Must Read: The Claw, The Tail, And The Cross. - Season 1 - Episode 26

7 years ago

Must Read: The Claw, The Tail, And The Cross. - Season 1 - Episode 26

Mr. Daniel saw me marching down the corridor and snickered, “Where to now, Oga fire?” he asked.

I attempted ignoring him and walked past him towards Jenny’s office, there were something I definitely wanted to get off my chest.
“Fire is a dangerous thing o!” Mr. Daniel called after me. “It might be a sign that you should go home. Who knows what might happen to you next?”
I stopped in my tracks and turned. He had a mean look on his face but I immediately saw the cowardice behind it.
I walked slowly back to him and spoke as I approached.
“Daniel, Just because I’m a temporary staff here and I seem to be stealing your shine, if you actually ever had one, does not give you the right to bully me. You brought this on yourself. Your attitude is what has made others around you despise you so much.”
“What do you know about my attitude?” he said angrily. “What do you know about my struggles? You know nothing about me!”
“I know you came from a very poor family and you swore you would become rich by all means. I know you struggled through school, stealing, cheating, lying and bullying your way through, just like you are doing now. I know you have stolen so many times from so many people you don’t even see it as a bad thing anymore. All the documents you used in getting this job are fake and belong to Mr. Mark Ndumuka, your college friend whom you duped and drove to taking his own life.”

“You went digging up my past? Well, you have failed! You have no proof! No one does!” he snarled viciously.

“No one knows because the only person that did know, you took care of her didn’t you? Your own girlfriend, the love of your life, the woman who would have turned your life around! And now you look for who to blame? You have all you ever wanted and yet you wonder why you are not happy. It is all your own doing! You made yourself like this! Stop looking for who to blame your impending doom on and believe me, that doom is coming!”
He curled backward in fright, looking at me with wide eyes, but I didn’t care anymore. I was so angry at myself; at what I had allowed Jenny do to me that I didn’t care if everybody knew what I could do. I stood there with my fists clenched as he retreated into his office without saying a word. I knew he hadn’t been the one that started the fire in my hotel; he just wanted to see if he could use the opportunity to scare me away.

I turned back and headed to Jenny’s office. As I opened it, I saw her facing away from me, mumbling something to herself and rubbing the ring on her finger with one hand. The other hand carried a small mirror.
“You lied.” I said.

She stopped what she was doing but didn’t turn around.
“The ring wasn’t only meant for the leopard was it?” I said, closing the door behind me and walking up to her.
“You wanted to use it to control me…to control my powers somehow.”
“I’m sorry Chuks,” she said, and I noted a sob in her voice.
“You’ve been slowly draining my powers all along.” I said. “Like a true seductress, you surreptitiously wove your way into my life, getting me to almost fall in love with you; meanwhile all the time all you wanted was Chukwudi the stronger!”
“It’s not like I hid it from you,” she said. “I told you time without number, I was attracted to power.”
“What was the ring really supposed to do?” I asked, and I was beginning to wonder why she wasn’t turning around.

“It’s like I said, it’s a revealer ring. It show’s a person’s hidden side.” She sighed. “It also has a chamber which can entrap that hidden side, remove that power. I was asked to bring the power, what you call Chukwudi the stronger, he was supposed to be sU-Cked right into the ring the moment I touched you with it. You wouldn’t have noticed immediately and I would have taken him to meet my superiors. They are always intrigued in meeting those that know of the realm beyond the veil.”

She paused for a while then continued talking “When I touched him with it, it just brought him to the surface, but it didn’t sU-Ck him out. I don’t understand…what is he? What will I tell my superiors? We need him to battle the man-beast.

