??ONCE UPON A GIRL?♀️
??SHE’S JINXED (CURSED)??
(Berries and the figure)
©GIFT OKORIE✍️
?CHAPTER 9
Hey Marichuiy what if that python killed your mum?” Kira asked me.
“You are an idiot” I fired at her.
“Hey don’t insult me” she whined.
“Why will you even say something like that?” Dave asked her.
“Dave chill, I was just kidding” she fli-ckered her eyes at him and I felt like choking her.
“Well don’t make such jokes in thIs jungle” Dave warned her, she frowned and clinged into Michael, he chuckled at her puppy face, he k!$$£d her hair and whispered to her “don’t mind him”. I kinda smiled at their chemistry, its cute, if only she wasn’t a bit-ch.
“Kiwi” Dave called.
“Right behind you, whats up” she asked with her adorable voice.
“Well, I wanna keep my eyes on you, so come to my front” he said without looking back, but I looked back and saw kiwi and Bathny exchange glances. Kiwi shrugged and ran to our front, ru-by replaced her space, He and Bathny were now the only ones behind us.
“But I was fine at the back” Kiwi whined without looking at Dave. If only she knows. I really feel jealous, I know I’m not supposed to but I can’t help it.
“Were you fine 10 minutes ago when that python wanted to eat you, Kiwi I just wanna make sure you are fine” he insisted, kiwi turned to him and flashed an adorable smile which made me feel kind of intemed@t£d.
“Thanks Dave” she thanked him and began to skip forward like a little girl on tour with her father walking behind her.
Michael gave Dave that look that made me realize that he knows what Dave is thinking, but Dave doesn’t know that he knows.
I should just focus on finding my parents and breaking my curse, I was too stupid to think that something will ever happen between Dave and I, when all this is over, I’ll just thank them and go back to my simple life, I’m just grateful that they are helping me.
“Jungle berries” I heard Kiwi scream, I looked up and realized we had entered another dimension of the jungle, this p@rt is filled with different kinds of trees with beautiful, mouth watering and delicious looking ripe berries.
Kiwi was running to a tree when henry st©pped her.
“St©p, don’t t©uçh it, jungle berries are poisonous” he screamed at her.
“Who told you that?” Bathny asked him.
“Must you know who told me” he fired at her, Bathny rolled her eyes at him. “Well if you must, all the jungle movies I’ve seen, there berries are always poisonous” he added.
“Dude you watch a lot of crazy movies, that makes you stupid” Salvador spat at him. He sat down un-der one of the trees and rested his head on the tree trunk, his men did the same.
“But I’ve also heard it in real life, that jungle berries are poisonous” Henry whined as he re-moved his backpack, I guess we will rest here for a while.
“Not this jungle, you can eat whatever you like” The camper driver stated as he picked a green berry that I’ve never seen before, he brou-ght out his water can, washed the berry and took a bite, we all watched him curiously, he closed his eyes for a while and opened them. “Delicious”. He commented with a smile.
“You act like you’ve been here before” Kiwi asked him.
“Yes, boss didn’t tell you?” He asked.
“This one..” ru-by asked asked as he points at Salvador. “He didn’t tell us any Nada, as a matter of fact he kidnapped us, we haven’t even had a bath since last night” he added and the driver laughed.
Bathny and Kiwi began gathering different kinds of berries of different colors.
“I was one of the team that c@m£ here with his brother 17 years ago” the driver stated.
“So that’s how you know my mum” I asked him and he nodded. Dave took my backpack and dropped it on the floor, he gestured for me to sit beside him and I did.
“So what’s your name?” I asked him, I was really tired of calling him the camper driver or bus driver.
“I’m Ricky Jones” he replied.
“Well nice to meet you Ricky but don’t ever call my mum crazy again” I stated With a smile.
“My bad, I’m sorry” he apologized and I nodded at him.
“Berries everyone, dig in” Bathny said as she and Kiwi poured out all the berries they gathered, we all circled it, everyone else started eating and it looked like they were really enjoying it including Dave, I stared at the berries, they all looked delicious, but I was thirsty, I nee-ded to drink water before eating anything, I opend My backpack and fished out one of my bottled water, I took a gulp and dropped it back.
