The cards were laid before me, I had to pick a side. I was stuck in a maze, wondering how I got into this mess - a mix so uneven. I should have listened. I should have left when I had the chance. I gasped for air, trying my hardest to breathe in such a state. It felt like I was drowning, struggling for my life while holding on to thinnest sheet of breath I could grab on to. I felt myself jerk severally but I still could not tell where I was. "Patient is coming to..." I heard from a distance. A sudden wave of paralyzing sleepiness hit me. I tried to keep my eyes open, to at least figure out what was happening but I couldn't hold it. I slipped into unconsciousness again. ~~~ I heard sniffling in the background with incessant sobs as I opened my eyes at what felt like hours later. My eyes fought through the blurriness and eventually focused on the figures situated at one end of the room. "Mama?" It seemed my voice startled her cause she jumped and immediately wiped her eyes befo
"Hannah, what are you saying?""I can't do this anymore Zach. I can't." I said weakly."Hannah, you can't do this now. I need you."I shook my head, slowing untangling myself from his strong arms. I couldn't go on like this. I ran out of there without a looking back. Having him hold me so close like that was messing with me. I was resolute at this point, this union had drained me too much and I was done. For good.I heard him come after me and I hastened my steps. "Hannah let's at least discuss-"I slammed the door in his face before he could complete the statement. I could not be swayed by his empty words, not at all. Not anymore.For the next few days I anxiously waited for the mailman to bring in my package. "Poof?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and reflexively jumped. "Yes Mama." I said in relief."Are you alright?"I don't understand how such a simple question could bring tears to my eyes. However, I blinked them away and nodded."I was coming up to see you when one of the maid
Author's note: (Before going further into this chapter, I'd like to let you know that there are some things that may or may not align with your faith/religion in this chapter. If you are not comfortable with faith-based novels, I'd advise that you skip cause this is imperative to the story line I intend to deliver. Thank you.) ~~~ I didn't even know why I was here. My feet just carried me out of the hotel room that morning after a night of endless grieving. The ray of sunshine led me out of the building until I somehow found my feet in front of this church. I walked in, all the way to the altar. I felt a pull so strong, I couldn't turn back even when I wanted to. Right in front of the pew, I collapsed on my knees and silently wept. Unable to form words, unable to think or do anything for that matter, I just wept until the tightened sensation in my chest freed me a little. I don't even know how long I had been there. I only opened my eyes when I heard a deep baritone voice. "Are you
"My head," I groaned.I sat up slowly, unable to recognize where I was. I held my throbbing head with one palm, squinting as I tried to figure out where I was. It was so white, I thought I had made it to the great beyond."Where am I?" I asked aloud, hoping for an echo."Hey there..."The familiar baritone made me snap my eyes around the place only to see Pastor Simon. Was he dead too?"To answer your question, you're in the hospital.""Oh," I mouthed, realizing I had thought a little too far. "How did I get here? How were you able to... uhm?" I didn't even know what to ask."To answer the questions plaguing your mind, I'll tell you this; I was heading out when I realized you left your scarf. I typically would have kept it until I saw you again but then I had a strong pull to give it to you. I drove to your hotel, called, you didn't pick up so I went in and asked of you. I eventually found my way to your room after several calls and that was when we found you unconscious. The rest the
"Hannah? Would you like to contribute anything to what has been said here today?" I looked up to meet Cindy's gaze. She had led the study session that Saturday. It had been a few weeks here and she was among the several people that showed up for bible study that was usually held in the backyard on Saturday evenings. "Um," I looked around anxiously. "Hannah is still new to the family so she might want to ask questions instead." Pastor Simon spoke up on my behalf. "Surely she can say something, no matter how little." She insisted. He tried to protest again but I cut in. "It's fine, Pastor." I said. About twenty plus pairs of eyes turned to me as I gradually got on my feet. "Well ,um, thank you for such a powerful teaching Sister Cindy," I started off. She gave me quick nod and gestured for me to carry on speaking. I opened my bible to the chapter we had just discussed "Today we talked about the healing ministry of Jesus. Our main citation was the woman with the issue of blood."
