STORY: I DON'T NEED YOUR GOD. PART 2

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  The more distance I covered, the more I thought of going back but I didn’t. I walked without knowing where I would sleep or what I would eat. When I finally got hungry, I found a small restaurant nearby and I went in through the back door. One of the workers noticed me and came to me “Who are you? I’ve not seen you here before” She said. “Please do you have any leftover food? I will wash the plates if I have to. Please” I replied. I saw her hardened expression soften. “Go outside before my madam catches you here. I’m coming, let me check”. I was scared she would leave me outside as I walked out but she didn’t, she came almost immediately with a plate of yam porridge and a cup of water. “Hurry up and eat.” I collected the food and thanked her. She waited for me as I ate and when I was done, she collected the plate and cup and rushed inside. I carried my bag filled with clothes and shoes and left. It was getting dark and the stores and restaurants were closing for the day. I found a tree near that restaurant and waited. When they had closed, I took my bag and lay down at the doorway. I didn’t sleep immediately because I was crying, I wanted to go back but I was scared of my father and of the guilt I carried, the mosquitoes were feasting on my skin. I didn’t even know when I finally slept but the sun shining on me was what woke me up the next day. I stood up and carried my bag, I didn’t know how I would shower that day or even feed. As I was about to embark on my journey, I heard a voice “Stop there” I stopped abruptly. The dark, tall woman stood in front of me. She wore a buba gown and a head tie. “Who are you? What are doing here?” She asked but I didn’t reply “Better open your mouth and talk oh, if not I will tell everybody that you are a thief” I still didn’t reply. She checked if the door was open or the window was broken. “If I wanted to steal from you, I would not have slept” I replied “Ah ah, shut up your smelling mouth. See how you are smelling and you want to talk rubbish. Get out of my restaurant! In fact…” she pulled out the phone to call the police, I ran away as I heard her laughing behind me “Rubbish!” she vociferated. I didn’t know if anyone was looking for me but I didn’t want to be found by my father’s followers.

I kept walking and searching for food, shelter, and love. The love I never got from home, maybe someone would see a reason to love a thirteen-year-old who caused a fire that killed and burned people. I was delusional to think someone would love me. I volunteered to babysit, to be a nanny, to be a waitress, or anything just to survive. With each passing day, there was a new job I was doing to get any piece of food to eat but in all of these, I survived. Maybe I was lucky to survive but I did.

***

At twenty-two, I wasn’t proud of what I turned out to be or who my friends were. My best friends were a gang of four bilkers. I was the only girl amongst them and although they were bad people, they took care of me as long as I kept my mouth shut and I would sometimes help them in their operations. Joshua, Kennedy, Michael, and Peter were all I had and it was enough for me. I never told them about the fire and what happened. All they knew was that I ran away from my terrible father.

“Christy, please help us buy pepper soup, then use this small money to spoil yourself” Joshua, the oldest guy also as The Big Guy said, handing me quite a large sum of money. “Be careful” he warned. They had just returned from robbing a big politician in the country and they were ready to enjoy the outcome of this robbery.

“Joshua, I’m not a child. I know. Thanks for the money” I said as I went to get the food making sure nobody saw me leaving the house which was a three-bedroom flat. It was away from the road but covered with so many trees. I walked to the restaurant and placed my order then I sat at a table to wait.

“Hi” a guy who sat beside the table said. “Hello” I replied and turned to look at him. He was a really handsome man with broad shoulders. He stood and walked to my table, he asked if he could sit and I nodded. I noticed he was tall and dark, he also had white teeth. “My name is Daniel; do you mind telling me your name?” He asked as he smiled politely. “Racheal” I said, I couldn’t tell him my real name. “That’s not your name” He replied. I know I should have pretended to not care if he believed me but I didn’t I was afraid maybe he was someone from my past or even the authorities. “Have I met you before?” I asked and he said “No but I want to tell you something. Christiana, God sent me to you”. God? Which God? My order arrived at the right time as I stood up to go, he stood up. He was walking beside me so I stopped because I didn’t want him to follow me to the house. “The place you are going to is not safe now. You need to find another place to stay” He said as I stopped. “And how did you know that” I asked him “God wants to protect you; he has sent me to warn you. Please, you have to listen to me” He was practically begging. “Your God is not real and even if he was, I’m the last person he would want to protect. So the both of you can get out of my life” I said as I was walking away but he kept following me behind. I looked for a big stone around, I picked it up, turned, and threw it at him, it hit his leg. He winced and I laughed “Your Big God could not save you from a mere stone. Shame on him” I said and turned to go back to the house but I followed a different path so he wouldn’t follow me. As I approached the house, I saw three big black vans in front of the house so I hid behind a tree. I heard several gunshots and before I knew it, these people had set the whole house ablaze but they didn’t leave, they watched the house burn down with my friends in it. I couldn’t do anything so I just cried but I had to leave that place so I walked back towards the restaurant with blurry vision as tears flowed down. I had no place to stay. “Thank God, you are okay” I looked up and saw Daniel looking at me. “You can stay at my place” he suggested and I scoffed “So that you and your God will cage me? I rather live under a bridge” I replied and saw his jaw clench at my response, there was a flicker of anger in his eyes. “May God forgive you” he replied and started walking away “He should eat his forgiveness!” I shouted loud enough for him to hear. He stopped walking for a while and then he continued.