The secret Tunnel of life and love episode 8
The Secret Tunnel Of Life & Love (episode 8)
Serious danger is when you find yourself in an isolated tunnel that holds a secret someone has been hiding for many decades with no intention of revealing and you are unfortunately trapped with that same person with no means of escape. The fact that Mrs Eva was willing to go to any extent to ensure that the mysterious anti-aging plant that made her look as though she was in her 20s, when in reality she was over 80 years of age, was enough to let Claire know that she was in great danger. The thick darkness in the tunnel made it unable for Claire to defend herself or flee so she helplessly tried to free herself by holding anything her hands could find but Mrs Eva’s grip was too strong to break free from. With no hope of freeing herself from the evil woman’s grip, Claire began to scre-m for help but sadly no one could hear her.
“I told you to stop your research, I warned you but your deaf ears won’t listen and now you will have to pay the price for not listening to me” Mrs Eva angrily said as she dragged Claire further into the dark tunnel. The deeper they went into the tunnel, the more scared Claire became for her life. There was no light for her to see where she was being taken to and that got her more scared. On the other hand, Mrs Eva was already used to the tunnel and knew her way around so she needed no light. The glitters from the anti-aging mushrooms were enough light to guide her way.
After about two minutes of going further into the tunnel, Mrs Eva finally stopped. Before Claire could figure out what was about to happen next, a huge rock landed on her head and she instantly became unconscious. She passed out and had no idea what happened next after the rock landed on her head.
Immediately Claire passed out, Mrs Eva tied her to a rock pillar and went in search of her phone afterwards. When she found the phone, she switched it off and made her way out of the tunnel. Mrs Eva wanted it kill Claire so bad but needed more time to think on how she would be able to successfully execute her plans of murder. Claire was in serious danger and didn’t have much time left to live if no one found her sooner.
While Claire was unconscious in the captivity of Mrs Eva, Derrick was busy dialing her phone after it clocked 11pm and she wasn’t back home yet. He was extremely worried because it wasn’t like her to stay out so late; except she was in the library studying of which he knew she wasn’t because he was at the library all evening studying for a test he had the next day. Worried and perplexed, he called some of her colleagues who also attended the meeting held earlier by the school president but they said she left long ago to the lecturers quarters to go deliver something to a teacher. Without hesitating, Derrick asked for the name and house number of the person she went to deliver something to and in no time, he was at the teacher’s house in the staff quarters.
“Hello, Goodevening” Derrick greeted after knocking on the door of a senior staff at such ungloldy hour. “Goodevening, how may I help you?” The lecturer curiously asked, “I was told a friend of mine called ‘Claire’ came here earlier to hand over something to you, please do you have any idea where she might have gone to after leaving your house because I can’t seem to find or reach her anywhere” Derrick said in a shaky tone.
The look on the lecturer’s face at that moment gave Derrick a sign that the man was kinda confused. “I have been up waiting for her to get the doc-ments that were given to her by the school president to hand over to me. I even thought you were Claire, hence the reason I opened up, otherwise I wouldn’t have opened my door for anyone by this time of the night” the teacher said.
It was at that moment Derrick knew something was seriously wrong somewhere. The fact that the lecturer just revealed to him that Claire hasn’t showed up to his house yet, when her colleagues said she was headed over there after their meeting, immediately gave him the impression that something bad might have happened to her while on her way to the lecturer’s house. After making inquiries, Derrick thanked the lecturer and took his leave.
As Derrick walked back home that night, he was absent minded. Deep down in his heart, he knew something was wrong somewhere but was too scared to admit it to himself. The fact that Claire still hadn’t gotten to the lecturer’s house up untill then was enough clue to let him know that something must have happened to her on the way. There and then, he brought out his phone from his pocket and began to dial her line over and over again but it was switched off.
Fear like never before gripped Derrick as his mind wandered to many possibilities that something bad might have happened to Claire that night. He could feel it deep in his guts that she wasn’t ok and it killed him deeply that he didn’t have any superpowers to tell where she was. After a fruitless search, he sadly returned home to a cold bed.
All through that night, Derrick couldn’t sleep. He kept tossing to and fro on the bed due to the restless state of his mind. He dialed Claire’s number every 30 minutes in hope for a miracle but the call never went through. At that moment, he became frustrated and helpless because he didn’t have any clue of where the love of his life was. That night was probably one of the worst nights of his life because he died within over a thousand times. Poor Derrick!
First thing the next day, Derrick went from apartment to apartment in search for Claire but no one had any clue where she was. “I saw her last night heading to the lecturer’s quarters to deliver a doc-ment that was given to her by the President after a brief meeting held in the conference room. It wasn’t supposed to take that much time for her to do the delivery and head back home. I hope she is truly ok” one of her course mate said to Derrick that morning. Everyone who attended that meeting had the same thing to say about Claire’s ‘last seen’ whereabouts. They told Derrick to calm down that she would show up very soon but his blood was too hot to calm down.
