Stepping Into Maggie's Shoes, Episode 4

 

By Opeyimi Akintunde

The atmosphere in church was so tensed it would take the Holy Spirit to sweep away or unseat the competitive spirit that had come to take its seat in the front row of the church.Single ladies went shopping, everyone was dressing to kill. Ladies started coming to church early, fighting for the front seat. The single ladies in the ushering department started making their skirts tighter and shorter. Sisters started struggling to give testimonies in order to get noticed by the Apostle. You would always hear words like this...

“Apostle said it and so was it.”

“The God of my Apostle worked wonders for me... Apostle is the man sent personally for me...”

“I wonder how my life would have been if I had not met My Apostle...”

I would always shake my head in pity at most of the girls especially those who were breaking up with their long standing fiancés, with the hope they would stand the chance of being the next Apostle’s wife. Mothers started advertising their daughters before the Apostle. A particular woman who was very close to the Apostle actually told her daughter to return to the country. It was very obvious Thelema came back to be the Apostle’s wife. 

As for me, I endured my humiliating relationship with Julius, even though we had to postpone the engagement ceremony for another 2 months for Julius to get the money for my bride price. However, at this point my mother was already getting frustrated and irritated at the sight of Julius whenever he came to our house. My father was a bit friendly to him, encouraging him that God would provide for him. 

Nneka and Christabel were always trying to outshine each other. They both suddenly joined the Ushering department in order to market themselves very well. I noticed Nneka was always going to the Apostle’s office for counseling every Sunday and she would spend hours with him. It got to a point, we could no longer go home together and therefore our relationship wasn’t as close as before.

“Hello, Happy!” That was Joke waking me up from my sleep with her phone call.

“Yes! Joke. Good morning” I replied.

“Happy, have you heard?” Joke was the Minister of information in our church and all her information was always accurate because she was dating one of the pastors. Therefore, she always got first hand information.

“What?”

“Christabel was attacked yesterday night and the attacker poured acid on her face.”

“JESUS!” I jumped from the bed.

“Babe! This fight is real ooo, I heard she has been shouting Nneka’s name and that the police are on their way to arrest Nneka.”

“Ha!” Speechless was my state.

“Babe, is it by force to marry Apostle? Now both of them have landed themselves in trouble.... Christabel’s face can never be the same again... but she is from a wealthy home anyways, she might be able to afford a face reconstruction surgery” Joke said laughing.

“The face can never be the same, Joke. My Goodness, after all the wasting of money on expensive face primer, contouring, botox and all that, Christabel can no longer flaunt her face as the million dollar face as she calls it” I said, remembering Christabel’s face and her arrogant way of calling her face, ‘the million dollar face.’

“Yesooo, by now her million dollar face will not even be worth a kobo. Babes, thank God we are satisfied with our own struggling boyfriends instead of fighting over what is apparently bigger than us... I will talk to you later ooo.”

Joke hung up and I thought of Nneka... Nneka couldn’t have done this, or could she?

                       .................. ......... ........... ...........

“Happy, if anyone doesn’t believe me, you should, there is no big thing I do that I don’t tell you” Nneka said over the phone.

“I know, I believe you, I know you couldn’t have done it, but those words you spoke that day at the back of the toilet were too powerful and implicating. You said you have bulldozers who work for you. If Darasimi or Christabel mentions that to the police, it could be concluded that you hired someone to pour the acid on Christabel on your behalf.” I said but I noticed Nneka was panting hard like she was running fast.

“Happy, that was just an empty threat, I was just bluffing...” Nneka said still panting hard.

“Nneka, where are you and why are you panting?” I asked.

“I am being smart, I am running away, before the police gets to my place, Joke called to inform me.” Nneka said.

“Run? No... Nneka that makes you look guilty... You don’t run in times like this, you quickly contact a lawyer and tell him your own part of the story” I said in apprehension.

“Really?” She asked as she sounded obviously confused.

“Yes, right now do two things: first go back to your house now, don’t let the police get there before you and secondly call a lawyer, preferably call the church lawyer and explain all you know about the case... make sure you are 100% truthful.” I said.

“Ok, I will do that! Are you sure I won’t be imprisoned? Oh my goodness, to think I was just joking over this Apostle’s matter.” Nneka said.

“Joking? Babe you did not sound like you were joking and for the past one month with your change of dressing and perfume, you have not been acting like you were joking....Don’t try to tell that lie, just remember to tell the lawyer, the WHOLE TRUTH.” I said before hanging up.

I followed her up, made sure she called the lawyer. The case ended up being messy as it made the headlines and Christabel’s family members were not ready to let Nneka go unpunished. Nneka was detained in the police station for a week under serious torture to confess to the crime but she kept saying she was innocent. When there was no concrete evidence against her, she was eventually released.

Watch out for the next episode. 

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