🎉🎉🎉
🎉🎉🎉🎉 Daniella📝
#Episode_24
🌠🌠🌠
It was the night of Christmas Eve. Throu-ghout the day, I had been swarmed with many chores which included, tidying up the house, going to buy a lot of foodstuffs and drinks in the market and cooking, all in preparation for Christmas day. While I did these tasks, no one as-sisted me.
At the moment, I was busy in the kitchen boiling and frying the tons of frozen chicken I had bought earlier on in the market. It was so late and everyone in the house had sle-pt off. As I fried the chicken, I ate out of it to avoid slee-ping also.
Then the thought of mama and papa pla-yed in my mind and I wondered what they’d be doing back in the village at the moment. Suddenly, I remembered my plan to get their number from aunt Caro’s phone. Since everyone was slee-ping, I thought this was the right time to carry out my plan. Not like there was any plan mapped out anyway, but you get what I mean.
Once done with frying all the chicken, I put off the g@s cooker and made my way out of the kitchen to my room to get my phone. As soon as I got my hands on my phone, I headed upstairs to aunt Caro’s room. This was going to be the most difficult, of all the task that I had done today, but I wasn’t thinking of backing out.
Getting to the front of aunt Caro’s room, the door was opened ajar and the curtain was drawn. Many negative thoughts started to surge in my head as I stood in front of the room.
What if they catch me sneaking into their room? What would I say?
I narrowed my eyes as I thought.
Maybe if they catch me, I’ll just say I wanted to inform them that I was done in the kitchen.
That sounded like a believable explanation to give.
After I had proceeded forward to the room, I opened the curtain a little and peeped in. The light was turned off so the room was dark. But not completely to the point you can’t see anything. One could still see, but not clearly.
Aunt Caro and uncle Henry had a duvet covering their whole b©dy except from their head. I ti-ptoed into the room, using the light from my phone screen to see clearly where I was going. I made sure not to hit anything that would cause noise or give me away. A good thing uncle Henry was a loud snorer. That, for one, didn’t make them hear the sound of my footsteps.
I wondered where aunt Caro could have kept her phone. It should be on the be-dside table close to where she sle-pt. I thought to myself and made my way towards that direction. To my luck, I saw the phone there. As I wanted to take it, aunt Caro m0@n ed as she turned sideways to face my direction.
Oh $h!t! I immediately crouched down. My heart was pounding so ha-rd in my che-st that it was possible for aunt Caro to hear it. But then, thank goodness for uncle Henry’s snore. I stayed in that crouching position for about a minute before I peeped to see if aunt Caro was still fast asleep. And yes she was.
quic-kly, I took her phone from the be-dside table and la-id on the floor before opening the phone, so that the brightness of the displa-yed screen wouldn’t shine up on the ceiling, rather it would shine down on my face.
Immediately I opened the phone, I checked throu-gh her phone book for mama and papa’s contact. The phone wasn’t pas-sworded so I had no troubles. It wasn’t too long when I found mama’s contact. I immediately copied the number and saved it on my phone.
Suddenly, aunt Caro’s phone started to ring. Oh jeez! Who could be calling at this hour? I immediately dropped her phone on the be-dside table and rolled un-der the be-d. My heartbeat picked up its rate. I was so afraid that my breathing was abnormally fast. I could only hope that aunt Caro wouldn’t catch me.
un-der the be-d, I heard aunt Caro growled and then the sound of the ringtone st©pped. She probably terminated the call or put the phone on silence. Whichever one, I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get out of here.
Two minutes had probably pas-sed and I was still un-der the be-d. I wanted to be sure aunt Caro had gone de-ep into her sleep before I made my way out of the room. When I had waited long enough and I was certain she was sound asleep, I crept out of the room without ma-king a sound.
I heaved a sigh of relief once I got out of the room and trotted my way downstairs. I was satisfied that at least I was able to get mama’s number from aunt Caro’s phone without getting caught.
When I was about to tre-ad down to the last stair, Amanda c@m£ out from the kitchen with a l@p of chicken in her hand and we both jo-lted seeing each other. I immediately hid my phone behind me while she hid her chicken.
“What were you doing upstairs?” She asked.
“What were you doing in the kitchen?” I asked too.
“None of your business!” She replied bluntly.
“None of you business too what I was doing upstairs!” I retorted.
I moved to my room, hiding my phone from Amanda. She kept looking at me suspiciously until I reached my room. As soon as I got in, I locked the door and hurriedly hid my phone in my luggage, un-derneath my clothes. I couldn’t afford for anyone to find out about my phone.
The day for me was over.
Mission was accomplished.
