Her love and Trials

Chapter Twenty Four~

I opened my eyes and I was in the same forest again, but this time everywhere was bright and I could see everywhere and everything clearly. I looked around and noticed a fire burning at a distance and I looked to my left and saw the lake which Ezenwanyi came out from the other time, I looked back and forth but I didn't see anyone, I began to scream for help.

"Help me please!, I want to go home, help me!! I don't know where I am!!". I could hear a noise coming from somewhere behind the trees and I looked closely and noticed something moving towards me.

I tried to run but my legs wouldn't allow me, I looked at myself and noticed I was dressed in a rather different attire. I had a white cloth wrapped around my cleavage, and another wrapped around my waist, stopping above my knee, revealing my extremely tiny waist, and a red coral bead on my neck, ankle and wrist. I looked strange and different. I looked further and saw something shining close to my feet, I looked at it and noticed that it was a dagger. I bent down to pick it up.

Then I looked closely to where the sound came from and I saw a black panther, come out with its eyes on me. I moved back and then the animal lurched towards me, I jumped and moved to another side. I brought out the dagger in my hands and put it in front of me, using it as a shield and weapon. The panther came closer to me and then I lurched forward to attack the animal, but it ran to the other side. The panther and I kept going round and round in circles waiting for who would attack first.

I looked at the animal in the eyes and then for a few seconds, it seemed to have lost concentration and then I took the opportunity to stab the panther in the right eye,it fell and blood gurgled from its eye, I stabbed the animal continuously until I was sure it had died. I walked closer to the river and rinsed the dagger. I had never used a weapon to kill an animal before and this sure did feel out of place. I stood up from my squatting position, when I heard a voice say.

"Well done" I turned to see the woman who I had been waiting for.

I looked at her and asked, "Why am I here? I thought I said I wanted to be left alone, why am I still here?"

She smiled warmly at me and chuckled, "Nne, you are here because you have to fulfill your destiny, and you alone must do it".

I scoffed and said to her bluntly, "What destiny are you talking about? What am I fulfilling, and my name isn't Nney?"

She looked at me with curious eyes, "Nne, I call you that because you are my daughter and you just passed your first test"

I looked at her in total confusion and asked, "What test?"

She smiled broadly, "The test of courage and strength, and you passed it excellently, most people on the sight of the animal would make a run for it, but you stood your ground and killed it and conquered, you not only proved your strength but you also proved courage ".

I nodded and asked, "So what exactly is my destiny, I want to know?"

She chuckled deeply and looked at me, "Come home, come back to the land of your father and fulfill your destiny".

I laughed a little, "Come back why? I can't just come back to Nigeria" .

She opened her palm and brought out a white pearl bead, which was shining, I looked at it and everything became blurry and I could only hear her voice say,

"Come back, come back to the land of your father" I tried shaking it off and then suddenly I drifted into nothingness.

I woke up with so much force, when I looked around, I noticed it was still day, I saw Alex in a corner talking to my sister, I stirred and then they came to me and asked me series of questions. Are you okay? Is your head aching? Are you alright? I took a deep breath and asked for water. My sister stood up for the bed and left the room to get water for me. Alex looked at me worried and tired.

"I was really scared when all of a sudden I couldn't hear your voice and you dropped to the floor, hope you are okay?"

I could hear the concern in his voice and nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, just probably tired, I'll be fine so that we can go back to rehearsing".

I really wanted to tell someone about my weird dreams recently, but I remembered the warnings of the woman when she said, You alone.

I stood up and walked to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me I stood in front of the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. I still looked the same, I removed my jacket and then I felt something tingling my waist and when I brought my jean a little bit down, I saw a red waist bead. I was scared because this dream felt so true. I mean who could have put it there, I saw it in my dream, how come it is here now on my waist.

I washed my face and that's when I heard it. Alone. I turned around and saw nobody but I heard chuckling. I closed my eyes and washed my face and got out of the bathroom. I saw my sister, with a cool glass of water placed at the side drawer. I sat down on the bed and downed it in few gulps. I sighed and raised my knee to my chest. I looked at my sister.

"Leslie, don't tell auntie Iphy that I fainted okay, I don't want her panicking".

I turned and looked at Alex and dropped my legs and hugged him.

"Thank you so much, I really appreciate everything you have done for me, and your sister too"

. He nodded and rubbed my back in circular motion and finally we separated. After a few minutes, he left promising to talk to me in school on Monday, I turned to my sister and asked the question that had been bothering me since I had this dream.

"When are we going to visit Nigeria?"

Andddddd. Cutttt. Hey guys I'm sure we are all wondering and thinking, well don't be confused, just follow the story, and besides this story is a Nigerian-American story, so the two countries are the main locations in this story