NIGHTMARE MARRIAGE : CHAPTER 1 – 20
BY JOY FAVOUR SHAKA
GENRE; Tragicomedy, Love and Betrayal.
CHAPTER ONE
In a world where you feel cold, you gat to stay gold…..yeah that wasn’t in my case. I am 24, a Canadian American with short black hair, round face, black eyes and a nice body figure.
I am the only child of The Martins. My parents were neither poor nor rich, we were satisfied with what we had and never for once rely on anyone for our needs.
My father, Mr Donald Martins. A Canadian, was a very cheerful person. He loved I and mother so much, he always made sure we didn’t lack anything.
Mrs Gracie Martins, my mother was a gentle and lovely woman. A house wife who loved everyone around her.
I grew up in a small town in Canada without knowing my father’s family. According to father, his parents are very rich and they didn’t approve his marriage with mother because she was from a very poor home.
I remember that day, the moment our lives changed…
I was at home, I didn’t go to school. I was helping mother and her younger sister aunt Clarissa, decorate the house. It was father’s 35th birthday.
Mother baked the cake, aunt Clarissa was setting the dinning table while I was doing the dishes. We didn’t invite anyone, it was just mother, father, aunt Clarissa and I.
“Ry, bring the fruits from the freezer please!.” Mother says with a bright smile.
Her violet colored gown made her look classy with her makeup, I had always wondered how she painted her face so well. She looked so gorgeous in the beautiful dress her lovely husband gave her as a gift on their wedding anniversary.
Ever since I was born, father had never celebrated his birthday before because he was a busy man. So mother and aunt Clarissa wanted to surprise him.
“Yes, mother.” I nod and dashed towards the freezer, I was super excited for tonight.
“Here you go, momma.” I say as I handed over the fruits to her.
“God bless you darling, now hurry up and freshen up. Daddy won’t be happy if he sees you not dressed up.” She kissed my cheeks.
“Yes momma.”
I scurried to my room, had a nice bath and put on the dress I neatly kept for today. I walked back to the kitchen to assist mother and aunt Clarissa.
NIGHTMARE MARRIAGE : CHAPTER 1 – 20
At 4pm, we finished with all the preparations and waited for father to return from work. Father was an engineer, he’d always come home by 5:30pm.
An hour and thirty minutes passed, father had not arrived.
“Maybe, he was caught up in a traffic jam.” Says Aunt Clarissa.
“Maybe.” Momma nods.
We waited and waited, I was already feeling sleepy. I glimpsed at the wall clock, it was past 7. Now mother was becoming worried, aunt Clarissa kept assuring her, father would soon be home, I wished it was true tho…
Mother was up from her seat, her face wasn’t bright like it was in the morning. Her foreheads was sweaty, she kept pacing around the living room.
Our face radiated with happiness when we heard the door bell. Mother breathed a sigh of relief, a smile was on her lips again.
“Father.” I say excitedly.
Mother gestured at Aunt Clarissa to turn off the lights, she nodded and quickly switched the lights off as darkness occupied the living room.
We were ready to shout out ‘surprise!’ Immediately
Mother slowly opened the door, I was standing beside her. She opened the door as the smile on her red lips disappeared.
“Mrs Gracie Martins?.” The bald headed man asked mother.
“Y….yes.” Mother stuttered, she was surprised to see a corp standing in our front door.
Aunt Clarissa switched the lights on instantly. She walked to mother and I with a puzzled look.
“Is there any problem officer?.” Aunt Clarissa asked politely.
“You have to come with me Mrs Martins.” The scary looking man told mother.
“Why??.” Aunt Clarissa asked.
“An accident happened four hours ago and am afraid your husband was involved.”
“What???.”
“How come??. Please where is he??.” Aunt Clarissa asked.
The man glanced at my way before facing mother. I was scared of the man, was he here to put us in jail??.
“Riley, go to your room. Your mother and I will be right back, okay?.” Aunt Clarissa said sweetly, she squatted to my level.
“Why??. Where are you and mother going to??. Are we being arrested?.” I asked.
“No. We are going to pick your father, we will be back together.” She smiled, i looked at mother who nodded at what Aunt Clarissa said.