Now was the time to rest. I plopped on my be-d and before long, I sle-pt off.
⭐⭐
✨✨✨✨✨
I didn’t get much sleep because aunt Caro woke me up very early in the morning to start preparing the meals for the day. This time around, she helped out in the preparation. We prepared jollof rice, fried rice, salad, pounded yam and okazi soup. We made the foods in large quantities because aunt Caro was planning on sharing it with neighbors, friends and some visitors. The sweet aroma of the food wafted in my nose that my stomach started to grumble and I started to drool. I couldn’t wait to have a taste of the food.
“Mum, is the food re-ady yet?” Amanda kept asking whenever she c@m£ to the kitchen.
“Not yet dear.” Aunt Caro would reply.
“Oh, I’m hungry o.” She would whine.
“What exactly do you want to eat this morning?” Aunt Caro had asked her.
“The usual, fried rice and salad.”
“Okay then, the fried rice is not re-ady yet. You and your sister can have some chicken to chew on before the food is re-ady.”
Amanda had left the kitchen with two chicken for herself and Annabelle.
With the help of aunt Caro, we were able to finish up the cooking on time. We shared the food to as many people as possible before we finally had our own Christmas breakfast. I wanted to eat fried rice and salad, because I ba-rely ate that in the village, but aunt Caro dictated that I took jollof rice. She just wanted to be mean to me.
I was in my room relishing the delicious jollof rice and chicken we prepared. I made sure to take a very big chicken.
As I was eating, I remembered mama and papa. I was supposed to call them to wish them a merry Christmas. I hurriedly finished my food and made my way to my luggage to retrieve my phone. When I did, I dialed mama’s number and my heart pounded in my che-st when her phone started to ring. I felt jittery.
“Hello?” A hoarse muffled voice c@m£ on from the other end of the line. That was mama’s voice. I smiled and tears began to well up in eyes.
“Mama.” The tears in eyes trickled down my cheeks. I was feeling so emotional right now that after a long time, I was finally speaking to the one woman that took care of me while I was growing up.
“Onya onwoye? ” She asked.
“Mama, it’s me Daniella.”
“Ululu! Daniella!” I could hear her call papa from the other end.
I giggled.
“Daniella, how are you?” Mama asked
“I’m fine. I’ve missed you and papa o. How are you both doing?” I asked, tears streaming down my eyes.
“We’re fine. We’ve missed you too. Whenever we called Caro and told her to give you the phone so we could speak to you, she always said you were not around.” Mama said.
“Maybe whenever you call, I used to be in school.”
“Hope they’re taking good care of you.”
I hesitated and thought carefully before responding. “They are.”
“I don’t like the way you sounded Daniella. Hope everything is okay over there.” The tone of mama voice changed to an alert one.
“Everything is okay. Mama plea-se give the phone to papa. I want to speak to him.” I requested.
I could hear the exchange from the other end.
“My princess!” Papa said, with his gruff voice.
Aw! My heart lurched as he called me that. It was a name he usually called me back in the village. “My strong king, how are you?”
📱
“I’m fine.” He responded.
Papa and I talked for some time before I told him to give the phone back to mama.
☎
“Mama, plea-se call aunt Caro and tell her that you want to see me for the holidays, even if it’s just for few days.” I said.
“Are you sure you’re okay back there?” Mama asked and I imagined her c0cking one her eyebrows suspiciously.
“Mama, don’t you want to see me?”
“I want to, but—”
I cut her off abruptly. “Then tell her plea-se.”
“Okay I would. Greet your cousins for me o.”
“Okay mama. Merry Christmas by the way.” I said, smiling.
“Merry Christmas nwam. ”
“Bye.” I said and terminated the call.
I exhaled de-eply. “How I have missed them!” I said to myself.
🎊
The day wore on and it appeared that the family was preparing to go on an outing because Amanda and Annabelle were all gussied up in beautiful wears.
I took to the bathroom, had my bath quic-kly and sli-pped into the dress mama bought for me in the village for the last Christmas. It was my favorite dress.
I didn’t make my hair, so I just combe-d it neatly and pu-ll-ed it up in a ponytail. Once done, I sat on my be-d and took out my phone from un-der the pillow to reach out to my friends. When I opened my phone, I saw a notification of six missed calls from Peter.
Wow! He had been calling me.
📥
I c@m£ online immediately and tons of messages began to bombard me. There was no way I could reply all the messages now. I scrolled throu-gh to see if Peter, Adams and Gbemi were p@rt of those that had s£nt me a message. And yes, they were.
📥I re-ad Peter’s message first.
✏Merry Christmas baby boo!
I wonder why you’d not be online today of all days.