I relaxed very well, re-ady to eat these delicious berries.
“Which one will I eat first” I asked.
“Try this one it’s more delicious” Dave gave me a green round berry.
“No, this one is more delicious” Bathny stated and threw a purple one at me. “Try it bes, thank me later” she smiled at me, I smiled back.
“I’m trying this one, sorry Dave” I said to him as I took a bite from the purple berry, Dave made a puppy face and we all laughed. Crazy guy.
I finished the berry And li-cked myl-ips, it was indeed delicious, it tasted like strawberry mixed with bu-tter and coconut yogurt.
“Next one” I asked.
“Mine” Kiwi and Dave said at the same time, they both giggled and the rest laughed while I just simply smiled.
I decided to eat Dave’s own first and then Kiwi’s own, I was about to collect one from Dave when my stomach grumbled, my eyes went up and I started feeling dizzy, everywhere was changing color and my head was going woozy.
“Aaaah” I screamed.
“Marichuiy, what’s wrong, are you OK” Dave asked as he held me.
“My…my..head.. Help..help me” was all I could breath out.
“Marichuiy what is it” Bathny cried as she held my hand.
“Oh my gosh she’s turning red” I heard Kiwi say and my heart skipped.
“Dude you said we could eat any berry we want” ru-by fired at Ricky.
“Yes, none of them is poisonous” he replied.
“Then what the hell is wrong with her, aren’t you seeing, she’s reacting to the berry” Michael screamed at him.
“If you had eaten the one from Dave, maybe this wouldn’t have happened, but you chose the one from your ‘bestie’, let’s just say, bestie killed bestie” I heard Kira say, ahhh, cant this girl be a normal human for once, I’m in severe pain here and this is all she could say.
Bathny couldn’t reply her, she was just crying over my face, her tears were dripping on my cheek, I wanted to t©uçh her cheek and tell her that I’ll be fine but I couldn’t raise my hand or open my mouth, this is not funny at all.
“I don’t think it’s the berry that’s affecting her, cause we all ate the same berry and nothing happened to us” Henry stated.
“Hey what’s going on over there” I heard Salvador ask but it was as if his voice was coming from a mile away.
“The berry is affecting her” Kiwi informed him.
“What do you expect from a cursed girl, everything will be affecting her” he stated.
“That’s it, it’s the curse not the berry” Henry jumped up, they all looked at him as if he has gone crazy.
“What? It’s a good thing, that means it will wear off and also none of us will be affected” he said, He’s kinda right.
Aaah, i feel like my heart is burning.
“I don’t wanna hear any more noise, I’m trying to rest.” Salvador stated and went back to his tree.
“I said it, this man is a devil” ru-by whispered.
Dave ca-ressed my cheek. “You will be fine OK” he said to me and that was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed completely and I blacked out.
**********
When I opened my eyes, it was alre-ady dark, I noticed i was in a slee-ping bag. I looked around and realized we were still in the berry plantation, maybe they couldn’t move because I fainted.
I saw everyone gathered around the camp fire they probably lighted. Someone looked my direction, he stood up and walked towards me, Dave.
“Hey, you are awake, I was starting to get worried” he whispered as he bent towards me. He t©uçhed my forehead to probably feel my temprature.
“Are you OK, how do you feel, any headache” he asked, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s wrong” he asked with a light smile.
“You, you are asking me questions as if you are a doctor” I replied.
“Well I’m your doctor” he sat beside me.
“Seriously how do you feel now” he asked.
“I’m better now” I answered.
“You scared the sh*t out of us” he stated.
“I’m sorry”
“It’s fine, I’m happy you are good now” he said and hvgged me, he k!$$£d my hair and I couldn’t help but blus-h really ha-rd .
“Mmmmmh” we dis£ngaged when we heard someone chuckle. Bathny.
“Hey girl” I called her.
“You just c@m£ back from land of the dead and you are alre-ady committing sin, fear God bestie” she stated as she sat by my other side, I hit her arm while Dave giggled.
“You are insane Bathny” I whined and she laughed.
Michael quenched the camp fire with water and some dust. Everyone dispersed to their slee-ping bags. Kiwi ran to our direction. I can’t really blame Dave for falling for her, the girl is really adorable, just that her br@in can switch off at any time, lol. But I love her.
