CHAPTER 44

Ima laughed after listening to Doja's

message and said "they should

have at least given me a little credit

by not disrespecting me this way. I

am only angry and not stupid. They

think that they can fish me out with

this sham message coming from

Doja. Now they have just made me

angrier than I was because this is

the height of disrespect to my

person." She looked towards Rachel

and walked up to her as she shouted

"did you see what your mummy and

her friends are trying to do!? They

think that I am stupid so they are

trying to lure me out and set you

free but they can only do that in their

dreams." As Rachel looked at her,

she got angrier and slapped her face

hard. The little girl wanted to

scream because of the pain but

couldn't scream as there was a

gag in her mouth. Ima went ahead

to push the chair where Rachel

was seated as the little girl crashed

to the floor and hit her head. Tears

were streaming out of Rachel's

eyes as she kept crying.

Ima brought out her burner phone

which she bought specially for

this occasion and called her father.

When he saw the number, he

became slightly agitated as his

mind told him that this could be

Ima calling him. Everybody around

told him to pick up the call and put

it on speaker so that they could

listen and when he did, it was really

Ima. The first thing she did after

the call got connected was to laugh

hysterically before saying "I believe

all of you take me for a fool right? I

am only angry but not stupid. Do you

think that I will fall for those cheap

words that Doja said without even

trying to convince me to believe

him? I am angrier now that it is

obvious that all of you have teamed

up with Shulamite to get her daughter

away from me. Mum and Dad, I am

ashamed of you. Aren't you my

parents? Are you not supposed to

be on my side? Why are you on the

side of a stranger instead of taking

sides with your daughter? I only

called to assure all of you that

Shulamite will never see her daughter

again because the next time that

she will set her eyes on her daughter,

it will be very painful for her because

it's her daughter's dead body that

she will hold in her arms." Before

anybody could say anything, Ima

disconnected the call and it could

not be traced because she used a

burner phone and spoke for less

than a minute.

 After she disconnected the call,

she took out the SIM card and

destroyed it. She began to pace to

and fro the living room as she was

thinking of different ways to kill

Rachel which will really hurt

Shulamite. Ima could not believe

that her parents will team up with

strangers to deceive her.

Her mother cried as she began to

tell herself that it was all her fault

that her daughter turned out this

way. She knows that Ima has always

had anger issues right from when

she was a child. When Ima was just

two years old, she was trying to get

her mom's attention one afternoon

while her mum was speaking to

someone on the phone but because

her mum was busy, she never paid

attention to her and by the time she

ended the call with the other party,

Ima took her phone and dashed it

to the wall. Her anger kept mutating

as she was growing because it

seemed like she went from being

angry to being mean. Because of the

love that her parents had for her,

they never saw her anger as a

problem because they believed

that nobody is perfect and everyone

has their flaws. Their daughter's

only flaw was her anger and it was

normal because people are bound

to get angry. They treated their

daughter as a princess and spoiled

her beyond redemption. Every time

they take their daughter to their

family's house for any function,

everyone there complains about

Ima's behaviors which her parents

are doing nothing about. When

Ima's mother felt that she has had

enough with people complaining

about her daughter's attitude, she

decided to stop attending family

functions with her daughter because

she felt that her family wanted her

to abuse her child by beating her

for certain mistakes which she felt

that her daughter was bound to make

because she was a child.

When Ima was fifteen years old,

there was a week that she totally

lost it as she became violent

towards everyone both in school

and at home. There was a week

she fought with almost everyone in

her class and ended up fracturing

one of her classmate's arm which

made the girl end up in the hospital

for months and she could not write

her exams for that term. The girl's

parents could do nothing about it

because Ima's parents paid them

off for their silence and they really

needed the money to keep their

family afloat so they decided to

keep shut and also warned their

daughter not to say anything about

it again but she should avoid Ima

anytime she sees her in school.

There was even a time that a boy

who was always harassing Ima in

her class went missing and has not

been found to date. Looking back to

those years, Ima's mother now

believes that her daughter had

something to do with the

disappearance of that boy. She

knew that her daughter was evil

but as a mother, she didn't want to

come to terms with that fact so she

kept trying to see the good that's in

her daughter and never said anything

to anyone about it. She now regrets

not asking her daughter about

what happened to that boy. She

knows that even if she had asked

Ima, she would never have told her

the truth but it would have eased her

conscience a little if she had

cared to ask.

She cried more and remembered

many years ago when she newly

got pregnant and followed a friend

to the house of a witch doctor

because her friend was going

through some challenges and her

friend felt that the witch doctor

could help her. When they got to the

Witch Doctor's House, he looked

at Ima's mother and said, "the child

you are carrying in your womb is

evil and I will advise you to terminate

the pregnancy if you know what is

good for you because you are not

destined to have a child." Those

words really hurt her and she got

angry at the witch doctor for saying

such things about her innocent baby

who was just forming in her womb.

She argued and quarreled with the

witch doctor but the man only looked

at her and laughed as he said "if you

do not do what I ask you to do today

by saving yourself future pain and

also saving others from future harm,

you will bear the consequences in

the future." The man's words put a

strain on her and her friend's

relationship as she also quarreled

with her friend for taking her to

such a place because she does

not believe in superstitions. The

witch doctor even went as far as

telling her that what she has in her

womb is a snake and not a human.