I smiled before replying.
📥
I’m sorry, I was busy. Merry Christmas to you too. How is your day going? And sorry for also missing your calls BTW.
📥
My day just got good now that you’re online. I’ve been waiting for you! So are you chanced to go out with me?
I’m sorry I’m not. I think the family is going out.
Are you going with them?
Yes I guess so.
Hope the old man didn’t l@yhis hand on you yesterday.
I chuckled seeing his message.
No he didn’t. I feel you were rude yesterday though.
After I s£nt that message to Peter, I checked Adam and Gbemi contacts. I re-ad their ‘Merry Christmas’ messages and replied to them.
Just then, I heard footsteps from outside my room. I immediately hid my phone un-der the pillow and stood up from the be-d. Suddenly, the door yanked open and aunt Caro stood at the doorway.
“We’re going out, so make sure you tidy up the kitchen, do the dishes and clean up the house. And don’t even think while we’re out, that’s your opportunity to go out to meet your b©yfri£nd. As a matter of fact, we’d be locking the front door and the gate.” That said, she walked out of the room.
Such wickedness!
_________________
I quic-kly ran to the kitchen when the smell of the soup I was warming hit my nose. I took the pot of soup down from the cooker immediately I got to the kitchen and the h0tness of the pot handle burned my f!ngers. I winced and quic-kly rushed towards the sink, turned on the tap and put my hands in the gushing water. The coldness of the water relieved the pain in my f!ngersa bit. When I took my hands away from the running water, I saw blisters on my f!ngers. The sp©t in my f!ngerswhere the blisters had formed was hurting badly. My mood instantly turned foul.
I opened the pot of soup with napkin this time around. As I stirred it, I noticed from the bo-ttomthat it had almost burned. A good thing I c@m£ into the kitchen soon before it did. I wasn’t in the mood for another rounds of shouting and flogging.
“Daniella!” Aunt Caro shouted.
I frowned. “Why is this one calling me now?” I muttered.
“Daniella!” She called again.
“Ma!” I answered and as I was about walking out of the kitchen, aunt Caro walked in.
“Okay you’re in the kitchen. Hope the soup didn’t burn, this one I’m smelling burnt soup.”
“No it didn’t.” I answered.
“plea-se prepare semo for me.” Aunt Caro said and I found the plea-se in her statement weird. Her statement were usually commanding and never polite. “Thank you.” She said as she was walking out and then st©pped like she forgot something. “That reminds me, mama called me yesterday and told me she really wanted to see you in the village. I asked her why, but she wasn’t willing to tell me.”
My face lit up as I heard that. It’s been two days since I had told mama to tell aunt Caro that she and papa wanted to see me, so aunt Caro could re-lease me from this prison called a house.
“Aw really! I’ve missed them o. I really want to see them too!” I said excitedly.
Aunt Caro rolled her eyes. “Em, but the thing is I can’t go to the village, so… I don’t know. Can you go by yourself?” She held her hands akimbo and poked her face forward as she asked.
“Ah I don’t know o.”
“How about if I took you to the station where you can get a bus going to owerri, would you be able to find your way to the village from there?”
“Err, yes I can try.”
“You’re not a baby anymore, so you should be able to do it.” She said and I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her. “So get yourself re-ady today, you’d be traveling to the village very early tomorrow morning.”
Hearing that, I wanted to jump and shout in happiness but I did well to control myself. I felt as happy as a lark. The same feeling I had when I was told that I was moving to the city. Ironic right?
When aunt Caro walked out of the kitchen, I squealed quietly and stamped my feet on the floor in utter excitement. So I was finally going to be leaving this prison to the village to see mama and papa again. Oh how I have missed them! But thinking of it, I was going to miss Peter and my other friends in the city so much. That was the only disadvantage that c@m£ with moving to the village. The only I repeat.
I walked into my room and took out my phone to chat with Peter, Adam and Gbemi. I informed them that I was going to be traveling to the village tomorrow. Afterwards, I started to arrange my clothes and fold them properly into my luggage. Doing that made me realize that aunt Caro hadn’t bought any clothes for me since I moved into her house. The clothes I had were the ones I brou-ght from the village.
Once done with everything that I had to do, I sat on my be-d and went lost in thought. I thought of a lot of things. First was how I was going to travel all alone to the village. I know I was no longer a young girl. I could ask questions and all that, but for some reason, I was scared. What if I miss my way? I shook off the dre-adful thought. I nee-ded to be optimistic about this before I changed my mind about traveling to the village. I also thought of opening up to mama and papa on everything that I was going throu-gh in the city. They nee-ded to know.
