JEMIMA

Chapter 4

I sat quietly at the fifth row in church, looking at my dad minister as usual, but my mind was definitely far from what he was talking about, there was nothing about Rachel and Isaac's  marriage in my head.

I should have stayed home like Anne. I thought to myself.

My mind was in different places and I was extremely tired too. My mind drifted back to the events of the day. I was super excited to be starting school, but I was sure I would have been more excited,if I was in an hostel giggling with my new friends than in Church forcing myself to listen to a Sermon I must have listened to at one time or the other in my life.

I turned to my left as I looked at the wall clock.

6:15pm

I still had 45mins of pretending to be enjoying the service. I groaned to myself as I stared at the Bible in my laps.

I wondered what Anne was up to now. She was probably watching a kdrama, or listening to a song from her favorite boy band,BTS. I always wished I was half as confident as she was to be able to make some decisions without trying to please anyone.

She is going to have her liberty in few days time when her school resumed. She was a 300 level medical student at the state University. And during her school break, she made sure she got my parents to allow her stay in school hostel. They would have done that at some point anyways, it wasn't an easy task for a medical student to be living outside campus. But I wondered if I would have been able to pull that through if it were me.

Many people had the opinion that Pastors children were prone to being rebellious and opposite of who they are expected to be. And I personally had seen many pastors children behaving uncontrollable at different occasions. I had always wanted to prove this notion wrong and tried to be the good girl all my life.

My parents helped matters with the way they caged me and my siblings. We weren't allowed to have friends outside church and believe me passing through secondary school was hell. I was  always the favorite of teachers and juniors. Because of my intelligence and manners.

And the horrible classmate to my mates. I always stood up for truth and the image of my parents basically. I was always involved in things of God at all times. I rarely had the chance to speak with my mates only on occasions of confrontations and me making sure they followed school rules and regulations as head girl. My only friend was Toni and few girls from church.

If I were to be honest with my self and God, I wanted more, more to life than my scheduled daily life. I wanted to explore and live. But all this thoughts fade away any time I think of my representing God well. Asides my forced lifestyle, finding God is something I wouldn't want to throw away.

I guess?

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The service ended after what seemed like ages. And the drive home was filled with my mum asking me all about school, the buildings and if I looked forward to more experiences in school.

I really did look forward to my time in school, I looked forward to making new friends and attending lectures and writing tests and being top of my class as usual and all. While thinking about all this my mind drifted off to something I was definitely looking forward to but still had difficulties admitting.

I was surely looking forward to seeing more of Ephraim.

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"Welcome home" the voice of my sister welcomed us as we stepped in the house.

"Thank you" My parents said simultaneously, I just walked straight to the door leading to my room.

I dropped my purse and Bible on the dressing table as I pulled of my clothes. I was extremely hungry and tired.  I changed into a short gown has I headed for the dinning room.

Dinner was already served, and every one else seemed to be ready waiting for me. I drew out the chair to sit, sat down and made a face indicating I was ready. My mom prayed over the food before we started eating.

I couldn't bear to imagine being alone with my parents when my sister leaves for school. Not like I would have any issues with them, but I'll definitely miss my sister. She was the closest person to me, though our lives were a bit different because she lives life as she wants and I live life as I believe is right.

I would miss her gists and her gushing over boys she would never even meet in her life. I would miss the way she always stood her ground and made sure she does what she wants to do. I had spent all my life together with her, and wasn't ready to imagine life without her.

"Hope you are have everything you need for school Anne" Mum said, bringing me back to the present.

" It remains the shoe I asked you to buy for me" Anne said making a baby face.

" You don't forget things o" my mum replied smiling.

"Nope" Anne said taking her focus back to her food.

"I actually don't see any reason why you want to leave home" My dad started " it's difficult and scary, living on your own out there" he added.

" Dad, I'm no longer a child, for goodness sake I'm 20" Anne replied, her demeanor showing irritation.

This must be the 10,000th time my Dad was saying that, and Anne was not the one with a good temper. Minutes from now Dad would probably be complaining about how she wasn't representing him well, and how she wasn't doing well spiritually. He might even go ahead to compare her with me or our older brothers who are now on their own.

And Anne would probably be reminding him of her age and how she as her own goals and her own life to live. And how everyone can't be as spiritual as Jemima. I would probably have to crawl away to my room, believing in few minutes or hours my sister will come ranting about how life at home is gross. And mom will definitely plead with her husband to keep the discussion for another day, and another day and then another day.

Surprisingly, the conversation didn't exceed the first two sentences, I sensed mum must have pinched her husband to save her stress and headache that night.

My mom was an hair stylist before got married to my Dad and was called to ministry. She was a music minister and a relationship expert. She went places fixing people's homes, and sometimes her schedules are so tight that we hardly had her around most of the time. She was beautiful and intelligent, godly and virtuous. My Dad is sure a lucky man to have her as his wife.

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I was about going to bed after having a long gist with my sister. I had told her about me seeing Ephraim earlier in the day. I had told her 3 months earlier about how he snubbed me after ruining my winning streak in the last Zone 5 Teenagers Bible quiz.

She had teased me about having a crush on him so much I had to drag her out of my room to prevent her from saying more.

I surfed the net for a while and watched the YouTube video I got it's notification earlier in the day. The Vlogger talked about overcoming family crisis, and some how it felt she was talking to me.

My family is doing fine, I thought to myself..

But I was trying hard to get away the stalking feeling in my heart that something bad was about to happen to my precious family.

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Hello guys 🤗❤️

How are you all doing,

The struggles of being a Pastor's child 😣😣😣
Trust me it's far from easy, you are always out trying to fulfill expectations while your personal Christian Life seem strained.

Any ways comment your thoughts about this chapter and don't vote to forget..

Love you guys 🥰❤️😘

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