Rachael (4)

She woke up with a splitting headache. As she struggled to make out where she was, she could hear the sounds of birds. She raised herself up and sat up. The room was basically bare but neat. It was painted in sky blue and there was a table and chair opposite the bed with a small book shelf hanging on the wall with unevenly arranged books. The bed was quite soft and she knew she must have slept for a very long time. Where was this place? She stood up from the bed and tried opening the door. It was not locked. She saw that the passage was long with two doors on each side. She saw that the passage had a door at the end which was opened and she walked towards the opened door. It led to a small garden. She met Emmanuel seated on a wooden chair reading a book. It was quite dark but the security lights were on. The lights gave the beautiful flowers planted in the garden  a warm feel and made the garden more beautiful.


Had she been kidnapped? What was this man's interest in her that made him bring her into his home? She had so many questions to ask him. She moved to where he was seated and asked, "Why did you bring me here?". He looked up from his book and smiled. "Thank goodness, you decided to wake up. This is my house and I thought it was the safest place for you to lay low from whatever or whoever you are running from." "You are alone?" She asked with disbelief. A man his age ought to be married. "It depends on how you look at it. The fact that there are no visible people here now doesn't mean I am alone." He drew a chair to his side and tapped on it indicating she should sit, "Well, care to tell me what happened that made you start running like someone competing for a medal?" She sat and narrated the whole story to him. She felt weird and comfortable at the same time. Here she was in the middle of nowhere talking to a complete stranger. After narrating, she felt the urge to ask "How do you know my mother?" She hadn't forgotten about his admitting to knowing her mother. Strangely, she had never met him before, neither had he come to visit nor did she remember her mother mentioning him to her.

"Well, we should be talking about your safety first but I will tell you that your mother and I go a long way back. But it can be dated to when you were born. Your mother needed my help and I was there to assist. You look a lot like her. She speaks to me everyday about you. I know she cares about you a lot but you really don't care much". Rachael turned away from him and was quiet for awhile wondering how much her mother had told this strange man about her. She bet her mother told him how nasty she was and disobedient, complacent, unchristian and selfish. "My mother and I don't get along well because she always insists on my doing things her way. I am tired of being treated like a child." The man looked at her and smiled. "Then stop acting like one Rachael. You seem to think the world must revolve around you all the time. As much as you are looking out for your own interest doesn't mean your mother isn't. You just fail to see..." He looked up and looked back at her. "Rachael, God is also looking out for your own interest too. You are too self absorbed that you interpret the love others have for you as them being over bearing. Life is beyond the now dear Rachael. You know, your mother had you at eighteen?"

Rachael looked at him and it was as if the man was staring at her soul. She felt too open and she didn't like that at all. "I figured that out already. But that doesn't mean I will get pregnant at my age. I am doing all that is necessary to avoid that. I just don't want her judging me all the time. I am a woman already. I can make my own decisions." She suddenly felt exhausted talking with this man. It was like he was draining her. She felt a sharp pain below her abdomen. The running must be the cause of the pain. Emmanuel smiled. "Well, dear woman who can make decisions, this is where one of your wise decisions has brought you. Plus, you have made the same mistake your mother made. You are pregnant at eighteen." Rachael held her stomach, "What! How dare you insinuate such a thing! I have been very careful. Don't say such ever again. Are you a doctor? How can you conclude without necessary tests?" She was so angry now that she stood up. The man's calmness unnerved her. "You can call me a doctor, I won't deny it. You have been asleep for over six hours. I have helped quite a number of women who were somehow in your situation. Lets just say I know these things." Just then, Rachael remembered that her period was late by three weeks. She sat down slowly on the seat, her hand still clutching her stomach and her mouth open staring blankly at the fence. She was going to be a mother to the child of a killer who was out to kill her too.