Motherhood ππ Part 6.
“Honey did you see the money I kept in the shelf?”. I asked my husband.
“I have not opened that shelf this week. Is your money missing?”. My husband asked.
“I have ransacked the whole house and I can’t find my money. I’m sure i kept it in this shelf”. I lamented.
“How much is it”. He asked.
“It’s just 3k”.
“I will give it to you. Stop stressing “. My husband said and left for work.
This is not the first time my money has gone missing. It started with my #200 and #500 going missing. Now it has graduated into thousands of naira. I just couldn’t keep calm.
“God please! Let it not be what I’m thinking”. I prayed silently.
I stood up and went on with my daily activities.
“Mummy! Mummy! My result is out”. Jude shouted excitedly as he ran to where I was.
“That’s my boy! I know you have made mummy proud”. I said as pulled him to myself and gave him a big hug.
“Where is your brother?”. I asked as I used my eyes to scan through the house to look for Julius but couldn’t see him.
“He is in the room”. Jude said.
“This boy! He can’t even greet mummy before rushing to the room”.
I stood up and went to his room.
Julius was seated on the bed with a frown on his face. With the look on his face, I knew he didn’t do well in school.
I sat close to him on the bed. I took his palms and caressed them gently.
“What’s the issue?”. I asked.
He didn’t say anything to me.
“You can talk to mummy about anything”. I assured him.
Still, he didn’t say anything.
“Mummy is proud of you okay. You have done well”. I said and gave him a hug. He didn’t even let me hug him for long. He stood up and left for the bathroom.
“Mummy look at my result”. Jude said with pride as he offered me his result.
The result was outstanding. I tried my best not to over praise him because i knew Julius won’t like it.
I later got to know that while Jude got promoted, Julius was made to repeat the class.
My husband was so mad at Julius. He scolded him that night. I haven’t seen him that angry before.
The next morning, Julius refused to eat breakfast. I tried my best to persuade him to eat but he rudely walked out of the dining.
This really infuriated my husband.
“Today, I will let you know that we gave birth to you and you didn’t give birth to us”. My husband shouted.
He dragged Julius into the room and locked both of them inside the room.
He started flogging him. The annoying part was that, despite the the intensity of the flog, Julius refused to scream.
My husband got frustrated and walked out of the room.
“This boy is not from my loins. He is not my son. He can’t be my son”. My husband said.
The atmosphere was chaotic that morning.
I rushed to the room and saw marks and bruises all over Julius’ body. His uniform was stained with blood.
“Let me change your uniform”. I said as I tried to remove his uniform.
“Stop acting like you are not happy. I know you have been waiting for a day like this”. Julius said and flung my hands from his body.
I was frozen.
“Julius why are you doing this to your parents? What have we done to you?”. I asked him with tears.
“I don’t belong here. I don’t like this house!”. Julius flared up.
I didn’t even know my husband has been watching what was going on. He got angry again. He untied his belt and started flogging Julius.
I tried to stop him but he warned me to stay clear.
“Allow us fight man to man. Let’s decide who the father is between Julius and I”. My husband declared war.
I broke down into tears. I have never seen my husband that angry and violent. The man I married is very peaceful and loving. I can’t believe he was that angry because of our ten years old son.
When the pain was unbearable, Julius ran out of the house. My husband tried to run after him but I held onto his legs crying.
“Honey please calm down. Please ππ”. I pleaded.
My husband broke into tears. Jude joined us in the crying festival.
“Where did we go wrong? We love him. We care for him. We are always there to love and to guide. How did he turn out this way? I am really scared about his future”. My husband lamented.
“God will help us. We are only caretakers of our children. God is their father. He will direct him”. I said in a shaky voice.
We just sat on the floor confused and broken. It was obvious nobody would be leaving the house that morning because it was already past 9:00am.
“Let me bring him inside, it’s cold outside”. I said.
My husband didn’t say anything.
I went out but didn’t see Julius.
“Julius! Julius!”. I called out but no reply.
I searched everywhere but he wasn’t in sight.
“Honey i can’t find him”. I said shaking.
“He can take care of himself”. My said nonchalantly.
Jude and I went out to look for him but couldn’t see him. When my husband saw how serious the situation was, he joined us in the search. We searched everywhere but couldn’t see him. I went to their school but he wasn’t there.
When it was getting late, we went to the police station to file a missing child complaint.
To be continued
Judith Onyoyibo
This is serious oo