It was after the wh0le day finished with no trace of Claire that everyone began to suspect that something bad had truly happened. A search party was launched immediately to look for her around the school premises and outside but there was still no trace of her. They searched all over the school and even went as far as searching in the woods but Claire was still nowhere to be found. That day was a very tough one for Derrick. He cried when no one was watching and put up a tough countenance when around people. He was dying within and didn’t know how he was going to go through another day without seeing Claire or at least know where she was. It was truly a long and sad day for him and for other students too but they were not backing down anything soon in their search.
While everyone was busy searching for Claire, she was seated in the dark tunnel with her hands and legs tied to a pillar. She tried to scre-m a couple of times but no one could hear anything. The tunnel was very dark so the only means of light was from the glitters on the mushroom. She was starving and tired but that was only just the beginning of her mystery.
On the other hand, Mrs Eva was aware of what was happening. She knew the students had began a search party for Claire and began to sought for the perfect way to get rid of her before someone finds or hear her from the tunnel. She took food to the tunnel only once a day for Claire to eat and there were also no blankets to protect herself from the cold weather condition of the tunnel.
It’s been over three days since Claire was last seen by her friends and course mates. They have been searching for 3 days non-stop but no clue of her anywhere. By that time, Derrick was drained from excess thinking and worry. He was contemplating on calling her parents to inform them that their daughter was missing but felt it was too soon to do so because for all they knew, Claire could possibly be in a safe place. They were still hopeful that she would be found or come out from hiding but that wasn’t the case at all.
In a twinkle of an eye, it was already one week with no trace of Claire still. Derick alerted her parents about the sudden disappearance of their daughter and her dad booked the next available flight down to the school. When he arrived, the first place he went to was the police station to file a report and then he went to the school’s various offices to inquire about his daughter. The school was trying all in their power to ensure that Claire was found but all to no avail.
While the outside world was restless in search of Claire, she was growing thinner at the end of each passing day. She looked malnourished and thinner in her physical appearance. Deep down in her guts, she knew that her love ones were worried sick about her but there was nothing she could do to make their pain go away. It was such a terrible time of their lives.
Just when every attempted to find Claire seemed fruitless, something amazing happened one fateful day that gave a breakthrough to their search. It happened that Derrick was searching as usual around the school campus and the cleaner walked up to him. “Hello sir, I have been wanting to tell you something but can’t seem to get a hold of you. I think I might know where your girlfriend is” the cleaner said.
Immediately Derrick heard that, his attention was quickly drew to what the cleaner was saying. “Please where is she? Tell me what you know and I will compensate you for your help” he curiously said. Without hesitating, the cleaner told Derrick that he saw Claire the night she went missing and also saw Mrs Eva around the same location. He told Derrick that Mrs Eva had been coming in and out from the area Claire was last seen by him and he greatly suspects the teacher has a hand in her disappearance.
Immediately Derrick had the name ‘Mrs Eva’, his mind revisited memory lane and that was when it dawned on him that he hadn’t looked into Mrs Eva as a suspect in Claire’s disappearance. The fact that the evil teacher threatened them earlier to back down on their research gave him hints that their ageless teacher could be the one behind Claire’s sudden disappearance.
That little confession from the cleaner gave more light to the research. Derrick and the cleaner planned on how to get more evidence that Mrs Eva was behind Claire’s sudden disappearance since they had none to back up their allegations.
That night, they waited in the bushes for Mrs Eva to show up but she didn’t. They wanted to give up and go back home but Derrick insisted that they wait a little longer in hopes that she shows up and by around 1am, they s₱0tted someone walking from afar with a touch in her hand.
In order not to gey caught, Derrick and the cleaner remained mute. As the far away person came nearer, it gradually became clearer that it was Mrs Eva. They waited patiently to see what she would do and before their very eyes, she opened a door from the ground and entered in,side.
The shock on Derrick’s face was beyond words can say. They immediately came out from hiding and went to the exact place Mrs Eva stood before disappearing.
As they stood there trying to find the door, a voice that sounded very familiar scre-med “Help Me!” From in,side the tunnel. Without even being told, Derrick knew it was Claire. They tried to look for the entrance but all to no avail so they hid again in a nearby bush till Mrs Eva came out from the tunnel and walked away. This time around, they were able to get the exact s₱0t the door was situated.
With Mrs Eva gone, they went back to that s₱0t in search for the door and found it. Derrick opened the door and entered in,side the tunnel with the cleaner. The beautiful mushroom plant were not in Derrick’s mind as at then, all he was interested in doing was look for Claire and when he found her, he rushed to where she sat and tears dropped uncontrollably from his eyes when he saw how malnourished she had become.
Heart broken and filled with rage, Derrick held Claire on his arms and soberly said “Baby, I am so sorry”
End of episode 8 😉
Stay tuned tomorrow to see what happened next.