Chapter 2

[Eleven years later]

It was a dark lonely road filled with trees which took imaginary forms of scary figures in the dark and boy, did she feel scared as hell.

She was walking at first, then as her fear increased, so did her footsteps, which made it seem as though she was half-running and half-walking.

She heard the sound of boots approaching her. For a second, she was at a loss on what to do, then making a resolve, she began to run in the opposite direction; but as she ran, the sound of the boots increased and came closer to her than it had even been at first.

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest and she panted heavily, a very tiny line away from completely losing her breath. As she looked back while running forward in the darkness, she tripped on a stone and fell.

She attempted to stand up, but he got to her just before she could to her greatest sadness.

He cackled, mocking her. "You can run; you can't hide," He told her.

"Please, let me go," She said, with clenched fists and her teeth chattering, pending what he intended on doing to her.

He bent low, ran his index finger on her cheek, sending shivers down her spine as she dreaded his touch.

"Let me go," She managed to say.

"I won't, and no, no one is coming to save you," He said.

She bit her lip, afraid that he was saying the truth.

He cupped her face in his palms and attempted to smother her face with unwelcome kisses, but she turned the other way, knowing fully well she was getting on his nerves.

He tried to take advantage of her once again, but she didn't let him as she hit her head against his nostrils, sending him splattering all sort of abusive words from his mouth, angry and enraged by her actions, as he clutched unto his nose which was bringing out blood.

She grinned, happy to see him in pain, as she tried to think of ways to escape from his impending doom, with no great ideas forthcoming.

He gave a short bitter laugh. "For a girl, your head is unreasonably strong. However, I must commend your guts, although they have outright landed you in trouble," He said, anger laced in his voice.

She had seen it coming and she anticipated it. Even if he ended up killing her, she would at least take the memory of her giving him an injury, to her grave which was more than satisfying to her.

He raised his hands to give her a tight slap, and just when she thought she'd feel it, his hand hung in mid-air, apparently stopped by some unknown force.

She swallowed hard, wondering what was happening and questioning the reality of things.

The next unusual thing that happened was that the evil man fell to the floor with a yelp, delighting her but at the same time, heightening her confusion.

Dawn began to creep in slowly and she saw him stagger slowly to his feet, make a muffled threat and run off towards the other direction, staggering all the way, and falling, then rising up, like a blind man.

She giggled, then noticed another man walking away, and then, all at once, she understood everything: She had been saved.

He didn't seem like an angel or a spiritual being; he seemed like a normal human being, who had saved a damsel in distress.

"Who are you? Why'd you save my life?" She asked.

He stopped right in his tracks and was slowly turning around before...

*****

"Ibukunoluwami! Won't you get up from sleep? Ibukun ohh! This girl will never kill me. Which responsible woman sleeps by this time of the morning?" Mrs. Arike Ketu's voice pitched through the entire neighbourhood.

Bukunmi slowly tossed and turned in her bed, trying to block her mother's screams, by focusing on the dream she was having. It seemed to be going great, not until a hot slap landed on her face.

"Owww!!" She yelled, sitting up immediately, with her eyes wide open and rubbing her face with her palm, feeling the sting of her mother's slap.

"Welcome back to the Land of the Living," Her mother said sarcastically.

Bukunmi nearly cried, as the hotness of the slap penetrated her very being like she had been stung by a scorpion.

"Mami, do you always have to do this to me? I'm twenty-four years old for crying out loud. I'm a full grown woman. Who still beats up full grown women in this day and age?" She yelled.

Her mother wore a smirk. "And which full grown women don't have jobs to attend to in this day and age?"

"But Mami..."

"Don't Mami me there if you know what's good for you. Answer my question first, are all your age mates not attending to their various jobs by now?" Her mother yelled at her once again.

"Mami, I'm a writer. That's my dream and passion. All the job offers I've gotten are not related to writing. I can't see myself doing anything other than writing," She said.

"And how much has writing brought to your pocket? Writing is for lazy people, and we all know that you're a lazy being. This is past 9 in the morning and you're still sleeping. Are you not ashamed of yourself? Is it not your mates that are buying cars and houses for their parents? Heaven knows I did my best to train you in school, but here you are, still eating my food without giving me a penny as a reward for training you," Her mum said.

Bukunmi rolled her eyes. "Mami, calm down. All you should do is pray for me to get a good job, that's all. I promise to take care of you..."

She cut in. "When will that be? Is it when I'm dead and buried? Ibukunoluwami, pity your mother. I've struggled a lot for you to be treating me this way, haven't I? Okay. If you don't want to get a good job, get married then..."

"What? Married? Where's that coming from now?" She asked, puzzled.

Her mum eyed her. "Are you not old enough to be married with kids? Since you want to press your laptop and phone everyday in the name of writing, you may as well marry a wealthy man who'd change our story and be a housewife," She said.

"Who says I want to be a housewife?" She asked.

"With your laziness, that's where you're headed apparently. Bukunmi, go out. Don't you see how your friend, Nneoma dresses and goes out? Follow her at times, so, you can get a wealthy suitor. You can't get a job or a husband by sitting here everyday in front of your laptop, wearing glasses and oversized clothes," She stated.

Bukunmi gave a tired sigh and rubbed her head, knowing she was never going to win an argument against her mum.

"Won't you say anything?" Her mum asked.

"I don't know what to say to you. You're virtually frustrating my life by disturbing me to get a job or get married. The worst part is that you disturbed my peaceful sleep where I was dreaming and the guy who always saves my life was about to turn around. Thanks to you, I've never seen his face," She said, getting annoyed with her mum.

"Oh! So, you now have a spiritual husband? Little wonder you don't want to get married. I'm finished. My enemies have gotten to my family finally," She said, placing her hands dramatically on her head.

"What are you talking about now? I don't have a spiritual husband, please. I was only saying that... You know what, just forget it," She said.

"Bukunmi! I've asked you severally to pray to God. If only you had been praying, there's no way you'd be entangled in a realm of witches and wizards..."

"What now?" She asked, confused.

"Let me finish. Now, they've given you a Spirit husband. In fact, tell me the honest truth. Are you now a princess in the Marine kingdom?" Her mother asked, looking really worried and concerned.

Bukunmi had had it up to her chest level and she sure as hell wasn't going to have it anymore. She climbed out of the bed and stood in front of her mother, trying her best to compose herself and not let her anger show.

"Why are you staring at me like you want to beat me up? Have your sisters in the evil kingdom put you up to this?" Her mother asked.

With every ounce of strength she possessed, Bukunmi grabbed her mother's hand and led her out of the room.

"Bukunmi wants to kill me oh! She has been possessed!" Her mother yelled on top of her lungs.

"Shouting isn't going to make me stop my mission of throwing you out of my room, and quit being overly dramatic for once!" Bukunmi yelled back and pushed her out of the room, slamming the door behind her and bolting it from inside.