***THE GHOST MAN***
By Tianna Cole Williams
(A true life story)
THE LIVING DEAD
CHAPTER 10
“Ohhh!!!! chimooo”, chioma’s mother said with grief ,shook her head and Sighed,then she continued “All what my daughter has said is true,I was not in support of the whole idea,when she told me she did not love kelechi but his friend,I told her it’s a taboo to do so,and alre-ady she was engaged with kelechi,it won’t be polite to abandon him then go for his friend,there she told me the plan that she had, saying that she will marry him then after some years she will kill him,so his money and properties might be hers,then she will marry chike his friend.
“I told her I won’t accept it,then my daughter threatened to kill her self, immediately took out a knife, that she will kill her self and I will be the blame of her death,and she been my only daughter I was afraid to let her do such,I had to plead with her so she could st©p herself from doing what is not right and putting me in problem,as a mother I told her I will help her only if she won’t let the matter get expo-sed if not we will be in trouble,then I went to an herbalist man who gave me some charm concoction to add to my son in law’s drink,so he could pas-s away,and people won’t know the cause of his death, but unfortunately our whole plan back fired,am in so much regret now”,chaiii ewooo,
she bent her head with tears in her eyes, immediately her b©dy shook and she slumped to the ground.
The women ran to carry her ,but when she was been carried ,they found out that some whitish foaming substance was coming from her mouth,while she was convulsing,her eyes were looking into the sky,with only the white side showing while the black eye ba-lls inside the eyes was now hidden un-der her eyes,the whole scenario was like a drama to them,they were confused at the moment, they shouted her name,some cl@pped her face and poured her some water,so she could come back to life,but chioma’s mother b©dy stiffened,then turned cold,just like a flash her b©dy was black like as if she had been burnt with fire, immediately chioma’s mother gave up the ghost.
Everyone shouted,the elders shook their heads,some called her name ,some blamed her that it’s because she went to the herbalist man that is why, since she was not able to kill the victim,she rather dies,and it’s true.
FLASH BACK
The herbalist man alre-ady warned chioma’s mother of the repercussion of not doing as directed in mixing of the concoction in the victims drink,and which must be drank by the victim. If by any means the targeted victim escapes without drinking the concoction ,what was supposed to happen to the victim when he /she drinks the concoction will turn out to happen to the person. Chioma’s mother said she will do according to plan,but did it work???
BACK TO PREs£nT
That was it, but fortunately for kelechi, he escaped death in a twi-nkle of an eye,and now his secret enemies are paying for it,the people took away chioma’s mother b©dy away,while chioma rolled her self on the ground crying bitterly,she was hitting herself on the ground that she want to go with her mother,chike was not believing all that was happening,what he planned failed,because he was planning to kill chioma with his own hands after she had killed his friend,then taken his properties and money to herself, because she was not a woman he could marry, she is a bad woman and a w—e,cause if she were to be a good woman she won’t try to eliminate her husband for another man,that means she could still kill him with a blink of an eye,or she would turn him into her house boy,which he won’t allow,he never loved her a bit,he just took advantage of her at every slight chance he got,but here all his hope and plans had washed away in a flash,he thought in his mind.
The elder who was judging the matter stood up again, snapping chike from his thoughts with his loud voice,he told chike that he doesn’t nee-d to ask him anything again,since they all know how it happened ,but he will ask kelechi what his plans are. Kelechi stood up after the elder man called him up,
He said with hate in him ”I hate myself for marrying a woman like her, how will I know that she was this evil, cause there is a saying that says,not all that glitters are gold,I looked at her beauty ,her outward appearance but did not look at her inward appearance,I don’t know that her character was so bad to the extent that she could plan to kill me,after all the love we shared together,the money I spent on her,the house I built for us in her name,that after we have our children we will relocate to the new one,then refurnish the old one,and let it out for rent.
But I don’t know that she was preparing my death, but God is so good I c@m£ back that day,and met her in a conversation with her mother planning on how to eliminate me,if not I would not have been here today.
Kelechi said and eyed chioma,who was still crying her eyes out,then he said”I will s£nd a divorce letter to chioma to sign, cause am no longer her husband”,he said looking at his friend whose face was facing the ground but behaved as if all was well,he continued”And I will bring in a lawyer tomorrow morning,to collect all my do¢v-ments and sign it out from her name that she can no longer have access to my properties,and the house he built in her name will be cleaned off,with the do¢v-ments that shows she owns the house.
By now chioma could not believe her eyes,she cried and begged kelechi but he refused,cause he had alre-ady made up his mind to take away every thing she had access to,so she will learn when she have another opportunity again,that is if she will even have one.
The elders concluded ,and the secret C I D men arrested chike and took him to their station,so he could sign a shorty , that he doesn’t have any business with the family again,and if anything happens to mr kelechi he will be held responsible, when he signed it,they left him,but promised him that they were watching his every move,chike left and travelled away from that city to a very far away city during the night to avoid the mockery of his neighbor and the shame of his actions.
CHAPTER 11
Chioma left the meeting ground in shame and disgrace,after loosing her mother in place of kelechi. He was supposed to be the victim but Chioma’s mother took the death of someone else because she wanted to satisfy her daughter’s want and greedy de-sire.
The next day the lawyer was called,to make chioma sign all the necessary do¢v-ments ,that she is not p@rt of kelechi’s properties or site,after all of the signing and writing, kelechi did not even look at chioma twice, he quic-kly brou-ght out a divorce letter and told her to sign it, chioma was really heart broken, she broke down in tears.
