Fatherless
Episode Thirteen-Final Episode
After mom refused to pick grandma’s call or even respond to any of her messages, grandma kept calling.
I knew she called to blame mom for what she did to aunt Nomvula, but mom didn’t seem affected by her calls.
Mom spent the whole night praying at her godmother’s house, which was strange to me since she didn’t like prayers before.
Her godmother was nice, but I didn’t really like her because she never smiled and seemed irritated by children.
I asked mom why she acted that way, and mom explained that she had lost her three-year-old daughter after waiting 55 years to conceive.
Seeing children reminded her of that painful experience.
I felt bad for judging her because she genuinely loved my mom.
Who wouldn’t love my mom? She was respectful and generous.
I was proud of her, especially her great sense of style.
Dad wasn’t good at dressing, so mom took charge of his wardrobe.
The next morning, mom had a serious talk with her godmother about fīghting to reclaim dad’s properties.
Uncle Sipho had already claimed everything, even moved into dad’s house and used his cars.
He was a tērrible man, and anyone who tried to fīght him ended up like dad.
Mom was really eager to take uncle Sipho to court, but I had a feeling that he might already be prepared for her.
I didn’t want to lose her, so I kept praying for her to just let it go.
But I knew she was determined, and once she sets her mind to something, nobody can stop her.
I called her in the evening and asked if we could talk about something.
She was sitting there, ready to listen.
So I started, “Mom, I know you want to fīght everyone who has fought us, and I won’t stop you. But please, don’t fīght Uncle Sipho.
Let God take over, like daddy used to say, “The battle is not ours, it’s the Lord’s.”
When I told mom this, she looked at me in shock, surprised at how grown up I had become.
She said she would reconsider everything, and I was happy that she was willing to listen to me.
Mom took me to enroll in my dream school, but they required a test.
Unfortunately, the results came out the same way, and the school rejected me.
But mom pleaded with them to let me enroll as a day student, and I was still taking my medication.
I felt like an outsider and lost my self-confidence. It felt like I wasn’t a complete person anymore.
The principal spread the news to everyone, and they all started avoiding me.
I was so depressed that they even mocked me at school. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and told mom that I couldn’t go to that school anymore.
I was filled with anger and wanted to infect everyone as revenge for how the world had treated me.
I read about the virus and how it could be transmitted.
I even tried to hūrt myself with a razor, thinking that by touching others with my blood, they would feel the same pain I felt.
But then, one night, I had a dream about dad. He came to me while I was crying in the playground.
He held my hands and said, “Nathan, you’re not alone. I told you I’m always with you. Don’t be scared, and stop hurting people because they hurt you.”
Those were his exact words. He asked me to walk with mom to the village and untie his grave.
It was a really tough task, and I didn’t even know how to tell mom because she might think it was just another one of my malaria dreams.
But I gathered the courage to tell her while we were taking a stroll.
At first, mom didn’t believe me because daddy was būried in a cēmetery in Johannesburg.
She was confused, but she agreed to go to the village to clear her doubts.
She also mentioned that she had been seeing dad in her dreams, but he was always crying without saying a word.
Dad’s side of the family didn’t accept her, so she had never visited them.
However, dad’s parents passed away in a car accident a year ago, leaving dad and his brother.
Dad didn’t want any of their properties because his village wasn’t a good place.
Uncle Sipho was the one in control, and we might see him when we go there.
But I told mom that we should just go and that nothing would happen to us, even though I was scared.
I was just trying to act like a man. We went there early in the morning, heading to Pretoria.
We didn’t know the village very well, but mom had been there once with dad before they got married.
With the help of a map, we managed to find our way.
We passed Uncle’s house without looking back and continued on to the village, which was a bit far from his place.
When we got there, everywhere was so quiet and there was no one in sight.
It looked like everyone had gone to the farm because we passed a few people on the road going there.
One of them even directed us to their compound. We went there and searched everywhere to find dad’s grāve.
After searching for minutes, we found a grave inside the bush.
It was covered in sand with a red cross on it, and the grave was tied with chains.
This meant that the person buried in the mortuary wasn’t actually dad.
Mom was completely confused, she fell into the grave and began to cry.
We didn’t have much time, so I had to loosen the chains and break the cross on the grave.
Then I pleaded with her that we should go.
We got in the car and mom drove off. She couldn’t focus on the road.
I remembered when dad said Uncle Sipho had gone to the village to tie him off.
It meant he heard about the āccident when dad died and had to carry him first.
Mom ended up carrying the wrong person and burying him because the person was unrecognizable.
It was so confusing. Weeks passed and mom took me to another school that accepted me without a test.
I still took my medication, and the last time I visited the hospital, the doctor said I was improving.
The medication would help fight the virus, but I wouldn’t be completely free from it. It was good that it was discovered early.
I had renewed hope. My new school made me feel like family. I didn’t feel left out in any way.
Then on a Saturday, some good news came.
There was no school, so I spent the morning talking to my mom. Suddenly, she received a call.
The person on the other end said that Uncle Sipho had diēd a week ago.
He was screaming dad’s name to spare his life, and people came rushing to witness it.
His family had packed up and left the house. It meant we were free to go back home. I was so excited.
Mom ārrested Aunt Nomvula’s friends.
With Aunt Nomvula’s help, she regretted her actions and gave out her friends’ location as a way to apologize to mom.
Her friends were locked up for life for rāping a minor. The night after everything happened, I told mom that we should go back home the next day.
She discussed it with her godmother, but the woman didn’t like the idea.
She said it was too far from my school. I had to convince her that we could use mom’s car.
I knew she would miss us, but she didn’t want to admit it.
We finally went back home, even though Uncle Sipho and his family messed up a lot of things in our house.
I was just glad it was only me and my mom there. We didn’t have time to clean up because it was already nighttime.
I didn’t want to sleep in the same room as my mom, so I slept in my own room.
Then, something strange happened. Dad came to me in a dream and we talked for a while.
He said it was the last time I would see him and that he was finally at peace.
I was sad and cried, even though I knew he was in a better place.
Life went back to normal, except for the fact that I had to take medicine every day because of what Aunt Nomvula’s friends did to me.
They didn’t even know they had the virus, and I actually felt sorry for them because the day they found out, they couldn’t stop crying.
Mom took me to the hospital for one last check-up, and somehow, the virus had miraculously disappeared.
We did several tests, but it was still the same result. That was the first time I truly believed in God.
The End.
Thessycute Ekene
Wow thank God you’re now free from that deadly sickness