I wrote this story for a friend, don’t know what it was used for but it’s like the first story I ever got to finish, everyother ones always ended in draft and/or research and it also an insight to the topic of domestic violence do enjoy 😘
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“Johanna, how do you cope with my brother? You could have just left, file for a divorce. Forget what the society will say or what might happen, you need to think of yourself first.” When Catherine said that, I wondered where she was before I married her brother.
“it’s no longer just about me, I have a child on the way now” I replied. “Why are they not talking? What did I say?” I thought amidst the temporary confusion that enveloped me. “Are you guys okay?” I asked.
“Did you just say, in not so many words, that you’re pregnant?” Josephine who hasn’t said a word after greeting me blurted out.
“Yes Josephine, now can you both see that there’s no going back for me? Do you know it even crossed my mind to terminate this pregnancy? But I just could not bring myself to do it, not after listening to its heart beat.. The pregnancy stopped being something but a baby, a living entity. Well, David knows about the baby already” I finished.
“You told him!? Why? Don’t tell me you’re thinking the baby will give him a change of heart and ways. Oh! No! You’re not that dumb, are you?” Catherine, who was the first to find her voice, shot at me.
“Am I? Maybe the child can? He’s changed lately but I really don’t know. I’ll not hold my breath on believing he’ll change although, lately, he’s been different; gentle, more considerate and paying attention to my health but I’m sure it’s all for the baby. Can you imagine it? He’s excited about becoming a father, while I think of ways to protect my child from him or having to turnout to be like him. I will have to stay here to protect my child from, not only the clutches of his father, but what the society might say. I can’t allow my child to pass through the judgment eye of the society all because of my mistakes, neither will I watch my child go through what I went through. Josephine, do you know that I went through hell with Dad after my Mum died? Just because he never wanted the marriage, he was not in love with my mother, he hated her with a passion. I’ve never seen this in anyone, definitely not David, why? He loved someone else but was forced by his father to marry my Mother then, my mother ‘had the gut to give birth to a female child’, his words not mine. After Mum died, the hate became my burden to carry. I guess that’s my fault again for looking like my mother. That was why I jumped at the first representation of love I saw, I could not tell anyone what I was going through, who would have believed me? My father is a reputable man, his praises are being sung by many, yet I reap his fist and abuses at home. Cousin dear, let me ask you, would you have believed me? So when David came, I saw him as an escape, a way to be free from oppression. He hid his true self well or maybe I was blind to it, turns out I fell for a replica of my father and I never knew until I was already married to him. Now tell me, what do I tell my family? ‘That the man I fell in love with and CHOSE to marry is not who I thought he was?’ If you both never accidentally witness how he is, would you have believed? Many will say that I married him for his money, did I not see all those things before I decided to marry him? And that all my tantrum is to drag his name in mud and get hold of his wealth.
Darlings, I’m at a dead end, this was my decision so I have to live with it. The only thing that saddens my heart is that I’m going to bring another soul into this mess and physiological suffering. I could have taken the coward way out, ended my life but…” I explained till I was cut short.
“Enough! You all can leave now! This pity party is over! Wow! Clap yourself my Darling Wife. With all I’ve heard today, you’ll surely get punished for it, not now mind you, we would not want to hurt the baby, but I promise you, that you’ll receive the punishment you deserve from me after you give birth. I will not forget, you know why? I have your record of wrongs kept somewhere and you’ll surely hear it from me. Out all of you! I don’t ever want to see the both of you anywhere near my house or family again.” David, who walked in unnoticed and had listened to everything Johanna had said, said trying to contain his anger and hold himself back from beating his heavy wife.
“I’m sorry David, it’s not…” Johanna tried to explain but was cut short.
“Keep that sorry for yourself, it’s useless on me, just like you are.” David shouted.
***
I’m dead but still living. These days, I’m more numb than alive still I can’t do anything about it. I made my decision, I took this step and embarked on this journey on my own, If there’s anything else I can do, it is to live with it for the rest of my life.
For those going through something that might be similar to this, I sympathize with you. But in as much as you might have a lot of reasons and excuses to hold on to that relationship you owe it to yourself to leave too before its too late. Please do not end up in a body bag all because of assumptions on what people ‘might’ say or think, please take that step to fight back and walk away, protect your sanity and help save others too. THANKS
Edited by AKINỌLÁ, Tolúlọpẹ́ Joseph TDB
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