Oseloka

When the natural and the spiritual meet; An unveiling of the mysteries untold...

The footsteps had a pattern; they always did; she thought she heard footsteps on heels. Chika was in Lagos. Some street in Badagry, working and enjoying her Igbo girl life. It was a dream come true for the average Igbo family to have an educated daughter; next in line was the marriage that awaited her. Chika ,"Olee mgbe I ga alu di"? (Chika, when will you get married) It was the question from her mother each time she came home to Imo state. Her mother had a big restaurant cum bar, at Orlu_

Nwanyi Mbaise was a woman who smiled a lot, ever cheerful like she was incapable of getting offended. she made special Igbo delicacies and had a lot of people troop to the restaurant. Never did anyone hear a thing about a husband, but there was a daughter. Chika didn't feel like a man was the priority, but she loved Oseloka.

The twist was the air that would always blow on occasions she was alone, and then, she'd wake up like she's been asleep for a thousand years. Her mother felt goose pimples for the 7th time in the space of three days. She read her "Aka"; it was blank this time_ It was to go to 'Iyi ohuzuru' to seek the issue from the waters. Whatever her "Aka" didn't reveal was deep as the waters of "Iyi Ohuzuru." Chika was feeling out of sorts too, but after her mother called from Orlu to ask her how she was, She could not tell why; she couldn't tell her mother that she felt a presence staring at her each time she was with Oseloka and also it went on till after she went home, This presence continually followed but she couldn't see anyone. It was constant bouts of mid-day naps frequenting itself recently. Oseloka waved off her recent concerns about feeling different_

"Asam, maybe you are beginning to feel nervous that I may not marry you?" He held her hand with a reassuring smile, and just then, she saw an angry woman behind him. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her, or she had too much headache; she thought it was a lot of work stress. But at 'Iyi Ohuzuru' where 'Nwanyi mbaise " stood. The waters made her understand that Oseloka's lover was bent on taking Oseloka, her daughter's fiance, or taking Chika out of the way. Back in Badagry, Soon this air came again,5 mins after Oseloka stepped out. Ijeoma came to meet Chika alone to ask her why she was bent on taking Oseloka. Oseloka promised Ijeoma saying _'I will love no other woman but you. To Ijeoma, Chika was the enemy; It was either she was out of the way or nothing else. She stepped in again with the outfit she last wore on her way to Oseloka's parent's house the day she died mysteriously.

"Nwanyi mbaise " was a pro at astral projection; she went to Lagos from "Iyi Ohuzuru" to ask Oselokas lover about her business with the living. Soon Chika was out of her body in her compound in Badagry, and there stood her mother, a strange woman she didn't know but recognized as the one who she thought she saw always. What was mama doing in badagry standing at opposites on the other side of the compound? Who was the familiar face? She looked like the angry woman she thought she saw each time her mind played tricks on her after she spent time with Oseloka. And why could she see her body? The air seemed to cover her face with her hair this time around. Was it another midday dream?