Dark Light
AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN
DARK LIGHT
A ChrisEffe Bliss
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The Author
EPISODE 35
[passster password=”flair”]They fawned around her.
Her parents cried and embraced her warmly, and their show of love and affection warmed Effe’s soul.
She had pains in her eyes, and she could barely bear to bow her head, but it was all worth it. The transformation from inky blackness to sudden vision was like being lifted out of a sealed coffin.
She identified a million colours at once in the ward. Her eyes feasted hungrily on her family, on the doctors, the walls, and the curtains. She knew, without a shadow of any doubt, that she was not going to take anything for granted again!
The ability to crook her fingers was an astounding joy. Shutting her eyes and opening them was a miracle. No one could really appreciate light and colour than the soul that had lost that ability.
She was alive again!
“Effe, my darling princess,” Ken Kedem said as he sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her gratefully. “Today, my heart beats with joy.”
“I may need to examine Effe now,” Doctor Ray Annan said gently. “Please, wait for us outside.”
“No, please,” Effe said desperately. “There’s something I must read, and I must return to the cabin, please, Doctor Anifat! Every minute I waste takes him farther away from me.”
“C’mon, princess!” Ken Kedem said with a slight scowl. “We owe that man a lot. We can’t even repay him for what he has done for you. If you want to see him to thank you, fine. But…”
Effe looked calmly at her father.
“I love him, Dad,” she said softly.
“He’s an old man, Ef!” Ken cried. “Too old for you, please!”
“He’s not old,” Effe said softly. “He wears a sort of mask because he doesn’t want to be recognized.”
“More chat later, please,” Doctor Annan said. “I’m afraid I must insist on this.”
“Doctor, I beg of you, let me read first!”
“No, Miss Kedem, not yet,” the Doctor said gently. “And no movements either for at least three days. You’re too early in the recovery phase to risk taking a bumpy ride into the forest.”
He had his way eventually, and examined Effe thoroughly after letting the Kedems out of the ward. He was satisfied with the results and finally told her she could lie down and read her letter.
Effe learned that Eden had paid for the surgery, and this further broke her heart.
What kind of man was this?
And why had he left her?
Doctor Anifat smiled sadly when she handed the white envelope to Effe, and then they left her in the ward to rest.
She held the envelope, and slowly she became scared.
Her heart was thudding and she wished, above everything else, that the letter would tell her where he was, and where he wanted to meet her again so that they could explore the magic they had discovered.
He had not written anything on the envelope. No name, no address, nothing, not even an ‘E.’
Again, she was scared.
He could have written Angelface.
That was the name he used to call her, wasn’t it?
Effe took a deep breath and slowly slit the envelope open.
She extracted a cheque and a note from the envelope, but she barely glanced at the cheque as she unfolded the note quickly.
His handwriting was cursive and masculine, a beautiful scrawl that was far from the scratchy drools that were the bane of doctors. And yes, he had written the endearment first.
Angelface.
Forgive me for not being there as promised.
We shared a slice of indescribable magic that pulled me out of the darkness my soul was engraved in. Even though I knew you briefly, you have impacted my life for eternity.
I will never forget you, Effe Kedem.
All I can say is that I care too much about you and your happiness to saddle you with the murkiness of the torture I live in.
Be happy for me, Angelface.
Let your light glow brighter so that everywhere I am, I’ll smile and say yes, that is the woman after my own heart.
Please, let’s cherish what we shared, and live our lives with that magic.
Don’t try to find me, Angelface, because I don’t want to be found, and you would only waste your time.
So, in a way, this is goodbye.
Live bliss. Live free. But you would always be a part of me.
Eden.
PS:
Steve is part of a dangerous, murderous group led by the man Wailer you told me about. They poison wealthy people and take their wealth. I know them, Angelface.
Sadly, I must inform you that by now they have sold your assets that they could have titles to, like your house and cars.
They have also emptied your bank accounts that Steve knows of.
I’ve included a cheque for one million cedis. I hope it cushions the great mess they’ve left you in.
Effe read the first part of the letter for the fourth time, and each time her heart broke a bit more.
She was confused!
Hadn’t he felt the need, the crave, the want, and the love?
Didn’t he know that she had survived Steve because she did not really love Steve? She now knew the meaning of real, unselfish love! The murkiness of his torturous life?
She was ready to stay with him, to help him as he had helped her!
To love him, to live for him, to protect him!
“Eden, you have killed my soul!” she whispered, and her lips trembled.
She felt the pain in her eyes first, but there was no controlling the pain and the sheer sense of helplessness! Effe could move on if she could, and forget him if that was possible.
