Daniella episode 32

✒ DANIELLA🔑
🔑 #Episode_32

 

💔Peter just broke up with me.

I was finding it so ha-rd to believe. After all the endless promises and the, I will always be there for you, I have no future without you, you’re my home, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and every other mushy cra-p he had said to me. He still bailed out of our relationsh!pjust like that—without a second thought. He didn’t even give me a chance to explain myself.
I thought love was supposed to fill you up and always leave room for the other person, I guess that was wrong then. Or maybe I was the one with a problem. I mean, how could everyone I love so much be leaving me like that? Am I in this world to just be alone? To be unloved? To suffer?

Maybe I am just a mistake.

I tried so ha-rd to stifle the tears of hurt that rolled down my cheeks in ghostly trails as I walked back home with Peter’s breakup letter in hand. You know, that feeling when you’re somewhere physically but your mind is just completely out of it and you can’t seem to focus on anything tangible? That was the exact state I was in as my feet dragged me along the streets, that I didn’t notice the bike rider speeding towards me while I crossed the road to the other side.

It was when the bike screeched to a halt, br@kes applied so abruptly that the man ri-ding almost t©ppled over so close to me, that I realized I had just been in an almost-accident. My mindless state dissipated, the haze on my mind lifting as my eyes grew wi-de in comprehension.

“we-tin dey worry you?! You no dey look road before you cross ni? If person hit you now, you go dey fault the bike rider. People no go see sey na una no dey look road o! ” The bike rider lamented angrily, gro-an ing as he twisted the bike handle to correct the swerve the sudden br@ke had caused.

“I’m so sorry, Sir.” I apologized, genuinely sorry as guilt and the fear of what had almost happened ate me up.
The little ruckus had attra-cted a few nosy onlookers.
“Na you sabi o. Just thank God sey the bike no hit you .” That said, the bike rider kick-started his bike and zoomed off, leaving no room for apology or further deliberation. Crisis averted. Thank God.

As I watched the bike rider leave, I didn’t know when tears started streaming down my face until I tasted salt. That was the last thing I wanted though—to cry on the street. I didn’t want anyone to see me and start asking false sympathetic questions.
I was alre-ady wiping the tears off my face, eyes darting around at the crowd of onlookers that were slowly dispersing, when a pas-serby st©pped in front of me.

“Hey, young girl are you okay?” He asked. He was a tall, slender man who looked to be in his forties. In his hand was a big Bible and some pamphlets. He could easily pas-s for an itinerant preacher, but who knows, maybe he was just a regular Christian who was on his way to church.
I wanted to ignore him and just walk past, but he stood in my way.

“Young girl, why are you crying? Were you flogged in school or…are you hungry?” The man prodded, unrelenting as his face took
on a concerned look. What does he care!

“Old man, can’t you mind your business?!” I snapped at him in pent up anger and regretted it almost immediately as I watched disappointment flash in his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. I’m just…I’m sorry sir.”

“It’s okay. I’m here if you nee-d a sympathetic ear.” His voice was calm and I looked at him, wondering who he was and why he was doing this for a stranger. Most people would have eyed me scornfully and left me alone after my rude remark, but he was still standing there, his voice holding no grudge.

I wanted to tell him the reason why I was crying, but then I thought better of it. I didn’t know this man from anywhere and even though he was being nice, I’ve learnt to never judge a book by its cover, so it was best I just kept it to myself.

“Don’t worry, Sir. I’m fine.” I said, managing a ti-ght-li-pped smile.

“Well if you say so,” He shrugged. “But I have something to tell you. Hope you don’t mind?”

I was curious to hear what the man had to say so I said, “No, I don’t.”

“Do you know that there’s someone out there who loves you very much? Even much more than your parents love you…” He was starting to get on my nerves with the talk of love and parents but I tried to maintain my calm, arms crossing in front of my che-st with a small frown.
I don’t have parents mister man!