When she stood and was about to

leave, her friend held her back and

was begging her to do what the man

said she should do because the man

is never wrong about his predictions.

Ima's mother could remember how

she insulted her friend on that day

and told her friend many hurtful

words. "I don't blame you. Why

wouldn't you support the witch

doctor when you do not even have

a husband let alone having a child.

You are single, broke, and sad so

you must be very happy when your

witch doctor tells your friends to

destroy her happiness because you

want me and you to be in the same

category but that will never happen

because I am not like you who runs

from one witch doctor to another

searching for solutions to problems

that they have no solutions to." Her

friend cried on that day after she

said those horrible words to her

and that was how their friendship

came to an end.

That same week Ima's mother went

to the hospital but her doctor was

not around so she was attended to

by another doctor. The new Doctor

who attended to her looked at her

strangely and said "are you really

sure that you are pregnant?

Because it's not supposed to be.

The doctor went through his results

again and took another scan which

came out the same as he continued

shaking his head. When Ima's mother

was leaving the hospital that day,

she saw that the doctor was still

looking at her strangely and when

she opened the door, she heard the

doctor whisper "I sympathize with

you." She turned around and looked

at him but he didn't look like he said

anything as he was just going through

the files on this table so she thought

she heard wrongly.

 Not long ago Ima was also

responsible for the death of a fellow

model in the industry but they did

the wrong thing by sweeping the

matter under the carpet because

they are trying to protect their

daughter. She cried more tears as

she began to wish that they had

exposed her and allowed the police

to take her away back then because

this little girl whom she had

kidnapped would have been safe

but her greatest regret was bringing

Ima into this world. The witch doctor

back then had told her that she

will regret it in the future and that

is exactly what is happening to her

right now. She feels responsible for

all the people who Ima has killed

and harmed because the witch

doctor warned her to save all these

people by terminating her pregnancy

but she didn't because she wanted

to give her husband a child so badly

as that was the only way that she

could remain married to him because

his mother never wanted her to

marry him.

Before she and her husband got

married, they were in a relationship

for a while and when his mother

came to know about their

relationship, she did not like it at

all and told her son to immediately

break up with her because their

families were having a few clashes

back then. She remembered running

to her friend Vivian whose mother

was a priestess to the Marine

goddess. She begged Vivian to tell

her mother to help her because she

didn't want to lose her boyfriend

because of his mother. Vivian

assured her that her mother will

help her before taking her to her

mum and when her mother saw her,

the first thing her mother said to

her was "are you sure that this is

what you want? Because you are

not destined to have a child."

Vivian's mother performed some

rituals on her and took her to the

river at 1 a.m. where they did some

other things while the woman kept

speaking in a strange language and

after the woman was done conjuring

and everything, she made her bathe

in the river before they went back

home and the woman told her that

she will give birth to a female child

and she must bring the girl back

to this river every three years. She

kept to the woman's advice and

took Ima there every three years

but after the last visit when Ima

was twelve years old, she decided

not to take her there anymore

because she now believes that

nobody can make you have children

if you can't. Everything that

happened back then was based on

superstitious beliefs from people

who have soon refused to adapt

to the new ways of life.

Most times when she looks back

to how she went begging her friend

to tell her mother to help her have

a child, it makes her laugh because

if it was really true that she cannot

have children, then there was nothing

anyone could have done to make

her get pregnant because we cannot

alter fate. She remembered the last

time that she spoke with Vivian and

Vivian was very angry at her that

she stopped taking her daughter to

the river which was the source of

her daughter's life. She made it

clear to Vivian that she does not

believe in the old ways anymore

and she also advised Vivian to quit

her priestess post which was

bringing her no money and come

to the city so that she can experience

life differently. She told Vivian that

her mother served their so-called

gods and got nothing out of it until

she died and now, Vivian has taken

over and she is also on the way to

being like her mother if she doesn't

quit and come along with her. She

made Vivian understand that she

will not bring her daughter to this

Village or the river anymore because

she does not want her husband to

find out about it and she also

believes that the river is unhygienic

and bringing her daughter there

will expose her to all sorts of

viruses and bacterial. Vivian

warned her that she will regret this

decision that she has made and

that when she starts regretting it,

she should not contact her because

she ceases is to be her friend

from this day.

Ima's mother cried and wished

that she had never gone to the

wrong places because she wanted

to have a child. She still believes

that nothing is wrong with her

daughter and she is only worried

because of all the superstitious

pieces of advice that she has

received over the years from the

kind of group with which she was

mixing up with. If only she had

known better, she would have

tried in vitro fertilization or would

have even gotten a surrogate mother.

Max looked at Shulamite and

wondered what she saw in Doja

that made her go after him and

ended up offending a lunatic who

has finally kidnapped their child

and has no intentions of letting her

go. He was trying his best not to

accuse her of anything because

we all make mistakes. His mother

has soon refused to have any

conversations with Shulamite and

is now seeing her as a loose woman

and a bad influence on Rachel.

Max's only prayer is that they get

Rachel back alive and in one piece

because, after that, he knows that

the second phase of dealing with

his mother and her beliefs will come

up. His mother is a modern woman

who still has her old cultural beliefs

about certain aspects of life. She

believes that a woman should never

have sex with more than five men

in her lifetime and anything more

than that has made the woman

a wh**e already.