??ONCE UPON A GIRL?♀️
??SHE’S JINXED (CURSED)??
©GIFT OKORIE✍️
?CHAPTER 18?
My br@in went dead…..
“I’m sorry waaat” I asked him in shock.
“I’m sure you heard me” he replied with a mocking smile.
“Can you plea-se repeat it” i pleaded.
“No repetition” he shrugged.
“You have got to be kidding” Dave fired at him.
“Come on man, just once” ru-by pleaded but the dragon lord shook his head.
“Oh come on, It’s a simple riddle, just answer it” Salvador fired at me.
“You are an id*it” Kira snapped at him.
“Hey munchkin, you can do this” dad as-sured me.
“Yea chuiy, just think ha-rder” Bathny patted my back.
I took a de-ep breath and thought about it for a while.
*……..To live and breath on this terrestrial ball* OK to breath, to breath, what do we breath in, air, we breath in air.
“The answer is air” i snapped.
My mum sighed I defeat. I don’t think I got it right.
“Wrong, good bye” the dragon lord stated and wanted to walk away.
“plea-se wait, i beg of you, give me another chance, my friends, I don’t…. I don’t want to disappoint them, they c@m£ all this way only for to fail. plea-se” I cried and fell on my knees. “plea-se sir, dragon lord or anything you are, plea-se just one more chance, I can’t remain like this forever, plea-se”
“plea-se sir, just one more chance” Dave pleaded.
“I’ll show you my b00bs if you give her one more chance” Kira blurted out, everyone turned to her in shock. “Just kidding” she whispered to us.
“What is bo-ob s” the dragon lord asked.
“Oh my gush, he doesn’t know what b00bs are” Kira mumbled.
“He really is from the 17 century” Kiwi giggled out, we all laughed.
“Last time I checked, you people were begging me, now you are laughing at me” he fired at us.
“We are sorry” we apologized.
He sighed and walked back to us. “One more chance but I’m not repeating the question” he stated and crossed his arms on his che-st waiting for me to answer.
OK, moment of truth, i have no idea what to answer, if Air is not the answer, I wonder what the answer is.
“Baby look at me” mum called my attention, I turn to her. “Just breath and think about us” she got a little closer and looked at me more seriously, I couldn’t help but think she is about to tell me the answer, I hope I un-derstand it. “Think about your friends, baby think about TOMORROW”
There it is, TOMORROW.
“TOMORROW, the answer is TOMORROW” I blurted out.
The dragon lord stared at me for a while. He shrugged and stepped away from the gate.
The gate made a crack sound, the vines covering it started tearing off, and finally the golden gate Was standing on it’s own.
And like the red sea, it began to p@rt and open on it’s own, great light like that of rays of h0t sun shun from the inside and almost blinded us, as if that Wasn’t enough, a great wind swept almost everything in the temple and splashed it on us, or rather on me,the wind f0rç£d my right knee to the ground, I had to use my left hand to balance myself but instead the wind was still pushing me backwards, ‘why only me?’ Was all i could think of.
“Marichuiy!” Everyone screamed in fear, mum tried to run to me but the wind was too strong, she couldn’t even get close.
“Help her” dad screamed at the dragon lord but he just shrugged and stood there as if nothing was happening.
I lifted my head up, I could see my mum and Bathny crying, Kira was holding Michael ti-ghtly as she stared at me in horror, Kiwi just couldn’t believe her eyes, David and dad were trying to stretch out their hands for me to take but they couldn’t get close.
“Get a long stick” ru-by screamed, Henry ran off, he c@m£ back with a long stick which I have no idea where he got it from.
Dad took the stick from him, he stretched it towards me, even though the wind was trying to push the stick and dad away but Ricky held the edge of the stick and helped dad to hold it.
“Munchkin gr-ab on!!” Dad screamed at me.
I stretched my hand and gr@bb£d the stick with one hand, but the wind increa-sed, I had to gr-ab It with the second hand. Dad and Ricky drew the stick backwards to get me away from the wind.
But then,like it started, the wind c@m£ to an abrupt st©p, and faded like it never c@m£, and with the f0rç£ with which it faded, I wasn’t prepared for it, so my hand sli-pped off the stick and I hit my bu-tt on the ground.
