In trin's nostalgia, life continued to show them the worst side to it. There were days it'll rain heavily and the family will be inside the pit, working in the rain, there bodies soaked and dirty, they'll scratch all over, sometimes the craving so serious that they use hard objects to scratch their bodies till it bleeds, they pick up the stones after they've dug it out with digger and bar, but once it rained, it'll be so disgusting to select the stones off the sand, the pits becomes so slippery that one has to brace oneself at intervals. Mr Simeon had a habit of farting whenever he's doing a strenuous work and that included breaking the stones on that pit, though he's built a reputation on his farting skills but the family never get used to it, it stank like rotten eggs!
The fart most at times tend to make the person closest to him loose balance and stagger. A time came when trin and Gloria were now capable enough to handle the implements accurately but the fart made trin to give herself a heavy blow with the digger to her scalp one day.
Gloria has completely changed into the unknown, she often add additional money to her school fees because the parents usually give to them to pay it, though their tuition was very high, Gloria never considered enough to add a little token to the fees, she often double or triple the tuition. This continued for a while till Mr Simeon went for a parent-teachers meeting someday and got clarified on the exact tuition amount. He was so disappointed and beat Gloria up, got her wounded all over but she didn't stop at that, she was hell bent on becoming a black sheep. She started stealing from the money her parents kept, she was caught severally and beaten. She later devised a plan to use and steal the money her parents kept without getting caught. She left with her siblings to school one faithful day and later she came back, she leaped through the fence and went into the house, she then got some glass platelets out of the louvers window and through the aperture sneaked in, she searched for the hidden treasure for close to thirty minutes and she later smiled at finding it, it was a total of fifty thousand naira and she took twelve thousands, as she was about to close the door quietly and leave, she decided to disorganise the house so she could portray the idea of criminals breaking in. she disorganized the house thoroughly and left it open then leaped out of the fence and went to school. Later that day when the family returned, they were welcomed to the worst shock of their lives. They really thought a thief broke in till Mr Simeon went to the place he kept the money and found thirty eight thousand remaining, he brought it out and showed to his wife, they then realized that the thief was no stranger, because no criminal will leave some cash for you. They were convinced that Gloria took that cash but decided not to jump into conclusions before they witnessing certainty. They then asked the kids to bring their bags over and Mrs Simeon went in with them to prevent them from any sneaky act, everyone rushed over with theirs except Gloria who acted like someone suddenly hit by stroke. Mr Simeon went over to her and grabbed her school bag off her hand and walked away with it, just then as the parents were checking the bags, they decided to start from the less ominous ones which was kaima and destiny's bags, they swamped into action but Gloria excused herself, she said she wanted to ease herself but Mr Simeon ordered her to do it within five paces where they can see her. She sluggishly obeyed and as they opened her bag they beheld a ravaged provision store in there, they saw all kinds of sweets, biscuits, chewable gums, dried fish, empty Nylon which smelled like dried meat, a whole lot of other provisions, a soap, cream and six thousand naira. Though expected but Mr and Mrs Simeon were so disappointed, they couldn't believe their eyes and as their eyes were wide open and Mr Simeon was trying to contain his anger and think of the best way to handle the situation, Gloria sprinted off and ran towards the back of the house, Everyone thought she could only do that and not much more because she was scared naturally but to their utmost perplexity they heard a thud at the back yard, they weren't sure what it meant so Mr Simeon went to check what it could be but he raised alarm as he got their which got the remaining members of the family to the scene immediately, they saw what also froze them. The thud they heard from earlier on was the sound of Gloria's feet when she leaped the fence of their backyard. Everyone couldn't believe their eyes because such has never happened in their family but Mr Simeon seems to be only realizing how she got inside the compound in the first place since the gate was untouched. They ran outside but she was no where close to their perspectives so they went back in again, Mr and Mrs Simeon grappled with unrest and were greatly disturbed throughout the day, they cooked at night and ate, Mrs Simeon stayed awake till deep into the night in case she tried coming in but all to no avail, Mr Simeon would come out at intervals and attack his wife verbally, urging her to go inside, that her overly expression of love to the girl was what pushed her into the lifestyle she found herself living. Mrs Simeon expressed disappointment at her husband for his African way of thinking but it was nothing he has control over so she shook her head and went in. In the morning they waited for her to come back but she didn't so they left to their various appointments. Mr Simeon decided to stay in the vicinity so that he can catch her if she showed up. As expected, she showed up at ten o'clock when she was certain that everyone in her family have left. She headed towards the gate so she can leap the fence inside again and get food to eat but Mr Simeon already had boys in the area readied up, who then gave her a random chase and caught her, they brought her to him, she was crying and kicking vigorously like a Christmas chicken, they carried her inside the compound that Mr Simeon had opened with a key and locked her up in their bedroom because it had an iron protector at the door and windows. she was fighting to escape the imprisonment but they overpowered and confined her. He then paid the boys off.
In the evening, everyone was back and Gloria seemed to have mellowed down, out of hunger and she lost her voice from over crying. Mr and Mrs Simeon asked her one after the other the reason to her stealing that money, she couldn't come up with a reasonable answer, whenever she opened her mouth to utter words from her blank brain, she couldn't come up with anything but free flowing tears. She only apologized, uttering "am sorry" repeatedly, Mrs Simeon was starting to melt down but the rock hearted Mr Simeon didn't fall for whatever it was that was going on, he went inside in a frenzy a brought a twisted cable he's prepared, she didn't move from the spot. He then ordered her to lay down, Mrs Simeon was trying to stop him from flogging her but he was beyond constraint through verbal confrontations, he whipped her thoroughly and inflammation took the better part of her body while other parts were bleeding. Mrs Simeon couldn't stand the sight anymore as Gloria was screaming in anguish and calling out to her to rescue her, her other kids were also pleading on her behalf, Brian went and braced his fathers leg, pulling him and when he refused to yield, he then bit him in the lap through his trouser, he jolted in pain and left the girl he was trashing and went in to keep his cane.
