BEYOND REACH..chapter 1
Written by Rejoice Igbinovia Aluyi
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Junior was wra-pped on my back, peacefully at sleep, without the worries of the world, like the baby he is, so relaxed and comfortable,, indeed children are the happiest and most easy set of humans, they have no fears or worries, no thinking about tomorrow, no regret of yesterday, nor hope for the future, they just live life at ease just for the moment….
My son is my gold and most valuable treasure, I can’t imagine life without him, he’s my everything…
Soon I arrived at Nkechi’s shop, and bought some food stuff, she gave me that look as usual, but i ignored, pretended not to notice, I headed home,,I nee-ded to cook dinner…
Checking the clock hung beautifully on the wall, it was 4:03pm,,I wanted to make dinner of jollof rice, so I decided to wait till 5pm, so that it doesn’t get cold before my husband arrives..
I sat down to relax, junior was still slee-ping, this time on the be-d….
I just drifted a little, thinking about my life some years back, how everything had changed… One thing can indeed change ones life for good or bad…..
Oh sorry I haven’t introduced myself…. I am MRS CHIKA GOLD EBUBE,,,, yes my dad’s name is Gold, and i really had to add that becos many people call me CHICAGO, yes they call me that, from CHIKA GOLD, I bec@m£ CHICAGO,,,, I must admit they kind of sound alike,,,
I was born And brou-ght up in Enugu, I am a very simple ,beautiful, young lady or should I say was, with just one drive in life, that is to plea-se my maker in heaven…..
I was a member of a bible believing Church, a committed member at that, I served God with my whole heart….
I couldn’t continue my studies after dad’s death, and had to learn a trade,,, I had boys flocking around me, both in church and outside the church,, I had practically been wooed by all the guys in our area,, but my answer remained No, I wasn’t re-ady for such, and even if I were, I didn’t have the strength for such.
Even when I tried and got involved in some relationsh!p, the guys were interested in just one thing, my b©dy,, that didn’t go down well with me,,, so we will always p@rt ways before we know it,,,
There was one though,, Alex, he didn’t give up, he wanted me by all means,, but I refused,, we p@rted ways in disagreement,,, and I haven’t seen him for a while….
I promised myself and God that I would keep myself, and i wanted to fulfill that promise.I was the pride of my family and the Church…
The pastor wouldn’t st©p using me as a reference to every other young girl
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My life was shinning so bright like a diamond, then one Sunday, this handsome young man walked into the church, he was the perfect description of a good looking man,,, it was his first time with us,,, soon the service moderator announced, “IF TODAY IS YOUR FIRST TIME OF FELLOWSh!pPING WITH US, plea-sE STAND”…he stood up with few other people,,, indeed i was right, this handsome face is a new member,, people stood up and had hand shake with them, welcoming him and others to the family of Christ,,, he was wearing a blue sleeve and a black trou-ser’s, neatly ironed, sparkling shoes and a pear of lovely transparent glas-ses,,, he was a complete package..
The new members were asked to wait at the close of service, that people will be with them and get their address and phone numbers,,,,
Fortunately, i was among those chos£n by the pastor to speak to the new members,,,luckily for me, I spoke to Mr. Perfect and got his address and phone number,,,,,,
He speaks so well and have a lovely voice,,,, I would call him everyday, reminding him of Wednesday service,,,,before I got to church that Wednesday, he was alre-ady there,, I had this wired smile immediately I got to church and saw him,,,, Chika what’s wrong with you I said to myself,,, am I lvsting after a guy, oh no ,that’s not possible, not me, but this guy is perfect, your kind of man, a complete package, a believer and prince charming. I was in church that day, but my heart and focus was on Mr perfect…
Soon the service was over,, he walked up to me and said
“Sister chi, good evening, I was surprised as to the abbreviation he gave my name, I loved it, it made me felt special, I was only use to people calling me CHICAGO, only family called me Chika,, but here is a handsome loving gentle man calling me chi, or it felt it wasn’t my name,,,
“good evening brotherrrrrrrr,,,
“Tochukwu, he said, but pls call me T
T?,I asked
“yes most of my friends from school calls me T, and I prefer that to the full name,,,
“okay Brother T,, oh my world,, even his name is ma-king me blus-h, T, wow that’s so cool..
