GoLdEn LuCy 7

Lucy had made Ngozi promise that she wouldn't tell anyone about her pregnancy or worse that she was going to have an abortion. A night to the doctor's appointment, Ngozi couldn't bear to keep this secret anymore it was weighing heavily on her and she didn't know who to tell. 

Ngozi had slept relatively early that night at about 8pm but she couldn't sleep for long she woke up in a pool of her sweat and to piercing eyes. Lola was stiring at Ngozi. 'what is wrong with you Ngozi' 'should we go see a doctor' 'why are you sweating profusely?'. Ngozi knew that Lola was one of the last people Lucy would have wanted her to tell, but she couldn't keep it any more. 

Ngozi cleaned herself up then gave Lola the whole story. Lola cried for 30minutes. She felt bad for her friend Lucy. The may have both been entangled in a love web with Auta but Lucy's friendship meant more to Lola than Auta, something Lucy didn't know. 

Lola tried to talNgozi out of going with Lucy for the abortion. She tried to talk Ngozi instead into changing Lucy's mind, but Ngozi had tried. She'd quoted some Bible verses for Lucy, but somehow, Lucy couldn't stop herself. Lola begged for the address of the hospital they were going to but Ngozi wouldn't tell. When Ngozi was asleep however, Lola managed to go through her text messages and she got the name of the hospital. 

As Lucy and Ngozi sat in the waiting room, Ngozi tried to confess to Lucy what she'd done. She didn't get the chance to do that though, as Lola, Auta and Onome, seemed to just magically appear in the waiting room. Lucy turned and looked at Ngozi, disappointed. Tears had now filled Lucy's eyes. She had tears because she was relieved that she had more support but her emotions also made her feel somewhat angry with Ngozi. Ngozi had broken her trust. 

Lola was the first to get to the ladies, she knelt down and cried on Lucy's knees, they didn't want to make a scene so they all agreed to step out of the hospital for some minutes. Lola apologised to Ngozi for going through her phone and to Lucy for dragging everyone else in. She however felt that Lucy didn't need to have this abortion. 

'If you feel you've committed so grave a sin already, aborting this child will be in no way making amends with you God, you'd be walking deeper into a dark depth'.  Lola said. 

'Besides, years from now when you look back and realize that you would have survived the insults, guilt would kill you on the inside?' Lola continued

'Even if you abort this child and ask God for forgiveness genuinely and He gives it to you, you still won't be able to live with yourself. It would be worse if you eventually never get to have kids of your own, you would assume God's punishing you' Lola added. 

Ngozi was just standing in tears and shame. She'd said similar words to Lucy but Lucy had shot her out. Perhaps Lucy would hid better to these words seeing that it's coming from an unexpected person and also because Onome and Auta were here to echo what Lola was saying. 

'Miss Lucy, Miss Lucy' Lucy heard her name being called inside the waiting area. All her friends looked to her to see what she would do, they would support her, whatever her decision. Without saying anything Lucy walked back into the hospital. 

Five minutes later, she came out with her hand bag and tears all over her face. Lucy walked straight out the gate. She didn't bother looking at her friends or acknowledging them, but they didn't care. She hadn't moved forward with the decision and that was what mattered the most to them. 

Lucy kept thinking on her way home how she'd face her mum and tell her story. Lola was happy she'd found out when she did and that she'd been of some help. Auta was pleased his echo made a difference. Some dark side of him hoped that Lucy had learnt her lesson from ignoring a small boy like him and following a 'big' man. The other part of him though really felt bad for Lucy. He wished he could have saved her and stopped all this mess. Onome kept thinking to herself 'If only Lucy had listened to me. I'd urged her many times out of Adams but she wouldn't listen'. Onome recounted an incidence when Mr Adams picked her up from the roadside to take her home. He'd offered her a sealed drink and it was a hot afternoon so Onome took it. However when Onome stopped close to her house to buy roasted plantain, she returned to Adams car and met a weird scene. 

