🌼🌹ONCE UPON A GIRL🙅♀️
🥀🍁SHE’S JINXED (CURSED)🍁🥀
(Kuluvanda Temple)
©GIFT OKORIE✍️
👑CHAPTER 16👑
“I’ll explain….”
“Well go on” I used her.
She made me sit on the floor and she sat beside me.
“Your father knew a lot of secrets about the government, so when he didn’t go back to the military, they felt like he will spill the things he knows, so they c@m£ after him, they attem-pted to kill him several times but he managed to sl!paway. They thought he told me something so they tried to kill me but your father saved me, they thought they could use you to get to him, they planned to kidnap you, torture you and s£nd the videos to your dad to make him surrender. But your dad always know every step they take, so he took us to his safe house, when he realized they found the safe house, he took us out of there but as we were running, they set the house on fire, that was how your father got the scar on his back, it’s healed now but you would notice it if he re-move his shi-t” she sobbe-d, I unconsciously cleaned her tears. This is unbelievable.
“Dad went throu-gh all this?” I cried out and she nodded. “Was that why he pushed me away at the mall that day?” I asked her.
“They were watching him, he alre-ady told them that he Doesn’t care about us anymore, so if they take us, he won’t surrender, so it’s best they leave us alone, if he had hvgged you, his plan would have failed, they will know he was lying to them and they will come for us”
“Oh my God, I endangered our lives that day” I sobbe-d as I thought about what would have happened. “And dad’s wife and son, how did they come into the picture?” I asked.
“Dad’s ‘wife’ was a CIA agent who offered to help him get out of the situation in one piece, the CIA promised to change his identity for a few years if only he can stay away from his family completely, also they helped him only on one condition, that he would tell them the secret he knows, he did and as they promised, they gave him a new identity and he stayed away from us just to keep us safe”
“What about the son?” I asked.
“The son was a decoy, just to sell his story and make the bad people believe him. He was brou-ght from an orphanage, his compensation was to get him adopted by a good family and train him to any level of education he wants to get to, he just got into college recently” mum stated.
“Wow” I exclaimed and began to laugh, mum joined me, we laughed so loudly that everyone began to stare at us including dad, this is so crazy and freaking funny. “Y’all pla-yed a ping-pong game on me, how could you” i asked while laughing.
“We are sorry” mum whispered, I nodded. “So now you know, daddy never left his munchkin intentionally” she added.
I turned to dad, he was staring at us with a confused smile, he had no idea what we were talking about, Salvador collected the sword from him and started cutting, they haven’t gone that far with the cutting though.
Dad walked to us probably to ask what we were talking about or why we were staring at him. “Hey” he called out when he got closer, I stood up and ran to him, I jumped into his arms and he staggered back a little before his feet balanced well.
“Why didn’t you tell me” I breathed into his ears.
He drew back and looked into me eyes, he turned to mum and she shrugged indicating that she told me everything.
“I’m so sorry, I just wanted to keep you safe” he cried. I cleaned his face with a satisfied smile.
“Its OK, I love you dad” I hvgged him again. “My daddy didn’t leave me” I cried.
“I love you too munchkin” I closed my eyes to let that word sink in. When we dis£ngaged, he sat me down beside my mum and sat by my left. They both held me.
“So how did you come back?” I asked dad.
“The fake identity CIA gave me has expired, also they had settled the issue with the military and the government, so I’m a free man now” he explained. I smiled and hvgged him.
“Finally” I heard Kira scream out.
“Seriously, about time” Michael added, I knew they were talking about us, so I raised my head and smiled at them.
“Umh, I believe you also owe me an apology, you know, considering the fact that I’m also your daughter, and you left me as well” Bathny complained with a fake frowning face.
“Oh, my second munchkin, I’m sorry I left you too” dad stood up and hvgged her, my mum and I dramatically cl@pped for them, everyone laughed.
“Also Mari’s mum can you come and make the fire, I have no idea what I’m doing here” Kira complained as she tried to gather the flowers in one piece and light fire but she ended up scattering the flowers completely.
“Kira” Kiwi exclaimed.
“What? You should accolade me for trying while you just sat there and the two other girls are reconciling with their lost and found father” Kira whined, we laughed at her puppy eyes, crazy girl.
“Ok girls, let’s go make some camp fire” mum said as she stood up and walked back to the rest, Bathny followed.
