#Newstoryalert
Beautiful Mask
A h0t tale of betrayal, love and revenge filled with drama and suspense.
By Ameh Juliet
Episode 1
Prologue:
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO
Simon:
“Dad, you are scaring me. St©p the car for a minute so you can calm down” I say but he doesn’t even acknowledge me. He just continue mumbling to himself.
“My own brother stole my do¢v-ments!. I trusted him when he said he was satisfied with the vice president position our father gave him. If i get my hands on him, he’ll regret betraying me I will report him for fraud and theft”
I look nervously to the road and then at my father. I may just be 12 years old but i know anger and driving dosnt end well. With the speed my dad’s going, I am sure it wouldn’t end well. Dad just picked me from school when he got a call and his expression changed instantly. I think we are heading to uncle’s house as I’ve heard him mention him several times.
“Where is that my phone?” my father says and he starts searching frantically around the car with no hands on the steering wheel. Our car starts moving in a zig-zag motion and my dad doesn’t even notice it. It swerves onto a bridge and that’s when I see a petrol tanker moving towards us.
“Dad! Look!”i yell as our car runs towards the tanker
My dad quic-kly divert the car from its path but the tanker runs into another car behind it. My dad st©ps our car and i watch as petrol splash everywhere. People gather around the crushed car and they drag all the occu-p@n-ts out.
From where i am inside the car, i can see an unconscious man being dragged out after his wife and two daughters are brou-ght out. The woman is conscious and currently wailing and so are the daughters who are probably twins. They look identical. I move to get out of the car but my dad hold my arm. I look at him and he shakes his head.
“We nee-d to help them dad” I say.
“No, I could get in trouble. Do you want the police to apprehend your father?” he asks me and i shake my head.
“You know i didn’t mean for this to happen right?” he asks and i just look ahead towards the accident scene which is now covered by smoke.
An ambulance is alre-ady at the scene. I don’t see the victims anymore except one of the twin. They are probably inside the ambulance. The second twin is currently looking inside the car and suddenly, the car explodes.The f0rç£ of the explosion pu-lls a door from the car which hits the girl standing by the car and the f0rç£ pushes the girl off the bridge.
“No!” I scream as people rush to the edge of the bridge. They are all looking down and shaking their head. I see the woman from the car rush out of the ambulance towards the edge of the bridge screaming while the paramedics try to hold her back.
“dad, we cant just sit here” I shake my dad who is ban-ging his head on the steering continuously while mumbling that its not his fault. My dad looks up at me then at the accident scene. His eyes goes wi-de at the sight of the chaos and suddenly, we are zooming off the road.
“Dad, st©p. They nee-d our help” I cry
“no!. I cant go to prison.” he says then turn to me.
“I wasn’t at fault. If the police asks, you’ll say i was carefully driving when that car hit the tanker. Do you un-derstand me?”
“the police?”
“Yes, the police. During their investigation, they would probably look for us. You are the only witness ap@rt from the tanker driver who probably dead by now” he says but my twelve years old br@in cant seem to un-derstand this. My dad is not a bad person. He is actually my hero.
Why then is he asking me to lie to the police?.
“But dad, you told me the police are the good guys. Why should i lie to them when they can help?” I ask
“listen to me son, if you love me, you’ll lie for me. Do you want to tear our family ap@rt?. Your mother and your brother won’t be happy if I am in prison. Do you un-derstand me?” he sobs out and i nod.
“Okay dad. St©p crying now” i say and he gives me a wane smile.
************************
PREs£nT DAY
Steven:
“What the hell!” my mom screams. Success jumps off my l@p and try to bu-tton up her blouse while my mom throw daggers at her with her eyes.
Believe me, if looks can kill, success would probably be lying on my office floor dead.
“Mom, chill. We are two cons£nting adults.” I say and my mom’s eyes go to me.
“You better shut up” I raise my hands in surrender. She looks back to success who is currently quivering in her 7-inch shoes.