The old Effe would have told herself to move on, that time would be able to heal all the pain, or make it bearable. It would have been easy to self-motivate and push him to the peripherals.
Effe had never been one to cling. She adored those who adored her and left those who didn’t want her close. It would have taken her just a couple of days to push Eden aside. After all, she had offered him everything, and he had trampled on her heart because of his fear.
Companionship was not a bluff, and so if he felt he did not need her, then she also definitely would not need him. After all, he wasn’t the only man in the world, and even if he were, she believed there was no need in forcing affections.
Yes, the old Effe could have moved away so easily from the pain and heartbreak that Eden represented. Secondly, all she knew about him was that one name, Eden.
She had not seen him, and did not know anything else about him apart from the fact that he was a talented doctor, was strong, and shouted strange names in rainstorms!
The need to force a closure, therefore, would have been paramount in the least, and the old Effe would have moved on effortlessly.
But this was not the old Effe!
She was a full woman who had lost it all, descended into the crypt, played games with death, and had finally been snatched from the jaws of death. Haughtiness and pride were gone, and were replaced by a humble woman who knew the essence of breath, the magic in the caress of the wind, the meaning of touch, and the beautiful joy of speech, of movement and of living!
This new Effe had felt the warmth of real love and experienced the thrill of a heart that beat with unbridled happiness.
Her heart was no longer hers. It was inextricably fused with that of a man she had not seen with her eyes, but who was the light in the darkness of her soul. She took breath not as a woman, but as a part of a whole.
And she knew that for as long as they both lived, this was not the man she could learn to live without. He complemented her emotions, and there was no turning back from this one.
So, even as she shut her eyes and experienced the agony of her tears searing the unhealed surgery sores on her eyes, she knew these tears were simply a way for her body to rid itself of the crippling helplessness that had filled her to the brim.
“I’ll find you, you bastard!” she whispered tragically.
Her heart was broken on the day that she stepped fully away from death, and she knew that life was never going to be complete again without his deep voice caressing her ears, his gentle laughter, his sweet caresses, his arms around her…their hearts beating as one, and loving till eternity.
But, on that particular day in Bolgatanga, Effe Kedem did not have the strength to motivate her aching heart. She was weak from his neglect and his apparent rejection and betrayal.
The pain could not be appeased or negotiated, and the only outlet was to cry out her heart bitterly.
But she would stop crying in a while, yes, and wait for the pain in her eyes to stop completely.
And, when she was finally on her feet, and strong, that Eden man should just try and stop her from seeing him. Oh, he should just dare! She would scratch his eyes out if that was what it would take!
Yes, she would find him!
***
It was late afternoon, and Eyram was preparing jollof in Rupert’s government-issued apartment when he walked in with her humming phone.
“Your daddy,” he said.
“Oh, great!” she said happily. “They have reception over there now?”
She took the phone and as she picked the call she stood on tiptoe and kissed Rupert hastily. “Hello, Big Daddy!”
As she listened to her father’s voice, the expression on her face slowly became radiant and expansive, and tears of joy slowly filled her eyes.
“Just a moment, Daddy,” she whispered and took the phone from her ear.
She was trembling and weeping as she held out her arms towards Rupert.
“Hold me, hold me, please!” she said.
Intrigued, he put his arms around her and hugged her tenderly.
“It’s Effe,” she said in a gentle voice. “They operated on her eyes this morning. She’s okay now. She can see again.”
He smiled happily and kissed her hard.
“Hello, hello, Eyram, are you crazy?” Ken Kedem was shouting through the phone. “What is the world coming to? Your father is talking to you and you’re fooling with some oyibo man!”
Eyram pressed the phone to her ears and chuckled happily as they conversed happily. Rupert tried to move to the living room but she held him tighter and would not let him go until the call ended.
“She’s fine now, and can come to Takoradi, but it’s not advisable for her to come by car yet,” she said excitedly.
“We can send the chopper tomorrow,” Rupert said instantly.
Her face filled up with eager anticipation.
“Really, my love?” she asked. “It wouldn’t be a bother?”
He smiled.
“No bother,” he said calmly.
“But it seems she wants to go to the cabin first,” Eyram said with a scowl. “Evidently, that wonderful doctor left her and didn’t wait for her to thank him or say goodbye.”
Rupert shrugged.
“Then we can stopover at the cabin and thank him,” he said and kissed her nose. “Is that burning rice I smell?”
“Oops, shucks!” Eyram cried and moved out of his arms to attend to the jollof.
Rupert laughed and squeezed her beautiful buttocks tenderly.
***
The sleek Meredes Benz S-Class tore down the private road that wound through a rich vegetation of green at top speed.
