#TENDER_BEAUTY
EPISODE 4
Adewale arrived at Living Faith Bible Church and met the place open. He hadn’t been to church for more than two months so he was surprised when he saw some changes in the church.
He headed towards the altar looking like a prodigal son and when he got there, he knelt down and all he could do was stare blankly. He stared at the pulpit and remembered the times the pastor had preached on Faith but it made no s-en-se to him then.
He held onto the pulpit and tried to say something to God but nothing seemed to come out of his mouth so he let his thoughts do the talking.
He la-id on the altar some minutes later and felt peace from within. All his thoughts and worries seemed to have flown away and within minutes, he was asleep.
*Some minutes later*
“Brother Wale..”, pastor Adewuyi called. Adewale opened his eyes slowly and the first thing that he saw was a ceiling fan. I don’t have a ceiling fan in my house, he thought.
“Brother Wale, are you ok?” the pastor asked looking worried. Adewale turned to the speaker and noticed that it was Pastor Adewuyi and bec@m£ more confused. Am I here for deliverance? He wondered but when he sat up, he noticed that he was on the altar and everything that happened including the reason why he was there bec@m£ clear to him.
He looked at the pastor and said, “Pastor, I am not ok, in fact, I am distressed”.
Pastor Adewuyi took Adewale to his office and Wale relayed the events of the past two days to the pastor.
Pastor Adewuyi sighed and said to Wale, “you have to be strong for yourself and for your friend. The devil puts fear in our hearts in order to make us doubt God. You nee-d to be close to God now more than ever because surviving a coma can only happen with God”.
Adewale sighed and nodded before he joined hands with the pastor and they prayed for more than twenty minutes. Adewale left that place feeling confident that God would definitely do something spectacular.
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Tunji la-id on his extra-large be-d in similarly mas-sive room thinking about what he had planned to do for the night. His mind kept on telling him that it was not a good idea and that it was too risky but he ignored it.
He had seen Belina at his dad’s birthday p@rty and had instantly fallen for her. He had br@gged and told everyone that she would be his girl soon but he had tried all his possible best and hadn’t been able to get her to at least smile in his direction for the past one month.
His phone started ringing and when he noticed that it was Belina’s father, he picked up immediately. After talking for some minutes, he hung up and really had a reason to smile. He dialed Tolu’s number and he picked almost immediately. “There is going to be a change of plans, meet me here in thirty minutes”, he said and hung up immediately.
*
Mr. Badmus dropped the phone on the table and smiled. ‘Now things are going as planned’, he thought. If she would not accept the easy way, she would accept the ha-rd way.
*******************
As Tony and Richa-rd made their way home, Richa-rd was busy thinking about the damsel in blue go-wn and therefore was very silent, Tony noticed this and joked about it but Richa-rd said he was just stressed up.
Richa-rd got home and made a mental note to relax well in order to banish the reoccurring thought and immediately he opened his wallet, a pas-sport sli-pped out of his wallet and as he picked it up, his nightmares returned. He stared at the pas-sport of Tonia which he took her to snap about a year ago and all he wanted to do was work until dawn so that he would not sleep and have nightmares.
********************
I walked into my ever silent street around 9pm in the night after the concert. My ministration had gone so well that I had been thanking God all throu-gh. I banished all thoughts of Kelvin as I made my way home cos I wouldn’t want him to spoil my day.
After the service, I received so many thanks from people around and the coordinators gave me an envelope which I hadn’t opened yet including a bag which I guess contains beverages and other things. I had just stepped out of the church when a girl of eighteen walked up to me and said, “Miss Belina?” I turned around, “yes?”
“Pls ma, i love your voice, your song and everything about you and I would like you to be my mentor, plsss?”
I laughed, “for starters, I am not ma, you can call me Belina, and why not, I would definitely be glad to be your mentor”, I said. She was so happy that she jumped on me and apologized later and I laughed. We later exchanged numbers and she promised to call me.
I was about entering my compound when I made a mental note to jot down everything that happened today in my diary, the day seemed to be a blessed day. I entered my house and I was instantly gr@bb£d from behind. The last thing that c@m£ to my mind before I pas-sed out was, “I don die”.
************
Prisca dialed Belina’s number the ninth time that night and still heard, “the number you have dialed is switched off, pls try again…”. She hissed as she threw the phone on the be-d. She was terribly worried cos she had promised to call around 10pm when she was sure that her father would be asleep to conclude on the time they would carry out their plan.
