Withered Flower - Episode 17

“Nwa daddy, how are you today? You look sad, what is wrong?”

“Papa one girl in school said she was going to kill because I looked at her”

“My daughter, nobody can kill you. You are an “Agu” and all “Agus” live long lives”.

“But Papa, she is a witch and everyone is afraid of her. She looked at one bird and it died. I am worried that she would do the same to me”.

“Ogochukwu Nwannem, the next time she stares at you, I want you to look her in the eye and tell her that you are an Agu and so you cannot die but her”.

That was thirty something odd years ago when Adanna Ugwunna, a girl in her class had threatened to kill her. She had ran home crying to her father, who told her what to do. The next day at school, she had done exactly what her father had proposed and then Adanna fell ill and died a month later.

Deep within her, Ogochukwu knew she was the cause of Adanna’s death but her father told her otherwise. There were times she sensed something and it will come to be. On that particular day, she had wished that Adanna will die soon and it had happened the way she had imagined.

Most people in Agu land knew that she had some powers and made sure to tell their children to avoid her.  Needless to say, she had no friends growing up and even as an adult, only strangers who knew nothing about her powers were friends with her.

“What did you say?” Iyeke asked, looking at the strange woman. How did she know she was expecting a child? As far she knew, she wasn’t even showing but this woman knew a baby was growing within her.

Ogochukwu could see a baby growing in her daughter’s womb. It was part of the “gift” she had. As a matter of fact, the foetus was male.

“You…you… are glowing and so I guessed you were with child” Ogochukwu said with relieve and hoped that Iyeke will believe her. She didn’t know why she said allowed the words leave her mouth.

“Iyekoetin, you been get belle you no tell ya ma… me” Madam Edosa quickly corrected herself. After all that had transpired, she didn’t know if Iyeke will be happy for her to address her as her granddaughter.

“I was going to tell you at the right time but it was…why am I even telling you this? You are not related to me so you have no right to quiz me about my life”. Iyeke knew she was stepping out of line but she was really unhappy with her grandmother at this time.

Ogochukwu looked at her daughter and became emotional. She needed a little time with her to explain to her about the family she comes from. It was a chilling story and sometimes, she wished she was never told the deep dark secrets of her family but she must admit that it did help and the powers that came with it albeit at a cost.

“Iyeke, I really need to talk to you. If you do not want anything to do with me after this, so be it but I need to speak to you now”. Ogochukwu spoke as soon as she had Iyeke’s attention. She hoped it would work.

Iyeke couldn’t understand what came over her. One minute she was really upset with this woman that claimed to be her mother and the next, she just wanted to sit and listen to all she had to say. It must be the emotions that come with having a baby.

She willed herself to get into the car that was already opened but she couldn’t stop her legs from walking towards the strange woman.

Ogochukwu wasn’t sure it would work but she was happy when Iyeke started walking towards her and she stretched her hand to guide her towards the chair at the front the house. She could see the look of surprise on Madam Edosa’s face from the corner of her eyes.

They will never understand why she had to resort to this but that is another story and definitely not for now.

She watched her daughter pick the chair closest to the one she was sitting on.

Well, here goes nothing.

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Kizito tailgated the girl in the black Corolla. He has been following her for days now, studying her movements, locations she visited, whom she was with etc. He had not seen her with Chief Mezu but she attributed that to chief being out of the country.

Today, she was alone. He watched her drive round the Car Park looking a suitable place to park. He slowed down and parked close to a black S Class and waited for her to alight from her car. She was a very beautiful girl with a smallish stature. Another time, another circumstances, he would have been all over her, as she was his spec

“Get your head back in the game” he told himself. Over the years, he has learnt not to mix business with pleasure, as the two never went together and was definitely a recipe for disaster.

Tap!! tap!!

Kizito turned to look at a gentleman tapping on his window.

“Sir, can you please move forward, as you are holding up traffic”.

It was then that he heard all the horning from cars behind him. Slowly, he pulled out and started driving towards the black corolla, whilst apologising to the man.

He found a parking space a few cars away from the Corolla and waited there. He went over his plan again and when he was sure that he had covered everything, he got down from the car and started walking into the Supermarket.