Cherry Bloom: Stranger Within Me

By Thankgod Ugochukwu Kalu

Where was she?

What strange beings did she encounter?

Could it be death? Who knows?

Cherry Bloom was crafted off the true life’s tale of an estranged young girl whose mother died while giving birth to her but left her a letter and she wasn’t going to receive this letter until she turned eighteen; meanwhile she struggles through life but fate led her to make a mystical discovery about herself. This revelation changes everything and leaves more for the reader to query. So what happens next? She begins to pick the pieces of her life. What the future holds for Cherry Bloom remains a mystery.

A simple styled educative short story packed with shocking realities of life. From the author of Attaining Greater Heights in Academics, Nurse Tessy, Nwa Teacher, and more, enjoy the suspense thriller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: May 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9783748735700

Book preview

Acknowledgements

A Golden beginning

Cherry Bloom born 21st October, 1998, was born into the world of men with a golden spoon, her father was well to do and he loved her unconditionally, he showered her with lots and lots of presents, she never lacked a necessity. Cherry was an only child and he waited for so long for her to arrive, so she was a jewel of inestimable value. Life as child was so colorful and enjoyable for her, she had many friends to share her toys with and her admirers were too many for us to number. She had the best education a child could hope for, she attended the best schools, she was attended to, by private tutors; operated the latest educational gargets and the list goes on.

Little wonder why she was such a bright student, any child with such a background certainly should be. She made such an impression with her teachers and in her academic records. The influence Cherry Bloom had on her peers was second to none; she commanded influence, everyone loved and wanted to be her friend except for some few classmates who envied her for her many blessing and popularity but if you must matter you must be friends with her in school.

Cherry Bloom took after her parents she had a sharp mind and this feature was not lacking in her father; as for her mother Late Mrs. Bloom, she lived a virtues life, a paragon of meekness was one of her many descriptions and she was a devoted Christian too. Cherry Bloom took after her mother’s physical attribute, she grew prettier by the day; lets simply state that Cherry Bloom was a clone of her mother.

The author did not say anything about the central character acquiring her mother’s intangible attributes, so that can only suggest that her attitude left little to be desired.                         -Editor

Sometimes, Cherry Bloom wondered why her father was sad when he looked at her, though he treated her with so much love; perhaps, it was her imagination, so she deduced. She never forgot an experience that she had in one of her holidays at her maternal home where she visited annually during school vacation. On that occasion, she had overheard her father and her grandparents arguing about something so she drew closer to the hut where the sound came from to satisfy her curiosity which at that moment was to hear what the misunderstanding was about.

Msichana maskini anaumwa hapa, Mama. Said her father, in a low tone of voice to his in-laws.

Kuteseka hapa? kweli? Kama singekuwa kwako alijeruhiwa. Her Granny fussed

Tuna hakika gani kuwa unaweza kumtunza? Hautamtunza mama yake. Added

her grandfather.

Oh maskini Zawadi alikufa kimya. Granny resounded

Before they could say anymore, they spotted little Cherry Bloom by the door standing like a lost lamb. The argument ended abruptly and her father bade her farewell and left for Nairobi in his dark red station wagon. Cherry Bloom understood little to nothing about what they said because she was yet to be proficient in her native tongue.

The language above is Swahili.                                                                   -Editor

The only words she understood however, was her mother’s name and poor child in which her father referred to her. At such early age she knew something was definitely not right about her, but there was only little she could do about it.

One day in school, her Biology teacher Miss Makena Mohammad, introduced a topic: Characteristics of living things, students were all exited as they all actively participated in the discussion class, they all said what they knew and things they could do.

Beautiful answers. She said. But now we must discuss more about them. She added.

Plants and Animals are living things because they breathe and grow; here is a simple way of identifying living things using the abbreviation: MR NIGER D. M for Movement, R for Respiration, N for Nutrition, I for Irritability, G for Growth, E for Excretion, R for Reproduction, D for Death. These she wrote on the board as she explained orally. She continued:

"Movement: Living things move from one place to another, Human beings including (Amphibians, mammals, Reptiles) move with their legs as well as crawl and fly (Ave) except for Pisces, which can only be found in the water.

"Reproduction: Human beings give birth to their young ones. Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Ave give birth to their young ones through a process called MATING while Human beings give birth to their young ones through SEX. The way a goat reproduce their young ones is different from the way a dog give birth to their own young ones.

"Nutrition: Both Plants and Animals take Nutrients while Plant acquires their food through Photosynthesis; Human beings have many Nutritional foods, which are good for the body and they feed on plants for Nutrient including other smaller animals. Lion feed on prey for its Survival.

"Irritability: It means responds to Stimuli, In Human beings, the sensory neurons works with the brain and skin; it passes a message to the skin. When a child puts his hand in a fire by mistake, he quickly remove the hand because of the hotness, the child response to the fire is irritability while the sensory neurons helps the child to quickly withdraw its hand.

"Growth: Both plant and Animals grow and there must be a limit to their growth, growth is caused because of food intake and more or less good living.

"Excretion: It means removal of unwanted waste or excreta from the body, Human beings including animals use anus to excrete toxic from the body, though Pisces, Ave and few animals have their special way of removing waste from the body.

"Respiration: It means breathing, taking in air, Air is important for living things survival, Man takes in oxygen and breathes out carbon dioxide while plants use the sun and have its own procedures.

Death: Every living thing must die, man must die, and death is certain, for every beginning, there must be an ending. With that she ended her lesson.

https://selfhelparchive.com/characteristics-of-a-living-thing/

 In her usual manner before wrapping up her lectures, she would recap on the whole lesson, ask questions and give opportunity for question. That day was not any different; the students answered questions and of course asked curious questions except that this time Cherry Bloom asked a more personal question. She remembered a tale everyone knew but never told, except for her mentor Dr. Ali