Belina had explained everything to Prisca and even though Belina didn’t like being a burden, Prisca had been able to successfully convince her that moving in with them was the best option. She had always wanted her around since she was the last born and also the only unmarried child of the house. She had become lonely and Belina being her best friend had visited a couple of times and she had enjoyed her company immensely. She had talked to her parents and they had supported their plan.
She looked at the time and noticed that it was almost 12 midnight and she bec@m£ more worried. She contemplated calling Belina father in order to stylishly ask for Belina’s whereabouts but cancelled it immediately, then she picked up her phone and dialed Tony.
********************
Tony walked around the hospital checking on patients. After he left Richa-rd , he had gone to the hospital cos he was doing night today. Thanks to the little sleep he had gotten during the day, he wasn’t feeling dizzy.
As he was going round, he saw someone that looked like Richa-rd but dismissed it. When he pas-sed by Richa-rd ’s office and met the light on, he knew he must be in there. He opened the door without knocking and saw Richa-rd sitting on his chair going throu-gh some books.
“What are you doing here?” Tony asked clearly surprised.
“Exactly what you are doing here”, Richa-rd replied and said, “I nee-d to check on the patient in ward C. I was just coming from there and would be going there in the next one hour to ensure that he is still stable”.
Tony stared at Richa-rd for some minutes, sighed and sat down. “You are putting yourself into too much stress Rich, why are you doing this to yourself?” he asked.
“I am not doing anything Tony”, Richa-rd replied.
Tony stood up and walked up to Richa-rd ; “you nee-d to st©p blaming yourself for what happened to Tonia. Look at yourself, you look drawn and stressed out. You nee-d to sleep” he said sympathetically.
Richa-rd hated sympathy so he flared up, “I don’t nee-d to sleep, i actually nee-d to remain awake because closing my eyes would only compound my problem, and plea-se, st©p fussing around me, I am not a kid. I can take care of myself”. Tony sighed and made to leave. “Tony” Richa-rd called. Tony looked back at Richa-rd . “I am sorry, I am just tensed up” he said. Tony nodded and just as he made to leave again, his phone rang and he looked at the caller.
“Prisca?” he said looking surprised. He looked at the wall clock and noticed that it was almost 12am. He sat down back and picked the phone. “Sweetheart?” he called
“Tony, I am sorry to disturb you” Prisca said. He s-en-sed something odd in her voice and asked, “Are you ok?”
Prisca explained everything including the fact that Belina would be f0rç£d out of the country by dawn if they did not do something about it. Tony listened attentively and when she was throu-gh, he said, “Can you sneak out of the house without being seen?”
She replied in affirmative and he said, “ok, I would be there in fifteen minutes max. I would call you when I get to your street. plea-se honey stay inside your compound and not outside, I would pick you up and we would go to her house. We would discuss how we are going to get her out on the way”.
“Thanks darling, I am sorry for the inconvenience”, Prisca replied greatly relieved.
Tony dropped the call and Richa-rd started his own round of questioning. Tony explained everything to him and Richa-rd insisted on following him. After convincing him that he would be more useful in the hospital, he set out.
**********
I opened my eyes and the building I found myself started changing colour. It was after some minutes that my sight regulated. The room was very dark that it took sometime for me to see anything important. I remembered my abduction and made sure I was completely still. I heard a snoring sound ahead of me and carefully as I could, I traced the sound and was not surprised when I found two guys.
I remembered that I was drugged but it is either that the drug was not so powerful or that God made me with extra tire for a time like this.
I noticed that they were fast asleep and I tried to stand up but my legs were unstable. I gathered all the will inside me and pushed my weight up. I swayed but didn’t dare fall for fear of giving myself away. I noticed that my shoes were gone and I didn’t bother about it. As I ti-p toed out, I saw my bag extremely close to one of the guys and ma-king a cross sign, I bent to pick the bag. As I was lifting the bag, it mistakenly hit the guy lying beside it and i froze. The guy turned and to my relief, he changed position and continued his sleep.
I creaked the door open and it made some funny sounds that i expected that someone would have woken up but i did not hear anything. I sneaked out of the place with my heart in my mouth, hoping that there was no one outside and glory be to God, i found myself running towards the road within seconds ba-re footed.
WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 5