HER JOURNEY
By Christabel Nwoko
Episode 1
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Growing up as a child, Agnes lost her parents to the cold hands of death at the age of 7. She was poorly raised by her parent’s relatives. She was 10 years old when she left her hometown(Lagos) to live with her late Father’s younger sister in Ibadan.
Seven years later, HER Life’s JOURNEY started when she met Roland, her husband.
Thier love story started on a beautiful 1st day of January in 1975, in Ibadan, it seems like an unknown f0rç£ was at work and made Roland to meet Agnes that day. it was love at first sight.
Roland loved her and s£nt a proposal throu-gh one of his brother and they got engaged! Roland was in the Merchant Navy and was travelling most of the time, but thier courtsh!pwas filled with letters wanting to know more about each other. The wait between s£nding the letter and receiving one in the post box are the things Agne’s memories are made of.
Agnes was 18 years old when she married Roland and had a beautiful baby girl soon after, who she named Benita, She initially planned to continue studying after she had her first child but a year later she was pregnant with her second baby, with another baby on the way, she did not take her education forward and in few months she gave birth to her second baby girl, who she named paulina. Paulina was two years old when she got pregnant for the third time.
At 22 years old, Agnes had her third child and the child was also a girl who she named Chloe. When her three daughters were of age, She put all her children in the care of their Nanny and travelled the world with her husband. After a while though, She decided to stay in thier home and pay attention to her daughters while Roland was away.
Merchant Navy was a glamorous job but has its own drawbacks. Agne’s husband used to visit home once in many months. He only saw the children grow up in pictures. Though he was very supportive. Agnes managed everything on her own. She was a stay-at-home mom and she made sure her children was receiving a good education and a solid value system, as any parent would want.
Agnes was 28 years old, when she received the biggest b!ow of her life,
News c@m£ to her that Roland her husband- the only good thing in her life, pas-sed away, leaving her with three daughters. Roland was 37 years old when he died, he had plans to retire at 40 and spend time together with his family and make up for the lost times before the inevitable happened- Death.
Agnes almost went crazy and many times, she contemplated suicide to escape seeing her children suffer, because they lost thier home -She was chased away with her daughters, her husband’s relatives seized Roland’s properties and refused to let Agnes gain access to any of her husband’s wealth, thier reason was that she didn’t have a male child and the worst was Roland did not prepare his Will.
They chased her away and she was not given a chance to perform even her late husband’s funeral rites and the worst was that they didn’t allow her to see his corpse.
“go back to your family with your daughters, we don’t nee-d you or your daughters, you didn’t even give my brother, a heir and you want to remain here, you are a witch and a wicked person” Roland’s brother threw at her, Agnes was so shattered and broken as a result of everything that was happening in her life, she had lost everything her husband owned and was chased away empty handed with 3 daughters to cater for.
Agne’s children had to live with different people at different places. These are children who had never spent one night even at a relative’s house. It’s was too ha-rd for her to handle and that broke her down. She was depressed and she didn’t have a job and was not properly educated.
She even contemplated committing suicide many times but again, she thought of the stigma it would leave on her daughters. Those were the darkest stage of her life and she bec@m£ a shadow of her self.
She started her life all over again cause its a new phase entirely she had to put the little money that was left and then, She returned to her home town- Lagos, with her daughters, She decided to humble herself and to st©p feeling sorry for herself by taking any jobs no matter how menial that c@m£ her way, so she could feed her children. She went to offices and asked for any job, even when she was turned away- because she was not qualified, it didn’t deter her.
Life turned Agnes into a strong hearted woman. The task of raising her children were only on her, she made sure that her daughters were properly raised with the little money she derived from her menial jobs.
She struggled so much to raise her 3 daughters, the struggle and ha-rd sh!pwas so much, but she was very strong and br@ve enough to face whatever life throws at her.
“I nee-d to be strong for my children, I am the only parent, they have now, Roland is gone and he is never coming back to us” She had thought
Agnes continued to struggle to cater for her daughters, until One day, she met someone that changed her life completely. She met Collins, her late husband’s best friend who travelled out of the country two years ago, Collins was so shocked to see her, they met at the busiest OSHODI bus st©p and Collins had to reverse his car and then he got down from his car to confirm if it was really Agnes, her best friend’s wife, cause she looked miserable.