“You are fired, bit-ch. Now get out of this office and pack your stinking belongings. I want you out of this building in five minutes” my mom sneer at her. Success goes to say something, probably beg for her job but my mom raise her hand to shut her up.
Success look to me but i just shrug my shoulder. Success huff at me and walk out disgraced and jobless but i don’t care. I stand up and walk to my mother.
“Mother, you cant just bur-st in here and fire my secretary” I say
“I can and i would continue to fire them all. Why do you only hire the sluts?”she asks
“mom, i hire girls that can be of help to me”i say and grin.
“son, they are all gold-diggers. They just want your money. Remember had to pay off that slut who lied about being pregnant for you just two months after you got back from the states.”
“That’s why i told you i didn’t want to come back to this rotten country”
“You were in the states for almost fifteen years son. After that Freak accident when your dad almost died” she says and i grind my teeth.
“You cant avoid the country forever. You are safe here.” she continues. My mom and younger brother don’t really know the details of that accident. Everyone thinks my dad is the victim and after he bribe-d the whole police f0rç£, the real victims were labelled the culprits.
The guilt of testifying against them still haunts me. Yes, i was a child then but i knew it was wrong. Thankfully, my dad took me abroad a year after and i have avoided the country since then.
The only reason I am back is because my father is dead. Now, i am supposed to takeover. I don’t want to be here so since i got here, i have been provoking my mom by slee-ping with all my secretaries.
“I know what to do. I am going to be the one to hire your next secretary”she say and storm off.
*****
Beautiful Mask
By Ameh Juliet
Episode 2
Caroline:
Thankfully, i was able to sell all my cooked corn today. With the money I’ve earned, mother would be able to prepare something for us to eat this night and maybe tomorrow morning. I have to hurry home now somother can start cooking. The sky is alre-ady getting cloudy and I don’t want the rain to drench me. A sudden wind sweeps throu-gh and the scarf i have covering my face is b!own off.
I try to gr-ab it before my face is expo-sed and in the process, i let go of the container of boiled corn on my head causing its content to fall. Salty water, corn stalks and peels of corn rain down on me.
“Guys look!” a boy screams pointing at me. His friends turn and they start laughing.
“Hey zukko, i know you desperately nee-d a bath but why are you using your corn?” he says and everyb©dy laugh.
I f0rç£ back my tears and bite down on myl-ips. ‘I would not cry’ i chant to myself. I should be used to this by now. I have suffered this kind of embarras-sment too many times that i have lost count. Just because of the nas-ty scar on my face. I don’t even know how i got it
It looks like a scalding mark but more hideous. It covers the whole left side of my face but thankfully, my left eye isn’t affected. I pick my scarf off the floor and flee the scene.
“Hey kids, would you st©p embarras-sing the young lady?” i hear a de-ep male voice say but i don’t turn to see the owner of the voice even if the voice sound so affectionate and kind. I can still hear the rude boys laughing behind me. A lightening light up the sky and the rain start with full f0rç£. By the time i get home, i am drenched to my un-derwear.
As soon as i get inside the little one room ap@rtment i live with the pius family, i dash into the bathroom. I turn the shower on and re-lease my tears. What did i do to deserve this kind of face?
My parents probably threw me away because of this face and i don’t blame them. The pius family has been so wonderful. I have vowed to always do whatever i can do help them because despite my face they took me in.
But how can i help them when I cant even get a sales girl job because people think I’ll scare all their customers away. I wish i could re-move this horrible scar. I gr-ab a sponge and scru-b my face till its so-re and probably red. Yea, if a bath could make it disappear, i wouldn’t be this frustrated.
After several minutes in the bathroom, i finally drag my depleted b©dy out. The house is so quiet which is unusual. Usually by this time, Mother’s voice is always heard scolding chinedu, her only son who is a miscreant. He is always in trouble.