The others were sympathizing with Gloria, wiping her tears and dusting the sand off her body. Later in the night after everyone has eaten, Mrs Simeon asked Gloria where she slept the previous night and was shocked at her discovery, she had slept inside an uncompleted building close to their house which was reputable for being a hangout for criminals and rapists. Mrs Simeon scared out of her wits at the horror Gloria would've faced if the criminals decided to use that building that night. She admonished her against taking such actions again and made her promise her, trin thought to herself in the hospital; 'how many promises did she make after that? was it ever enough for her?' trin's back was starting to burn from laying on it for so long while thinking, she experienced partial paralysis partially because of the flu she had and because of staying for too long in one position, she got down slowly and went for a yogic stretch, the way she's been taught from YouTube, she did this for a while and was feeling free all over, she went outside and sat with one of the patients, she has introduced herself as Lucy, she was so pretty and acted in a kind manner. For the first time since she recovered from deaths grip, she actually got to talk to someone and connect deeply with the person apart from her family members. she later excused herself and went into the covid care room where they ran some tests on her and gave her some medications, they reassured her that she was getting better and it won't be long before she will get a hundred percent, her mood improved greatly as she bounced to her room. inside her room, she made for the bed, sat faced up and smiled at the ceilings, she muttered some thanksgiving prayers and brought out her diary, she wrote on a first page about her experiences in the hospital and how it'd shaped her life to start appreciating the moments that once meant nothing to her, she later went on to put down:
know that only you is you, don't go about telling people of your heart contents, you'll end up disappointed. I've learnt the discipline and revenge in silence and I love it. The three most powerful forces I know of are: God, love and money. Every God, genius, legend, prodigy and icon were once kids just with a weird imagination, definite mindset and they grew up exceptionally disciplining themselves and using their elders as road maps while following their intuition, but not taking all advice from an elder to mind completely because fools grow old too, learning from the world, embracing change and moving forward.
The most blissful and satisfactory state of mind is accomplishments and success after major setbacks and delays.
poverty is the world's greatest disability
Human life is worth nothing when brought in contrast with cosmic bodies but to the housefly, humans are immortals. in the end its all relativity.
No verbal word or ideology can qualify or quantify God, we only define him with the best words we know of currently and saying that their is nothing divine is creating an avenue to get exploited by people who know about the vortex and science of occultism.
How happy will you be moving into the synthetic mechanical world that technologists are bringing forth and the planet inevitably evolving into? Best you will miss your friends with their sensual biological bodies, the natural trees, birds, wildlife, natural air and water, human interrelationships, employment will drop to zero and we can only pray that the inevitable technological singularity will not take place, else were doomed, that was what the council of eternals were scared of when humans designed the first spacecraft 'the tower of babel'.
Life and the concept of immortality only matters when you're joyful and blissful but becomes vanity when you're sad or miserable.
True love is finding or creating a reason to forgive one whom you hold dear even when their is evidently none.
knowing fully well that people tend to think and act according to their levels of understanding, why do we strive to make a point, influence or persuade people?
'its because every stage of life is full of spectators with different group or individual expectations of you, so if you go through life without feeding those hungry stares and doubting Thomases to see reasons for the actions you wanted to be made elaborate to them; you've never really lived or you've been floating through life'.
if you got struck by enlightenment and on seeing what reality really looks like, the first emotion that confronts you is fear, this fear turns into negative energy thus toxic towards other forms of existence and sets you apart from them but guess what? outside existence (source of creation or God) lies the oblivion the source sprang from and that is the hell in its purest form, but if you let that fear sink and get it tamed through your mental will power and embrace the later (love), you'll suddenly feel a certain connection to everything and infinity becomes a possibility for you, you return to a complete state of blissful ecstasy and you become really free from any universal law or cycle and that is absolute freedom, that means outrunning inevitability." she rolls over and dropped her diary at the corner of her room where she plugged in her phone. she thought about her parents, as to how they'll be faring and what exactly they'll be doing at the moment, but immediately cleared her mind as she spoke to herself "that is enough thinking for a day if I want to remain on the same page with sanity" she made for her bag, unzipped the side and brought out a locally crafted mirror and looked at her face, she noticed that she was all skinned up, her clavicle literally stood atop her skin and her bronchioles were so visible, her eyes were deep inside her head as if she's been starved, she wasn't shocked because she expected it having been through an ordeal and still going through one but she reassured herself that it'll be fine, she was looking at the mirror but intentionally blurred her vision so she can motivate herself, she reminded herself of who she thinks she is, the accomplishments that lay in wait for her, she wished she could build a reputation on that because the path to her was longer than river Nile. she thought if her ambitions were really possible or be as frustrating as Prometheus pushing his boulder up the hill but she quickly maintained that if any universal entity can attain that ambition, it should be her, she smiled cockily and sighed down, then slipped her mirror back into the bag and lay back again, she was getting so tired of the routine but she has no choice. she closed her eyes and slept off.