“That’s it, camp fire” my dad and I said at the same time.
“I’m not un-derstanding what you two are talking about” mum asked us.
“This is a flower” dad said.
“We know that” ru-by snapped.
“It’s very obvious” Dave backed up.
“Your point is” Kiwi asked.
“Let’s burn it” I stated.
“Oh my gosh it’s true” Kira backed up.
“That is what we would have done since” David added.
“Marichuiy And Mari’s dad, you guys are geniuses” Kiwi whined.
“Here, take a match box” Kira threw a match box to me, I gave it to dad, he asked Salvador and Ricky to step away from the bush, they did.
Dad lighted a match stick and threw it into the bush, the bush caught fire, raging with flames.
“Everyb©dy step back, this might take a while” dad informed us. We stepped back a little. “Keep going, the heat and the smoke is harmful to the b©dy system” he instructed.
We moved back 20 yards away from the burning fire Towards the cold region, but the heat from the fire was helping to keep us warm.
We waited for about three hours for the bush to burn out and for the fire to cool off. It finally did.
“Let’s go” Salvador instructed, we got up and followed him, when we got to that sp©t, we realized that the burnt flowers were rising from the ashes and trying to weave back into another thick bushes.
“Hurry!! The flowers are coming back to life” dad screamed at us as we continued running throu-gh the ashes.
“Ahhhh, my leg, it caught my leg” Henry screamed, Dave st©pped and ran back to them.
“Help” Bathny screamed as she and Dave tried to free Henry, one of the flowers tied his left leg.
“Dad!!! Help!!!” I screamed at him, he ran back. “I’ll cut it, the rest of you keep running” he yelled at us, David and Bathny began to run, when they got to me, David dragged my hand and ran off. I kept turning back to know if dad and Henry made it, I smiled lightly when I saw them running fast towards us.
I looked forward and saw mum and Kira trying to untie Ricky. Kiwi ran back to them with ru-by behind her, I guess she went to call him to help, he brou-ght out the broken bottle and cut off the flower on Ricky’s leg.
“Go go go, it’s getting worst” dad screamed when they got close to us.
Mum helped Ricky up, we all continued running. I looked back and saw how fast the flowers were weaving together.
“Don’t look back munchkin, just keep running” dad screamed at me. I looked forward and didn’t see mum and the rest, of course she’s a good runner, very athletic.
We finally got out of the forest, Salvador And his men were alre-ady lying on the floor p@n-ting as if they ran a marathon, actually it felt like a marathon. Lol.
“So it’s funny to you right?” David asked me as he was trying to catch his breath like everyone else, I didn’t realize I was smiling.
“It is kinda funny” I win-ked at him and laughed. He smiled and sat down, I sat beside him and began to laugh again, he joined me.
“What’s ma-king you guys laugh” Michael asked them.
“We just ran out of death s£ntence and you guys think it’s funny” Kira backed up as she la-id comfortably on Michael’s b©dy.
“It is kinda funny, especially when Henry was crying for his leg” dad said and we laughed including Henry.
“I swear I thought that flower was gonna strangle me” Henry laughed out.
“Me too” Ricky complained.
“I would have actually celebr@ted your death” dad snapped at him.
“You never actually liked me” Ricky complained.
“I’m glad you noticed, I don’t have to waste time telling you about it” dad stated.
“Boys come on” mum called them to order.
“I feel like you are enjoying this” Kira asked her with an amused smile.
“It’s so fun when boys fight over you trust me” mum blurted out, damn, so she knows, this woman is crazy. Lol.
“Bad as-s” Henry whispered, mum giggled.
“I swear I have so much to learn from you” Kira cooed and mum laughed.
“I bet you were popular in high school” Kiwi stated, mum shrugged, it felt as if they were chatting with a college student. All I could do was just smile sheepishly.
“It’s getting late, we nee-d to move” Salvador brou-ght us back to reality. It is really getting late, if I’m not mistaken, it would be about 6pm.
“The last path is the left one, I guess that’s the real one, so let’s go” dad stated and walked out, we followed him.
We got into the left path, it was quiet at first except for the singing birds.
The atmosphere made everyone scared, I mean why not, we’ve pas-sed throu-gh a lot, so everyone was expecting the worst.
We got to a sp©t, dad signaled us to st©p, we did.
