Jemima

By Acaa Gladys

I’m from a very small town called Apac, and I can boldly say I was the prettiest girl in town. I was very popular in school and I think this made me a bit arrogant. I was mean to my friends sometimes, and a bit rude to the teachers as well. I could have any boy I wanted, but all the boys in town were all out of my league.

Then, Daniel moved into town. He was the grandson of the richest man in town. He was elegant, tall and handsome as well. We started dating the first month he came to my school. We were the supreme couple of the school. Daniel was a bit short tempered but apart from that, everything about him was just perfect. I was very happy: girls worshipped me and I had a beautiful, rich boyfriend who gave me everything I wanted. My life was perfect, but then a girl called Jemima moved to town and ruined everything.

One day, Jemima approached me said that Daniel assaulted her. I knew she was lying immediately, because I thought she was nowhere in Daniel’s league. How could Daniel leave a girl like me for a girl like her? It was just impossible, so I called her a liar and told her to stay away from me. I told some girls in my school to make Jemima’s life uncomfortable, hoping she would think twice before telling lies like that again.

Gina, a girl in my group who would do anything to please me, went above and beyond to make Jemima’s life miserable, but Jemima didn’t back down. She went to one of the teachers and repeated her lies about Daniel. Luckily, the school was built by Daniel’s grandfather. The teacher called Daniel and told him about Jemima’s accusations. After, Daniel went to Jemima’s house in the outskirt of town where she lived with her blind grandmother. He told her to leave him alone and threatened that there would be consequences.

When Daniel came back, he told me what he had done, but later that day, Jemima came to my house. Her face was bruised all over, and she claimed that Daniel had assaulted and beaten her again. She begged me to believe her, but I chased her away. I couldn’t believe her over my boyfriend and I just couldn’t comprehend a world in which he’d choose someone like Jemima over me.

The next day, I asked everyone at school to stay away from Jemima because she lied to everyone at school about Daniel and I, and she also showed fake emotions so she would be seen as the victim. She was being manipulative, like a psycho. In no time she became an outcast, but she still wouldn’t back down and went to the police to report Daniel. I kept wondering why she wanted to destroy my perfect life.

Luckily, the police man that filed her report was bribed by Daniel’s grandfather and the case didn’t go any further. Moreover, the land Jemima and her grandmother were staying at was Daniel’s grandfathers. When he found out about Jemima’s accusations, he chased them away, so they moved into a dirty hostel downtown. Two days later, her grandmother passed away and then Jemima disappeared. Rumors went around she had been locked up in a mental institution somewhere.

Ten years passed. I married Daniel and we had two beautiful kids. He was still a bit short tempered but I could handle that. Then, Jemima came back, and strange things started happening.

Jemima came into town as a substitute teacher in the school my kids were studying at. I couldn’t recognize her at first, she looked more beautiful and classier than I remembered, but it was definitely her. She smiled at me as if we were longtime friends, and acted as if she had forgotten all about our past differences. I just walked away. When I told Daniel Jemima had returned, he tried to get the school to fire her, but apparently, she was well connected now. Besides, she was only there as a replacement for a month, so I it seemed all I could do was just wait for her to be out of our lives for good.

That month, people started dying mysteriously. Gina, my friend who had made Jemima’s life miserable at school, was found dead. Rumors were circulating that she had jumped of a storage building and died. This news was so shocking to me, I was with her three days before, and how I knew Gina, she would never have committed suicide, not even at gun point. The police investigated, and concluded that there was no foul play, and that she had committed suicide. I still had my doubts, but all I could do was belief the police, for there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

A week later, the teacher Jemima went to ten years ago to report Daniel had a heart attack and died on spot. The death of this teacher confirmed my suspicions against Jemima, though there was no way I could proof her involvement. Two days later, the police officer who refused to work on Jemima’s case was hit by a car and he died on spot too. This confirmed to me that all these deaths were connected to Jemima.

I went to the police with my suspicions though I had no prove. When I got arrived, the police were leaving the station to arrest Jemima, for they had received incriminating evidence against Jemima. A man had confessed that Jemima had hired him to kill the police officer. They went and arrested her. She had no choice than to confess. She said we were the reason for her suffering back in school. She was linked to all the three deaths and they put her in jail. If she hadn’t been arrested, she probably would have killed me and my family too.

2 March, 2023