Story by Deborah Paul
ojochenemi my village bride
episode 25
OJOCHENEMI POV
I woke up the next morning feeling very sick, I tried to stand up from the bed but I couldn’t….my whole body was down…. I managed to seat up on the bed but couldn’t move.
it was ba-rely an hour i woke up when oscar barged into my room.
OJOCHENEMI
good morning
OSCAR
morning…..you look erh
OJOCHENEMI
how did I get here yesterday
OSCAR
I took you….you were sleeping so soundly I had to carry you.
OJOCHENEMI
you shouldn’t have done that, you should have slap me to wake up.
OSCAR
thank God you said it with your mouth….next time I will make sure to slap you ha-rd.
I looked at him and turn my head to look at the window….. the sun was already out and shining brightly that made me to wonder what time it is
OJOCHENEMI
what’s the time?
OSCAR
it’s already 12pm
He said looking at his wrist watch….. I thanked him and tried to get down from the bed but my leg sli-pped and I almost hit the ground.
Like you guys normally see it in zee world Oscar ran to me and grabbed me before I could hit the ground…. he fell because he lost his balance and I fell on his body…. making him to hit his head on the bed frame.
the sound of it made me scared, I thought blood would come gushing out of that head of his..
I wanted to get up and check if he was bleeding, but I suddenly felt dizzy, and everything w£t blank.
OSCAR POV
I should have known better when I saw those symptoms the previous day, I should have done something about it….. she was sweating and sleeping so much, I should have known it’s fever… but I neglected her …. something she would never do to me even though we are enemies.
I hated myself for treating her that way, seeing her faint on the floor made me scared…. it took my mind to when I was seven year old…. I still remember that day like it was yesterday…. mum had come back late from where she went to visit a friend….she didn’t cook dinner and then Janet has not started working with us … dad was very hungry, and whenever his hungry his worse than a monster…. he started to hit mum… with all the blood coming out from mum’s body dad didn’t stop… he hit her till she lost consciousness …. I stood there not kmowing what to do or how to help my poor mother….. seeing that mum had pas-sed out he took his car keys and left mum alone with me… I guess he didn’t care if she died or lived.
What could a seven year old boy do? I cried my eyes out but that didn’t save my mother…. luckily for mum the friend she went to visit kept calling to know if she got home safely but mum didn’t answer the phone which got her worried and she drove down to our place only to meet mum in a pool of blood….. she rushed mum to the hospital and she was saved.
Remembering how scared I was that day seeing my mum lifeless on the floor made me to be this kind of a person…. it’s my weakness….
I kept looking at chenemi in front of me, lying down there…..I so much wanted to help her but I was scared, confused and paralyzed….I couldn’t move or do anything to help her….. I thought of picking my phone to call Ali to come help me take her to the hospital….. but I couldn’t move…..
TONY POV
I closed from church and was heading home, but for down reason I kept thinking about chenemi, at first I thought maybe I was missing her….but they I started to sweat even when my ac was on….and anytime I think of her I get so worried as if something was wrong
I parked my car and called her number twice but she didn’t answer the phone…. I called Oscar too but he didn’t answer the phone so I decided to go pay them a visit.
I drove into the compound and parked my car, I went into the living room but no one was therr… so I went straight to oscar’s room calling his name yet he didn’t answer…. I checked bathroom and he was not there… I immediately got scared, I dialed his number again and he phone started to ring un-der his pillow.
I decided to go check chenemi’s room, immediately I opened the door I saw chenemi lying on the floor lifelessly.
And my friend just sat down looking very lost and in total shock.
I didn’t know what happened but I felt anger inside of me and that made me to start thinking some many ill things that I know my friend won’t even do.
TONY
did you do this to her? did you hit her till she pas-sed out?
I kept asking him but he kept quiet and was looking at if he had seen something worse than death.
I pushed him aside and picked chenemi from the floor, I took her to my car and drove straight to the hospital.
Immediately we got to the hospital they attended to us without buying their stupid card… the doctor is a very close friend
after series of test it turn out that she has tyhoid and high fever….. the doctor said it had stay so long in her body and that was why it made her to lose consciouness.
They immediately place her on an admission and gave her drips.
I felt bad accusing my best friend, I thought he beat her up till she fainted… I didn’t know chenemi was like that because she was sick…. but why didn’t he rush her to the hospital? what if something worse had happened? why was he just seating down there and looking like a dummy while chenemi was dying? I was very pissed.
I took my phone and called Maria, I told her I was at the hospital and she thought maybe I got involved in an accident….I told her that a friend is sick so I’m staying with her….so she shouldn’t expect me to come home.. I wasn’t expecting her to be jealous or anything…. she told me to greet my friend and take care of myself.
I called Mrs Stella to inform her about the situation on ground and what happened when I got to Oscar’s place.
She told me she would come to the hospital after she go home to see her son….. she hung up.
MRS STELLA POV
hearing what tony had to say about my son made me to realize that my son has been suffering from PTSD since he was a little child.
I should have taken him to a rehab where they could have taken proper care of him…. but I neglected it and this has made my son the monster he is right now.
i remember that time my husband beat me till I pas-sed out, I was unconscious for days and after I woke up I was told Oscar never left the scene of the incident…. he was there in total shock.
I had to beg the doctors to discharge me and take me home…. I had to talk to my poor little sin and promised him that I would never die and leave him…. before he snapped out of the shock.
Whatever that must have put Oscar in that opposite tony saw him today must definitely mean he remembered his past and fell into another shook
STORY BY DEBORAH PAUL
OJOCHEMI MY VILLAGE BRIDE
EPISODE 26
OJOCHENEMI POV
I regained consciousness two days after…..to the excitement of everyone….I never knew tony valued me to that extent.
