Love out of sympathy
by stella+1,
" Could anyone's dilemma be greater than mine?"
On a couch sat Angus walked with a lot of thinkings running through his head. A few years ago, he was happy with nothing to worry about but these days, it was as if his days had been carefully designed with worries and dilemma ' What am I going to do?' asked Angus to himself, and he had a flashback of how everything started seven years ago.
He was happily married to his wife, Anita, and two kids, Jack and Monica, and his family were so happy and peaceful and each day was filled with laughter until the sudden death of Anita.
She was on her way home from the convenience store and was in a bus that collided with another bus a few minutes after speaking with his husband, a lot of people died and many were injured.
Mr. Walker was contacted to identify the body of his wife and no one looked like Anita so they assumed she must have been part of the corpse that had been burnt without recognition and two days after, they had a mass burial for all the burnt corpses.
Mr. Angus became devastated ever since the death of his wife, he felt his world had crashed and his children had a hard time accepting that their mother was gone, especially Jack who fought with his mother before she went out and was unable to reconcile so he felt guilty and somehow responsible for her death.
After two years of persuasion from Mr walker's family to get over Anita's death by remarrying, he finally agreed and married Jane, his colleague.
A year after his remarriage, the presence of Jane as a new wife in the family was not significant and Mr. Walker was unable to get over his wife as he had shared a lot of memories with her.
Monica and Jack could not bring themselves to accept their stepmom too, they were still grieving and were not ready to get over their mom's death so Jane was not referred to a stepmom in the Walkers family no matter how hard she tried.
This continued for five years and no one knew her worth especially Monica who found her the most annoying. No one had any idea what Jane had been doing in the family until the day she became ill and it was so worst that she was hospitalized for two months.
During those months, they all began to miss and feel Jane's absence. No one to welcome Angus back from work, no one to cook midnight snacks for Jack, and no one to decorate and arrange Monica's room. They all began to feel her absence and feel bad for how they had treated her so before they knew it, they had began missing and caring about Jane and Monica began to pay Jane some surprise visits and by the time Jane came back home, they had all changed and she was shocked to see them welcoming her when she was not expecting it.
They all apologized for how they have treated her and she forgave them because of her love for Angus.
The next morning, before Jane woke up, Monica had cooked and she was surprised to see how they all got over Anita's death in just her two months and absence and she was genuinely happy. Angus had also began to behave like a husband to her and they all began to live their lives like before and everyone was happy again.
After a year of living happily and getting over Anita's death. They all received the shock of their lives when Anita who they thought had died seven years ago was actually alive and well.
They were all dining happily that morning and Jane hurried to her workplace after an urgent phone conversation and not long after Jane had left, they heard a knock on their door, Jack stood up and opened it and saw a stoutly built man first then his Mom and he was so shocked that he fell and almost hurt himself. Others became alarmed and was rushing to his aid when they saw Anita helping her son up and they were all shocked as well.
The stout man explained to them that his wife was part of the victim and he went to see the accident scenes himself, that was when he saw Anita breathing faintly and he rescued her by taking her home and taking care of her until she was okay after few years. He tried contacting her family but Anita's memory was faded and two years ago, she remembered where she used to live with her husband and kids, and when they got there, the house was empty. Angus told him they had to leave that house because Anita's memories were overwhelming and her face was everywhere and that was also why they could not get over her death easily.
They thanked the man and he left but things were still awkward. The Anita they had longed for was finally here but Jane had already replaced her. Angus told Anita about Jane and all what she had done for them all this while. Anita was speechless so she left the house that day and they were silent throughout that day especially Angus, what was he going to do?.
After two weeks, Anita came back again and Jane was not home and without hesitation, she spoke ' Since I'm alive and well, I see no reason why I should not resume my duties and take my place back, send that woman away'.
Angus, Jane, and Monica were gobsmacked and shocked at the same time, After what Jane had done for him and his family, how can he drive her away?. Jack and Monica had also grown to love to accept their new mother but their real mother is here now, what should they do?.
Anita left and promised to come back the next day with all her belongings and she also told Angus to tell Jane the truth when she comes home and have her vacate her place. The sadness and dilemma in the house was more overwhelming than when they found out that Anita was dead.
Everyone was quiet that evening until Jane rushed in feeling happy, she saw her family sitting outside and she hurriedly showed them her test result and told them that she was six weeks pregnant, Angus and his children received more shock and Monica who could not control her tears cried out and Jane quickly apologized for telling them at the crucial moment and told them her pregnancy made her feel like more part of them and more like a family. She was somehow hurt that they were not happy to hear the news so she told them and they all apologized and Jane became happy again so she went in first, took her bath and went to sleep early. Jack asked his Dad what he was going to do and when he was going to tell Jane about their Mom but the over confused Angus did not know what to do so he did not reply and he went in. Jack and Monica also went to their rooms but could not sleep, what were they going to do?.