“…Much more than your friends or all those boys that claim to love you do. He even loves you more than you love yourself, if I can say that. He has done everything for you to live a peaceful life. All you just have to do is trust him—”

“Sorry sir, but I’m done trusting people.” I said, not minding if he was done talking or not. “The one I love the most, the one I trusted the most to always stay with me didn’t even think twice before leaving me, so why would I ever trust anyb©dy again?”
The man’sl-ips pu-ll-ed up into a knowing smile. “The person you love might have betrayed your trust, but believe me, this person I’m talking about never fails. His love is undying. It’s not even based on con—”

“Wait, who’s this person you’re talking about?” I cut him off. I was beginning to think Peter s£nt this man to me.

“His name is Jesus.”

I almost hissed when I heard that—talk about disappointment! Was it the same Jesus that was watching me suffer on earth and wasn’t doing anything about it that this man was talking about? If it was, I didn’t want to hear it. I was done believing in any God or Jesus. If they existed and they truly loved me, I wouldn’t be suffering this much.

“Nah, he doesn’t love me.” I shook my head in disagreement.

“He does…”

“Well sorry sir, I nee-d to start going home now. I’m late.” I said and walked past him.
“Wait young girl! Jesus really loves and he wants you to know that! All he wants you to do is believe in him and you’re forever saved.” He persisted, trailing behind me as I increa-sed my walking pace. He still didn’t relent.

“Leave me alone!” I turned back and lashed out angrily. “Take your Jesus elsewhere. As for me, I don’t wanna hear it!” My voice shook with my last word, emotions suddenly clogging up my throat. I turned around and ran as fast as my legs could mange to the house, tears clouding my vision in an endless race down my cheeks.

By the time I got to the front of the gate, I was p@n-ting heavily and my knees were screaming from the sudden exercise exerted from them. Gingerly, I wiped the tears off my face and made sure my breath was even before entering the house.
No one was in the living room when I got in. Thank goodness! And I quic-kly made my way to my room and shut the door behind me. The tears wouldn’t let up once behind closed doors and I let them be, my heart screaming in pain I never knew existed. Is this heartbreak? No wonder some people vow to never love again after being heartbroken. I was hurt, more than any physical wounds could cause and it hurt even more because nothing I did could st©p it. Nothing, except he c@m£ back and told me it was all a joke.
Was it all a joke? Was I joke to him? Is that why it was so easy for him to leave while I remained here, hurting when it wasn’t even my fault. I cried so ha-rd , so ha-rd because the only source of my happiness had left me and as if that wasn’t enough, my friends that I trusted the most in the world had been the reason behind everything. I still couldn’t believe Adam and Gbemi could have done something like that, but I’d seen and heard proof with my very own eyes and ears. So not only had I lost Peter, I also lost my best friends too.

Coming to the city suddenly bec@m£ my biggest regret.
The next day, I jo-lted awake due to the sound of aunt Caro’s scolding and nagging from outside my room. The day had dawned alre-ady and my eyes grew wi-de as I remembered I hadn’t done the dishes before going to be-d last night. Crying myself to sleep with a heavy heart didn’t exactly leave room for things like that.
I was hurt. Hurt beyond what I un-derstood the meaning of the word to be and I just felt tired from the inside. Like a heavy rock had been placed on my soul, weighing me down and smashing me at the same time.

“Daniella!” Aunt Caro was ban-ging and pu-lling at my door vigorously and I snapped to attention immediately, trying to get out of my melancholy state but failing terribly.
“Ma!” I called back, my throat hurting from the exercise as I got up tentatively. My legs wo-bbled as I moved towards the door, but before I could reach a hand out to open it, Aunt Caro bur-sted throu-gh and landed a heavy sl@p on my face.
I pas-sed out.
🌟🌟

