Episode 9
NAOMI
As madam Beatrice approaches, my heart was beating fast.
What is she up to now?. I wondered.
I have tried the best I can to stay out of her way. When I say I don’t like this woman, I mean it.
“Where are you going?”. She asked.
Before she walked up to me, I already made up a reply in my head, but when she threw that question at me, I found myself fumbling for the right word.
“I, I , I” . I began to stammer, looking dumb and f00lish.
“I ask again. Where are you going to?”. She repeated the question.
By now, she was standing just few feet away from me.
“I already taken permission from senior Precious. You know I do take a lot of water every morning. I…”. I was explaining, trying my best to avoid her eyes.
“That is not an answer to my question. She insisted with hand akimbo.
….For the last time. Where are you going to?”. She repeated.
“I’m pressed. I need to ease myself outside”. I finally said.
She shook her head with a wicked grin across her face.
“What’s your name?”. She asked.
“Naomi. Okechukwu Naomi”. I replied.
“Naomi, I want you to go back to your seat now”. She commanded.
This story belongs to Joy Ifunanya
Without hesitation, I returned to my seat. But the call resumed few minutes later.
“Naomi, Naomi, come over here and eat with us”.
I stood up again, and went to madam Beatrice.
“Please ma, let me go, I can’t hold it any longer”. I pleaded.
“No, Naomi, go back to your seat!”. She commanded.
I started walking back to my position, quietly.
“Ah, ah, Mummy, allow the child now”. I turned when I heard one of the staff pleading with her.
Madam Beatrice shook her head and muttered something I didn’t hear.
I returned to my seat.
“You’re not clapping, you’re not singing”. Madam Beatrice yelled at me from where she was standing.
Just then, the lyrics of the music changed toπ
‘Jesus power, super power oh, Jesus power, super power’.
“Naomi!” Naomi!, come over here, and eat with us. Naomi!, Naomi!, come over here and eat with us!”.
The voice was growing louder and more violent, repeating the sentence over and over again. I tried to ignore it, but at a point, I felt a force took over me, dragging me out from the row of seats, and directing my movement towards the exit.
“Stop that girl, close the door!”. I heard madam Beatrice’s voice screaming from behind.
The two senior students at the door shut it immediately before I could get even closer.
“Open this door now!”. I yelled at the huge boy leaning behind it.
“Is it me you’re talking to like that?”. The surprised boy asked.
Then I felt someone tapped me on the back. I turned to see madam Beatrice standing behind me.
“Did I not tell you not to leave?”. She asked.
“Why will you tell me that?. Leave me alone! Let me go out and answer the call, they are calling me, can you not see?”. I found myself boldly yelling back at her.
By now the sound of the music has subsided as the students have noticed what was going on, and all the attention have been diverted towards us.
“Aunt Kate, let the students continue with the praises”. Madam Beatrice said to one teacher.
The students raised another powerful song, and my body began to vibrate. I rushed at the door and started pulling at it. The senior boys tried their best to hold me to a spot.
“Let me out of here now!. Let me go and be with them!”. I could hear my voice yelling while I struggled to break free from the boys.
“Who are those people?”. One of the teacher asked.
“The woman and her son. Look at them over there in the field”. I said, pointing out through the open window.
All the teachers started looking out through the window. Some students moved forward to take a look, but one teacher chased them back with a stick.
“Where are they? I’m not seeing anyone in the field”. Madam Beatrice said.
“They are seated there. Let me go and meet them!”. I was screaming.
Just then I felt something heavy hit me hard on the head. My eyes became weak , and I felt I was falling backwards. The last thing I heard wasπ
“In the name of Jesus, I command every foul spirit in your body out right now!”. That was madam Beatrice’s voice.
The prayer was followed by the voices of students screaming, chairs creaking, many footsteps running all over the hall (like there’s a stampede).
I tried opening my eyes, I was staring into a pair of eye, shining as bright as the diamond against my own eyes…just like the light I encountered the night I went to pay Clara a visit. I let out a loud painful m**n. Then everything went dim.
The next I opened my eyes, I was lying on a mat in a strange empty room.
“Where am I?”. I asked myself, scanning the room.
Just then, the door began to click. I waited anxiously for whoever it was. A minute later, it was opened gently , and Clara peeked in. When she saw I was awake, she smiled, and then tiptoed in. She was holding a bowl in one hand and a cup in the other.
“Bestie”. She whispered, closing the door quietly with her back.
“Please, where am I?”. I whispered back.
She walked up to where I laid, put the bowl down, and sat on the floor beside me. I glanced into the the bowl, it contains few cuts of coconut.
“This is a section of Madam Beatrice’s office”. She said.
“Madam onye?(who)”. I forced myself to sit upright.
“Shh, she doesn’t know I’m here”. She said.
“What am I doing in her office?”. I was breathing fast.
“She brought you here after you passed out during morale instructions in the hall”. She explained.
Then everything that happened in the hall that morning started playing back in my head. The woman calling, madam Beatrice, the senior students, everyone. My heart beat increased rapidly.
“Please, did anything happen to me there?”. I asked.
“Yes, I mean no”. She said.
“Please, don’t lie to me. Tell me everything that happened”. I pleaded.
She began to shake her head.
“Well, if you must know, when madam Beatrice was praying for you, you…”. She began to stammer.
“Tell me, please. I can handle anything”. I urged her on.
“Well, you turned into a mouse”. She blurted out.
“What?”. Tears began to drop from my eyes
The fact that I was transformed into a mouse before my fellow students.
“Yes. But don’t worry, I’m still your friend. That is why I snuck in here to give you this. She lifted the cup up before me.
… Take this coconut stock, you will feel better”. She said.
I shook my head.
“No thank you”. I said.
“I won’t accept ‘no’ now. You need this to regain your strength”. She further pleaded.
I collected the cup from her, took a sip, and put it down. She poured some quantity on my head, and it flowed down my face. She also made me take a piece from the bowl while she took hers, and we started chewing silently.
“What happened to you?”. Do you mind sharing with me?”. She asked after some minutes.
Initially I didn’t want to share with her, but after she pressed me on, I gave in. I narrated my experience to her, starting from the first day I dined with the strangers in the field, but was cautious not to mention my w!tchcraft activities in the school.
“What about your mom?”. She asked.
I paused for a while with a piece of the coconut on my lips. I just realized that as time goes by, I was gradually developing strange hatred for my mom… I no longer miss her like I used to.
“I don’t have a mother”. I said.
“She died”. She asked.
“No. She abandoned me”. I replied.
“Oh! I’m so sorry about that” She sighed.
Just then, I heard the voice calling from outside.
“Naomi! Naomi! come over here and eat with us”. .
I dropped the piece of coconut back into the bowl.
“They are calling me”. I said.
“Who?”. She asked, looking around the room.
“The woman and her son, let me go out and meet them!”. I stood up.
“Bestie, please, don’t. You will put me into trouble”. She pleaded.
Too late… I was already pulling at the door.
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#Story from Joy Ifunanya
