Love At First Chat✔

Chapter 22

     Amira frowned as she stuffed the last of her suitcase in the trunk of their Range Rover. Her mother wasn't joking when she said they would go to the village to celebrate Christmas with her cousins.

     With a long face she got into the car and strapped her seatbelt. She didn't like going to the village because a lot of her relatives from her paternal family would come to their house to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. They never brought anything to them, all they ever did was take.

     She put her headphones on and turned to the window, not wanting to speak to her mum. Because she was mad at her mum, she didn't sit at the back with her. She sat beside the driver and he drove off, heading towards the south.

     The car ride was quiet but occasionally, Amira's mum would yawn. Amira was oblivious to her surroundings as she let the music fill her head.

     After three hours, they got to Lokoja. Even though Amira didn't want to travel, she loved Lokoja because of the nice yam fries they sold. She bought some yam fries, a huge fish and a bottle of soda to keep her going. Everything was going well until they got to Okene. The roads were so bad and a lot of Dangote trailers were parked on the road.

     "Madam, I don't think we can drive through this road." The driver said. Amira's mother looked at the condition of the road and shook her head. If they were going to take that route, then they'd spend at least four hours in Okene and she wasn't ready for that.

     "What do we do now?" she asked the driver.

     "Let me just ask one of these drivers that are turning around." He got down and went to a Big Joe bus.

     "Guy how far? Abeg na how una take dey pass this road?" he asked the driver.

     "E get where we go for turn follow inside one village. Then from there, we go enter ferry abi na ship wey go carry us straight to Agene Bode."

     The driver thanked him and walked back to the car.

     "He said we'll have to go through a village and board a ship that's headed to Agene Bode." he told Amira's mum.

     "What? I can't do that. Please turn the car around and drive back to Abuja."

     "Yes ma'am."

     Amira who was not interested in the conversation suddenly started grinning. Luck was on her side so she'd probably travel to America after all.

     When her mother caught her grinning, she glared at her. "You're still not going to America. I'll book a flight for us to go to Benin and then from there, we can go to Auchi."

     Amira's smile faltered and she pouted at her mum. "This is a sign from God that we shouldn't go to the village."

     "Just shut up. And you, turn the car around."

     By the time they got to Abuja, it was already four in the evening. Amira was so exhausted that she just went straight up to her room and slept off.

     When she woke up, it was past eight PM and their maid had made dinner. She ate her dinner, prayed and went back to sleep.

     Her mother spent her evening searching for available flights to Benin and there was only one. She didn't really like to fly Dana because of the crash some years back. She'd have preferred Arik, Aero or even Medview but they didn't have flights going to Benin. She had no other choice but to book Dana Airways. The flight was to take off at 2:00pm the next day so they needed to be there early. When she was done, she went to sleep.

***

     "Amira hurry up so that we don't miss our flight." her mum yelled as she checked her time. It was almost 1:00pm and they hadn't even gotten to the airport.

     "Coming!" Amira replied before walking outside to meet her mum. "I'm done."

     Her mother ignored her and got into the car. Amira sat down beside her and plugged her earphones in.

     They got to the airport at 1:50pm because of a little traffic and immediately the car came to a stop, Amira's mum rushed down and asked the driver to bring their luggage. They rushed to the check in counter to ask about the flight.

     "I'm sorry, Dana Airways going to Benin is about to take off." The lady smiled at them.

     "Is there no way we can go?" Amira's mum asked.

     "We made some changes to our schedule so there'll be another flight by 4:00pm."

     "Thank you, we'll wait."

     Amira's mum kept scolding Amira about how it was her fault that they missed the flight.

     "Mum this is a sign from God, I'm telling you. Let's just go home."

     "If you tell me that rubbish again I'll forget we are in public and slap you."

     Amira kept quiet and focused on the candy crush she was playing on her phone. She knew her mother could slap her in public so she behaved herself.

     About thirty five minutes after, an announcement sounded through the airport.
"Flight OH216T Dana Airways going to Benin has just been in a crash around the Kogi axis. No passenger survived the crash and we deeply send our heart felt condolences to the families of the deceased."

     Amira's mother was in shock as the lady repeated the announcement again. So if they had gone on that plane, they would be dead too. She pulled Amira into a hug with tears in her eyes. Amira pulled away from her and shrugged.

     "Told you it was a sign from God. Have you checked the news lately? The Oba is dead and they need people for sacrifices mum. We can't go the village."

     "So madam should I take the boxes back to the car or you'll wait for the next flight?"