A Daytime Nightmare
Written by Sonia Okehie
Episode 6
Regrets are never pleasant because they often come from a place of agony and extreme pain; which often can’t be taken back. A lot of people with promising future have jeopardised their lives due to cravings for instant gratification, without thinking of the consequence of their actions in the near future. Not all pleasures are good for the soul; as some have the ability to ruin our lives. If only Tony turned down the advances of thirsty Jasmine and stayed faithful to his wife ‘Becca’, he wouldn’t have been in the position where he had to explain to his wife of two years that he was diagnosed with HIV. The fact that their marriage hadn’t brought forth a child yet, made his chances of losing Becca very high. At this point, it would take an angel to come down from heaven and talk to Becca, before she would remain in that marriage. Poor Tony!
After Tony’s shocking revelation of his HIV status, a pin-drop silence followed afterwards. Have you ever been in shock to the extent that your hands and legs started shaking? That moment where your whole body becomes numb that you can hear your heart beat from within? That moment where you find it hard to breathe in and out properly because each breath you take hangs without completing properly? That was exactly how devastated Becca felt at that moment.
Like who wouldn’t go crazy at the thought of their spouse having a deadly health condition such as HIV? It was a whole lot for Becca to take in at once because never in a thousand years did she ever imagine her life turning out that way. Only God could come to the aid of these couple because it was obvious that things had already started falling apart right after Tony’s shocking revelation.
“How?..When?..How can this even be possible? You better start explaining now I’m still alive to listen because I am at the verge of collapsing” Becca shockingly said as her body shivered due to the panic she was feeling at that moment. Tony was sober and felt extremely ashamed of himself that he didn’t know when tears started falling off his eyes. “Babe it’s the devil’s work, I seriously don’t know how I got here” he soberly explained.
Becca wasn’t having it and needed more detailed explanation as to how her husband contacted a deadly virus such as HIV. She needed an in-depth explanation and wasn’t ready to buy into his pitiable shenanigans. “Tony, I am trying as best as I can not to lose my mind right now, how on earth did you get HIV?” she flared up and this time around, he had to come clean with the truth. Tony narrated everything that happened and also told Becca about his short-lived affair with Jasmine. The more he went into details, the more she lost her mind.
At that moment, it felt as though a huge trailer had ran into Becca and crushed her heart beyond repair. Bitter tears began to drop from her eyes as she watched her world crumble before her very eyes. It was highly devastating for the young woman to digest the reality that her husband was now an HIV patient. The fact that they never had the opportunity to be parents, tripled their pain. It was so sad to come to the heartbreaking realisation that they might never live up to the beautiful life they once planned together. Quite sad!
Shortly after Tony came clean and exposed his little secrets, Becca burst into uncontrollable tears and hurriedly entered back into her car. Before he could go after her, she horned for the gateman to open the gate and zoomed off.
Immediately Becca drove off, Tony entered one of his cars and pursed after her but lost track of her. Disappointed and sad, he returned back home and started making calls to find out where his wife had ran to. Despite several attempts to track her down by calling people that could have a clue of where she was, he couldn’t still get a hold of her, neither was he able to find out where she was. It was such a heartbreaking day for Tony that he wished the ground could just swallow him up.
With Tony’s HIV status news out in the open, he began to adjust to his new reality and started seeking for means to live healthily and maintain his lifespan. It’s been 3 days since Becca went into hiding and hadn’t been found yet. Tony had exhausted all means to reach his wife and find out where she was but all to no avail. It was beginning to get frustrating and started attracting third parties attention.
Unknown to Tony, his wife was in hiding at her friend’s house because she needed some time away from him; so as to deal with the trauma she was feeling due to the new development in her marriage. For all the time Becca was away and unreachable, she was crying her eyes out day in day out. Her friend ‘Peggy’ did all she could to console her but nothing was working at all. It felt as though her life had come to the end of the road because the will power to live was no longer in her. Becca wanted to just drop dead or fall off the surface of the earth.
