The secret Tunnel of life and love episode 9 – end
The Secret Tunnel Of Life & Love.
(episode 9 & 10) Last episodes!
There’s nothing as relieving as finding a loved one that has been missing from over a month alive, but it can also break your heart if you found him or her in a bad state. The condition at which Derrick found Claire in the tunnel broke his heart beyond words can say. He was extremely sad to see her looking malnourished and almost half dead. The only significant overpowering emotion he felt at that moment was ‘Rage’ and the only thought in his head was to grab a hold of Mrs Eva and make her pay dearly for subjecting Claire to such inhuman torture. The battle line had been drawn and Derrick was never backing down till the evil woman pays for all she had done. There was fire on the mountain but I guess Mrs Eva wasn’t aware yet.
As Derrick held Claire up in his arms, what he found himself doing at that moment was apologising for a crime he didn’t commit. He was heartbroken to see the love of his life in such condition and immediately empathised with her. Without hesitating, they took her out of the tunnel so she could at least breathe in some fresh air. Immediately they came out of the tunnel, he removed his hoodie and covered her with it. He carried her on his arms and headed straight to the school clinic.
When they arrived at the school clinic, there were no available nurse on duty so Derrick ran home to get his car and drove Claire to a hospital in town. The cleaner was video recording all that was happening so they could have evidence to pin on Mrs Eva for the atrocity she had committed. It was going to be a fierce battle so Derrick didn’t want to leave any evidence out. In no time, they arrived at the hospital in town and Claire was quickly admitted. Treatments began immediately because she was almost gone. If they hadn’t found her when they did, she wouldn’t have lasted another week in that tunnel alive. Thank goodness she was found on time!
While Derrick sat in the waiting room, he felt it was the right time to contact Claire’s parents to inform them that she had been found. He dialed her dad’s number and broke the good news to the elderly man who had been in the country for over a month searching for his daughter. It was such a relief for them to hear that Claire was alive and currently in the hospital.
Without wasting even a second, Claire’s dad was on his way to the hospital to see his daughter. Few of her course mates were also informed of the good news too and they made their way to the hospital immediately. In less than an hour later, the hospital’s hallway was filled with over ten people waiting for a good news on Claire’s health status. A doctor walked in on them two hours later to inform them that she was doing OK and responding to treatments. He advised them to go home and return the next day when she might be feeling much better. Everyone was relieved that she was alive and doing OK. They retired back to their various houses with the exception of only Derrick and Claire’s dad. They stayed backed at the hospital and didn’t want to leave till Claire left.
That day was probably one of the toughest days of Derrick’s life as he watched the woman he loves, lie helplessly in the ICU bed. Many life support machines were plugged to her as she laid on the bed. Derrick asked if it was OK to entered her room and the doctor permitted and told him it was ok to do so. He walked into Claire’s room with her dad and they sat close to her bed. Derrick reached for her hands and held them. As he looked at her malnourished state, tears began to fall off his eyes. He tried to fight the tears but couldn’t so he helplessly gave in.
On the other hand, Claire’s dad tried to comfort Derrick but it didn’t work because the young man was heartbroken. There was nothing anyone would have done to take Derrick’s mind off the pain and anger he was feeling at that moment. A huge part of him wanted to head straight to Mrs Eva’s house to create a scene that had never been seen before. He wanted to unleash his anger on the old witch so bad that it killed him within to know that he couldn’t because he didn’t want to leave Claire’s bed.
That night was probably one of the longest night of Derrick’s life. He stayed awake all through while Claire and her dad slept. He sat beside her hospital bed and held one of her hands. Every now and then, he would check the life support machine to be sure she was still breathing. Every second was traumatising for the devastated young man because he was afraid he would lose her.
The trauma carried on till the next day but it soon fade away after Claire opened her beautiful faint eyes for the first time since she was rescued from the tunnel. Derrick was super excited and relieved when he saw her beautiful eyes again. His joy knew no bound!
“Baby, oh thank God you are awake” Derrick said immediately Claire opened her eyes. he moved closer to her and laid down with her on the bed. Without hesitating, he cuddled her and ran his fingers through her tangled hairs. “Are you ok babe?” he asked and she nodded ‘Yes’. He didn’t want to make her talk much because he knew she was still recovering and a little weak. The fact that she was alright was enough for him to hold on to, while staying by her side.
