Mr. and Mrs. Mofor’s countenance in the morning was palpable proof that they didn’t sleep at night. Time passed slower than a snail crossing a road. Cecilia was a ghost of herself, she didn’t know how her day went by, she just realized that the day was already coming to an end.
“Cecilia! Cecilia!” Leonard bellowed the name of his wife with anger evident in his voice. She hurriedly dropped the plate she was washing in preparation for dinner and almost collided with her husband at the kitchen door as she was running into the living room.
“When was the last time you saw her?” The look of confusion on his wife's face made him calm down and talk slowly.
“When last did you see Talia?” she scrunched her brows in concentration trying to remember when last she saw her daughter and also trying to arrange her disoriented brain.
“Last Wednesday after Elizabeth’s success party?” He looked at her ridiculously because her answer was more like a question meaning she was not sure of it.
“That party did not finish until around 10 pm and this is another Wednesday making it a week since she was last seen.”
“Exactly! I saw her leaving the bath at around that same time, obviously from taking a bath.” Cecilia spoke remembering that she had asked her daughter who was shivering while coming out of the bath why she used cold water to bathe in such weather.
“And you have not seen her since then? Today is Wednesday again Cecilia and Talia are nowhere to be found. Her number is out of reach and…what about her friend Gray?”
Cecilia removed a hand napkin from its drying spot and began drying her hands as she went ahead to settle herself on a couch in the living room.
“Yesterday on way to the market, I passed by Gray’s sister's bar and asked about her whereabouts, she told me she hasn’t seen her since Wednesday and that she was equally planning to pass by our house to see if she was here because she wanted to inform her of a very important family meeting she needed to attend but was avoiding.”
“This cannot be a coincidence that Talia was last seen the same day as her friend!”
The reality of what might have happened to their daughter dawned on them. This made Mrs. Mofor burst into tears, she could not contain the pain she felt and if tears could take it away, she would cry a river.
“I have to see my boss.” And that was how Mr. Mofor left the house on a Wednesday evening. Something he never does, leaving the house after coming back from work. That same evening, everyone ate in their rooms, and even Ndiga Maureen who has hearing issues felt the tension in the Mofor household.
“I have filed for a missing person complaint but we are already almost seven days late. This means that wherever she is, we are seven days late to get her back.
This was the first time in a very long while that Mr. Mofor spoke in a calm voice, there was no trace of pride or man's ego as they call it, neither was there any authority or hostility which was always present to show that his words were the final say. It was also the first time in a long while that he used the word us which included her in the affairs of men as he usually called it.
“Cecilia, please say something.”
She looked at her husband, trying to find the man she got married to, the man who considered her opinions and the man she loved and still loves, but she could not find him. Rather, she saw an aging man who was defeated by a problem he could not solve despite his connections in high places.”
“There is nothing I can say that will make us know the whereabouts of our daughter Leonard, the only thing we can do is pray. The pursuit of fame and approval of men has made you forget your roots, has made you forget the person who blessed you in the first place.”
That night, Cecilia saw a glimpse of the man she married years ago. Leonard knelt by his bed at night praying. She could not make out the words but she could hear murmurs.
“Daddy what do you mean by you cannot find? Call her phone, check at her friend’s apartment.” Elizabeth spoke loudly to her father. Mr. Mofor‘s silence made her nervous, angry, and scared because it was unlike him to remain calm in such situations. He was the man who always reasoned with her so she was anticipating his reply.
“I am a police detective, I am not foolish to file for a missing person report when I have not done my findings Elizabeth. Talia is not in town, she is not in Savanna city.”
First Elizabeth was surprised by the way her father addressed her, she wondered if she was being removed from his good books but looking at her siblings, none of them had reached her level of achievement. Secondly, her father was calm, calm like never before. She wondered if it was the calm before the storm.
“I don’t think we should panic. She is just being rebellious. During my study on human psychology, I came across this stage, where youths rebel when they are forced even if it was to do the right thing.”
“Exactly, we forced her! Two wrongs cannot make a right! Though what we decided for her was good, she does not seem to understand the…”
“True! Two wrongs cannot make a right but I have a feeling that you people do not know you're wrong, oh wait! You know it but do not understand it.”
Samuel interrupted the father and daughter conversation and was met with two similar expressions. A scowl on Elizabeth’s face and a look of frustration on his father’s.
“I don’t think your opinion is needed Samuel, tomorrow, daddy and I will provide a solution to this mess.”
“Elizabeth! Your sister’s disappearance is a mess to you? Why do I feel like you are trying to blame her for your failure and bad decisions?”
Samuel's shout took them by surprise because not only does he hardly react like this, the only times he did so were in favor of Talia. That alone stirred an unknown emotion within the duo.
Before Elizabeth could give a solid reply to Samuel, their mother’s wails from down the corridor caused them to run out of the office on high alert and fear. Me. Mofor was the first to enter the room, when he looked around and saw no intruder, he breathed a sigh of relief but was cut halfway when a piece of paper containing the most heart-shattering message he could ever imagine was shoved into his hands.
A/N
Another lovely chapter!
Enjoy and expect more.
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Much love 💕 Aqui-Pretty.
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GREENER PASTURES
Non-FictionLeaving plenty to a promise of plenty, failing to realize that a promise is a firm assurance and assurance is a firm declaration which is all just words, and as they say, words are 'sweet nothings' that once spoken cannot be reversed and its consequ...