“Marichuiy” mum shouted and ran to me, she picked me up, dusted me and hvgged me.
“Are you OK munchkin” I heard dad ask, I dis£ngaged from mum and hvgged him.
“I’m fine dad” I replied.
“Wow, that was insane” Kira whined.
“Is that why you almost dried up like a fish in fear?” Henry asked him, everyone laughed while Kira eyed him. “Better be careful, I have a girlfriend now, you can’t intimid@t£ me anymore.” Henry added.
“Dam right” Bathny backed up.
“I’ll just squee-ze the both of you and throw you into that dragon’s mouth” Kira br@gg’s and pointed at the slee-ping dragon king.
“Um, Henry…” Bathny called as she stared at the dragon. “Fight your fight” she stated and ran behind him.
“Coward” I mocked, she stuck out her ton-gue for me.
“So are we gonna just pretend like nothing happened” Kiwi asked.
“It’s in the past now dear” dad said to her, she shrugged but still looked as scared as a rabbit abadoned in the rain.
“Where’s the dragon lord?” Michael asked. We turned to where he was standing he wasn’t there.
“And where are Salvador and his men?” David asked.
We looked around but didn’t see him either.
“Damn that motherfu-cker” Dad cursed un-der his breath and walked into the temple looking as angry as a hungry lion whose food ran away.
“If i wanna d@t£ an old man, I’m coming for your dad” Kira stated.
“If you wanna die, try it” I threatened with a light smile.
“You’ll see” she sm-irked at me.
“OK, let’s just go in and st©p threatening each other about something that will never happen” mum said to us.
“We were just joking mum” I informed her.
“Yea, do you really think I’ll d@t£ my new best friend’s husband, i wouldn’t dare” Kira chuckled out.
“I’m you new best friend” mum asked.
“Isn’t it obvious” Kira asked rhetorically as we walked into the temple.
“Dad did you see them” i asked him when we got in.
“Not yet” he answered. “Ricky go that way, I’ll check them this side” he instructed. Ricky went throu-gh the left courtyard while dad went throu-gh the right courtyard.
“Wow, this place is amazing” Kiwi confessed.
“It looks like the smaller version of the great catholic cathedral in Rome” Henry stated.
“Yes, just that this one is made of Gold” Bathny backed up.
“Over there, come on” mum shouted and ran off towards a gold statue of a dragon which had a gold crown on its head, the dragon statue was set on a hvge golden throne with emeralds, ru-bies and diamond beautifying it, there were two gold baskets on each arm of the thrones, each of the baskets contains different kind of precious stones, they were glitering in the sun.
“This is so beautiful” Kiwi cooed.
“For the first time, I’m really happy I c@m£ to the place” Michael confessed, we laughed a little.
“No wonder why Salvador wouldn’t listen, if you take a few of these, you would really be dining with Bill Gate and Elon Musk” David stated while we laughed again.
“We didn’t see that I’d*ot” dad said as he joined us. “And I think the dragon is shaking up, I saw him blink twice” he added, fears gr!pp£dme. Not only me, everyone looked like they just watched a horror movie.
“All we have to do now is place that book and the box back To where it can from, that way, if Salvador take the golds and the dragon wakes up, he wouldn’t go insane, he will be peaceful and merciful” Ricky advised.
“So that’s the work of the book and the box?” Dad asked.
“Yes, it’s in the name, the book of wisdom and the box of magic” mum replied.
“So why did you take it in the first place knowing fully well how important it is?” Dad asked mum with his hand akimbo.
Mum blu-shed a little before answering. “I didn’t know until I took it to the lab, it was when I re-ad the instructions on the box and re-ad the book that I realized what I had done, y’all know the rest of the story.”
“Was that why you blu-shed before answering the question?” Kira snapped at her.
“Was that the onlg thing you saw?” Mum snapped back.
“We are gonna be the best best friends ever, you are insane, I love it” Kira cooed and mum palmed her face.
“Can we st©p talking and put the book back” David asked.
“I remember when i picked one of the precious stones in one of these baskets, the thrones opened a little and I saw the book and the box, it wasn’t intentional though, I was just admiring the stones” mum stated.