There was a hvge metal door standing right infront of us.
“Could this be the temple’s gate?” Kiwi asked.
“Is this where Marichuiy and I will answer a riddle?” Mum asked as well.
“Well I don’t know how temple gates look like but if there’s one thing I know, it’s tunnel doors and this one standing here is one of them” dad stated.
“How do we open it?” Salvador asked.
“How you open doors” dad replied. He walked to the door, held the both hands and pushed it with all his strength, the door opened only for us to be faced with complete darkness.
“Jesus Christ” Kira exclaimed.
“I never knew you knew Jesus, I thought you are the daughter of Jezebel” ru-by snarled at her.
“I thought she was the reincarnation of Morgana from Merlin’s movie” Henry added.
“Id*ots” Kira fired at them, we all laughed.
“We all have flash lights in our backpacks” David reminded us.
We fished out our flash lights well except mum and dad. I gave dad mine cause I know he will take the lead, Salvador doesn’t look like he has the courage to go in there first.
“Do you guys really think entering this tunnel is a good idea” Kiwi asked with a paranoid voice.
“Kiwi this is the last path, it has to be throu-gh this tunnel, don’t worry we will be fine” mum as-sured her, she nodded and went to ru-by.
Dad took the lead, salvador followed, mum and Ricky followed and then the rest of us, while Salvador’s men c@m£ behind.
“Ricky join me here” dad called out to Ricky.
“Why?” Ricky asked.
“I don’t trust you” dad complained, mum looked behind and win-ked at us, we laughed, but the two ‘boys’ doesn’t know why.
“I don’t nee-d your trust to be walking on my own” Ricky complained.
“Dude if I meet you back there, you will forever h*te me” dad threatened.
“Fine, I’ll join you, I don’t know what your problem is. Jeez” Ricky surrendered and went to join dad.
When he got there dad patted his shoulder. “Good choice” he said.
We walked throu-gh the tunnel for over an hour, I bet it’s alre-ady night outside.
“Ouch” david robbe-d his face.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Cob webs” he complained, as he was robbing his face he mistakenly flashed his light up and there sat like a Thousand and one vampire bats which were once asleep but were awakened by David’s light.
“Guys” David called out.
“What Is it?” Dad asked him.
“Ruuuuuuuuuuunnnnn” we both screamed as the bats began their attack on us, everyone took to their heels, lucky for us we were almost close to the tunnel door.
Dad was the first to get out. “Come on guys” he screamed at us, when we finally got out, he pushed the door closed with the help of Ricky.
“That was insane” Kira breathed out.
“Why, those were your siblings, instead of you to join them in seeking for food, you were running” ru-by asked her.
“OK, I think it’s high time I dealt with you” Kira snapped, she wanted to bounce on him but Michael held her back.
“Save your beautiful knuckles babe, He’s not worth it” he said, Kira eyed ru-by while he gave her a mocking smile.
“Wow” I heard David breathe out.
“Its amazing” Kiwi added.
I turned around to know what they were wowing about, damn.
Below the valley la-id a beautiful but abandon 17 century city, but the center of attra-ction was the magnificent golden temple which stood in the center of the city. The temple was shimmering un-der the moon, and beside it la-id a slee-ping gimongous dragon.
“No wonder why they call it the dragon king” dad commented as he stared at the dragon.
“So that’s the Almighty temple that almost cost us our lives” Henry blurred out.
“Well what are we waiting for, let’s go down to it” Bathny screamed and wanted to rush of but Mum held her back.
“We can’t” Ricky and mum said at the same time.
“Why not?” Dad asked.
“Yea, why? The temple is just down the valley,it will only take us like two hours to get there.” I Backed up.
“Last time we c@m£ here, we got here at night. We tried to get down to the temple but after walking for hours, we realized we only went round the valley and ended up back at the gate of the city” mum explained.
“Well, that’s weird” I blurted out.
“Yea, pedro was so eager to get to the temple that he made us try it 3 times and still ended up at the gate” Ricky added.
“So we are to camp here until morning?” I asked mum.
“Yes baby, the most important thing is that we are here, we just have to wait for a few hours for daybreak” she as-sured me, I nodded and hvgged her.
We all set down our backpacks and set camp.
TBC.
🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Marichuiy’s mum and Kiwi are the real king of boys 😁😂