🌠🌠🌠
Minutes, hours, days, weeks or even months could have pas-sed when I g@sped awake after a gush of cold water hit my face and I opened my eyes to see aunt Caro standing before me with an empty bucket in hand.
“Daniella, do you want me to s£nd you out of my house?!” Aunt Caro asked, one arm akimbo as her left foot hit the floor repeatedly in a restless manner.
I wiped excess water from my face and gro-an ed as I tried to get up. After two trials, I finally stood on wobbling feet.
“Okay first of all, why are you not in school?” The questioning began.
“Em…I’m sick ma.” That wasn’t a total lie, seeing as my heart was hurting like it’d been in a fire accident and had suffered a seventy-degree burn. I just wanted to skip school because there was no way I would concentrate in the state I was in. Plus, I wasn’t re-ady to face Gbemi and Adam yet.
“So, that’s why you left the plates we used to eat yesterday unwashed, left the kitchen untidy and didn’t even warm the leftovers? Who are you leaving those chores for? For your slave to do them for you because you’re madam now?!” Aunt Caro lashed, uncaring whether I was actually sick or not.
“No it’s because I’m sick ma.” I answered, my voice low and shaky.

“Before I open my eyes and close it,” Aunt Caro said, wi-dening her eyes with a f!nger pointing outside my door. “You must be in that kitchen doing your chores!”

“Yes ma,” I said, but as I wanted to make my way out of the room, she hit my back with the back of her hand, causing me to stagger forward. Pain sh0t throu-gh my spine as I writhed in pain, ru-bbing my back against the wall in a bid to ease the sting.
“Witch!” Aunt Caro cursed. “Before you bewitch me in this house, I’d first of all kill you. Common go to that kitchen now before I do something drastic!”

I moved towards the kitchen, unst©ppable sobs racking my shoulders while my head pounded. My eyes felt heavy, my back hurt, my whole b©dy was hurting and the thought of Peter made everything a hundred times worse.
Why? Why me?
✅✅✅

The day wore on and I hadn’t even had my bath. Why would you even think I had brushed my teeth? By now, the tears had st©pped, but only temporarily and I floated around the house like a lifeless soul. It was only when I re-re-ad Peter’s break up letter that the tears streamed down my eyes on their own. And I couldn’t st©p re-ading the letter over and over again, wishing the words would magically change and tell me he didn’t really break up with me.

I opened my door a little and peeped out for the umpteenth time to see if aunt Caro, who was laying on the living room sofa and watching TV, was asleep. I wanted to take out my phone from my luggage and check if Peter was online, but I couldn’t do that if aunt Caro was awake. When I saw she was finally asleep, I locked the door and took out my phone from its hiding place. I immediately powered it on and checked my WhatsApp. Peter had uploaded a post on his status upd@t£s. It was a picture of him standing between his parents at the airport. He must have just arrived at Dublin when the picture was taken. In the picture, they all had happy smiles on their faces, Peter included and I couldn’t help the tears that streamed down my face again at the sight.
He was happy—without me.
💬
I checked to see if he was online and he was. My heart skipped a bit seeing that he was online and I contemplated whether to s£nd him a message or not. Wait, what if he ignored me? That was what I was scared of. Well, there’s no harm in trying.

I convinced myself with that thought before s£nding him a text.
You got it all wrong Peter. I can explain.
It didn’t take long for him to reply.
I was hoping that you’d get the letter before texting me and I’m glad you did. Well I saw it with my own eyes Daniella. No nee-d for explanation. I completely un-derstand. Just move on, cuz I have alre-ady. As you saw alre-ady on my status, I’m alre-ady in Dublin chilling with my family. I think you should do the same with the love of your life—Charles! Goodbye!
💔Goodbye?

💔💔💔
That felt like an hammer to the nail he’d alre-ady planted in my heart and I shook my head, droplets of tears falling on my phone screen as my heart hammered. I wanted to tell him that Charles wasn’t the love of my life. He was, and everything was all just a misun-derstanding, but I noticed that his profile picture had turned blank, indicating that he had blocked me on WhatsApp.
Forget what I said earlier, this was the hammer to the nail.
So this is it? This is how Peter and I would just end?

I was beginning to think everything Peter had ever told me was a lie. He never really loved me. Because if he did, he would have allowed me to at least explain myself.