“OK, so pick the stone you picked before” dad asked her.
“That’s the problem, i don’t know which one it is”
“Whaaaaat” we screamed at her.
“Calm down, I’ll find it, I know it was a ru-by but I don’t know the p@rticular one” she complained as she started picking up ru-bies and dropping them back.
“Let’s help” Bathny asked me, I nodded.
As mum was picking the ru-bies in the right arm basket, Bathny and I were picking the ones on the left arm of the throne. We picked it for almost 10 minutes when suddenly i heard a crack sound as if something was lifting up but then it st©pped.
“Bathny hold on” I st©pped her, I picked up the ru-by I had dropped but the sound didn’t occur. “Bathny can you pick up the previous one, the one your hand is tou-ching right now?” She did. “Hold it” I instructed.
As she was holding it, the dragon statue began to lift up from the throne, below it was a dark space which had the shape of the box and the book.
“Woooohooo” we screamed in excitement.
“So where’s the book” mum asked.
“Salvador is with it” Michael replied and that’s when I remembered.
“Whaaat” Mum and dad screamed in shock.
“No no, I think he put it in Marichuiy’s backpack” Ricky stated.
“Yea, I remember seeing him put something In your backpack after we left the village, check it” David backed up.
I opened my back pack and saw the two stuff sitting pretty there.
“Thank God” mum breathed out as I fished them out.
She took it from me, and looked up at the dragon statue. “From the dept of my heart, I sincerely apologize for stealing from you, I plead that you free my daughter from this curse for i have returned that which belongs to you before her birthday, plea-se” she cried out. Gently she placed the book and the box down where they belong.
I signaled Bathny to drop back the ru-by, she did and gently the dragon statue sat back down on the throne covering the book and the box.
“Phew” we all took a de-ep breath.
“Did you feel anything” Henry asked me.
“How do you mean?” I asked back.
“You know? Did you feel the curse being lifted from you?” Michael asked in detail.
“No, I feel OK, like my normal self” I replied.
“Does that mean it didn’t work, cause in most movies i’ve seen, when a curse is lifted from you, you sure will feel the heat, either you pas-s out for a while or something weird happens” Henry stated.
“That’s kinda true” Bathny, Kiwi and Kira said in unison.
“But i didn’t feel anything” i shrugged.
“That’s because the curse was lifted from you at the temple’s gate” we heard the dragon lord say as he walked in.
“OMG, so that’s why the wind attacked her” Kira asked rhetorically.
“And we almost st©pped it” my mum g@sped in shock.
“Thank God we didn’t” David chuckled out.
“What you don’t know may seem really bigger than you” the dragon lord smiled.
“So bringing the book back here is just to fulfill all righteousness” Michael asked.
“No, to save the world from what your friend could have done to it” he replied and pointed to the left direction where the dragon was supposed to be slee-ping, but to our greatest shock, the dragon wasn’t their.
“Sh*t, where the hell is that thing?” ru-by asked in horror.
“Is it awake, did he wake up?” Kiwi asked with a shaken voice.
Dad walked closer to The point, he looked around but said nothing.
“Dad come back” I screamed at him.
He nodded but still looked around, when he turned to the right side, he stood in shock staring at something, then he smiled in satisfaction as if he just found his lost wallet.
We all turned to the right direction only to fix our eyes on the creature that only existed in myths, standing 30 feet tall staring down at us. He four legs set on the ground, so strong like that of a dinosaur, his wings stretched out as if he was about to fly, his tail la-id strong behind him. He looked so majestic.
The Dragon King.
“Oh my Wonder world” Kiwi blurted.
“It’s so hvge” Kira mumbled with shaky voice.
“It’s beautiful” mum whined.
“It’s amazing” dad added.
“What’s on his back?” Ricky asked.
“I think… It looks like, Salvador and his men” Michael stated.
“Tied in a golden rope” Bathny added.
We laughed but when the dragon started moving closer to us, no one told us that it’s no longer funny.
“Nob©dy should run, especially if you are guilty of something” the dragon lord warned.
“People like Kira” ru-by mumbled, we giggled.