After changing into my only spare clothes, i go to the kitchen in search of mother. I don’t find her in the kitchen or anywhere else in the house so i go outside to inquire from the neighbours.
I see mama favour cooking in front of her house.In this compound, our house is the only one with a kitchen. Our other neighbours cook outside with firewoods or small stoves. As soon as mama favour sees me, she gets off her small stool and rush to me.
“Good evening ma” i greet
“Caro, where have you been. Your mother was rushed to the hospital about an hour ago. We were just talking, your brother walked in, they got into an argument. Then she just coll@psed”she ramble and my br@in cant seem to process this fast enough.
“What?. How?. When?. I have to go to her” I say and start running out of the compound then i remember i didn’t ask for the hospital’s name.
I turn to mama favour who is looking at me with pitiful eyes.
“what hospital was she taken to?” I ask
“Oh umm divine grace hospital” She says and i zoom out. I thought this day couldn’t get any worse but it just did. Oh God, save mother for me.
I trek the distance to the hospital which isn’t very far from our house. We will nee-d money for mother’s treatment and i don’t want to waste it on t-fare. By a corner street near the hospital, i notice a guy robbing a woman.
He has a knife pointed to her abd0m£n. This road is usually secluded so there is no one around to help. I struggle within myself if i should help or continue my walk to the hospital. My conscience wouldn’t allow me leave her like this when i know i could help.
I am currently behind them and they cant see me so, i have an advantage of surprise. I gr-ab a big stone from the ground and walk silently towards them. With immense f0rç£, i slam the stone against the thvg’s head. He shouts in surprise and slumps on the floor.
“Oh my God. Thank you for saving me. Lets call the cop before he wakes up” The woman calls the police and within few minutes, they get here.
Wow, this woman must be super rich. I can tell by the clothes and shoes she is wearing. I watch as the thief is handcuffed and dragged fo the police car. Oh my God! I completely forgot about the hospital.
I quic-kly turn around and start rushing away.
“Not so fast, young lady. You must be an accomplice. By the look of you, you are probably a thief too” a police officer gr-ab my hand and start dragging me to their car. What?!. How did my trying to help make me an accomplice?.
I can’t get arrested. Mother nee-ds me now. Who will bail me out? Tears start falling from my eyes and i struggle with the police.
“plea-se i am innocent. plea-se i swear” i plead
“shut up. You nas-ty thief. Well, if i had your face, I’ll probably go into crime too.” he sneers.
“let go of her this second” i hear the woman yell from behind us.
“but madam she-” the police man goes to say but the woman cut him off
“This br@ve girl here saved my life.” she frees me from the police man’s grip and they start arguing. They’re not paying me anymore attention so i silently sl!paway. I get to the hospital quic-kly and thank my stars, i was able to sneak away.
I search the hospital untill i see chinedu pacing in front of the operating room.
“Where’s mother?.
. Is she okay” I ask and he just sneer at me. I forgot to mention that chinedu loathe me. Ever since we were just kids, he made it clear to me that i was just trash his parents brou-ght home.
“how many times do i have to tell you, she isn’t your mother?” I don’t have time to argue with him right now. I have to get to mother
“Oh am sorry. but plea-se I just want to help.” I beg
“Just get out before you bring your ugly luck here” he screams in my face.
“plea-se am begging you. Just tell me how I can help” I gr-ab his hand and plead.
“Do you have N500,000 to pay for the surgery?” he asks and I shake my head.
“Then you can’t help her” he says and push me to the ground.
“Hey, why are you doing that to the young lady?” someone says and I turn to see the lady I helped awhile ago. She pick me off the floorand glare at chinedu.
“fv¢k off”Chinedu sneer and storm off.
“Am innocent maam. plea-se I just wanted to help you. I swear with everything sacred, I dont know that thief. plea-se my mother nee-ds me. dont let the police take me” I start crying.
“Am not here to arrest you dear. I am here to help”she says and I stare at her like a dummy.
TBC