The
gatekeeper was excited to have another failure in this supposed quest. She knew
the exact test to make sure Julie never gets a second chance. And she was
excited to drop the bomb. But first, the sacrifice must be made.
“Joan, are you ready?”
“Joan, are you ready?”
Joan
nodded and took front to meet with the gatekeeper.
“What’s
this…? Where are you taking her to…? Joan where are you going to na…?”
Joan
hushed her and turned to the gatekeeper.
“Get on
with it and stop making me nervous, and Julie don’t fail me…”
The gate
keeper thrilled and let down her whip. The next minute Joan was reduced to dust
and left Julie speechless.
“What…what
happened…? What did you do to her?”
She
questioned, trying to conclude that all she just witnessed was some trick.
“To send
a soul back, a soul has to be sacrificed, there has to be balance. A soul, for
a soul”
The
gatekeeper explained but Julie had not gotten her point yet.
“Wait,
you mean Joan is….”
“Joan has been wiped off existence, even her memories with the living has been wiped out…she knew the prize she has to pay”
“So I can go back to the world now…?”
“Joan has been wiped off existence, even her memories with the living has been wiped out…she knew the prize she has to pay”
“So I can go back to the world now…?”
The
laughter that spurned her words was one that irritated her.
“Not so
fast, there is a prize to pay”
Julie
didn’t understand what she was getting at.
“But
Joan just…”
“What Joan did, is the sacrifice, what you are going to do, is the prize”
“What Joan did, is the sacrifice, what you are going to do, is the prize”
Julie
was about to probably utter an objection when the gatekeeper took her hands and
appeared right in front of Jack wilshere’s balcony, where he drank himself to
stupor.
“You
remember this man…?”
Julie hissed
with disgust.
“Yeah,
he is a fraud, can you imagine, he wanted to trick me to feature in a cheap
advert. Just so he can earn millions and then pay me some trash, I don’t do
stuffs like that…I mean, I am worth much more”
The
gatekeeper nodded in disgust. She could still sense Julie’s pride. And she was
certain it was one of the reason she would fail, and then she would eventually
kill two birds with one stone. She got Joan and in 30days time, she’d get
Julie.
“Yes,
yes…of course. But do you know that because of your actions, he lost his
mother…and his contract?”
Julie
eyes went wide, so he was telling the truth, she just realised.
“Let’s
listen to what he has to say”
Julie
had noticed he was muttering something, but he was inaudible.
They
went closer and she could hear her name.
“Julie,
you bitch, I should have killed you myself”
She
withdrew immediately with a gasp.
“Of all
the people you’ve hurt, Jack is the person you hurt the most. And trust me, he
hates you even more than the person who murdered you”
Julie
was getting an hint of what her prize might be, maybe she would apologize to
him or something.
“Julie,
in 30days time, your body would be found by a group of wild hunters, and once
it is found, you have no business with the land of the living anymore”
Julie
was getting impatient.
“Ok can
we skip to the part where I pay the prize? Do I have to give my eyes out or what…?”
The
gatekeeper was not surprised at her abash response.
“Simple
Julie, you would have to fall in love with Jack within 30days…”
When
Julie actually thought she just heard the worst, the gatekeeper had to top it
up with the impossible.
“And you
have to make him fall for you too”
It was
like the moment stopped. And for the next 5minutes she remained quiet,
searching for a possible answer. Suddenly she realised the impossibility of the
supposed prize.
“Oh my
God… It’s impossible, the guy hates me! What kind of prize is this? Or is this
another trick…?”
She
laughed nervously, which didn’t go well with the gatekeeper.
She
noticed the stern reaction of the gatekeeper, it slowly dawned on her, she was
going to fail.
“Please
ma, can you rethink this? He hates me…for a normal person, it takes more than a
month to even get to like a person… It rarely happens to love a person within a
month. And ma this is a man that wants me dead, he hates me”
The
gatekeeper simply watched as Julie ranted with her plight, pleading for another
way around this prize. Of course she knew this was impossible, and it was just
as she planned.
“I guess
you are not ready…”
She let
down her whip to reduce Julie to dust.
“Ok ok,
I am…I’ll give it a shot”
“Alright, go on”
“What’s your name?”
“Alright, go on”
“What’s your name?”
It was a
totally absurd question to ask, but she wanted to know.
“Hmmm,
I’m Bernice… I wish you good luck”
Bernice,
the gatekeeper dropped and turned to go.
“Wait!
Where are you going? I would need a body to win his heart. How can I approach
him as a ghost, how can he love what he can’t see, it’s impossible”
Bernice
stopped to laugh again, Julie rolled her eyes and waited till she was done.
“So? Can
I have my body back now…?”
“There is no body to take young lady. Jack wilshere must love the ghost of his worst enemy, within 30days”
“There is no body to take young lady. Jack wilshere must love the ghost of his worst enemy, within 30days”
©onyeneke
Abel .November 2017 all rights reserved
The
other side
Continues
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