“Tanks for all your calls and text messages this past days, i really appreciate,,, i just moved to the area,,I was looking for a good church I could fellowsh!pin, I think I have found that here, so you can relax, I love God and I will always be in his house, nothing can take God’s place in my life,,,I would always be in service, serve yourself the airtime and bother,,,,,
“Oh my God, am i dreaming, a young man this perfect, zealous to serve God,,,, my father,,,
Oh no brother T, it isn’t a bother at all, I am happy you have chos£n our church,,, I promise you won’t regret it,,,,,
“okay sister chi, if you say so,,, I have to hurry up now,, I have some things i was doing at hand before I rush to church,,,
oh okay Brother T, no problem….
How can a man be this perfect,So organised and timing,,,I wanted to have more time talking to him, but he had to go,, oh brother T, i said with a wi-de smile on my cheek…
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***Back to reality***
“Jesus, I had snapped out of my thought when a hvge sl@p landed on my cheek, you shameless and useless woman, you are here all day dreaming and smiling like a roasted goat on fire, aren’t you going to make dinner,,,I raised my head to the wall clock, it was quarter past 6, I must have been so lost reminiscing about the past that I forgot the pres£nt,,,,
I am so sorry ,plea-se ,I said, picking the things I had bought that were spre-ad on the ground,,,
“fool, you will be more sorry when I don’t get that food as soon as possible,,, useless prosti*ute,, I believe you were ma-king love with man in that dream, that’s the only thing that can explain you smiling shamefully “my husband yelled
I am very sorrrrrr “I said
get your stupid self out of my pres£nce you shameless thing…..
Knowing what could be my fate next, I quietly walked out, when I could…..
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BEYOND REACH…chapter 2
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……I was in the kitchen hurriedly trying to fix dinner,, I was alre-ady in panic, my husband dare not call me asking for this food, else I will be dead, suddenly I heard junior cried,,I was frying ,I continued, hoping his daddy will help me out with the baby, knowing I was trying to quic-kly fix something,, but that wasn’t happening,, junior kept crying and the more he cried, the more disorganized I was in the kitchen, his cry was a pin piercing my heart..
I quic-kly miss everything and ran to my child..
…Getting to the living room, I met my husband watching television with all seriousness and comfortability, when his son cries out in the be-droom,,,I ignored him and ran to get my son, p@rting him and trying to calm him down,,,,
“honey how can you ignore our baby’s cry, you should have helped me out, knowing fully well i was in the kitchen.
You are an idiot,,, so I should help you with junior, if you were responsible enough to cook when he was slee-ping, would you have still been in the kitchen?,oh no,you were busy lost in thought thinking of your numerous lovers you cheap slot
“I can take anything but plea-se not a slot, cause am not, plea-se st©p.
shut up and get out of here you fool,,,,and I nee-d my food in five minutes…
I looked at him, not knowing what to do, I quic-kly left him and went to the kitchen,,, minutes later he started screaming my name, Chika!Chika!!Chika!!! oh my God, I was going mad, junior was still crying in my hands,, i was trying to make the food re-ady with another hand, and my husband is busy shouting my name in the pas-sage…I am coming, the rice was almost getting dried,,, I was just walking up and down, as if that will help increase the flame, or make the rice re-ady,,,,minutes on, it was finally re-ady,,,I quic-kly dish his food, and took it to him, I placed the food on the center table and called him to come have dinner, it was past seven by now, he got to were the food was and took the first spoon, Jesus Christ he shouted
what is it I asked out of shock,, he landed two h0t sl@ps on my face,,,
so you want to kill me, you want to kill me, how dare u serve me a meal as h0t as this,,,,
Ahba naaaaa, you were busy shouting at me to get food, so I had to quic-kly serve you immediately it was re-ady,, and with the smoke coming out from the rice, you should know it’s h0t naaaa,,, I am human too,, I am also busy taking care of junior inside,,,
So I am a fool right, I should have known the food was h0t because of the smoke coming out,,, in other words, since I didn’t know, I am s-en-seless,,,
no ohhh, that isn’t what I meant, how can I say that…
Chika, me s-en-seless,, he took the h0t rice and poured on me,,, i shouted in pain, even though I was wearing clothes, I still felt so much pain, i ran into the bathroom and poured water on my b©dy, it was a terrible experience,,,
I c@m£ out and carried my baby, i bath him, feed him and put him to sleep, I couldn’t eat that evening any more my stomach was rather filled with something else,, the thoughts of yesterday had preoccu-pied and filled my young head…..