On his left was a beautiful silver lake, and on his right was lush green grass, coconuts and exotic fruits that transferred the area into a beautiful panoramic paradise of greenery.
Erected metallic signs warned trespassers to keep off.
A majestic mountain loomed ahead of the car.
The road was asphalt, and it was smooth and sleek. It meandered up the mountain in a serpentine formation. The road had protective railings, hedges and trees on the sides.
The driver did not slow down. He shot up the road into the mountains, and the powerful car moved up with a screech of tyres and a hum of the engine. The driver’s handsome, grim face is almost flushed with tension as the car moved up the picturesque landscape.
The interior of the luxurious car was cold from the powerful air-conditioner, but the man’s face began to form with sweat as he drove up the winding road. Soon, he was almost at the top of the mountain and the car was approaching a sharp, dangerous curve!
He should have slowed down and allowed the automatic transmission to change down to a lower gear, but he gripped the steering wheel and slammed his foot down on the accelerator!
The car leapt forward, closer and closer to the curve, making the turn more dangerous as he began to negotiate it.
This was the curve where they had died!
The same curve!
Slow down, Eden, please…
Baaba’s words from the back as her hand touched his neck and fondled him, her voice filled with fear but striving to be calm and brave.
Eden, please, relax, don’t let this tear us apart, I beg of you! I hurt you, I know, but please, forgive me, for the sake of Ohenewaa, forgive me…
The man was screaming as he spun the steering wheel around the dangerous curve, and the tyres screeched with protest around the bend, and once again he lost control and the huge car moved towards that same great oak tree just above the sheer drop!
Daddy!
Ohenewaa was standing in the road, burning, burning!
He was about to run her down!
His foot touched the brakes then as he spun the wheel away from her, missing her by inches, and the car shot past the oak tree and missed the dangerous edge by inches, and then it righted and settled back on the road.
His face was dripping with sweat as he eased his foot off the accelerator. He was breathing hard, and his thick, hairy arms were wet with sweat!
The road was no longer rising because he had hit the top of the mountain, and in front of him was the majestic rise of a mini castle, a building as incredible in architectural design as it was beautiful to the sight.
The lush gardens spread as far as the eyes could see as he approached.
The huge gates, manned by security men in uniforms, opened and a huge, modern black Hummer with silver trimmings emerged slowly, but it came to a stop when the driver saw the sleek Mercedes approaching the driveway.
The backdoor of the Hummer flew open and a tall, handsome, elderly man of about sixty years got out. He was draped in a beautiful kente print, a peaked designed cap and holding an elaborate walking-stick. He raced towards the Mercedes Benz with open arms and a face filled with great emotion.
The young man was shaking and sweating profusely as he unlocked the car doors, but before he could open it, the elderly man violently opened the driver’s door and looked in at his son with a broken expression on his face.
“Chrissy!” he whispered, and then he took hold of the young man’s arm and almost pulled him out of the car.
He embraced him tightly.
“Chrissy!” he whispered. “Oh, dear Lord! Thank you for bringing my son home again after all these years!”
Chris Bawa was shaking as he hugged his father back tightly.
“Pappy!” he whispered.
“I was on my way to church, Chrissy,” Brand Bawa said. “I’ve been going to offer special prayers every first Sunday of the month, begging the good Lord to bring you back to me, Chrissy! Why did you do this to me, my boy? I didn’t hear from you, and I was convinced you died! Chrissy, you almost killed your father!”
“I’m sorry, Pappy,” Chris said softly.
Brand Bawa stood back and looked at his son lovingly.
“Did you find a cure, my boy?” he asked, and his voice was unsteady, pained, and filled with fear. “Has the venom load left your system?”
Chris shook his head, and his father gasped and clutched at his heart.
“I found a perfect cure that worked for a patient I had, Pappy,” he said heavily, his expression pained. “It cleared her load perfectly. But it still left residual load in mine stream that multiplies rather quickly.”
“So, are you still going to die?” he whispered tragically as tears filled his eyes again. “Chrissy, are you still going to die?”
Chris Bawa sighed and looked at the sky helplessly.
“Yes, Pappy,” he whispered. “With residual venom load still in my stream, I can die any day.”
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Premium Story: A ChrisEffe Bliss :: DARK LIGHT :: EPISODE 34
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What’s happening?
The venom in Chris’s body too?
[…] February 11, 2020 Posted by Aaron Ansah-Agyeman Dark Light No Comments Previous Episode […]
Eeeeeeiiiiii, Chris you also have venom in your blood.
Now I’m beginning to suspect Baaba was part of the wailer group
Residual venom?
From love?
The real story begins……