As much as I didn’t want to cry anymore because of Peter, I found myself crying even more. This was just too much. Too much for me to handle all at once.

Few hours later, Amanda and Annabelle got back from school. Aunt Caro had woken up earlier and had instructed me to prepare noodles for lunch and I was just done cooking before Amanda and Annabelle walked into the kitchen.

“Gosh I’m so hungry! What’s there to eat?” Annabelle said, not getting a response from me.

Amanda walked directly to the refrigerator, took out a sachet of water and gulped down the whole water at once. They sure must be very exhausted.

“You look a mess.” Amanda said, and it wasn’t until I looked up at her before I realized she was actually talking to me.
“Me?” I didn’t know why I asked that when I alre-ady knew the answer.

“Yes.”

“I’m kinda sick.” I said with a shrug, now sure I was really sick.
“Oh I was beginning to wonder why you didn’t go to school today. Hope you’re getting better?” Amanda asked, getting an amazed stare from Annabelle.
“I’m getting worse actually. I don’t even think I’d get better.” I drawled tiredly.
“You can’t be better na. After snatching Peter away from me!” Annabelle scowled at me.
“Are you cursing yourself or what Daniella?” Amanda asked, a frown on her face. “And Annabelle, just leave this poor girl and Peter alone. There are other fine boys to chase after.”
“What’s wrong with you Amanda? You’re acting weird.” Annabelle raised a brow at her twin.
“Nothing is wrong with me o. I’m perfectly fine.”
“You better be, because I don’t un-derstand this your new behavior o.” That said, Annabelle walked out of the kitchen with a plate of noodles.
“Daniella what’s really up with you?” Amanda asked immediately Annabelle left. “You’ve been acting strange since yesterday. Are you okay? And why has Peter not been in school? Don’t think I haven’t noticed that.”
“I’m just sick. And about Peter, he recently travelled to Dublin.”
“Wow! I didn’t see that one coming. Is that kind of like the reason for your sickness?”
“Yes I miss Peter, but him travelling to Dublin has got nothing to do with my sickness, okay? Just leave me alone!” I snapped at her and walked out of the kitchen angrily.
I was harboring so much pain and bitterness in my heart that every other person or thing just seemed to irritate me easily.
“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to offend you!” Amanda hollered after me but I was too mad to pay her any mind.

💘💘💘💘
I had skipped school for three days now, un-der the pretext of being sick. Well I was sick, mentally, physically and emotionally. I was scared to think I was rolling into that dark, fearful abyss of depression. That endless void of nothingness I was trying so ha-rd to come out of but I couldn’t.

My world had fallen ap@rt in the twi-nkle of an idea. How could I lose my parents, my grandma and now Peter? Wasn’t I fit for love. Didn’t I deserve happiness? These were questions I kept asking myself. Amanda was the only one in the house—if not the entire universe—that seemed to care about me. How she bec@m£ so nice was still ha-rd to take in. But I was at the point in my life where I didn’t nee-d her to be nice. I didn’t nee-d her to care. I didn’t nee-d anyone to care about me. I was angry at the world…at God for even creating me in the first place. He made such a big mistake.

Thoughts that would have never even crossed my mind started to become a full-time conversation in my head and I started to wonder if eating rat poison would bring an end to this life of bitterness and darkness that had come to be mine. That thought in mind, uncle Henry walked into my room.
It was a Saturday and so he didn’t go to work. I overheard aunt Caro saying she was going out for shopping with Amanda and Annabelle. So basically, I was home alone with the beast—Uncle Henry.

“Hey Daniella, we’re home alone today, so I have you all to myself.” He said, ru-bbing his palms together as he inched towards me.

Tears immediately trickled down my eyes as he moved closer. This was it. I was going to finally get R@p£d by uncle Henry. Nothing could st©p him now.
Well someone can, and that someone is you!

“Don’t come close to me you monster!” I bellowed, standing up from my be-d.

“Don’t be stubborn Daniella. Just l@yback on the be-d so I can do it gently. I’m sure you don’t want it rou-gh.”

