some water
into her system, “Doctor! Doctor! Can somebody hear me?” she echoed and
echoed until she started hearing some footsteps approaching with quickly,
announcing the arrival of a third party.
In an exceedingly short time, the doctor arrived and pushed her away.
“Hey, you shouldn’t have given her water but glucose,” the doctor wailed and
rushed out again, and then came back with glucose and gave her but she
didn’t respond to it. Suddenly, she became cold, numb and lifeless. Her eyes
closed permanently. The doctor checked on her pulse and discovered that she
was gone.
“Doctor, you aren’t talking,” Amarachi shouted, feeling that something
bad had happened, “why not say it for once and stop keeping quiet like a
statue,” she yelled and held the doctor and started beating his chest but the
Doctor cuddled her until she calmed down.
“I’m sorry, but she died out of your mistake,” Doctor said and left.
Amy fell on the floor and began to cry, feeling so sad for killing a friend.
As the cries lasted, she opened her eyes and discovered she’d gone a bit far into
sleep. She suddenly rushed at Akunna and saw that the monitor showed that
she was still alive but in a coma.
“Oh, God! Another frightening dream,” she murmured and took a
handkerchief and cleaned the sweat on her face. That was so real,” she said as
the door creaked open.
Amy looked and saw Ego Oyibo entering.
Ego was sympathetic as she saw how Akunna lay helplessly on the bed.
She came closer to Amarachi and sat, and then held her for comfort: “She’d
pull through, I know that” she assured Amy, “I have really missed you a lot,
and here you are. Not that I’m happy for the misfortune of your friend but at
least her state of health brought you back to me,”
Amarachi smiled. “But, Ego Oyibo,” she called and relaxed on her mom’s
bosom, “The last time I checked, you asked me to go back to school for you to
take care of Akunna. Now, you’re saying you were happy I’m here. Where do
you stand?”
“I don’t know,” Ego said and smiled, “a mother’s love can’t be subdued,
even though I’m not your biological mom but no love for you is lost in me. I
even feel more attached to you than to my biological children. You’re one of
a...”
“Mom,” Amy called, making her feel she’s still the woman she raised as
her own, “I want to say that you’ve done so much for me but there are lots of
questions that I’d want to ask you,”
Ego Oyibo took a deep breath and braced herself for some difficult
questions. She knew that any question from Amarachi demands absolute
carefulness for one to give a satisfactory answer to it.
“Bring it on,” Ego said in readiness, “but I hope I can answer all,”
Amarachi smiled while her attention was still centred on Akunna. “Sure,
you can, or let me make it snappy,”
“That would be good too, or do you need to take your time?” Ego asked
and looked at Amy whose eyes were already heavy due to sleeplessness.
“If you’re really from Urhobo, how then is Uncle Onyedika your brother?”
she asked, getting Ego Oyibo off balance because she never expected that Amy
would be coming from that direction. “Or is it that his name is faked too? If
that’s the case, what’s his native Urhobo name?”
It took Ego Oyibo a long time to find a way to answer the question. She
was enveloped in surprise but still tried to abate the effect of the thunderbolt
to her.
Amarachi knew that Onyedika may not be Ego’s brother based on how
stunned the question made her be.
After drawing a deep breath, Ego cleared her husky throat: “It was against
my tradition in Urhobo but not easy for a woman to stay for about twenty
years without a man,” she began narratively, “I dated Onyedika because I had
no one to take care of me when I found my way to Onitsha on my exilic
adventure,” she paused to draw some psychologically comforting breath and
continue.
Amarachi was impatiently listening for Ego to get to the bottom of the
narration. “Go on, I’m listening,”
“Onyedika was my boyfriend who took care of you and me before you
came of age,” Ego continued, “he was a good man, even now, he’s still a good
man, but his fault is women. I endured a lot and tolerated that fault of his for
long until he molested you. That was when I couldn’t take it anymore and
called it all quits with him. Till date, he still comes around but I won’t have
anything to do with him again, especially now that I’ve reunited with my
family. I need to face my family other than have time for some touchy-feely
kind of man whose lower head wouldn’t allow him to focus on one woman,
Amy shook her head in disappointment against the so-called Mr.