As if he heard it, the dragon started moving closer to Kira, she jumped in fear and ran behind Michael screaming “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll never be rude to anyone again, I’ve changed”
The dragon st©pped, he stared at me for a while, even though his face was scary but I bet he’s like the David of his kind, the cutiest and strongest, really no wonder why he’s the king.
He turned to mum, she took a step back. The dragon stretched out his hand, mum stared at the hand for a while, she looked up at the dragon, he blinked at her. She smiled and got on his hand.
“What are you doing?” Dad asked her but mum only waved at him. With mum in his palm, the dragon drew her closer to his face, he made a sound and stared at her for a while and then gently dropped her back on the ground.
“He said you did well” the dragon lord said to her.
Mum smiled.
The dragon picked up salvador and his men from his back and threw them to the ground.
“Ouch, that will hurt” Ricky muttered.
The dragon gr-unted at his dragon lord for a few minutes and then walked away.
“He said i should get you home” the dragon lord stated.
“Good, get me the hell out of here” Salvador yelled.
“Except you and your friends, the dragon king instructed that you will serve him for 10 befor you leave” the dragon lord said to him.
“Hahahah, serves you right dude” Henry laughed out loud.
“We warned you” mum said to him.
“Come on” the dragon lord said to the rest of us, we followed him while Salvador and his men were screaming in the temple. I kinda feel sorry for them.
We got out of the temple’s gate and the gate closed, the tree vines covered It again, it was as if it never opened.
We walked a few blocks away, the dragon lord st©pped.
“Behind that house is a tunnel, inside the tunnel, there’s a flight of stairs, climb the stairs and find your way home” he instructed.
“Hey dude, we had a very bad experience with a tunnel on our way here” ru-by tried to tell him but he walked out.
“OK, let’s go guys” dad instructed.
“Going back to that jungle is so scary” Kiwi whimpered.
“As long as we are together, we will figure it out” mum as-sured us.
We entered the tunnel and switched on our flash light, we walked a few meter and there stood the flight of stairs.
“Alright, ladies first” dad stated and paved way for mum.
Mum began climbing followed by Kira and the rest of us.
“What’s the hold up?” I heard Kira ask mum.
“Just a door” mum replied as she pushed a door open.
“Oh my God” Kira muttered.
“What is it?” I asked her as I climed out only to find myself in a cake sto-re.
“How did you people get in here?” A woman whom I presume to be the owner of the sto-re fired at us. “Are you thieves, I’m calling yhe police”
She fished out her phone, we tried to explain things to her but ahe wasn’t listening to us.
“Hello, police, there are some thieves in my sto-re” she complained.
“Run” dad screamed at us and we scampered out of the sto-re.
We entered into the busy streets, I looked at the sign post of a barber’s shop and realized we were in mexico city.
“How is this possible, so the Nearest way to the temple is un-der a cake sto-re” Michael screamed as dad tried to wave down a taxi.
“We suffered for nothing” ru-by complained.
“I think the lesson we were supposed to learn was that there’s no short cut to anything” dad tried to calm us down.
“But there was a shortcut, we just didn’t see” David mumbled.
“Guys, we are on the news” Kira informed us, she pointed at the bill bored, all their pictures except mine was there.
HEADLINE: BEVERLY HILLS KIDS WENT TO A NIGHT CLUB AND DIDN’T RETURN, IT’S BEEN A WEEK AND NO ONE KNOWS WHERE THEY ARE.
“I nee-d to call my dad’s Pilot to come pick us up” David stated. He borrowed someone’s phone and made the call. “OK, he’ll be here by tomorrow morning.
“Let’s find a h0tel we can lodge In for the night” dad stated.
“How about that one” Kiwi asked, she pointed at a h0tel I can’t even pronounce the name.
My only happiness is that we made it out alive, and above all, I’m a free girl, no more curse, no more loneliness, my parents are back and I have new friends, what more can I ask for.
I felt Davi’s hand on mine, i looked up at him.
“Happy birthday in addy” he said to me with a broad smile. I smiled back.
I alre-ady forgot that tomorrow is the almighty 17th birthday.
He held me as we ran to the h0tel with the rest.
Tbc