“My husband plea-se am sorry,and plea-se forgive me for all the wickedness I have done to you,I have regretted all my actions cause I was greedy,and I wanted your whole properties for myself,I never looked at what will be my gain in the future,I over looked it, but now here I am with nothing at hand,my mother is dead because of this”,
chioma said while crying her eyes out ,she had become her own shadow of herself,just in one day chioma had grown lean cause of thinking and regret, she quic-kly took hold kelechi’s trou-ser, begging him to forgive her even if they can’t be together,and she can’t live with him cause she won’t be able to look him in the eyes, kelechi felt pity for her,since he was a gentleman and a cool type,and he did not want anything to happen to his fellow human,he held her by her shoulder and pu-ll-ed her up from the ground,her eyes had gone inside when he looked at her face,she was eaten by her own fears and regret,he spoke to her in a thick but calm voice.
“Chioma ,for all the times I have been with you,have I for once hurt you in any way,have I treated you badly,I gave you all you wanted,even if I don’t have it at that instant but I always promise to fulfil what you requested from me in a few days time,I never wanted you to suffer and I gave you all the love I had, but you treated me bad,you planned with my friend and your mother to kill me just for my properties,you had a secret affair with my best friend,and still c@m£ back to me as if nothing is the problem,God knows all what I have in my heart for you, God looked at his son who is faithful to his wife that’s why he let me Come back to pick something that is not relevant in the house that morning,if not I won’t stand to talk by now, I would have been dead,and when people asked how I died,you and your accomplice will say I fell ill and died,but my God do not want my enemies to eat and drink over my head”,he said all this shaking her by her shoulder ,while pouring at his heart to her,which made chioma shiver in fear with goosebu-mps all over her b©dy,that instant she felt like the ground should open up for her so she could be covered by the earth itself ,but nothing like that happened,she heard and felt it de-ep in her soul as kelechi spoke with pains from his heart.
She took the pen and signed the divorce papers,and the lawyer who was an eye witness signed that he approves of the letter, chioma walked quic-kly as her legs could carry her away from the office, bowing her head as she walked with tears both dried and we-t pouring from her eyes.
Kelechi felt and thought that if he could collect everything from her and nothing left for her,how will she survive now that she is left with nothing,and he won’t want to hear she died ,even if they are not together anymore,at least she should have something to use in feeding herself,he then quic-kly ran out from the lawyer’s office,he met chioma about to enter a cab,he quic-kly called her name and st©pped her not to go,chioma was panicking if he has come again to arrest her or do worst to her, cause she knows she deserved any punishment from him,but she still cherished her life.
“Chioma wait”, kelechi called,as he ran to meet with chioma his now ex wife.
Chioma told the cab man,to wait a minute so she could talk to the man talking to her, the cabman nodded and st©pped the car, turning it off.
“Yes,is there any thing else I could do”,
she said with fear in her voice,while trying to dodge the eye contact kelechi was trying to make,
“Ermmm not really,just that I c@m£ back to tell you I have forgiven you for all what you have done to me,well to me it might happen to someone else or anyb©dy,no man is righteous in this world,but we don’t have to let the things of the world to drive us from God’s pres£nce,if not we fall into the tra-p of the devil,and regret our actions later in life”, kelechi spoke while chioma for the first time looked at the good man before her,and how she is about to miss him,and realized that she really threw away the hand that feed her,now she realised that the things of the world is just vanity, someone might fight for houses,lands , company and so on,but one can’t take it to the grave,it will all perish here on Earth.
As she was thinking while looking at kelechi empty minded that she forgot herself that he was still talking to her,kelechi snapped her from her small thought and told her the thing she never believe could come out from kelechi’s mouth.
“Chioma I have transferred a sum of five hundred thousand naira in your account,so you could set up a small business for yourself,I still care about you and I don’t want you to suffer,though we can’t be husband and wife,but we could still be friends and nothing more,the space in front of my other house,you could open up a shop there and start your business,from there you could save to have your own shop,if you want,you can stay there as long as you want till you are ok”,
kelechi said with a show of happiness and satisfaction in his face …
Chioma quic-kly knelt down and thanked kelechi for his kind gesture of favour,even if she can’t be his wife any more,but she has surely learnt from her mistakes,and she will live to tell it out to other young girls,so they won’t make a mistake of hurting themselves in their future because of greediness & selfishness.
Chioma accepted the money,but she refused to accept the shop in the house side,she thanked kelechi and waved him her last good bye,then she entered the cab and the driver took off.
That was the end kelechi ever set his eyes on chioma his ex wife,he later heard she left the town to another place,after her mother was buried and few people attended the burial,he just s£nt his condolences to chioma,and some cash again,and after that he heard that ,she had got someone who wanted to marry her,he prayed she should really be changed for good.
Six to seven months later, kelechi who had been watching a young beautiful lady in his company, named Amarachi ,or Amara for short,she was beautiful with a white sets of teeth,that shines any time she smiles,she was a little curvy ,and not so bu-sty ,but she was a taste any man could ever want. Kelechi planned that he will take her out for a d@t£ to one of the best restaurant in that estate,but he planned to take his time,this time around not to rush into things,he spoke with Amara after closing hours at work,and she accepted the offer of going out on a d@t£ with him.
From there their love story began,four months later he got Amara engaged ,and she on the other hand worsh!pped him with respect and love as a good woman she was, three months later they got married,not up to two months of their marriage Amara was pregnant for kelechi,his joy knew no bounds. The two lived happily ever after.
THE END
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