~Chapter One~
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Hey, my name is Sharon Nwanedo and I'm a witch. Yeah, you read right. I'm. A. Witch.
I'm not the midnight-coven-meeting type or the type you see all over Nollywood though, I'm a normal girl, well... not so normal girl, with extra ordinary abilities.
I couldn't find any other way to explain my "situation" and so I decided to call myself a witch.
A beautiful, hyper-active, sometimes annoying, talkative,teenage, Lagos witch and you're welcome to my world!
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"Sharon what have I told you about all this your rough play. Put your brother down immediately." My mum yells at me angrily.
I didn't get how innocently carrying my brother was rough play. This woman really needs to chill out.
"But I'm not doing anything rough." I reply her stubbornly.
"You're not doing anything rough? You are not doing anything rough? Sharon your three-year-old brother is dangling mid air with only your mind control whatever as support and you're not doing anything rough? What is wrong with you this girl?" Mum screams at me exasperatedly.
Oh, I think I see her point now.
"Mummy, boredom is killing me. I won't be doing all these things if you and daddy just allow me go to school. Please I'm begging you." I pout after gently bringing my brother down. I watch as he jumps about, clapping his hands together and laughing, having obviously enjoyed my "rough play" and wanting more of it. Sorry boy but your mum's kind of a party pooper.
"Go to the kitchen and wash all those pots. Your father will soon be back." Mum says, dismissing me and ignoring my request.
She does this every single time. Every time I bring up going to school, she comes up with one thing or the other for me to do. It's not fair. I just want to go to school like my older brother and his friends. Is that too much to ask?
"But mummy-"
"To the kitchen. Don't allow me repeat myself."
Sighing frustratedly, I make my way to the kitchen.
"Mummy-" I say, turning and trying to test my luck again. She doesn't interject so I take it as a cue to continue. "-I get that I'm a witch-"
"You're not a witch. What is your problem? Why do you keep calling yourself that? You are gifted. You have been gifted by God Almighty. You are not a witch." My mum shouts at me, trying to get all that to sink in.
Of course. I'm not a witch, I'm gifted. Noted.
"Okay. I get that I'm... "gifted", but I really want to go out into the world. I want to know what it feels like to be a student, what wearing a school uniform feels like. I want to know what being out of this confinement feels like. Nobody allows me to go anywhere. I don't have a single friend, unless you want to count Mr Wale." I cringe as I make reference to my lesson teacher. "It's not fair. I'm tired of-" My mum decides to cut me off just then.
"It's okay o. I have heard you."
What?
Does that mean what I think it means or am I just getting my hopes up?
"Mummy? I don't understand."
"What don't you understand? I said I have heard you. Look, I have been thinking about all of this..."
Jesus, Jesus, it's happening. It's actually happening!! I didn't think the speech I made up in my head under five seconds was going to work!!
Everything else she started to talk about suddenly fades into the background. I start to imagine myself grumbling just as my older brother, Tobe does, as mum wakes me up for school. I imagine dressing up pretty in a school uniform and entering dad's car to school and having my own clique just like the girls I read about on Wattpad and-
"Sharon, are you even listening to me?"
"Huh? I mean yes. I mean no. I mean-"
"You weren't listening now. That means you're not even interested in anything I have to say." She says, shrugging and going back to whatever she was doing.
"No o mummy. I'm interested o. I just got distracted a little now. Mummy nau." I beg, immediately going to sit at her feet to drag her leg. Yup, I'm a baby. Mind your business.
"Oooh leave my leg nau. Oya it's okay. Let me talk."
Satisfied, I release her leg smiling, waiting for her to tell me what's definitely going to change my life forever.
"Where was I?" She asks.
"You were saying that you've been thinking-"
"Ehen yes, I've been thinking about all of this. Your dad brought it up one day- that day you scattered your room in anger- you remember?" I nod in affirmation, as the memory comes flooding in. I was really pissed because my parents didn't let me go out with my brother to the mall. It was really stupid because they had agreed for me to go the day before and suddenly changed their minds the morning of the outing. I got angry and since I couldn't take the anger out on them, I decided to thrash my room.
