CHAPTER 8 – “CORDELIA”

©️ Opeyemi Akintunde
As Inspired by the DEEP ONE

“Is it a written test?” I asked as we walked towards the dining hall.

MS Laura didn’t even blink.
“We are not allowed to discuss it.”

That reply was as cold as soaked garri left out overnight.

“So… does that mean you haven’t passed the test either?” I pressed further, half-mocking, half-curious.

“I’ve never taken the test. I’m staying back to fulfil prophecy,” she said, her lips curling into a strange smile that made my skin itch.
Not warm. Not cold. Just… dreamy.

That got my brows up.

“Prophecy?” I asked again.

“Yes… Someday, I’ll be the…”
She paused suddenly, like someone who had just remembered they were on camera.

“Never mind. If you’re still around, you’ll find out what the prophecy is.”

Still around? Madam Prophetess-in-waiting, abeg o. God forbid bad thing.

Unfortunately for her…I didn’t plan on staying long enough to see any prophetic drama unfold.

We entered the dining hall.
Before I could even think, I dashed straight to Cordelia’s table like a child chasing her last piece of meat.

“Cordelia… We need to get out of here,” I whispered through clenched teeth.

Her reply?

“Be careful. Now that Father has noticed you, all eyes are on you.”

Then…without blinking…she stood up and left me sitting there, like the last burnt puff-puff on the tray that nobody wants.

And she was right.

All eyes were on me.

Not metaphorically. I mean literally.

Every saint, every so-called disciple in that hall…over 200 of them…had their holy, sanctified, surveillance-heavy eyes fixed on me like I was the new lamb to be sacrificed.

I tried reading their expressions, but I failed, however one pair cut through me.
A guy…average height, a face you’d forget in a crowd, but those eyes?
They said one thing: “Pity.”

Me? Mabel? Pity?
God, please.

My natural reaction would’ve been to hiss or clap back with a loud, “Oga, fix your face!” and face others and shout ” What’s with the eyes?”

But in The Fold, Shouting was like sin…prohibited and punishable.

So I stood up gently… trying to walk away, trying to disappear. Food was really the last thing on my mind…

Just as I reached the exit, a firm arm blocked me.
The guard.

“You haven’t feasted. Return and eat of the Lord’s Feast.”

“I’m fasting,” I whispered.
A whisper, yes…but somehow, the entire hall heard.

“Who asked you to fast?” MS Laura barked from behind me. I could hear her shoes approaching.

I needed a lie. A believable one.

“The Realm… the One-Hour Ascending. A man on the throne asked me to fast.”

Dead Silence.
Pin-drop silence.
Even the air paused to listen.

The guard looked at me like I’d just claimed to see Moses in the bathroom.

“Stay here,” he said.

He turned and walked away, heading for the place called ‘Father’s quarters’.

As he walked, I stood there like a goat that had just been tied for Christmas slaughter.
No, scratch that.
Even goats have more dignity than I did at that moment.

I decided to read the room to know if what I was doing was right…

Cordelia didn’t look up.She had her head buried…

Everyone else wore their poker-faced holiness masks.

I looked around for that guy again…the one with the “pity eyes.”

Found him.

He was shaking his head slowly in the negative… from side to side.

I caught the message.

“Never mind,” I blurted out. “I’ll eat today. I’ll start my fast another time…when everyone else is fasting.”

The guard paused.
Then turned around and walked back towards me.
His expression loosened. Just a little.

“Wise decision,” he murmured.

I nodded.

Theatrics, Mabel. Smile, nod, play the part.

I turned back and walked to the food stand.

They served me oats.
Okay. Manageable.

Then came the beef….beef in beef sauce
And not just two or three chunks. No.
It was beef galore.
Beef for royalty.
Beef like I was on death row and this was my final meal.

“Can you please reduce the beef?” I asked, trying not to gag at the generosity.

“Father’s orders,” the server said without looking at me.

“Sorry, what?” I asked bewildered…

“Father instructed that you should be generously served…always,” the head server added from her seat.