When Angus got to the room, he saw the beautiful Jane sleeping and was scared and ashamed to sleep next to her so he came out and sat on the couch with a lot of thought going through his head, Anita was going to come back the next morning and he cannot send her away because it was once her place, he also cannot bring himself to tell Jane so that he would not cause her any panic because of her pregnancy, He loves Jane and cannot bring himself to send her away especially now that she was pregnant for him and he also cannot stop Anita from coming back, what should he do?
# Fiction by: Stella Olakristi.
Featured Stories
Leah
by eli-smooth, published 3 years, 1 month ago
The ride down the empty hill felt like a deluge. Five people cramped into an old Peugeot 504. The car jolted its way down the rough terrain and with each sharp turn, their eyes narrowed with despair.
The driver was Kelechi, a 22 year old medical student who had joined the fraternity about a month ago. His low hanging beard chiseled into his sharp jaw-line. The scar that was above his eye gave him a menacing look.
“How could this happen?” He wondered as he drove through the rickety slope. His eyes squinted a little as he swerved to avoid a goat that had moved into their path. The sudden swerve forced the engine to quake mildly and shut down.
They all moved out into the open space.
Silence lingered for a while.
“What do we do now?” Simi asked. Her dark skin glistening under the low light of orange setting sun. She was a psychology student. Brilliant but edgy; unwilling to succumb to the wild stereotypes that followed the other women in her life.
“We do nothing; we just bury the body where no one can find it” Sam whispered coldly.
Leah winced and paced the space around them, sobbing gently as she walked from side to side. She seemed the most distraught of the five. She wondered how different the day before had been and wondered if her life would ever be the same.
But it was the fifth person who seemed the most odd.
His tattoos were visible under the sleeveless shirt he had on. A nose piercing marked him out from the rest of them. He barely talked as the others encircled the empty bushes around. He just leaned on the car and peacefully disappeared into his thoughts.
“We were only supposed to scare him” Simi lamented. Her voice seemed to echo a distant regret.
“I keep asking what happened and no one wants to tell me. We were all on the same plan but as soon as I turn to take a leak, I return and find a fucking dead body on the floor. What happened while I was gone?” Kelechi asked. He seemed to be screaming at everyone else.
“Is it that important? Would you rather not have the truth be a little subdued from your conscience now?” Goni, the boy with the tattoos whispered back at Kelechi. His voice was cold, almost haunting.
“I don’t know. I didn’t sign up for this.” Kelechi confessed.
“Oh, so you think we all woke up and planned a murder and you were the only person out of the loop?” Simi asked angrily.
Kelechi looked away. His hands shaking under the weight of his deepest thoughts.
Sam chuckled slyly as he watched Leah’s wandering theatrics. He seemed calmer than he was a few minutes ago.
“The truth is right here. Whatever we say it is” Sam cuts in. The others looked at him. He nodded. They all nod back except for Goni.
“We still haven’t answered the most pertinent question though. Who poisoned the little old chap?” He asked calmly.
“Does it matter, we all know he was a dwindling, two faced monster” Leah said.
She had stopped pacing and sobbing. She seemed calmer and her big round eyes cut into her beautiful face. Sam looked at her in admiration
“We all knew that, but we also knew that the idea was to scare him and not to murder. So who amongst us had the most reasons to murder him?” Goni asked.
They all went quiet. The few seconds left between their breaths built up a reckless angst. Leah stared at each of their faces. She wondered who amongst them fits the murder type best..
Sam was a nerd.
It was odd that the frat boys loved him but underneath his queer humor and deep lingering eyes, there was no reason to suspect that he could be a killer. Leah thought. Simi was mostly indifferent; capable of the mundane but also the awe inspiring moments. Her calculative mind set her apart as the most logical of the group.
Kelechi was by matter of chance, the only one that was unavailable when they witnessed the death.
Goni was the one who seemed the most vulnerable to accusations. He had fought with the dead boy just a few minutes before the boy broke into a fit. He seemed more dangerous than anyone else and he also seemed to be nonchalant about the corpse that lay in the trunk of the car that had just stopped.