She seemed scared, I could see it in her fake smile. What is happening?. Is mother okay??. I knew something was wrong, my seven years old self could sense it.
“Honey, go to your room okay?.” Said mother.
“Okay.” I nodded in obedience and walked to my room.
I couldn’t hear what they were discussing with the man again.
That night, I knelt down beside my bed, clasped my hands together and said a prayer.
“Lord, let mommy and Aunt Clarissa return home safely with father so we can celebrate his birthday. I want to see his surprised face when he finds out we secretly planned his birthday for him. Amen.”
I laid back on the bed, closed my eyes and slept.
NIGHTMARE MARRIAGE : CHAPTER 1 – 20
****
I woke up happily the next morning, I removed the blanket from my body and ran to the living room. I hoped to see father seated in his favorite couch with a mug of tea in his hands because that was his morning habit.
But instead it was mother who was seated on his couch. Aunt Clarissa was beside her, whispering some words to her. Mother’s eyes were shut as she was shaking her head sideways.
“Mother?.” I called and walked to them.
“Riley….” Aunt Clarissa uttered low, her face was wet with tears, momma’s eyes were red when she gazed up at me.
Mother was still putting on the same violet gown, her straightened hair was scattered and her makeup wasn’t making her face to glitter anymore.
Why are they crying??.
“What happened mother?.” I was becoming sad as they cried in my presence. Mother had always kept a happy face so watching her shed tears made me hurt.
“Why are you crying?.”
She looked at me as a tear slide down her cheek.
“Where is father?. Is he in his room sleeping?.” I asked, I was so curious to know where father could be. He was supposed to be awake by now and giving us hugs.
“He…he is gone Riley.”” Mother replied in a stutter.
“Gone to where?.” I asked. I was a child who wanted to know everything, I asked questions a lot.
Aunt Clarissa moved to me. “Riley, daddy went to heaven and he won’t be back again.” She said with a weak smile.
I broke down in tears. Father is dead??. We won’t see him again!!. I was seven and I had the knowledge what death mean. Grandmother Paula, momma’s mother died when I was four so momma told me she went to heaven. I got to understand when I didn’t see her again.
“Am sorry Riley.” Aunt Clarissa hugged me. I looked at mother as she cried bitterly.
Father was really gone…
NIGHTMARE MARRIAGE : CHAPTER 1 – 20
A month later after father’s funeral, on the June 3rd of a sunny afternoon, we received a visitor.
It was my father’s parents. I was glad to see them for the first time, but their visit wasn’t nice at all. They blamed mother for father’s death, they said she was a curse brought upon their son.
We were driven out of father’s house, our home. They took everything that belonged to father. After all mother didn’t gave birth to a male child who would inherit his property, that was according to father’s parents.
We were homeless and broke, we had to move to momma’s parents house.
Mother and Aunt Clarissa had to search for jobs. Fortunately for mother, she became a house help, I got enrolled back in school, I was nine then.
A year later, aunt Clarissa also got a job as a teacher in a private school. The three of us were living fine again but… mother still thought about father. She would cry every night staring at his picture, father’s death made her sad almost all the time, I and aunt Clarissa did our best to always make her smile.
As time went by, mother got sick. The doctor said she was sick, we did all we could to pay the hospital bills. I skipped school a lot so I could be with mother, aunt Clarissa would also check on her after work.
We were told to always make her happy because of her health. But sadly, on the night of October 1st, momma passed away in her sleep.
She was buried beside my lovely father, her husband.
I felt so sad and lonely. I missed lot of classes, I was home always crying my eyes out. I would blame myself for everything, maybe I was a curse to everyone around me!.
“No you’re not Riley, you’re a special human who God loves so much. Everything happens for a reason Riley, don’t be sad. I love you.”
Aunt Clarissa would tell me each time I blame myself for father and mother’s death. She did her best to cheer me up, sometimes she would skip work on weekends to stay with me so I wouldn’t feel lonely.
She is the best aunt I ever.
On one dinner night, Aunt Clarissa told me with a big happy smile that she got transferred to a big private school in America. I was super happy for her and hugged her that night.
A week later, we moved to America and there, our life began…..
NIGHTMARE MARRIAGE : CHAPTER 1 – 20
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