“Hey jinxed girl, you are awake” she asked, I laughed, can’t believe she still call me that, crazy girl.
“Yea I’m fine now”
“Welcome back to the land of the living” she commented and reached for her backpack. She brou-ght out her slee-ping bag and tried to inflate it but she couldn’t, she breathed out and ran to Dave who was sitting beside me.
“How did you do it Dave” she whined, Dave giggled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do it for you, just sit here” he stood up and set her down.
“Thanks” she whimpered.
Before Dave could finish setting up her slee-ping bag and blankets, Kiwi has alre-ady sle-pt off.
He carried her and gently set her on the bag which I can now call be-d, he covered her with her blanket, he ca-ressed her cheek a little bit and then k!$$£d her forehead before getting up. And all these while, I couldn’t tear my eyes off them, what is wrong with me.
“Isn’t he ro-mantic?” I j£rked back to life when I heard Bathny whisper into my ears.
“Huh?” I asked as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Girl if he’s yours, no adorable Kiwi can change that” she whispered again and stood up.
“Bathny do you nee-d help with yours?” Dave asked her ad he approached us.
“Nah, I can take care of myself, I’ve alre-ady set my bag earlier” she replied and walked towards her bag, she la-id down and dozed off. My crazy bestie.
“Hey” Dave called, I looked up at him. “Are you hungry?” He asked as he sat on an orange slee-ping bag that was beside me.
“Nah, I’m good”
“Are you sure?” He asked and I nodded. “OK, now sleep, you nee-d it” he added, I nodded and closed my eyes. I opened them and realized he was staring at me, I chuckled.
“Hey I caught you, close your eyes or I’ll beat you”
“Sorry daddy” I chuckled out and then closed my eyes and didn’t open them again.
************
My eyes fli-ckered open when I heard a Footsteps. I turned to my other side and saw a figure of a man standing behind Bathny. I sprang up.
“Bathny” I screamed, but she just stirred on her beg and sle-pt off again.
The figure faded into the jungle. I stood up, it was dark but the moon light was helping me see a little, I didn’t nee-d to be told that it was midnight.
I felt as if the figure was calling me for a conversation. I walked towards the direction it went but I could’nt find him. I heard fast running steps by my right, I turned but I saw nothing.
“Your birthday is four days from now” I heard a creaking and scary voice whisper behind me, I twirled immediately but I didn’t see anyone.
“You may not make it to the temple before then” the voice continued followed by an evil laughter. “Come with me and I’ll break your cursssssssssse” he stressed the ‘curse’ and I felt cold shivers running down my spine.
I turned to run back to my be-d but I felt a hand gr-ab my right arm, I screamed as loud as I could and snapped my hand away.
I began to run back, I bu-mped into someone and I started screaming and hitting him.
“Marichuiy calm down, its me” I looked up.
“Dave?” I hvgged him so ti-ghtly that he began begging for his life before I re-leased him.
“I was looking for you, I woke up to ease myself and I realized you were gone, so I had to wake up Bathny so that we can look for you” he explained.
“Oh my gosh, Marichuiy I never knew you can be scared like this, I only t©uçhed you so that we can go back to be-d, but you screamed and ran away” I heard Bathny complain as she approached us.
“Were you the one who t©uçhed me?” I asked.
“Yes, were you expecting a ghost?” She chuckled, does this seem funny to her.
“All those things you said, was it supposed to be a prank” I asked her.
“I didn’t say anything, although I heard someone talking about birthday but I thought it was David” she shrugged.
“I didn’t say anything” David stated.
“OK, now I’m freaked out, I heard whispers of a male voice” she stated.
“We better get back” David said and took my terrified hand. Did I just see a ghost, and why is he talking about curse, I’m so scared, God plea-se save me.
We got back, Bathny went to her be-d, david dragged his own be-d closer to mine until they bec@m£ a double be-d, he drew me closer to him and cu-mddled me.
“It’s gonna be fine, OK” he as-sured me, I took a de-ep breath and finally sle-pt off.
TBC
??????
I’m sh!pping david with Kiwi, nob©dy should tell me any nada ??
I wonder who the figure is ?