“Agnes, is that you?” Collins said and he stared at her from her head to toe
“Mr. Collins is me oh, Good afternoon sir” Agnes said calmly as she wiped sweat from her face
“what are you doing here?” Collins asked
“I work inside the market, I get paid for carrying people’s goods to the bus st©p where they can get bus to thier destination” Agnes replied smiling
“You carry loads? Why did you leave your marriage? Why did you leave your husband?”Collins threw in at once
“oh Mr Collins, you have not heard?” Agnes said and she bur-st into tears
“My Husband, your friend died seven months ago and the following week, his brothers chased me and my daughters away, I was not given a chance to stay for his burial, I had no one to go to, my aunt, who I was staying with at Ibadan before I got married, had relocated with her family to her husband’s town and so I decided to return to my home town” Agnes narrated in tears
“Roland, dead? I saw Roland last week and we spoke on the phone yesterday, Roland is not dead oh, I’m beginning to think that they tricked you, cause Roland married a new wife, few months ago and when I asked him of you, he said you moved out of the marriage on your own free will and that you are a shameless woman” Collins said and the next thing, Agnes fainted and Collins rushed her to the nearest hospital.
HER JOURNEY
By Christabel Nwoko
Episode 2
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Few hours later, Agnes woke up in the hospital, she began to weep bitterly as she thought of her husband’s betrayal, she was shattered and broken, everything was crystal clear, Roland and his family tricked her, they pushed her away from her matrimonial home, just because she didn’t ba-re a male child.
It amazes Agnes how her husband, Roland could fake his own death, and how he could walk around and continue his life like is no big deal.
“so our marriage was literally meaningless to him? Everything, really makes me wonder if he ever loved me in the first place” Agnes thought, she sat on her hospital be-d in agony, Agnes was going throu-gh the most painful emotions that she have ever felt. She didn’t feel this much pain when she mourned Roland’s fake death.
Agnes was shattered, with the new revelation about Roland being alive, She never imagined that Roland could be so heartless and wicked not just to her but to his own daughters.
She was so furious and devastated at the same time. It angers her that Roland could betray her like that, without thinking twice. She couldn’t believe Roland was at ease when he thought of his wicked plan to fake his own death and take a new wife.
“what have I ever done to deserve this sort of betrayal from a man I love and adore” Agnes thought in tears.
From that day Agnes life was turned completely upside down. She had lost appetite for food and she ba-rely smiled, she bur-st out in tears at the drop of a dime, she couldn’t control tears whenever she was alone. Collins had promised to intervene in the matter and he promised to keep in t©uçh. The kind man gave Agnes and her daughters some amount of money for their up keep.
“Agnes, you have to be strong, I’m sorry about giving you the news that got your heart broken, I’m glad you are out of danger and the doctor said you will be discharged tomorrow and I have cleared up the hospital’s bills… Agnes, I’m sorry I can’t wait till tomorrow, I have a very important meeting at Ibadan today and I’m alre-ady running late, but don’t worry, I will speak to Roland when I get to Ibadan, here take this money, it’s for your upkeep, I will talk to your husband, I will keep you posted and plea-se take care” Collins had said calmly and handed a brown envelop that contains good amount of money to Agnes.
“Thank you so much Mr. Collins, I’m so grateful” Agnes entered and then Collins walked away. As Collins left, Agnes can’t st©p wondering why Roland her husband could betray her like that, she felt like she was losing her mind. Agnes couldn’t un-derstand why Roland could team up with his brothers and throw her out of her matrimonial home, a home that was filled with beautiful memories.
“Roland and I never quarrelled, we never argued, he always pampered me whenever he comes home, I thought everything was perfect between us, he promised to be with me forever but now i live alone in a future that doesn’t look so bright anymore. i have no idea what to do with myself, i am lost and alone” Agnes continued in her thoughts.
Agnes was so overwhelmed with pain but somehow she vowed to make it big in life and make kings out of her daughters.
“God gave me beautiful daughters and I am grateful, it doesn’t matter if Roland their father doesn’t want them, all I know is that I will never rest until my daughters begin to live like kings, every man born of a woman will hear thier name and tremble, my daughters will not be ordinary people but FEMALE KINGS, men will fear and worsh!pthem” She told herself.
The next day, Agnes was discharged from the hospital, and she gradually she began to pick the peices of her life together, and the owner of HEAVEN AND EARTH was with her and with her daughters. Seven months pas-sed and Agnes didn’t hear a word from Collins or her husband. When few people she met also confirmed that Roland was actually alive and that his new wife had bore him a son. Agnes gradually bec@m£ bitter and vengeful.
Each time she remembered how Roland’s family threw her out, her heart would bleed. “I remembered How Roland’s family treated me inhumanely, even though they knew that their brother was alive, I don’t blame them, Roland was solidly behind them,… So it’s really true that Roland got married again, while I was mourning his fake death, he choose another woman over me and now he had gotten what he wanted, a male child, I have thought of going back to him but not anymore, I have to forget about him, infact he is actually dead to me” Agnes thought
Gradually, Agnes began to channel her pain and anger into her menial jobs, she ba-rely took a break just to take her mind off the bad things that had happened to her, She focused on how she will train her daughters and make them great as she had vowed. The struggle for survival was so much that she was willing to do anything possible to make money.
End Of Episode 2
To Be Continued