Ah.

So I’m now a celebrity prisoner. I am finished.

Okay.

I took the plate with shaky hands.

My eyes misted.

Not because of gratitude ooo.

But because I felt like I was being slowly poisoned…with precision, seasoning, and plenty of sauce.

“God! Please I am not doing again ooo” I said under my breath with tears pouring out of my eyes.

I walked to an empty table.

Sat down.

Stared at the food.
The oats I could manage to swallow

But the beef?

They looked like demons in disguise. Like stones…

I picked at the oats like a woman at her wedding who just realized the groom had three other wives.

Then I stood up to leave.

That was my second mistake of the day.

The first was entering this place.

As I stood up, I bumped into someone.

“Sorry,” the guy said…The Pity Eyes Guy.

But he leaned close as he bent to pick up cutlery.

“Eat your beef. Father is watching you on the camera.”

My heart froze.

CCTV.

I scanned the room again…this time with purpose.

There it was.

I returned to my seat quickly, like a student who saw the invigilator walking her way.

I picked up my cutlery.

And began to eat the beef.

Each chew felt like I was swallowing stone.

Tears flowed.
No exaggeration.
I was eating and crying at the same time.

A romantic tragedy between me and Father’s beef.

Cordelia noticed.

She stood up from her table and walked to mine.

She sat opposite me.
And joined me in eating the beef silently at first…

As a friend.
As a silent rebel.
As a girl who’d seen too much to care anymore.

“I’m sorry, Aunty Mabel,” she whispered. I saw her tears flow too “You shouldn’t have come.
Once you’re in, you can’t leave.

So blend in. Accept it. This is our new normal.
This place is evil, I know it. But we can’t leave.”

We can’t leave?

I nearly threw the beef back onto the plate.

She continued, whispering like someone whose soul had been robbed:

“We’ll be fine…But that thing you tried to do earlier? Never try it again. Don’t ever do anything that will make you get summoned to Father’s quarters.”

My body went cold.

She wasn’t joking. She was Dead Serious

And then, she said something that felt like a dagger:

“I’ll get a strike for what I’m doing right now…But I don’t care. I’ll be summoned soon and I’ll pay for my sin…talking to you right now.”

That’s when I acted without thinking.

I slapped her.

Loud and sharp.

“Shut up!” I shouted.
“Stop telling me to love this place! Stop it!”

Everyone gasped.

Good. Let them.

Let them think I’ve lost it.

Let them think I was the rebel. Let her go free.

Cordelia got the message.
But it didn’t work.

Father didn’t fall for the drama.

A calm, chilling voice echoed across the hall:

“Saint Cordelia… report to the Father’s quarters.”

I watched her walk away.
Like a lamb.
Like someone who had accepted her fate.

Suddenly, I became very interested in what went on in Father’s quarters.

Because for the first time, I realized something.

Saints were always moving in and out. Some trembling.
Some smiling too widely.
Some… not returning at all.

At first, I thought it was Normal
But now?

Now, I wasn’t so sure.

Because whatever was happening behind those walls …it wasn’t Normal.

It was NOT NORMAL

And something in me confirmed to me:

“Mabel, you’re not just in a cult. Just know that You’re in a well-oiled, well-funded, well-scripted nightmare and only God can bring you and Cordelia out of here.”

“God please Help me!” I wanted to Scream so loud Heaven would hear.
To be continued…. Good News💃..Have you seen our Latest Movie release ” SOLD” . IT’S HOT AND TRENDING… Watch it here …
We celebrate you our readers, thank you for joining us on another journey, feel free to share to enlighten others. God bless you. Follow Us:
🌐 www.deepthoughtsintl.org
📘 Facebook: @Opeyemi Akintunde
📸 Instagram: @OpeyemiAkintunde
🎥 YouTube: @Deep Thoughts TV

✍️ DEEP THOUGHTS NOVELS
Inspired by the TRUTH REVEALER
Written by Opeyemi Akintunde
📞 +234-8151103646