Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Amy:
My mouth drops at the big news Claudia just dropped on us. Wow!
"Oh my God! Claudia!" Francesca squeals beside me. I tear up a little for
my girl. She really is a wonder woman.
"Amy! Did you hear that?! Our girl is going to Italy!" Francesca shake my shoulders and I let out a light giggle. Of course I heard.
"You're so amazing." I say out loud . Claudia who doesn't have a shy bone
in her body actually blushes at my words.
"Guys! I think I'm going to cry." Francesca fan her eyes dramatically to
abate the tears.
"Me too!" I join Frances in fanning my eyes.
"You girls are ridiculous!" Claudia chuckles which makes both Frances and I grin.
"This is like a dream come true for you." I point out.
"Yeah." Frances concur.
"When do I get my dreams to come true, girls? I mean Frances got her Francis and now you, Claudia! Your dream to study in Italy." I pout.
"You don't actually have a dream, Amy." Claudia jokes and I mock gasp.
"That's horrible!" Both girls laugh harder. I guess they're right. Career or
love wise, I have no dream. My father is a wealthy merchant and Life has
been handed to me all my life. I don't know what to want! Even my course of study was chosen by my father. Medical laboratory science. I'm lucky I'm smart enough to study it.
"Okay. To be fair. You do have Chuks." Frances has the good grace to point out. I follow her perfectly manicured fingernails to where my boyfriend is standing, chatting with Frances' brother and I sigh.
"You do love him, don't you?" Frances goes ahead to ask. I just shrug.
"I like him. He's nice to me. Does that count?" Frances burst into another fit of
laughter at this and I find myself laughing too.
"God help you, Amy. Sometimes I think you're so gullible. But you're too
intelligent for that. What should I call you now?" She says for the umpteenth time since we've known each other.
"Naive?" Claudia suggests.
"Unmotivated! That's the word." Frances claps like she's discovered the secret of the world.
"You're right. But I'm too young to even think about such things. It's the perfect time to enjoy life. Make mistakes. Learn and form myself." I say.
"I say it's the time to get married." Frances shakes her head.
"Nope. It's the time to make a career." Claudia argues.
"It's actually the time for the first dance." Mrs Mokuro, God bless her heart, interrupts our bickering.
"Looking radiant as always, Mrs Mokuro." Claudia compliments Frances'
forever young mother.
"Mom, Claudia got a scholarship to study in Italy!" Frances takes her mother's hand. Claudia and I follow suit and walk behind both women.
"Wow! Italy! You know the last time your father and I went there was our
fifteenth honeymoon."
"Mrs Mokuro, I think that was your 18th honeymoon." Claudia points out from beside me.
"Of course. Who keeps track? Wait, Frances! You should denitely drag
Francis with you to Italy next year! Your father and I can tag along as well.
It will be awesome." The excitement bubbling around Mrs Mokuro is
nothing new. It just never stops cracking Claudia and I up. As for Frances, she's always up for whatever her mother wants. My ringing phone stops me in my tracks. I pull it out to see my mother's face on the screen. She's supposed to be with my father in Ibadan. That's precisely why they weren't here at Frances' wedding.
"Are you coming?" Claudia brings me out of my thoughts. I shake my head
and motion for her to go on without me.
"I have to take this. Be right back!" I shout to her over the music. She nods
while I hurry out of the hall.
"Hello, mother?" There's silence on the other end. I push my way out the door.
"Amara?" My mother's usually strong voice sounds so frail even through the phone.
"Mother are you alright?" The sound coming from the reception hall is still so loud so I continue moving away till I find a quiet place under a tree.
"Amara are you there?"
"Mom, I can hear you. What's going on? You sound weird."
"I--I-- your father, Amarachi!" My mom all but exclaims. A sudden cold sweat breaks out on my skin. I try to shake the weird feeling off.
"Mom what are you saying?" My voice shakes a little.