- Simi looked at Leah from the corner of her eye. Their eyes meet and for a few seconds, they lingered on in their sanctified space. Simi felt a rush of casual emotions rushing within. She remembered their nights underneath the moon when the boys were away. She remembered every feeling and it made her question her every truth. But she also knew the other truth.
The five of them stood in an arc as the trunk was slowly being opened. The three boys straddle the body and move it towards the empty path that led one into the bushes. The rustling of the leaves just in front of them stopped them in their tracks.
A Park ranger had his gun pointed at them. The boys surrendered and raised their hands. The Ranger looked on in surprise.
“Who killed him?” He asked as he nudged the safety of the gun; turning it off.
The group stood, staring at him in silence.
“Who killed my partner?” The Ranger asked again.
This time his gun was pointed at a visibly distraught Simi.
She was overcome with fear.
“Leah, Leaaah,
She poisoned him because he raped her” Simi confessed.
The boys look back at Leah, stunned.
Leah’s face bore a look of resignation.
“Thanks so much for having my back; Lover” she said in disgust.
They boys all stood stunned. Processing both news that had crept into their ears.
Minutes of Memories
by InspiredLetters, published 3 years, 1 month ago
The first thing you know is that you don't know how to run until you know how to run.
***
"Do you plead guilty?" The Judge asks, his glasses perches on the bottom of his nose.
"Do you -"
Although the ceiling fan whizzes faithfully, the room is still hot. It is still still hot.
You are held behind a dock not just by chains washing your hands and feet but by betrayal spoken in silence. Your hands, those large elements of bloody lust, gasp for the air of freedom, at least.
Anxiety is carefully sketched on the brown faces of the court.
The eyes in the room shining brighter than your future peep into your past.
***
Your anger started the day you met Mama sitting on the verandah; her wrapper had come undone, finger prints, five of them, kissed her cheeks, disheveled hair, and eyes blood red from crying. And Papa walked around like four walls with the paintings of Mama's curse words hanging on them.
"Prostitute!"
"Jobless drunk!"
Whenever they quarrelled, there was a cold war; minutes grew into hours, hours into days, days into weeks...
You know the air in your compound smells of their daily quarrells, yet you do nothing, can do nothing but run away. Away from it. It's now normal that if you see Papa saying I love you to Mama, you wonder if something is wrong, if it's a dream.
You keep on dreaming but the pain from the cuffs whisper reality into your eyes.
***
"Do you plead guilty?"
The atmosphere is now condensed like the hot thick pap Mama does for you and Ike every Saturday morning.
In nanoseconds, you could be kissing Mother Earth goodbye just from one statement of one man. One! One!
You look around, wanting to say the truth. Say it anyway!
But then you keep quiet.
***
That fateful day you were greeted by distant sounds of fighting. You know it's Mama and Papa again!
"Not again," you mumble and walk into the sitting room sluggishly.
Your sight beheld a liquid on the burgundy carpet. No, it was not water, it was blood, that sacred stream of life's mystery, Mama's blood!
"Daddy, stop, please, stop," your younger brother, Ike, screams, kept on screaming. He tugs at you to do something because the overflowing blood scares him. But you do nothing, can do nothing but run away. Away from it.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
The punches come in quick successions. Mama's body lay half-dead, half-consYou'vehalf-consYou'vehalf-consYou'vehalf-consYou've
The punches come in quick successions. Mama's body lay half-dead, half-consYou'vehalf-consYou've on the floor decorated with blood.
on the floor decorated with blood. on the floor decorated with blood.
"Daddy-"
The blood melts into thin air, into your eyes, forming a dark cloud, maybe an envelope on the canopy of your eyelids.
You can no longer take it.
So, you grab Papa by the neckcollar of his shirt but he pushes you away. Once, twice, thrice.
Your anger gets the better part of you when you forget the scissors in your hand in his neck.
Blood gushing out, Papa dies within minutes. The same minutes with which everything falls apart.
Papa is dead. Dead!
***
You know you should run. But you also know that you don't know how to run until you know how to run. Instead your feet glues to the roof of the earth and your tongue embraces silence.
Your mother's eyes, though dull with darkness, will you to run away. Still, you don't run, you don't want to run. You don't want to run but still run. Still, run!
Don't run again. The police are waiting out of your house.
"Who called them?" you kept asking.
***
Now.
You pose, one knee up, one knee down, before a congregation of rifles about to blow your dream off. An eye closed, you remember minutes of memories that you never can forget. Memories such as your younger brother calling the police against you, in fear. Memories such as the night you mixed rat poison in Mama's drinking water instead of Papa's.
You tiptoe through life into the bars of death. You are now your own fate. Can you run away from it?
#TheRun