📝
The door to my room opening r!pp£dme off my thought. Aunt Caro walked in with cane in her hand. She moved towards me and started to wh!pme. I didn’t shout or cry or even make a sound. I just took in the stro-kes, confused as to why she was beating me.
Having hit me four stro-kes of the cane, she st©pped and began to talk. “Did I not tell you to prepare
semo for me?!” She shouted. Then the reason behind the wh!ps dawned on me. I had completely forgotten about that. You can’t blame me, I was too excited about going to the village. Perhaps that was the reason I didn’t feel the cane too.
“Oh!” I simply said.
“Oh? C’mon get to that kitchen and do what I said you should do! Don’t be silly!” She yelled.
As I ran to the kitchen to get the semo prepared, a stro-ke of her cane landed on my back and this time, I felt the pain. I ru-bbe-d the sp©t in my back where she hit as I made my way to the kitchen angrily. So help me, I could kill this woman and her entire household.
💘💘💘💘💘
The day c@m£ to an end and gave birth to a br@nd new day. The day I was going to be seeing mama and papa again. Boy was I happy! I woke up as early as four o’clock, had my bath and did a little bit of chores in the kitchen. That was the last chore I would be doing in this house till the following year. At least, Aunt Caro and her lazy daughters can now do some work. They have been lazying around for too long.
Thirty minutes since I was done with the house chores, aunt Caro still hadn’t come downstairs from her room. I checked the time on my phone screen and it re-ad 5:13am. I contemplated going to check her up in her room or just going back to be-d. Thinking about it well, going to her room might just cause another issue, so it was best I went with the latter.
I la-id down on my be-d to sleep for a short time before aunt Caro woke up.
📢📢
✒
A sl@p on my leg jo-lted me up from my sleep. I was dreaming about village before I received the sl@p.
“I told you that we were going to be leaving this house very early for the bus station to Owerri and you’re here still slee-ping, when I actually should be the one enjoying my sleep!” Aunt Caro kept shouting as I yawned and ru-bbe-d my eyes with my fist.
Calm down woman, I’m re-ady. I wanted to tell her that, but we all know the repercussion if I did. So instead, I just let her keep barking.
“We’re leaving now o! I don’t care if you’ve had your bath. I’m not going to allow you waste my time.”
“I’ve had my bath. I’ve been up since four.” I said.
“Oh better! Then we can go now.” She said questioningly.
“Yes.”
We walked out of room and saw uncle Henry coming down from the staircase.
“You guys are going alre-ady?” He asked.
“Yes dear.” Aunt Caro answered.
“Take care o. And Daniella make sure you ask questions, don’t go and lost.” He said.
Like you care! I thought to myself.
“Let her not ask questions na! If she likes, she should be doing like dummy.” Aunt Caro said.
Shut the hell up woman!
“Go well.” That was the last thing uncle Henry said before we left the house.
When aunt Caro and I eventually got to the bus station, aunt Caro took out some money from her purse and handed it to me.
“Count that money.” She commanded and looked at me as I counted it. “How much is that?
💸💸💸💸
“Thirty thousand naira.” I said.
“Good. Now you’d give mama and papa ten thousand naira each. Five thousand naira is for your transport fare to go and come back. Have you heard me?” She asked, drawing her ear.
“Like to come back to Lagos?”
“No to come back to London.” She replied sarcastically. “Of course to come back to Lagos! If you like don’t come back to Lagos to continue your education, you’re on your own. That should be the bus going to Owerri.” She pointed at a bus, which on it was boldly inscribe-d GOD IS GOOD. “Let’s go there and make enquiries.”
We walked towards the lined up buses and made all the possible enquiries, after which, aunt Caro left me all alone. I had gotten the ticket to board the bus and I was patiently waiting on queue to hand mine to the ticket collector. Once all that was done and I was finally seated on the bus just by the window side, I was relieved and excited.
Before long, the bus started to move and a man in front stood up to tell us all to join him in worsh!pand prayer. People are so accident conscious! We all joined him anyways. The prayer session was going fine until the man started to pray for protec-tion.
“Father I commit our journey into your hands, cover us with the blood of Jesus.”
“Amen!” Everyone shouted including me.
“Cover this vehicle, the tires, the engine, even the drivers eyes with the blood of Jesus!”
Okay seriously re-aders, if the blood of Jesus covers the drivers eyes, would he be able to see the road?
Some people on the bus chuckled, including me. Throu-ghout the prayer session, I didn’t say Amen again. I just looked outside the window and watched as the bus moved pas-sed many buildings until I finally saw GOODBYE LAGOS on a sign post.
I smiled.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
🎉🎉Story_Continues🔔