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…..Brother T was a very committed member, he was in the usher dep@rtment, he was always the first in church, well dressed and neat, he would always stand at the entrance of the church main door, wearing the most adorable smiles I had ever seen ..you are welcome to church chi “he would say smiling at me….
The more he smiled at me and called me chi, the more I liked him….
Another thing I liked about him was his commitment to the things of the Lord, he was always re-ady to give an helping hand on any issue,,he was known And loved by many in the church, if not everyone..
Soon we bec@m£ good friends,we hangout together, called each other, oh how I loved his company, we could practically tell each other anything… I was very comfortable with him…
Two months on, he had asked me out, I honestly had wanted that earlier, I was very happy,,, I would go to his place,and he won’t even t©uçh me, oh he was So sweet and a perfect gentle man….
I concluded I had found my soul mate, someone who loves and adores me, and above all who was willing to wait till our wedding night,,, oh my God I was just too lucky I had said…..
Few weeks into our relationsh!phe asked me to marry him,, and I happily said yes, i was more than happy to be the wife of the most eligible bachelor in the church…..
I told my mom about T’s proposal, unfortunately she wasn’t as happy as I thought she would,,,
my daughter, don’t you think you are rushing things, its just been weeks you started seeing him, you are 22, what’s the rush, I mean, you two should get to know each other more,,,,
oh mom,,,come on,,what do I nee-d to know ,T is a dedicated Christian, a lover of Christ, he goes to Church regularly, you know how committed he is in the things of the Lord,,,,I had said
oh come on my child, all those you just mentioned are great, but that isn’t the only basis to what makes a happy home,,, those you are saying are his reputation, what about his attitude,,,,
My Darling child,,, when it comes to church, many people pretend, a person’s true character reflects outside the religious gathering, but their personal relationsh!pto those around them,, the church is full of actors and actresses, many persons come to church hanging their dubious character at the gate, put on the saint garment and go inside the church, at the close of service too, they put on their true identity and go home, my child I will suggest you take things slow…
Mom I am getting married to T, and I know he will definitely make me happy….
Days later the pastor called us, that he heard we are engaged,, I happily said yes, smiling
well brother Tochukwu and sister Chika, have you two prayed, how you certain you are meant for each other,,,
yes sir, T hurriedly answer smiling
what about you Sister Chika, have you prayed,,,
well, I am certain he’s the one,,
I am not asking you if you are certain or not, I am asking if you have prayed,,,,,,
Well, well, I, I……..
Sister Chika go and pray..the pastor added.
When we c@m£ out,T was angry at me
you were stuttering when the pastor asked you those, if you had prayed, why didn’t you just say yes and allow everyone be,,,are you saying you are not sure if you want to be my wife
“of course I am T, then what was all that,,, I , I, I,,,you see you can’t talk, well If you want to get married to me, we shall in three weeks, else, let’s just stay clear
then he walked out
T, T ,T……
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The next day the pastor s£nt for Me alone
Chika,do you think you are ma-king the right decision, why the rush, let’s take our time to pray and hear God’s voice concerning this matter, only God knows the end from the beginning…
Daddy I am positive he’s my husband, I can feel it,,plea-se Sir “I pleaded after everything, the pastor and my mom gave their cons£nt and I and T bec@m£ man and wife…
I was very happy ,,I actually thought that would be the beginning of a beautiful phase in my life, it was actually the beginning of my worse nightmare
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TBC