Peggy was aware of the crisis going on in her friend’s home because she confided in her. It was such a devastating news for Peggy to take in because she knew that Becca didn’t deserve such unfortunate Fate. She tried every thing she could to be there for Becca by giving her a shoulder to lean on. Peggy comforted, prayed and encouraged her through those traumatic dark days. It wasn’t easy at all.
One fateful night, Becca couldn’t sleep because she was crying all through. Peggy heard her crying in the guest room and quickly went to check up on her to see what was going on. “Babe please not again, do you want to fall sick and die? You have tortured yourself long enough and this isn’t looking good anymore” Peggy said in a concerned tone. Becca shook her head as tears cascaded from her eyes down to her cheeks. One look at her and you could see the pain in every tear drop. Her friend walked closer to her and held her tightly on her shoulders. Peggy couldn’t control her own tears and started sobbing too. They both sobbed and held each other like their lives depended on it.
After crying for a while and letting off some steam, they had a heart to heart talk. “What do you want to do now? What’s your next course of action? Do you want to go back to Tony or you are going to end things between you both?” Peggy curiously inquired, “I honestly don’t know what to do. Like how will I face the whole world? What will I tell people when they begin to ask why I left my marriage? I never thought in a thousand years that I will go through a thing like this. What did I ever do wrong to deserve this sort of punishment and fate? Why will Tony do a thing like this to me after everything we have been through in the past? Peggy, I never got to experience what motherhood felt like with the only man I have ever loved, and might never be able to experience it again with him due to this. What in God’s name am I supposed to do now? How can my marriage still work when I will never get the chance to touch my husband or have him make love to me. Things will never be the same again, no matter how hard we try. Our marriage has gone down the drain and this time around, there’s nothing that can be done to savor it. Why did Tony do this to me? I was enough for Christ sake, what was he looking for in an HIV patient that he couldn’t find in me? Peggy I am tired, I’m so tired” Becca said as tears fell off her eyes.
The atmosphere at that moment was filled with diverse emotional outburst. They both cried their eyes out with no one to console the other. It was such a day for Becca and her condition was highly pitiable because she didn’t deserve everything that was happening to her. Poor woman!
While Becca’s whereabouts was still unknown, Tony was dying within and doing everything possible to find his wife. He contacted everyone he knew that had ever come in contact with her, but she was still nowhere to be found. It was after over a week that Peggy secretly disclosed to him that his wife was in her house.
Immediately Tony got that information, he didn’t even wait a minute before zooming off to Peggy’s house. In no time, he arrived and knocked on the door. Peggy knew who was knocking and figured it was time that the couple had a heart to heart talk to determine the next chapter and phase of their marriage. She opened the door and made him wait at the living room, before going to get Becca.
“Someone is here to see you” Peggy gently said as she tapped Becca whom was lying on the bed. “Who is that?” she inquired, “Just come with me and see for yourself” her friend replied. They both walked into the living room together and immediately Becca set her eyes on Tony, her heart dropped. “What is he doing here?” she angrily inquired with tears in her eyes, “Hear him out first. Please the both of you need to talk and know where your relationship is headed, you can’t continue to be in hiding; it’s time to face your fears and reality” Peggy said.
While both friends traded words with each other, Tony stood there with his countenance looking pitiable. He tried to chip into their conversation but it was apparent that Becca wasn’t ready to even look at him properly. Unable to hold back any longer, he broke his silence.
“Babe please can we talk?” Tony soberly inquired, “Talk about what? What do you think we need to talk about that would change your health status from HIV Positive to Negative? Look at what you turned me into; a cr@zy woman. Are you happy now Tony? Are you?” she soberly said with tears in her eyes. Tony wanted to console her but knew that she wasn’t cut out for any comfort that came from him. Frustrated and stressed out, he said; “Please can we go home and figure this whole thing out before I die due to how broken I’m currently feeling”.
With tears in Becca’s eyes, she looked into her husband’s teary eyes and said; “We don’t have a home anymore, I’m sorry but I am done with this marriage”.
Written by Sonia Okehie
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@Sonia Okehie
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