"Bye Miss Hannah!" It made my heart swell with joy when the kids bade me goodbye with wide smiles on their faces as their parents came to get them after church. It was such an honor to be one of the people dutifully teaching them the way of the Lord. "Bye." I softly responded to each one with a grin, standing by the doorway as they left one after the other. "See you next week." I added occasionally It took a while but the class was finally empty and I was packing up so I could go check on my workers in my newly established salon downtown. It was only a few minutes drive away from the church so after that I would go back to my apartment. I scheduled everything in my head as I arranged the desk in front of me, not expecting the visitor that walked in. "Oh Jesus." I mumbled as I spotted her wry smile when she walked in. "Hi Cindy." I chirped first to avoid any awkward stare downs. "What brings you here?" "Oh you know," she shrugged. "I'm just here to say hi to the Mrs." My brows dr
~~Four years later~~ "Miss Hannah." "Yes Olly?" I answered softly, smiling at her in the process. She wrung her little fingers together. "I want to talk to you about something." "Okay. Have a seat." I patted a spot next to me on the bench I sat on right outside the church building. I helped her up. I scanned her pouty innocent face, "Is there something wrong?" "Yeah. My mummy isn't here yet and I want to go home." Her voice came through as sad. "What about your aunty?" I asked. "She's with Uncle Simon." She pointed at the building. "She still doesn't want to take a hint." I muttered. Olly happened to be Cindy's niece (her older sister's daughter) who still didn't like me by the way all because... "Olly!" "Oh here we go..." I held back the urge to roll my eyes at the dramatic woman who was stomping towards us in furious strides. "What are you doing here? How many times have I told you to not go near this woman?!" She blatantly yelled at her daughter, forcefully dragging her
"Mr Hawkins. This is your first time in public since your release from jail. Any words as to your sudden vindication?""Are the rumors true?""Did you kill Mr Evans on purpose?""Are you truly an assassin as the publications imply?""Did your parents pay your way out of jail?"I was bombarded with a series of questions as soon as I stepped out of the building that morning. My jaw clenched in aggravation as they threw one offensive question after the other my way."How did they find out I was here?" I turned to James and he gave me a helpless shrug.The flashes from the cameras around were blinding. Someone must have tipped the press off concerning my first ever public appearance since my release from jail.It was such a hassle to get away from them. My guards had such a hard time keeping the throng of journalists away from me. It gave me a headache.I leaned my head against the car window, inhaling and exhaling, hoping to be out of there before anything could happen to the car cause t
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Months had rolled by and that chilly Sunday morning while basking in the warmth of worship, her water broke. It was about time, she had been waiting long enough even more anxiously cause they wanted to keep the baby's gender a surprise. The last gender reveal didn't end so well anyways. "How are we doing?" The nurse on duty that had come to be her fave asked when she walked in with Zach who had been frantic ever since she told him it was time. "Great! I guess," She shrugged. "You're sure?" "I'm not in a lot of pain so I don't even know if I can say I'm in labour." She chuckled nervously. Hannah had read about how excruciating labour pains were and now she that she wasn't feeling so much, she didn't know how to feel about it/ "I guess you're one of the lucky ones." The doctor piped up. "Blessed is the word doc." She corrected with a smile. "Babe are you sure you're not just enduring the pain." Zach worriedly asked. "I'm sure! I feel little aches here and there but they're not as
"Zach what are you doing here?" Marv asked in shock. He ignored her and rushed towards me, "Babe.""Stand back!" She screamed manically, startling all of us."Don't move any closer or I'll blow her brains out." She pointed the gun straight at my forehead.With his hands raised in surrender, Zach stepped back a few paces. "Marv just let her go. You don't have to do this.""It wouldn't have come to this if you had just done the right thing." She said through gritted teeth, not at all shifting the gun from the targeted spot on my forehead. I gulped."What do you mean?" He asked."Can't you see Zachary? I've loved you for so long and all you've ever done is have eyes for someone else. Anyone but me, I'm sick of it!""And this bitch," she shoved my head with the gun, "She always escapes every death trap I plot for her. I was so mad when I find out you weren't in when I set that apartment on fire,"I gasped. Just how far would this woman go to end me? Lord have mercy."You did what?" Zach
