(A SHORT HORROR STORY WITH A LASTING LESSON)
I met Rose on Facebook and we seemed to like each other immediately. She had replied to my comment on a group post. I later sent her a friend request and she accepted. We started chatting constantly and it got to the point where she started sending me pictures and even nudes. She was very beautiful and very few men could resist a woman like that.
Rose was living in Germany while I lived in Cameroon. Distance, however, did not affect our relation negatively in any way. We did video calls almost every day and it was beginning to feel like we were in the same country. She always sent money and gifts through DHL. To be in a country like Cameroon and have a babe like that was every man’s dream. I thanked God for my blessings.
One day, Rose told me she will be coming to Cameroon. I was extremely happy but didn’t believe I was finally going to meet the love of my life in person. She said she was going to be in the country in December. I spent everyday anticipating her coming. I wondered what it would feel like.
It was December now and it was remaining just a week to her coming. I had rented a new apartment in Bonamoussadi and furnished it in conformity to the taste of someone who lived in Germany. I didn’t want her to have any inconveniences. She had promised to stay for a month, so I went to a car rental company and rented a sleek Lexus Jeep to facilitate our movement when she will be in town.
Soon, it was the day for her arrival. Her flight was scheduled to arrive the Douala International Airport at about 5:00 PM Kmer time. I got up early, bathed, dressed in a smart but casual mode: white jeans, sky blue T shirt, white sneakers and a gold watch. I also put on a sweet-scented perfume. I drove the Lexus Jeep to the airport and waited for her flight to arrive.
The arrival of her flight was announced and I became suddenly excited. I went to the area for arrivals and waited. Some thirty minutes later, I saw her. I recognized her immediately I saw her. She looked more beautiful than she had ever looked in all our video calls. We ran towards each other and hugged each other tightly. The joy from both ends was overwhelming. I put her luggage in the car and we drove home. She was very happy to see me and so was I. I couldn’t believe my luck.
I don’t need to bother you with the details. I know you want to hear about he sex and all that. The sex was great, yes and we had it like every day. She was a good cook but we ate out most of the time. She had enough money to spend and I wasn’t broke either. I drove down to the villsge to introduce her to my mum and the rest of the family. Everyone was very happy to see her. My mum was exceptionally happy. She had been reminding me lately that I was long overdue for marriage and she wouldn’t want another Frederick Leonard or Don Jazzy around her.
Soon it was time for her to go back. She had told me her parents were from Manyu Division. However, all my attempts to encourage her to go see her family failed. She told me she had just sneaked into the country and her family wasn’t expecting her. She said it would be embarrassing to walk in on them unannounced, not to talk of coming with a man. I understood her. Some parents could really be complicated, especially those rich ones.
It had been a week now since she had left. However, I noticed something odd. Each time I wrote to her, she took days and sometimes months to reply. Then one day, she stopped replying at all. That was very unlike her. I kept wondering what was the matter. I was terribly vexed and felt frustrated. I had not read from her now for close to three months and I was feeling terribly bad. Her phones had been switched off. Her Facebook account hadn’t had any updates for months. I didn’t know what to do. I had no one to contact.
She had promised before she left that she was going to prepare the way for me to join her. She said she was going back to put things together to facilitate my coming to meet her in Germany. So, for a while, I thought she was busy with doing that and that was why she had not contacted me. But as weeks turned into months, I was becoming frustrated. I was afraid I was going to lose her. I thought of her beautiful face, her warm smiles, her tight hugs and every other thing about her and it put me in a terrible mood. I was always on edge and got easily irritated with everyone.
One day, an idea came to me. I was in the dining section of my living room, browsing on my laptop when I thought to myself. Why don’t I go to her friends list and try to get someone who might know her? I smiled at the thought and got to work immediately. Within a few minutes of getting into action, I already realized that it wasn’t going to be an easy task. She had about four thousand friends. I didn’t know where to start. I went to her timeline and checked her pictures. The last time she had updated her photos was about two years ago. I checked the persons she tagged and realized that she tagged just one person. Her name was Glory.
I sent Glory a friend request and waited excitedly for her to respond. Luckily, she was online and accepted some five minutes later. I wrote to her immediately on Messenger, asking about Rose. She was shocked beyond words after I chatted with her and told her everything that had happened between Rose and I during the last few months. I even forwarded some of the pictures we had taken together.
Glory begged me not to send the pictures to anyone else. She said I had been dating a ghost all this while. Rose was dead. She died two years ago and had long been buried. I was confused and afraid. I ran away from my home and holed up with a friend for the time being. I couldn’t believe I had been dating a ghost all this while. God!! What was I going to do? I was so afraid that I fell sick and had to be rushed to the hospital.
It had been a week now. I was still at my friend’s place after haven been discharged from the hospital. I was in bed one day when I received a notification from Messenger. I checked it immediately and you won’t believe; it was Rose. This is what she wrote.
“Sweetheart, the love of my life. Why are you so impatient? I told you I was going to, like John the Baptist in the holy book, prepare the way for you. I haven’t forgotten my promise. Don’t worry, soon, we will be together in the underworld, the world of the dead, where nothing will ever separate us. Be patient, Ok?! Love you. Muah!!!”
I got up immediately and ran to our pastor’s house. As I write now, I have been living in the pastor’s house for almost month. I have been under serious prayers and deliverance. I am not going back to my house.
THE END
