CWRC Anthology

GOD STILL LOVES ME

©2024 by Christine Chinyere. C. EzealaChristine

David stared blankly at the wall of the room he was in. That was all he had seen in days or maybe even weeks. He felt suffocated, lost and for some reason had a feeling that this would be the last place he'd ever visit. With a shaky breath, he closed his eyes and tears ran down his cheeks. He was hurting in many ways; mentally, physically and spiritually. But of all the pain, the one that hurt him the most was the last. He had prayed earnestly to God since his ordeal began, but it was as if heaven's gates were shut on him. He was slowly losing hope and felt like John the Baptist when he was imprisoned. Would he also die despite having a God capable of saving him by his side?

Rattling of keys caused David to turn in fear. He scooted towards the wall behind him as though trying to merge with it. His fear began to overwhelm him and his breathing became rapid. Although he was the last in the room, he was not the first. When he was brought in, three people were already there and they had all been taken one by one. With this thought, David's tears fell even more as his chest constricted so much he couldn't feel air entering or leaving his lungs anymore.

The door opened and he closed his eyes tightly shut, too afraid to face the reality. But all he heard was a thump and the jiggling of keys once again before silence. With furrowed eyebrows, he slowly opened his eyes and saw a young woman before him lying on the ground.

He didn't expect another victim before his demise and was shocked to see the person. For a second he contemplated touching the person, but then discarded the idea. What would be the use when they were bound to end up dead?

He kept to his space, carefully eyeing his new companion. He noticed she was young, probably a few years younger than him. Her clothes were in no better a condition than his own when he was brought there. He wondered if they had also picked her up from his city Aba. He wondered if they were still in his city let alone state. Soon, he found himself dozing off to sleep.

Ezinne crouched up from the ground and sobbed as a result of the harsh treatment she got from her kidnappers. She kept crying the whole time and hadn't looked around to assess her surroundings.

She stabilized herself and looked around the room before her eyes came to a stop on a body in the corner of the small room. She used the little strength she had in her to move towards the body and sat there looking at him.

She couldn't help but wonder what God had in store for them. After a while of thinking to herself, she also fell into slumber. As time went by, the day drew close to an end with both asleep.

Meanwhile, at the Aba Area Command, David's mother, Mrs oyakhilome paced up and down in the room she was told to wait.
This was her fifth time there that week. For the past three weeks she had not seen her son and had reported him missing on the first day.
However, no news had come in.

With a sigh, she sat down and closed her eyes. The police weren't doing their job and even kept yelling at her that her son was not the first to be kidnapped or go missing. She knew there were a lot of kidnappings and cases of people going missing in Nigeria, but never had she experienced one happen to her family members and did not expect one to happen anytime soon especially not to her son. She had received no call for ransom, and that made her even more worried that something unthinkable would happen to David.

She had barely gotten any sleep in the past few days and could barely eat anything without worrying whether her son had eaten, whether he was still alive or whether she'd see him again. She had been praying endlessly for her son and even involved the prayer group in her church and everyone was praying for him but still no news of him. She couldn't help but wonder what other people had gone through. This was not a pain she would wish even on her worst enemy. For a mother to worry about her mother her her child's well being was not easy. She bowed her head and whispered a prayer, "Lord I know you're there and I know you have my son's best plans at heart, please keep him safe and bring him back to me."