I had been awake, thankful they did not knock me unconscious. I didn't know who my abductor was and I was eager to see if it was whom I thought it was. I waited, tied up in a dimly lit room, somehow not terrified of whatever or whomever it was that was going to walk through that door. "I put my faith in Jesus, he never let me down. Faithful through generations, so why would make he fail now? He won't." I sang lowly, rocking myself as gently as I could on the steely seat. "HE won't fail... He won't." "Impressive voice." I chuckled. "Just as I thought," I said, smiling at her. "Hello Marv." "Hello Hannah." She returned my greeting with a smile splaying on her deep red lips. "So you had to resort to this...?" I looked around the ill-fated room once again finally able to express my irritation not because of the scrawny place but the person who had me locked up in here. She shrugged. "Yes I had to resort to this. You refused to stop getting in the way." Tilting my head, I asked,
"You'll be fine without me yeah?" He asked for the umpteenth time.I gave him a nod. "Yeah."He pulled me into another embrace. "Promise?""I'm fine. Just a little nauseous but I'm fine." I assured him once again."I just hope I can be back early enough so you wouldn't be lonely without me." He said, circling his thumb around my hips as he nuzzled me. "I'm not alone. I have the Holy Spirit." I reminded him."That's my baby.""See you later." I bade, taking a step back but he pulled me back to him. "One last kiss." He whined, when I resisted his embrace."Zach you're going to be late."He seemed apologetic when he said, "I don't wanna leave you.""I don't want you to go either." I admitted. I was craving his company a lot more than usual but this meeting was important, he couldn't miss it for anything. And from the look of things, he was going to be away for the whole day. Board meetings..."But I have to." "I know..." I sighed resignedly. "I love you." I stood on my toes, to give h
"Why do you want me to shut it down?""You haven't been there in months. What's the point of keeping it running when you're not going back there anytime soon?"I narrowed my eyes at him, shocked that someone of his status and caliber would utter such gibberish when it came to business."Oh is that so? Lemme ask you something,"Raising his chin, he gestured for me to go ahead, "I'm all ears." "You have chains of businesses. Are you always there to check on them?""No. That's why I have capable hands who do the job for me.""There's your answer.""Hannah these are just small businesses.""No business started huge Zach. Just say that you don't want me to go to Atlanta because of Simon instead of spewing some nonsense about my businesses." I stated. His reason was way too obvious and there was no need for him to beat about the bush when he could just air his reservations.He sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'm sorry if I came off as condescending or underestimating your business. You've worked
"Wait, you were actually serious about this?" I laughed so hard when he walked with his phone and connected it to the TV he had purposely installed in our room for this reason. "Of course. No man wants to let his seed go to waste just like that." "Zach..." I shook my head, chuckling a bit as I wondered what I had gotten myself into. "Okay. You ready?" He asked when he had finish setting up. I nodded in response, sitting up to properly observe what he had displayed on the screen. "Good evening ma'am," He said with a slight bow. I bit back a laugh as he started his presentation, so serious like this was million-dollar deal he was pitching for. "The first reason I'd like to show you as to why we should have more babies is," He swiped the screen of his phone and I watched as the picture on the TV switched to a different one. "The bible says we should go into the world and multiply, this we can see in the book of Genesis." I opened my mouth to speak, ready to debate his words when he
"What's wrong?" He asked as I woke up with a start. "I had this crazy nightmare." I managed to say after steadying my breathing. "What happened?" "I, I, I don't know how to explain it but this is more than some bad dream and I know it. I think we should pray more now, it seems like there's attack coming for our marriage. That's all I can say." "I got you on that. Should we pray now or...?" I nodded quickly, "Of course, we can't delay." He got out of bed and helped me up as we began to commune. It was fervent and the more we prayed, the more I saw visual examples of the trial that was on the way. It took a lot to not stumble back in trepidation but the realization that our God is bigger kept us strong and steady. It was nearly three in the morning when we came to a pause and as we laid next to each other, I decided to tell Him all I saw while we prayed. "Someone doesn't want us to be together Zach. Someone we both know very closely." "Your mom?" I shook my head. No it's not he
"I met her over a decade ago, in my early twenties. She was beautiful but unfortunately my best friend's younger sister and you know how messy that can get." "Hex didn't approve?" "He didn't. We had to keep things hush-hush until he walked in on us one day. It's safe to say that it was not an easy day. I came out with a fractured nose." She laughed and went on check my nose for any sign of crookedness. "You're not very nice." I said, making her melodious laugh even louder. She managed to stop after a while "Sorry. So what happened after that?"I continued, taking up her feet so I could give them a massage. "Carrie intervened and we made up but like every protective older he still gave me a side eye any time he saw us together." "I can imagine," She snickered. "When she found out about what I did on the side with her brother, she almost left me. Maybe I should have let her, she would have still been alive by now but I loved her so much, I was so selfish and I wanted to ea