He was beside me till I woke up, one of the nurse even went as far as praising him in front of me.
NURSE
this your husband is very caring and loving…. you won’t believe since he brou-ght you here, he hadn’t left your bed side for once.
She told me and I was so shocked, I turned around looking for Oscar but he was no where to be seen….i don’t know but I kind of felt pained that he wasn’t there.
As if tony could read my mind he got up and sat beside me on my bed
TONY
oscar’s mum just stepped outside few minutes ago…. she will soon be back.
OJOCHENEMI
okay….. you look eeh, you look so rou-gh, why don’t you go home and freshen up before coming back.
TONY
I do not feel like leaving you all by yourself.
OJOCHENEMI
(I smiled)
that’s so lovely of you…. but your smell is going to make me faint again
I teased and he smiled cutely….. I persuaded him until he finally agreed to rush home to freshen up and change his clothes.
Immediately he stepped out of the ward, Oscar’s mum came in too… she hu-gged me immediately with so much joy.
MRS STELLA
thank goodness you are awake….I have been so worried… how are you feeling? where does it hurt my dear?
OJOCHENEMI
(I smiled)
at this rate you gonna give yourself high blood pressure…. I’m okay mum do relax.
MRS STELLA
what would I have told your parents if anything had happened to you? what?
she said almost crying….. hearing her said that actually made me to really think about my life and parents and at that moment I missed them so much.
what if I had died, what if I never woke up? my poor innocent father who is old and can no longer father a child, what would be his fate? or my mother who lost her wo-mb after giving birth to me….the woman I have never made proud for once….. the thought of all that brou-ght tears to my eyes.
OJOCHENEMI
I really miss my parents…. I’m not scared of dying, my biggest fear is not making my parents happy before I die…. I thank God I’m okay now….I will redefine my life and make them proud.
MRS STELLA
(She smiled)
I will really like that.
suddenly she looked sad again and that bordered me because it was clear something else was disturbing her.
OJOCHENEMI
mum are you sure you are okay?
MRS STELLA
I’m fine my dear…. all you nee-d now is to get well so we can take you home.
OJOCHENEMI
is not like I expect any thing different from what Oscar has been doing to me mum….. but it hurt me so much when I woke up and found out another man has been seating beside my bedside those few days I was unconscious and not oscar…. not the man you call my husband, not the man I stood beside and as-sisted when he got hurt….even though I was the one who caused it… I felt hurt mum….I really do feel hurt..
I blinked my eyes and a tear dropped from my eyes…..i quickly wiped it off…. Oscar isn’t worth my tears….no man does.
MRS STELLA
my dear…. some times things ain’t the way we veiw them… yo are hurt I totally un-derstand that….. but oscar isn’t here is not because he doesn’t want to…..its becaus…..
(she paused)
OJOCHENEMI
it’s okay mum, you don’t nee-d to make up excuse for him….i totally un-derstand.
I felt my eyes threaten to drop tears again and I immediately changed the topic and started to ask after her husband who I have never met and anuty janet.
MRS STELLA
(She held my both hands)
your husband isn’t as bad as you think chenemi…. whatever Oscar is pas-sing throu-ghI and my husband caused it….. it took me a while before I realized my poor son has been suffering from PTSD since he was seven years.
OJOCHENEMI
(I was confused)
What is PTSD mum?
MRS STELLA
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Symptoms and causes – Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
i listened to her explain everything to me like she’s a doctor or something….
OJOCHENEMI
so how is it your fault that Oscar is suffering from PTSD ? beside how sure are you his really suffering from the so called disease?
MRS STELLA
I was victim of an abused marriage, I stayed in my marriage till now because my mother would never hear of it that her daughter who got married to a wealthy man and went to the city returned back because her husband was bullying her.
countless of times I went home filled with bruises but my mum would send me back without looking out for my wounds and comforting me… she would say “your husband’s house is your home, go and fix it” turn afterwards lock her door leaving me outside with my little boy.
this beating continued for a very long time…. Oscar started growing up and I thought maybe my husband would reduce the beating….but it increa-sed….. there was a time he beat me till I went into coma for days…. my poor little Oscar was there….. he was just seven as of that time….. you could imagine what the helpless child felt seeing his mother’s body on the floor lifeless….. for days Oscar never left the scene…. he sat at that same scene and wouldn’t leave no matter how you persuaded him….it was after I regained consciousness that I went home and spoke to him before he came back to his sense.
(she sniffed)
I should have known then that my son has fallen into a traumatic shock…. but I was busy nursing my own pain and agony…i did this to my son, ojochenemi.
she said and started to cry loudly, I got up from my bed and sat down, pulling her into a warm hu-g…… she continues crying while I use my head to circulate around all the things I have just heard.
Oscar is a result of a failed marriage, his a result of an abused marriage…. but what I don’t un-derstand is why is he taking out his anger on the poor and less powdered people….. why? why? why? come to think of it…. does it mean he didn’t come to the hospital because he fell into another shock?
I pulled Mrs Stella from the hu-g and looked at her face.
OJOCHENEMI
Mum, in one sentence can you tell me why Oscar is not here?
MRS STELLA
(She started to cry again)
my son has fallen into another shock chenemi, and he wouldn’t even leave there even after going to see him and as-suring him yo are safe.
My heart skipped a bit, why would Oscar go into another shock? is not as if he cares about me…. so why would he go into shock because of me?
I was confused but that wasn’t important, what’s important is to go home so he could see that I’m awake and okay.
STORY CONTINUES