With Claire back to her consciousness, Derrick knew it was now time to face Mrs Eva for the atrocities she had committed. He didn’t need anyone to help him deal with her because his rage was enough to do the work.
It’s been about 3 hours since Claire first opened her eyes after being rescued from the tunnel. So far so good, she was better and now responding to treatment. Her dad and few friends were at the hospital room too so it’s apparent that she had a lot of loved ones surrounding her side. With the doctor’s approval, Derrick bought a light meal and fed her till she was full. The doctor came in shortly afterwards to do a quick checkup on Claire and administered more treatment to her.
“We would put her on bed rest now, so I advice you go home, freshen up and come back later” the doctor advised. The advice sounded like a good one because Derrick needed to go take his bath and return; most importantly, he wanted to confront Mrs Eva in the best way possible because there was no way on earth she would go scot-free for doing what she had done. The battle line had been drawn and Derrick was fully ready to fight!
Immediately Claire closed her eyes to take another nap, Derrick took his leave and headed straight to the school without even going home to bath. When he arrived at the school campus, he went straight to the school president’s office with the video proof to expose what Mrs Eva had done.
Fortunately, the president was on seat so he began to reveal everything that had happened without leaving any stone unturned. Derrick told the president about the mysterious anti-aging plant and also revealed that Mrs Eva was behind Claire’s sudden disappearance. Before he was done talking, the president was shocked and dumbfounded.
What made the President shocked was the fact that Mrs Eva did such a thing as what she was being accused of. Without hesitating, the authorities were alerted and everyone matched down to the secret tunnel to first confirm Derricks claims. When they arrived at the tunnel, it was totally empty with no mushrooms found.
“They were just here yesterday” Derrick confusingly said and brought out his video proof to show those that were present how the tunnel looked the day before. Without wasting any more time, they matched to Mrs Eva’s house to cause havoc but before they arrived, she was nowhere to be found. She had fled!!
Ever heard the popular saying “you can run but can’t hide”? well that was the present reality of Mrs Eva. It’s apparent that she was aware Claire had been found so it meant her secret was now out in the open. The best thing she thought to do at that moment was pack up her belongings and empty the tunnel of all the anti-aging plants, then flee to a far away place. Mrs Eva had acquired a small real estate property somewhere in the outskirts of town so that was where she went hiding while preparing to flee the country so it meant that Derrick had limited time to find her or might never be able to do so again.
When Derrick and those with him found out that Mrs Eva had packed up and left the school staff quarters, the others were now convinced that every accusation levied on Mrs Eva was true; otherwise, why would she be on the run. Without hesitating, the school president began to make phone calls to alert the authorities in town. In no time, the police declare a search for the evil woman and they spread round town in search for her.
Derrick wasn’t about to sit and wait for the police to do the searching alone, he joined them immediately by investigating where she could be. He asked other lecturers if they knew Mrs Eva’s family members or family house but they all said they knew nothing about her. No one happened to know anything about the ageless beauty. It almost felt as though she wasn’t of this world. When Derrick was about to give up, a breakthrough happened. One of Mrs Eva’s close friends told him that she had a house somewhere at the outskirts of town. The woman didn’t know the exact location but gave directions of where it might be.
Without wasting any time, Derrick got into his car and drove to town. He first made a stop at the police station to get some police officers to accompany him and in less than two hours later, they were able to locate the particular house that belonged to Mrs Eva. The gate was locked but they were able to get in by jumping the fence. They brought down the door after knocking tirelessly but no response. Immediately they got in, they searched around the house and found Mrs Eva hiding in her closet. She was arrested and whisked away while Derrick began to search for the anti-aging mushrooms. He found them at the backyard on top of bags filled with soils. It’s apparent she tried replanting the mushroom-like plants to avoid them from dying. He carried all the bags and put into his car boot then they drove off.
Shortly after, they arrived at the police station and Mrs Eva was detained. The school president was informed and the students rejoiced for the sake of Claire. The police saw no reason to withhold the plants because they didn’t quite understand why it mattered in the case of kidnap so Derrick was allowed to take them away. From the station, he headed back to his house to freshen up then he went back to the hospital.
When Derrick entered Claire’s hospital room, he saw her fully awake eating. He was very happy to see her in such manner and it brought great joy to his heart. He sat beside her and ran his fingers through her hairs; “Babe I brought your favorite meal, you will have it when you are done with what you are already eating” he said and she nodded ‘Ok’. Derrick told Claire’s dad to go back to his rental room and rest. He assured the elderly man that he would take care of his daughter and that he could come back later in the evening to check up on her. The elderly man thanked Derrick and gave his daughter a peck on her forehead before leaving.