I wanted to run out of the room, but he pushed me back to the be-d and I fell flat. He c@m£ after me immediately, straddling me as he took off his belt. I struggled to get him off me, but he sl@pped and punched my face to the point where I couldn’t even speak. He pu-ll-ed up my dress and r!pp£doff my p@n-t. And I knew he had won. He was going to get what he had always craved for. I was going to lose my vir-ginity to Uncle Henry.
The thought of it got me crying even more.

Just then, the door yanked open and I couldn’t have been more thankful to the person that just saved me from getting R@p£d, but on the downside, I knew I was in big trouble.
___________________

“What!” Aunt Caro exclaimed, causing uncle Henry to jump out of me. The look on her face was that of terror. Nothing obviously prepared her for this. “Daniella!” She yelled in utter surprise.
Why was she calling my name? Didn’t she see that her husband was trying to r@p£ me? It was obvious enough. My un-derwear was torn. I was in tears. I looked tattered. So it obviously should hit her sixth s-en-se that this was her husband trying to r@p£ me.
“In my house?” Aunt Caro asked menacingly. It looked like her attention was more on me than on her husband, the beast behind all of these.
She stormed out of the room angrily. Uncle Henry quic-kly went after her. I didn’t nee-d anyone to tell me that I was in for a big trouble with aunt Caro. I was so nervous and unrelaxed. I couldn’t keep calm. My heart was beating too fast that I thought it was going to explode. I was sweating profusely that I thought I was going to emancipate. I didn’t know what to do. Run away! That was the only thought on my mind. But where to? There was no where to run to. It was either I stayed and just receive whatever punishment c@m£ or I ran away and never returned. The latter was a better option.

Hurriedly, I snagged an un-derwear and wore it on. As I was about leaving the room, aunt Caro stormed in, looking outraged. She was holding an iron. I staggered backwards in trepidation.

“You!” She bellowed.

Uncle Henry c@m£ in just immediately. “Sweetie plea-se put that down. You’re going to hurt someb©dy.” He begged.
“Shut up!” Aunt Caro snapped. “I’m even coming back to you later. Now you,” She turned to face me again. “I was nice enough to bring you out of your local and miserable life in that village to a better life here in the city, but all you could do in return is fv¢k my husband right?”

I shook my head in the negative. The iron in her hand made me terrified. Was it heated? And if it was, was she gonna burn me with it?

“Well it’s today you’d die!” I screamed as she lunged forward at me. Uncle Henry tried to hold her back, but she pushed him away vigorously. What woman could push a man away from her that easily, except she was mad. Aunt Caro was apparently mad.
She got to me and tried to thrû-st the surface of the obviously heated iron on my b©dy, but I gr!pp£dher forearm in defence. While she struggled to re-lease her arm off my grip, I ti-ght£ñed my grip the more.

“Leave me you bastard!” Aunt Caro shouted as she kicked me ha-rd on my th!gh, very close to my v@g!n@ . I yelped in pain and re-leased her arm in the process. She punched my face with her fist and I gro-an ed as I held the sp©t she hit me. Then she pressed the heated surface of the iron on my arm. I screamed at the t©p of my voice.

The pain was too much that I sl@pped her with the back of my hand across her face. She lost her balance and fell to the ground.

“What’s going on—” I pushed Annabelle away as I ran out of the room. Amanda was going to st©p me to ask what was going on too, but I also brushed her off and ran out of the house.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I kept running. I ran fast as my legs could carry me, enduring the pain the h0t iron had caused in my arm. I ran to the main road when I saw an approaching car plying the road. I stood in the way for the car to hit me. I wanted to end my journey here. I was tired. It was time to give up alre-ady.

My heart was racing as I watched the car move towards me. I shut my eyes as it was very close and I expected that it would have hit me, but all I heard was a screech. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw that the car had st©pped very close to me.

I fell to the ground and pas-sed out.

 

🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠
💔💔Story_Continues💔💔