Nnena never for once knew who she truly was, being an adopted child of Madam Leti, a strict Catholic woman. She stared hard at the mirror and was confused at her reflection. Her green polka scarf was tied the way her mother liked it, leaving no trace of her thick brown hair or her fresh yellow ears which never rhymed with her body for once. Not to mention, the Agbada skirt that didn't rhyme with the oversized brown shirt she was wearing. It wasn't her lifestyle and she knew it. Her hatred for Christianity, her mother's religion, was indescribable.
Madam Leti had no biological child apart from her, but she had sworn to provide the best education and make Nnena grow in the way of the Lord. It wasn't long before she made her intentions known to her daughter that she wished she would go to the convent and become a reverend sister, what you call a nun.
It was this same time, Nnena came across Mmamiri the mystical water goddess. The goddess had called her "her own" offspring destined to rule the whole seas after she went to rest finally with the ancestral gods. She promised her many wealth and treasures of the earth, and promised to deliver her from the hands of her mother, Madam Leti and grant her the freedom she always desired.
Nnena's eyes turned green in her reflection, and her face became pure and beautiful painted with makeup. Her thin neck was adorned with expensive necklaces and gold earrings dropped on her ears.
"Beautiful."
She smiled to herself.
Nnena loved the life of glamour, the life Mmamiri had promised to give her if only she denounced her religion and fled from her mother. She also had powers too, powers that could control the whole world.
Nnena convinced herself that she would be at full advantage if she followed Mmamiri and left Madam Leti. She quickly packed a few of her clothes into a small bag and started to plan a perfect escape. She would tell her mother that she was going to church for choir rehearsals then when she got far enough from the house, she would take another route to the river where beautiful things awaited her.
After putting a few things into her church purse, she pressed the purse to make it look smaller and then headed for the living room where Madam Leti was seated engrossed in a church magazine. The woman stared at her suspiciously before she let her go.
Nnena wandered through the crowds, searching for a bus that would take her to the abode of Mmari. All her efforts were futile and some people labeled her mad or probably a witch from some marine world.
By nightfall, she managed to lay her head to sleep under a bridge and she heard Mmamiri's voice screaming in her ears.
Come! Come!! Come!!!
She opened her eyes in fear and managed to follow the voice in order to find where it was coming from. Nnena wandered in search of the goddess till the dawns smiled at her. Then the voice stopped and she came back to her senses. The place she was in was strange to her as cars and tricycles flooded the road. It was busier and stranger than her town, Umuofia.
"Oga."
She stopped a man at the roadside.
"Please do you know where we are?"
The man gave her a baffled look before he replied. It was obvious he was confused about how a girl of her age would ask such questions.
"We are in Lagos of course." He replied and faced his business.
Nnena started to cry as it dawned on her how stupid she was. She had left the comforts of a home and a caring woman to find treasures promised by a goddess who she didn't have any idea about.
And now, she was lost.
Without mincing words, she knew she had been a prodigal daughter and was ready to make amends as hunger had already beaten her stomach with unfriendly whips.
Over at Umuofia, madam Leti had started searching for Nnena when she could not return from the choir rehearsals she was permitted to attend.
Four days later when she realized that she was lost, she made a telephone call to her choirmaster who booked her movement back to Umuofia and reunited her with her mother, madam Leti.
Now, she Nnena understands why she must not joke with her mother's instruction to always believe in the Lord her God.
Parents are strict but it's always for our best. I haven't understood that as well, if I haven't lost myself in my desires and made a big mistake.
Exactly.
We often think that our parents are just been unnecessarily overprotective and we go all out to disobey them until we meet with our Waterloo.
Although this story is presented is religious terms, it could serve as a metaphor of every child who blindly strikes out at parental control. In this case, the fact that the child was adopted made her sense of alienation from the parent more dramatic. You draw the circle well, from rebellion to healing. You deal well also with the prompt and the skill challenge.
Thank you for sharing this narrative with us, @mrenglish and for engaging consistently with other authors in the community.
Thank you, @theinkwell for the platform to write and share our creativity. It's highly appreciated.
I really liked the way you described the places where Nnenna was and the anguish of feeling lost, also the message of your story.
I loved this sentence Nnena wandered in search of the goddess till the dawns smiled at her.
Regards @mrenglish
Many thanks, @popurri for reading and enjoying this publication, I hope to see you around.
Some mistakes serve as a lesson a mistake not to be repeated. Nnena would have made the mistake of her life. But lucky her.
Aside from this being a story, a lot of girls today believe there is a ready made wealth which eventually makes them go astray.
If she didn't go and experience what she went through, she wouldn't have understood how much effort her mother was putting into making life beautiful for her.
It is only God that can give us comfort, searching for other means to find comfort will always lead is into trouble.
Nnena was blinded with the Mmamiri promised her, and was trying to move away from God , she lost her way in the process.. thank God she was able to find back her way to her abode
Nice story , found my way to your post through dreemport
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the story of Nneka. She lost her thoughts because she felt she was under unnecessary stress with her foster mother and tried other means which taught a life lesson.
That sentence made me grin. Hunger is a great equaliser - she learnt her lesson. Fortunately, the lesson wasn’t too hard and she was returned to her caring family. Sweet story. ❤️💕🤗