"We were just taking a stroll. The air was nice and I thought it would be nice. Your father has been complaining of feeling chest pains ever since we got here. Then he just collapsed. I mean, it was just as we were crossing the road. Then a bus-- Oh my God. Amarachi I--I--"
"Mom? I don't understand you." My voice breaks on the last words while
my mind just can't process her words.
"Your father's dead, Amarachi. Your father is dead." My mother's shaky
words take a while to register in my brain and when they do, my phone falls off my hand from the shock.
"No."
"Watch it!" My eyes snap down at the sudden scream to find a man sitting under the tree. He's looking up at me with scathing eyes.
"Would you get off me?!" He spits. I look down to my heels. One of them is pushed into his foot. I jump back when I realize I'm hurting him but my other shoe gets stuck in the interlocked floor instead.
"I'm sorry... I.. " I pull too hard to get free and instead, lose my balance.
"Oh my!" I squeal as my throbbing head slam against the tree. This only worsen the pain and doesn't break my fall. I feel my legs give way under me and clench my eyes shut as I wait for my body to hit the interlocked floor.
"Careful!" Strong arms grab my arm suddenly and I'm pulled up to a hard
body. My eyes slowly come open and all I see is wide expanse of flesh. I close my eyes and open them again. Yup. Still bare chest. My eyes move up to the owner of the bare chest. A scowl covers his face as he looks down on me.
"I--I---" My lips quiver and my hands shake violently. My mother's voice comes back to me. My father's dead.
"You tore my damn shirt!" I feel his hands pry my hands away from his
chest as he pushes me away from him. I fall to the side, on my knees and my eyes clock on my phone on the floor. My mom's name is still glowing on the screen. I can't hold the tears from falling anymore. I let them out in full torrent. I let my head hang in my hands as I cry.
"Miss? Miss?" The stranger's voice sounds soft as his hand poke my shoulder like I'm explosive. I grab his hand and pull him into him. I just need
a hug right now. I shake and sob in his arms violently. I feel his body clamp up against me but after a few seconds, his hand come around me and he pats my back soothingly. I cry some more at the feeling. My dad always did that whenever I cry. Now, he's gone.
"Shhhh. It's going to be okay." His velvety voice slide through me like silk
and I whimper.
"He's gone." I sob.
"Shhhh. It's alright." The stranger says again. I try and fail to believe him. I just let my heart out right here. In the arms of a stranger. He mumbles about everything being okay for the whole time I cry.
I don't know for how long we remain like this but when my body feels terribly depleted from crying, I pull away from him.
"I need to get to my mother." I say shakily.
"Is she here? Should I call for any of your friends? I don't know, to help
you?" He looks around awkwardly. My eyes trail back to the reception hall.
I just can't bear to ruin their day. I look back at the stranger.
"The park. I need to get to Ibadan. Please." I place my hand on his huge
ones. He looks down at my hand then back to my face.
"I'll take you." He says before he pulls me up to my feet. I wince from the
pain in my ankle.
"Don't worry. I'll carry you." Before I can say anything, he's squatting in front of me and pulling me onto his back. I clamp my mouth shut.
It feels comforting as I breath in his scent.
He gets me into his car in few minutes and lets me down carefully. It's weird but I don't feel bothered that he'll hurt me. Maybe Francesca and Claudia were right and I am naive.
The ride to the park is quiet as I just stare blankly at the passing traffic and wonder what life would look like from now on.
My stranger is nice enough to give me my space and when he pulls into the car park, he alights before I do and pulls my door open for me.
"Thank you." I say, feeling shy now that I'm no longer crying. He nods his
acceptance.
"It's all going to be okay." He says and hand me a handkerchief. I dab the
corners of my eyes.
"Here." He presses a few thousand naira notes into my palms. I should
outright refuse his help, but I left my purse in the hotel. I just nod my thanks. He helps me board the bus heading for Ibadan and I don't fail to notice the stranger's car parked in front of the park right until my bus leave the park. I say a silent thank you to the godsent before letting the thoughts of the things to come take over my mind.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone