LOST
Episode Three
After the nurses covered my mom’s face and took her away, I sat down in silence, thinking about what my mom had told me.
She said, “Catherine, don’t marry a man who will hīt you.
I don’t want you to end up like me.”
Her words kept echoing in my mind, as if she was speaking directly to me.
I sat outside the door, crying my eyes out, and the neighbors had to take me home.
We ran into dad on our way out of the hospital after the neighbours had helped in paying the bills.
He called my name, but I didn’t utter a word to him.
I wasn’t satisfied that he was walking around freely with no consequences, while mom had no one to fīght for her. I
had always wanted to become a lawyer, so I could put him in jail for life for always hurting mom.
I was disappointed that I couldn’t protect mom from him, and I didn’t even get the chance to grow up and become a lawyer to save her.
The disappointment hit me so hard that as I looked at him, I wished I could take matters into my own hands.
The neighbors did what they could to help, but I wanted my mom back, and I wanted my dad to rōt in jāil or even be hanged for what he did to her.
When we got to the house, I slept at one of my neighbor’s houses that day.
I couldn’t stop crying, and I didn’t even want to look at dad.
He didn’t feel like my dad at all.
The next day, I went back home to stay with that man who didn’t even care to ask how I felt after everything.
He brought in a lady, and when I came back from school, she was there.
He introduced her as his future wife, and it seemed like they had been dating for a long time.
The lady was as young as my mom, and I stood there watching her.
She said, “Don’t worry, I will take care of you like a mother would.”
But she couldn’t even take care of herself. Her hair was messy, and she didn’t bother to comb it.
I just looked at her and went upstairs to my room.
I don’t even know what she told dad when he came back from wherever he went.
He just came to my room and, while I was busy with my assignment, he dragged me downstairs by my ears.
And he asked me to get down on my knees in front of her and beg for forgiveness.
I didn’t even know what I did wrong, but for the sake of peace, I went on my knees and apologized for nothing.
He said, “This is your new mom, and I’ll marry her after your mom’s funeral.
If you don’t like it, you can leave this house and start your life somewhere else.
I won’t tolerate any disobedience towards her.”
I just nodded as he spoke. I was so scared of dad, and I couldn’t talk to anyone about him because I didn’t want to end up like mom.
If he kicked me out, I had nowhere to go because I didn’t have any relatives on either side of my family.
The day of the funeral came, and we all traveled to the village, me, dad, and my future stepmom.
She took charge of everything, from the burial preparations to how much money we would spend during our stay.
When dad arrived in the village, everyone was upset that he didn’t even mourn my mom’s dēath before bringing another woman into the house.
The house belonged to mom, but no one had the courage to say it to his face because he was extremely fierce and hardly ever smiled.
Everyone was afraid of him, and he had the build of a bodybuilder.
When the elders finally gathered the courage to ask about what happened to mom, he lied and said she died of cāncer.
But I knew the real cause of her dēath.
I just shook my head when he lied, luckily no one noticed.
At the burial site, I read my mom’s biography with tears streaming down my face.
When it was time to bury her, we all walked to the gravesite, but dad wasn’t there.
He was outside, laughing with his future wife. No one dāred to question him.
I fainted twice that day. I couldn’t believe that mom was really gone until they lowered her into the ground.
Others helped revive me by pouring water on me, but my own father couldn’t even do anything.
It was on that day, at the burial, that I discovered I had relatives I didn’t even know about.
It was the first time I had ever seen them.
After the burial, as people started to leave for their homes, my mom’s uncle called a meeting and dad introduced me to the family as Mom’s only child.
It was also their first time seeing me.
They were all talking about various things, and then dad introduced his new woman to them, saying that he would be marrying her in two weeks.
My mom’s aunt, who is her late mother’s sister, expressed her desire to take me with her.
Deep down, I was silently praying that she would lose interest in taking me.
I had heard so many negative things about aunts.
Thessycute Ekene