Adams seemed to have opened Onome's drink, for whatever reason she didn't know. They weren't dating, they weren't such buddies and they weren't siblings so he shouldn't have been drinking from her bottle. Onome noticed unusual fizzling in the bottle but she didn't have evidence that he'd put anything in her drink. Mr Adams kept nudging her to take her drink, citing the hot weather. Onome didn't budge. When she got home she sipped the drink it tasted normal, but she still wasn't convinced in her spirit, so she threw the rest away. This was 6pm. Onome slept at 7pm and woke up at 11am the next day. 

She was extremely tired granted, but sleeping that long was abnormal for her or perhaps anyone, even a farmer. She didn't have evidence though to prove she'd been drugged. The bin had been emptied by environmental sanitation workers. Even if the crime labs worked she didn't have any evidence. So she let it slide. She was afraid to tell Lucy earlier on for fear that Lucy would feel it was just another ploy to move her away from Adams. Now Onome wished she had told Lucy, they may have become enemies but it would have made Lucy more conscious of the kind of man, Adams was. 

Ngozi just felt relived that she didn't soil her life's story with 'aiding an abortionist'. 

Lucy didn't tell anyone about the medicine she'd already taken, the concoction she bought the previous day and she didn't plan to. If she wasn't going through with the abortion then she better head on home soon enough to tell her Family, before she starts showing. News, "bad" news in particular travels fast.  

Two later, Lucy boarded a bus and went to Abuja. Everyone at home was happy to see her. No one could have predicted what she came for. Of all Mama Lucy's siblings, Lucy was the one she trusted the most in all matters. In fact she had often pointed Lucy out to her other siblings and told them to be like her. Lucy was golden to the Church but she was golden at home too and so nothing could have prepared her mother for this news. 

At about 8pm, Lucy called her mum into her bedroom. Her mother went in excited, thinking Lucy wanted to give her news of wedding or something of sort. Lucy's mum had known about Adams dating her daughter, but that was all she knew. 

After Lucy was done confessing to her mum however, Mama Lucy felt like she'd had her life taken out of her. She felt disappointed beyond words. Lucy had had sex before marriage. She'd been stupid enough to do it without a condom and gotten pregnant. Yet it would seem all the Christian teaching Mama Lucy'd given her daughter meant nothing as she'd even gone ahead to consider abortion and taken an unknown concoction. Mama Lucy was furious.  

Lucy's mother didn't hold her tongue and didn't hide her anger. 'Where did I go wrong with you'? 'what did your dad and I ever do wrong to you, that you have brought such manner of shame to us'' didn't we raise you well'? 'so but for your friends you would have committed murder'? 'who else have you told'? 'in fact maybe you should have gone through with that abortion, considering the concoction you've taken. I don't know what you would be bringing into this world!'

Lucy's dad heard the raised voice of his wife and walked towards it. 'Tell your dad oh' 'Confess your foolishness to him' Lucy's mum said. Lucy knelt down and in tears told her dad what she'd done. 

Lucy's dad viewed her as the apple of his eyes. There was nothing Lucy asked for that he didn't give. So Lucy taking all these wrong turns was a blow to her heart. Lucy wasn't a child deprived of her father's love so why would she throw herself into the arms of a stranger, a stranger who had given warning signs that he was up to no good. 

When Lucy was done talking, her dad walked out of the house. He didn't say a word. Papa Lucy just drove off. He would be gone the whole night or may be longer. 

Lucy didn't even know the questions to ask or who to be angry with. 

'why did I ever get posted to Kogi'' why did I have to be posted to Department of Agric' 'why didn't Adams choose someone else' 'why didn't Auta push more for my love' 'Why didn't I date him' 'how come Onome was so wicked to let me go on even after suspecting Adams ways' 'Why did Ngozi willingly follow me to go have an abortion' 'why did I take that concoction' 'why would my parents consider me a Golden child and put such pressure on me' 'why won't my mum open her room door to me' 'where did my dad go' 'when will he come home?'. 

All these Lucy Pondered as she sat in front of her mother's room crying the night away. 

*Golden Lucy 8 or Maybe Final next week*

X0X0

Faith Alfa Alozie