I couldn’t sleep through out the night as tears of regret poured out of my eyes… I had traumatic trances, where I saw my teenagers. It was Ajaara I saw first, she was shaking her head in disappointment at me… “ Uncle Chuks, I thought you were going to take me to my destination, but How can an imprisoned man help a helpless girl like me” I saw Tunde looking up to me. I looked like a giant while He looked like a little child looking up to His father… He also had the look of disappointment in his eyes. “ I thought I had seen a father figure in you, Uncle Chuks, but now that you are no more… Can I still fulfil this big dream you have made me start having about myself…?” Tunde also said as he shook his head in disappointment. Dabira appeared to my left… “ Uncle Chuks, Have you forgotten that Bible verse which states that A person far away from home is like a bird that is far from its nest… Uncle Chuks … you are far from home and I know safety is far from you… please come back home…” I kept turning around on the bed… It wasn’t morning yet and I was sure the children at the Light house wouldn’t have woken up… “If only I can get out of this place….” I said to myself I stood up shaking the gates of the prison…. “ Jesus ! Get me out of here!” I screamed, but then I silently heard… “Hush… I am here already…” I heard Rejoice’s voice… “ Rejoice?” “ Keep quiet and Just do as I say!” Rejoice said as she gently opened the gate of the cell. The gate made the creaking sound, but Rejoice and I held on to it like it was our lives … I followed after her quietly…. I noticed the large Palour where the systems were, was empty. All the boys had probably slept off. I had a million questions to ask Rejoice, but I knew silence was my best and only choice at that point. Rejoice had a set of keys she was using to open different doors as I followed her like a sheep . We successfully stepped out of the house which I saw looked liked an abandoned warehouse. Bushes were all around us… “ Do you know the direction we ought to take?” I asked in a whisper “ That’s the road path….” Rejoice whispered back I hastened in my walk as Rejoice was the one trying to catch up with me. I didn’t know where the road was going to lead to, but I knew I had to get to Lighthouse back to my teenagers. As I kept running, all I was saying was “ God have Mercy on me, please just get me out of this bush… Please.” I didn’t slow down one bit… I noticed I had left Rejoice far behind. I decided to slow down my pace… “ Where will you return to after we get to the main road!” I asked Rejoice as we kept walking very fast. “ To wherever you go!” She answered sharply. At that point I knew I needed to set the records straight… “ Rejoice listen to me, you can’t go wherever I go, because we are not on the same page. I am now a born again Christian and you are not near that. I know what I did to you as a secondary school student was terrible and I apologize. I pray you genuinely meet with God on your own, because having you around me is pulling me back to my vomit.” I said but I noticed Rejoice looked at me like I was speaking Spanish… “ I don’t have any other person again. My parents have disowned me, This beast I got married to only uses me for the scamming business. Anytime I breastfeed the baby doll, as a ritual for hypnotizing his victims, I feel like life is been drained out of me…. I also want to be free… I feel like death is really close to me… Uncle Chuks… please help me…” Rejoice said with tears in her eyes… “ I can’t….I am sorr….” I was still talking when I heard a distance sound… “ Vroom…vroom” “What’s that sound?” I said asking Rejoice… “ Oh my God…. My husband’s power bikes… They must have realized we have left…” “ Jesus! Please I am sorry for disappointing you, just take me out of here … please Lord…” I cried out… “ We need to get off thethe main road and lay low in the bushes” Rejoice suggested as she pulled me off the road. I did not want to lay low In the bushes, I wanted God to help me disappear like Philip in the Bible, but that was not happening… The sound of the Power Bikes were getting louder. My heartbeat kept getting louder and faster… Finally, the power bikes were few meters from where we were hiding. I laid my head on the wet grass praying to God to show me His Kindness. Thankfully, they passed us and I heaved a sigh of great relief, only for my relief to be short lived… The Power bikes halted suddenly…. “ I smell Rejoices’ body “ said one of the boys…. I peed on my pant. Rejoice had brought me bad luck. If she was not beside me, they would have driven off… I wondered how a random guy would have known the smell of her body. Not even her so called Husband had smelt her but one of the boys… “ Oh God! How did he know the smell of your body?” I whispered in anger… “ Everyone does…I sleep with all of them” Rejoice said non challantly… I didn’t get that… Rejoice was sleeping with all her husband’s workers… Did her husband know about it or not? “ You sleep with all of them?” I whispered in disbelief… “ Can you save this for later, Mr Chuks… Boma, the guy who just smelt my body is a very good listener… His ears, eyes and nose are really sharp, He is nicknamed “dog”… He can hear any little sound…I had hypnotized him before we got out, but now that he is fully awake, you better keep quiet…” Rejoice whispered in a rush “ Dog, You are right, I smell her too…” Her Husband said from afar…. “ Search this whole place and bring them to me alive…” He said with wicked intentions evident in His voice… To be continued
