The first sign that something was wrong was the fact that Amaka was not supposed to be in that house, she was supposed to be at home and eating the jollof rice that her mother had prepared for her and complaining about how peppery it was.
Instead, she was standing in front of a strange compound in Ibadan, holding a small brown envelope she had found inside a book.
"How on earth did i get here?" she grumbled.
It had all started two days earlier.
Amaka was a student who always went to buy second hand books from the road-side book sellers, Her friends said she was a bit weird to like the smell of old pages, but she did anyways.
Her friend Tolu would say “Amaka, you and these old books.” “One day, you willl purchase a book and discover that there is a ghost in it.
"leave me alone o," Amaka would say.
That afternoon she went out and purchased a used novel from one of the men near the school gate.
It was a wornooking book, yet something in it caught her eye.
As she began to read that night, a small brown envelope dropped from between the pages.
She picked it up.
There was no name on it.
There was a hand written note inside.
Please deliver to the blue house behind the old church, Akinyemi Street, Ibadan, if you find this.
Amaka looked at the paper.
"What in the name of God is this?"
She was about to throw it away.
Something in her curious nature prevailed.
The next day she couldn't go straight home after school, so she went to search for the address.
So she came to find herself on a street she didn't know.
Standing in front of a house that was certainly blue.
She knocked.
After a few seconds, an old woman opened the door.
"Yes?"
Amaka smiled nervously.
"Good afternoon, ma."
"Good afternoon."
I would like to ask you something, please.
Looking at the envelope in her hand, the woman observed.
Her face changed immediately.
"Where did you get that?"
Amaka suddenly became uncomfortable.
"Inside a book."
The woman stared at her.
Amaka stared back at the woman.
"Come inside."
"Ma?"
Come in, my daughter.
Amaka went into the house.
The area was tranquil with old photos on the walls.
The woman sank to her knees, slowly.
For how long have you had this?
"Since yesterday."
She gave the letter to her.
The woman held onto it with shaking fingers.
She hesitated for a second, but didn't open it.
Then she frowned , then she smiled sadly.
I felt like this was supposed to be one of those things that was never to be again.
She was seated across from Amaka.
"What is it?"
The woman gazed at her.
My name is Mrs Adebayo.
"Okay, ma."
Thirty-two years ago, my younger sister left from this house.
Amaka listened.
She had a fight with our father and she left the house, we thought that she wod come back after some days.
But she didn't.
The woman swallowed.
Years went by, we looked for her, but we were unable to find her.
"What happened?"
Just before she left, she wrote a letter, she said she would send it in a book.
Amaka looked at the envelope.
"But you never got it?"
Mrs. Adebayo shook her head.
“It seems as if the book was sold and passed on from person to person these past years.”
Amaka slowly opened her mouth.
Uh... So this letter' has been travelling?
The old woman smiled.
"Maybe."
She took the envelope out of her hand.
In the inside was a yellowed letter.
Tears started to roll down her face as she was reading.
Amaka looked away, thinking that she had intruded on something very personal.
After a while, the woman folded the letter.
"She was alive."
"Your sister?"
"Yes."
The letter contained an address in another state, written decades ago.
Mrs. Adebayo had no idea if the address still existed.
But now she had something.
A place to start.
She looked at Amaka.
"Thank you."
Amaka smiled.
"You're welcome, ma."
When she finally left the woman's house , the sun had already set.
Tolu called her on her cell phone.
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere."
"Somewhere where?"
Amaka gazed at the blue house.
"Long story."
"Are you safe?"
"Yes."
"So why did you go there?"
Amaka smiled.
"I followed a detour."
"Detour from what?"
"From going home."
Tolu laughed.
"You are not normal."
Maybe she wasn't.
However, while Amaka was strolling down the street, she recollected of how one decision had changed their lives.
Because she had been intending to go home.
Rather, she had bought a second hand book.
She found an envelope,
She followed a peculiar direction on the note,
Somehow she became the one who brought back a part of someone's past
Sometimes, life takes you away from the path you planned.
You think you are wasting time.
You think you are lost.
You think you have taken a wrong turn.
But maybe that detour is leading you somewhere you were never supposed to miss,and sometimes, the most important things in life are found when you stop following the plan.
[image Generated with Chatgpt]