"Your dad really felt bad for you that day and tried to convince me into allowing you start school- normal school, not your usual home lesson. I saw it as a terrible idea."
"Mummy, how is me going to school a terrible idea? It's not like I'll burn the school down or something."
There was a very good likelihood of that happening though, since I had previously burnt down our neighbor's boy's quarters. It was an accident- a very innocent one.
The neighbour's dog kept barking at me. I tried glaring at it and suddenly boom the small building beside it caught fire. I'm still not sure how that happened but deep down, I knew I was the cause. The dog didn't die though. Thank God.
"I didn't say you're going to burn the building down. How can that even happen?"
Oh mum, if only you knew.
"Look here." Mum continues taking my hand. "When you were born, we knew you were very special. When you were around two years, around your little brother's age, you started doing very strange things, very very strange things," she says laughing, as if recalling a fond memory. "When you grew older, you started lifting things with your mind, like how you lifted your brother now. The first time it happened we were really scared. We thought ghosts had finally taken over our house and then you said, 'mum don't be scared, it's just me.' And I grew even more scared." My mum says, making me laugh.
"As you grew older, your gifts grew too. You displayed newer abilities and we grew scared a lot and shocked at what you did." Mum hadn't really told me about my growing up before so this story really piqued my interest.
"One day, you were six years old at that time, you came down the stairs and went into the toilet. Your older brother had also wanted to use that same toilet so he stood at the door, waiting for you. He waited o, waited and waited. Then he started knocking and knocking on the door, you still didn't come out.
"Your dad and I heard him shouting and came to check what was going on. He said you refused come out of the toilet. I decided to open it myself. When I got in, you weren't anywhere in there. I got scared and very worried. If you see me that day ehn." She says, laughing and shaking her head.
"We ran up to your room and there you were sleeping on your bed. Your brother insisted that you didn't come out through the toilet door and that was the only door there. I couldn't believe it. Many similar occurrences happened and we realized it was indeed one of your gifts; disappearing from a place and reappearing somewhere else. Your dad called it err... What was it again?" She asks.
"Teleportation." I help out, laughing.
"Ehen. So what exactly am I driving at? You are a very special girl. Extremely special. I have been very worried that if you get exposed, people will treat you very badly. They wouldn't be able to cope with your gifts and they'd end up treating you like an object. No one has ever seen anything like this before. No one knows anything of a girl that can tell the future, or lift things with her mind or teleport. No one knows of these things. How do you think the world will handle it?" I understood it all. I understood everything she was trying to say. It made good sense.
"Yes ma. I understand. But I could always hide my gifts and blend in with everybody else. Nobody has to find out about what I can do." I plead.
"Are you sure you can do that?" Mum asks.
"Yes ma. I'm sure. Very very sure."
"Alright. In that case..." She trails off smiling.
"Oh mummy. Thank you. Thank you." I jump, hugging her and screaming excitedly.
"What's doing this one?" I hear my brother say as he comes down from the stairs. I don't think twice as I run to jump on him.
"I'm starting school." I shriek excitedly.
"Huh?" He shouts, pushing me off of him.
I leave him in his puzzled state as I run up to my room, screaming all the way.
•••
A/n
Hello dear readers, I'm glad to announce the start of my new book, Lagos Witch!! It's something that just came to me sometime this week and I decided to put it in writing. Hope you enjoy every single character I'd be introducing and hope you get fond of this story along the way❤️
This story is bound to get interesting and I'm hoping WattpadNg welcomes it with love😂💕.
Also, please do me a favour and tag at least one Nigerian-stories reader or just anyone you think will enjoy reading this book. Thank you🤗.
Oh and yeah vote!!!
-lisa❤️