Nightmare (8)

Adaeze’s own sob woke her up. She slowly opened her eyes, surprised that she was alive. She looked around her and it all came back. She had been dreaming! It was all a nightmare!

“Thank God!” she exclaimed with a shout. Wiping some of her tears which had escaped into reality, she knelt and prayed, realizing that she was really weak.

Some days after her clash with her mother, Adaeze had given God one last chance to prove to her that He was listening to her. She had taken a week off work, and gone on seven days of fasting from food. For six days, she had heard and seen nothing, and had begun thinking she had wasted time, energy and maybe faith in expecting God to give her a sign, anything to let her know if she was on the right or wrong track with Edmund, even though a part of her knew there was something wrong with the fact that he didn’t seem to be interested in anything godly, but seemed to be really happy that she was godly.

She had hurt her mother with her words, and she had been shocked at what spirit could have pushed her that far.
Booking a hotel in a secluded part of Lagos, she had switched off her phone and gone into prayers. The boredom alone had made her almost give up, the silence was worse, but she decided to travel the full journey.

She wanted to ensure she did her part.

Doing nothing more than singing, praying, studying the Bible and sleeping, Adaeze had learnt a little more about the meaning of the phrase ‘bare necessities’.

On the seventh night, knowing it was the last night there, she prayed harder than she ever prayed in all her years. She was already in love with Edmund, and she also wanted to get married. Except God tells her something, she was going to get married to Edmund and face the consequences as they come.

She had slept off while praying and had been shown a whole timeline of her life, from her past into her future.

She had gotten all the signs she requested.

Pixabay

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Her prayer of thanks, the light meal she took, switching on her phone, answering her messages and her long bath did nothing to stop the goosebumps anytime Adaeze thought about her nightmare. She had no doubt that she would experience all that if she married Edmund. So much for thinking he was a good man.

Her mother was right, he was not.

She was on her way to see her mother, and after that, she was going to face Edmund. She had already sent him a message to meet her somewhere after work. His incessant calls, after seeing her message, was annoying, whereas it would have appeared romantic to her in the past.

She finally understood the meaning of knowledge being power.

She would have loved to end it all over the phone or simply stopped picking up his calls, but she didn’t believe in leaving important things unsaid. In as much as she hated confrontations, this was a necessary one.

Arriving at her mother’s residence, the place she had spent about 10 years of her life before deciding that she needed to live on her own before she and her mother had a falling out. As she had grown older, and people began expecting her to be married, she and her mother had more arguments than all the ones they had while she was growing. The arguments, which would always leave her with a feeling of being guilty of the sin dishonouring her mother, was so much that she decided it was better for her to leave her mother’s house.

The day she left had been a sad day as she had always believed that she would leave her mother’s house into her husband’s, but life had brought up an alternate blueprint. Though she missed having someone to talk with about her day, she was at peace as she and her mother ceased their quarrels, even though her mother didn’t cease to let her know she was expecting her to get married.

Adaeze saw the surprise on her mother’s face when she answered the door. “Shouldn’t you be at work?” she said as a greeting.

“Good afternoon Ma,” Adaeze greeted and went straight to her knees. It was not lost on her that she had left her mother’s house to stop quarrels, but Edmund’s arrival in her life had made her insult her mother in the same house she left.

Her mother didn’t see her on her knees until she had sat down. “Ada, why are you on your knees? I told you I have forgiven you. It’s your decision to make, so…?

“I’m sorry. I was blind, and you were right,” Adaeze interrupted. She saw the light come on in her mother’s eyes at her last words.

“What do you mean by me being right?” she asked suspiciously.

As Adaeze related her whole nightmare, goosebumps were visible on her skin. She still couldn’t believe how God had saved her.

Her mother went into an abrupt praise session after her narrative, and she joined her. For the first time, she was not worried about being late for a meeting with Edmund. She was free from whatever had blinded her.

Only after praying with her, and ensuring she was well fed, did her mother allow her to go to see Edmund, with a warning not to get into an argument with him, and not to accept anything from him.

By the time she got to the meeting point, she recognized Edmund’s anger from her dream, anger which he tried to hide with smiles. She didn’t return the smile and managed to avoid his hug.

“How have you been, I’ve been trying to reach you for over a week!” Edmund started, once they were seated. “Since I met your mother, you have been withdrawn. She didn’t like me, did she?”

For the first time, Adaeze felt in control in his presence. He was obviously nervous.

“My mother loves you, she can mother us until your mother comes around,” he continued, reminding Adaeze how that hope had been shattered in her dream, and the hatred Edmund had shown her from the moment her mother left their wedding reception.

It was obvious that he didn’t even like her now. He was only following his mother’s orders. It was time to end this charade.

“It’s over between us, Edmund. You and I know this. You are wondering why and how I changed, but I’m not about to tell you that. I just want you to know that God is greater than you, He is greater than your mother, he is greater than Emeka and He is surely greater than the herbalist.”

She watched different expressions appear and disappear from his face; suspicion, surprise, fear, and confusion. They served as the last evidence she needed. It was all true.

“I am tempted to ask you what I did to you, but I don’t think you have an answer to that,” she continued, getting more confidence in the realization that she was saved from an evil trap. “I don’t know what power your mother has over you and Emeka, but I want you to tell her that she has lost that power over me. My mother warned me about you, and I didn’t agree, but God showed me who you really are, and I am free.” She stood up, feeling a little thrill at being able to shock Edmund.

“You better go for a treatment for your impotence and stop looking for girls to torture,” she ended as the last blow and turned to leave him.

She had walked three steps when she remembered something. Walking back to him, she whispered “One more important thing, you and Emeka should leave Clara or Nkechi or what other unsuspecting girls you guys have in mind alone. I will tell the police what I know if I get the slightest suspicion that you plan such dead... deadly surprise for another girl. You’ve been warned.” With that she walked out of the restaurant and into the night, ignoring the stares following her.

She was done being desperate for a husband, she was done comparing herself with others, and she was done wondering what people said about her. She was going to live her life following God’s leading. She would never forget how her life would have been a nightmare if not for God’s intervention. As part of her repentance, she brought out her phone from her bag to accept Edith’s request for her to be her Chief Bridesmaid.

She was starting over, leaving the would-have-been nightmare behind.

THE END

Previously Published Here

Nightmare 1
Nightmare 2
Nightmare 3
Nightmare 4
Nightmare 5
Nightmare 6
Nightmare 7

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