With Claire’s dad gone, Derrick told her that Mrs Eva had been caught and began to narrate all they went through before arresting her. Claire smiled faintly all through the tale but was too tired to talk the way she wanted to. Derrick knew she was still in the state of full recovery so he wasn’t really expecting much communication from her. When she was done eating all meals, they both laid on the hospital bed together and took a nap.
It’s been two weeks since Claire was admitted into the hospital and by then, she was fully recovered and ready to go back home. On the other hand, Mrs Eva have been detained all those while and had been going through series of probing as to why she kidnapped Claire and held her hostage. She was mute all through her interrogations so it was hærd for the officers to get much informations from her. They waited for Claire to come out from the hospital so she could give the case a breakthrough.
When Claire was out from the hospital, she was called in by the police to give her statement and she told them everything starting from the scratch. They took notes and soon had enough evidence to take Mrs Eva to court for trials.
Up until then, no one was believing the anti-aging plant story; they were rather just focused on the kidnap side of the story. The school president and police felt that the anti-aging plants were circ-mstantial and just happened to find it’s way in the kidnap story, hence the reason they gave less attention to it but with time, Mrs Eva began to age drastically in the police custody and that was when Claire’s claims began to make sense.
Apparently, Mrs Eva couldn’t get hold of her Infused oils hidden in her safe box, so she began to age after staying close to two months in police custody without her anti-aging oils. It was so unbelievable how a lady that initially looked as someone in her 20s when initially brought into the cell, now looked like someone in her 80s. It was like a movie but the difference was that this was happening right before their eyes.
The school president summoned Cliare and Derrick to the panel to tell them about her research. She educated them on her research and schooled them on the plant. What was once a myth now seemed believable and true. The media was present in the panel and in no time, Claire’s story and research was everywhere. It spread like wildfire and everyone soon wanted to interview Claire and Derrick about their research. Like a joke, the two lovebirds became very popular and were now the ‘talk of town’ in the beauty world and at large. Whenever people asked to see the plant, they had one which they carried along with them wherever they went to. It was dried and framed in a glass to serve as proof. Scientist soon began to reach out to the lovebirds for the plants and promised insane amount of money to buy their research.
With all that was happening, Claire and Derrick soon realized that the anti-aging plants would cause more harm than good if officially released to the general public. It was then that it began to dawn on them that the plants were best not a part of this world because it would only interrupt God’s natural way of a person’s aging process. They began to think of what to do and it dawn on them that it was best they destroyed the plants and keep the one on the frame as the only surviving proof of its existence. It was dried so it couldn’t be planted and certainly can’t germination new ones.
As the noise for the plants grew wide, Derrick and Claire set out one night and took all the plants to a far away bush to set them all ablaze. It was one of the hærdest thing Claire ever had to do but it was for the best. When the plants were completely burned, the retired back home and were more at peace with themselves. The one in the frame was sold to the school for a good price and was hung on the wall in the school library.
After graduation, Claire and Derrick moved out from the school campus to an apartment in town. They lived not too far from each other so it meant they saw each other almost every day. With the huge popularity around their names as the people that discover the ancient anti-aging plant, they used it to build businesses and their cosmetics and skincare brands thrived and became very successful. In just a short time, they were millionaires.
While Claire and Derrick were living their best lives, Mrs Eva had aged completely in the police custody to the extent that they were forced to let her go. They didn’t want her to die in their custody so they let her go and dropped every charges levied against her. Mrs Eva lived the remaining days of her life as the old woman she was but was bitter and sad. She died shortly after because she couldn’t stand seeing herself with wrinkles and grey hairs.
A year after graduation and building successful businesses, Derrick knew it was time to officially make Claire his wife. He planned a beautiful proposal and popped the question on their second anniversary. That day was one of the best days of their lives. They face-timed their parents to break the good news to them and everyone was happy for the lovebirds.
Eight months later, they tied the knot and were finally husband and wife. Their wedding night was finally the night Derrick deflowered Claire and it was such a priceless experience for both parties. Life was good and only went from good, better to best. They lived happily ever after with the ‘Millionaire’ title to this names. Life was good good!
End of story! 😉
Thanks for staying tuned till the end, comment below how soon you want another story. Love you all 😘
✍🏼 Written by Sonia Okehie