“Well, why didn’t you just ask for my help, Jenny?” I said. “You would have asked me.”
“I didn’t want to do things this way but I had my orders. I even broke my promise of not lying to you. And I keep my word. If I don’t, bad things happen.”
She sobbed again then turned round. Jenny’s face had aged! Wrinkles had appeared on her forehead and there were bags of skin under her eyes. I gasped and took a step back.
“I…I didn’t do that, did I?” I said, horrified.
“No, I did,” Jenny said and smiled sadly. “A consequence of breaking my word with you.”
Who would believe the woman that stood before me was once an object of every man’s desire? Her face seemed to have melted in the few minutes I had left her, her breasts sagged and her skin had turned an unhealthy dark color. She looked terrible, compared to what she was before.

“How long before this wears off?” I asked.
“I have to make amends first,” she said, “I have to return to the sea, but they will not be happy as I did not fulfill my mission. I might be punished to remain like this for a while, if not forever.

I shook my head. “That cannot happen. It was your promise to me that you broke and no one else. Jenny, you really have to trust me. No matter what is going on, you have to let me know so I can help you alright?”
She came towards me and for the first time I could see that she had been crying. Trails of tears previously wept coursed down her face and her eyes were red.
“I’m really sorry, chuks,” she said, her voice trembling now. “I don’t know how you can trust me again after this, but I’ll do my best to make it up to you. I know I am no longer attractive but please don’t despise me!”
“I don’t.” I said, and held her wrinkled hand. I knew what she was thinking. “I just drew back then because I was taken by surprise. I’m not that shallow to run away from you now that you are no longer beautiful. There’s more to our friendship than that.”
She had been looking at the floor in shame but now she turned towards me with hope in her eyes. “We’re still friends?”
“Of course,” I said.

She sniffed. “My beauty, its…it was a gift; it’s all I have that’s really mine. I knew something bad would happen if I broke my word with you but they insisted I follow their plan. Now it didn’t work and I look like something out of a horror movie. How will I explain this to the other workers? They’ll think I’m a witch or something. I’ll have to quit my job…”

And she sank, sobbing, to the ground. I knelt beside her.
“I told you to trust me, didn’t I?” I said. “It was me you broke the promise to, not anyone else, me.” And I cupped her aged and teary face in my hands.
“I release you from your word to me.”

As soon as I said it, A dark red fire came out of my hands and set her face alight. At first I wanted to withdraw, thinking I had somehow set her ablaze but she didn’t scream and I felt the gentle push of Chukwudi the stronger, keeping my hands on her face. As I watched, the wrinkles vanished and her eyes grew bright again. I saw her skin regain its healthy tone and as for the rest of her body, all went back to how it had been.

She was silent through the transformation, her mouth open in awe. Soon the fire died out and I removed my hands from her face. Jenny was Jenny again, her beauty unparalleled, her eyes bright with wonder and her still open mouth revealing a set of pearly white teeth. She gasped and grabbed the mirror she had been holding previously.

“It’s…impossible.” She whispered. “How did you do that?”

She didn’t wait for me to answer before embracing me tightly. She wept and wept and I eventually had to pull her off.
“In fact, today has been a day of hugging for me.” I said, more to myself than to her hearing.
“I will be truthful with you always!” She exclaimed. She pulled of the ring on her finger and made to throw it away when I stopped her.
“What are you doing?” I asked “Getting rid of this thing!” she said.

“Will it still reveal the leopard?” I asked.
“Yes, but chuks, what if I mistakenly touch you with it again? Even if it doesn’t sU-Ck out chuks the stronger, it’ll definitely weaken your abilities.”

I had a mental picture of Chioma’s hands on my eyes.
“I doubt it.” I said.

Jenny looked at me inquisitively and I shrugged.
“It couldn’t beat me down when I was in a weakened state. Now that I have…recharged somewhat, I don’t think your ring will have so much of an effect on me. That being said we might still need it to figure out who the man-beast is. So keep it, at least until we close for the day.”
“How did you get to your full powers back?” Jenny asked.

“I can see your fire glowing brighter than it did the day I met you at the airport. What happened?”
I smiled as I thought of an innocent, humble girl with a Cross above her head; and helped her to her feet.
“Trade secret.”