Onyedika. She was filled with rage and disgust even to the extent that she
wished the man never had any financial role played in her life while she was
growing up.
“I think it’s okay here and I’m happy that you told me the truth,” she said
and gave her a peck, “you’re a woman of virtue and I admire you a lot,”
Ego Oyibo suddenly began to feel like a child around Amy. She was happy
and smiling as she heard the compliment. “You’re one of a kind, my daughter,”
she said and took a deep breath.
“Second question, and the most important,” Amy said, making Ego develop
a sudden stomach upset out of anxiety.
Ego didn’t know if she was ready for the second and most important
question because it would end up making her have a need to poo (an attitude
of hers whenever she’s highly tensed)
“Shoot,” she said and remained poised and prepared to take it and reply to
her.
“You made mention of knowing the real story about a secret around my
mom’s death, right?” she said and hummed but Ego kept waiting for her to
conclude with the question, “If that’s the case, tell me about it and also tell
about the missing or dead sister of mine,”
Ego knew it was the exact question she expected, but asking about the
dead sister, she had nothing to talk about that except that she was dead.
“One thing I will say is that Mkpulumma was killed by the same man that
comes around to sleep with her, even against her will,” Ego revealed while
Amy remained shocked but listening.
But why didn’t you stop him or report?” Amy said with tears as she
imagined the agony of rape that the mom underwent in the hands of those she
considered monsters.
“I never met anyone but I knew, based on what she shared with me then,”
Ego said with deep thoughts getting her mind busy, “she was always the happy
woman but that part of getting some visitors at night or strange times was
what got her more concerned,”
Amy was disturbed by that reply because she thought it was just one
person but seemed they were many. “What did you mean by some visitors?”She
asked looking perturbed, “how many were they?”
“I don’t have a clue but the madwoman suffered,” Ego said with sorrow. A
drop of tear announced its presence in her eyes but she cleaned it with her
wrapper, “your mom suffered in the hands of men because of her beauty and I
kept wondering if she was the only woman in town,”
Amarachi felt like begging her to stop because the more she listened to
the story, the tearier she became. Her heart wasn’t just broken but shattered to
shreds as the revelation lasted. “Go on,” she said, with her tongue clung to the
roof of her mouth in anticipation of more unpleasant disclosures,”
“Are you sure you want to keep listening to this mind-troubling story?”
Ego Oyibo asked with tears in her eyes.
“Go on,” Amy said as her face turned reddish and dejected.
“To cut the story short,” Ego said, trying to cut the chase, “I think your
mom was used for a money ritual,
What!” Amy hollered and then remembered that she was in a clinic’s
ward, then controlled her emotion. She fell on the floor and began to weep
without ceasing.
Ego held her and tried to pull her up but being that she wasn’t that strong
anymore and also fighting with arthritis, she couldn’t get her up. She simply
went on all fours and began to cry with her.
The tearful moment lasted between them until they realised that they
could be affecting the mental and dream state of Akunna was still in a coma.
Amy helped Ego Oyibo up and made her sit back on the couch. “I can
withstand the shock. I’m just being human,” she said with a nostalgic smile,
“shed more lights on that ritual thing,”
Ego Oyibo wiped her tears, sat on the couch and continued: “There was a
rumour then that Mkpulumma came from a lineage of luck and prosperity.
This made men come around and seek a fortune from her, not minding her
mental state. That old truck she used to stay as her abode belonged to someone
we knew nothing about. We’ve searched to know how Mkpulumma came to
Onitsha but no one could trace her origin. It was even more surprising that
she came with her kids to the truck. Everything was just so strange.
Mkpulumma was always with money with her, so I started collecting it for
keeps so that hoodlums won’t collect it from them. I remained so...”
“Sorry for interrupting,” Amy said as she tried making more meaning out
of the entire story. “You said you never saw any man coming to visit her but
you already knew that she came from a lineage of luck and fortunes...”
“I know where you’re heading to with the question,” Ego cut in,
“Onyedika told me everything,” she let out.
NEXT CHAPTER
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