Tears
Of A
Child
Episode 8
Aunty Amara has been heartless to me , she has created in me the spirit of fear when ever I set my eyes on her. “What have I done to deserve hatred from this woman ? Why is she treating me bad ? ” This questions kept ringing in my head.
I dropped the plate of pounded yam as aunty amara instructed, I was bitterly hurt de-ep down inside me, I turned to walk to my room when her husband saw me crying to my room, he hanged up his call . I was sad wishing i never c@m£ to stay in aunty Amara’s house .
” Bernard, Bernard ” her husband screamed my name . I st©pped and gazed at him in tears .
” You should be eating with your brothers and sisters in the dining. Why are you crying?” he asked, wiping my tears.
“I am not crying sir ” I replied.
He bec@m£ angry and held me by the hand to the dining table.
” Amara , Amara ? Where is your mother? ” he asked emeka his son .
” She is outside the compound cleaning her car ” he replied . I was standing by the dining table crying when he walked outside. Emeka was busy eating and laughing at me .
” Will you st©p laughing ” Ada shouted at him. I turned my face , facing the television in tears . Ada looked at me and started crying , she ran to her room in tears .
” Ben, ever since you c@m£ to this house all you do is to make my parents fight . Mother was right when she said you are a witch” emeka spoke, pointing his f!ngersat me .
I started crying , for the first day I stepped my legs in aunty Amara’s house , I never experienced peace it’s either one problem or the other .
” Am i really a witch ? If am not a witch why then do my parents has to leave me ? ” I thought to myself In tears .
I was just thinking when Ada c@m£ out and landed a very sound sl@ps at emeka’s face. The sound of the sl@p reverberated in my ears .
” The next time you call him a witch I will beat the hell out of you ” she spoke wrathfully at him .
Emeka held his face with tears dripping from his eyes and ran to the compound to report to aunty Amara his mother .
” You shouldn’t have done that to your brother . Aunty Amara your mother will think I am causing trouble in the house” I spoke in tears .
Ada gazed at me and left to her room without uttering a word . Chioma was on the dining table pressing her phone when we heard a clamored outside.
She dropped her phone and ran out , I also followed as well .
” What is your problem with that child? Answer me Amara. Ever since I got back that child’s face has always been in tears. don’t you have human sympathy in you ? ” He spoke wrathfully at aunty Amara.
” Is that why you left your food to get cold to say to me ? See I don’t have your time now . Just go and eat your food and leave matter for Matthias ” she replied in a disrespectful manner.
He got angry and landed her a sl@p on her face, pouching her so badly . She started crying and shouting before Chioma and Ada c@m£ to her rescue.
” So because of that thing you are beating me . That boy must leave this house today ” she spoke in tears .
” This is my house not your house so I choose who to stay and who to leave. If there is anyone to leave it should be you. Get that to your skull ” he replied wrathfully and left her pres£nce.
” Where are you going to ? Come and finish what you have started , come and kill me ooh, I want to die , kill me ” she spoke in tears .
I followed the back door and went to my room quietly. Some minutes later I heard her shouting again .
” Where are you? foolish man . Come out and fight since you want to fight ”
” Mom, st©p is ok naah ” Chioma replied.
” I want your father to kill me . come and kill me today useless man ” she added, speaking disrespectful to his hearing.
He c@m£ out from the be-droom angrily and gazed at her and heaved a de-ep sigh
” Do you realise that am your husband, Do you ? You should treat me with respect for crying out loud , you should do what I said not what you said ” he spoke angrily at aunty Amara.
” If you’re my husband then you should act like one ” aunty Amara replied.
” I don’t have time for your c–k and bull stories . Am taking the boy to a restaurant where he can eat and enjoy himself ” he replied .
” Take him to Dubai restaurant I don’t care for all I know is that he will still come back to this house and meet me here still gallant ” aunty Amara added .
I was by the side panicking when her husband asked me to come over to his side. I went to his side with fear when aunty Amara rushed in to her car and started the engine.
I was standing with her husband at the front of her car .
” If you don’t shift from the way i will jam you to death ” she spoke wrathfully to her husband.
” Dad , biko shift ” Ada pleaded .
” I am not shifting , she can’t jam me with my own car. She is my wife and should respect me ” He replied.
I looked at aunty Amara’s eyes from the glas-s and saw the anger on her face I decided to shift from the way .
Immediately I shifted, she drove on her husband jamming his head to the gate he fell sideways on the ground as blood started rushing from his forehead.
” Mom, you have killed daddy ” ada shouted in tears, as we all rushed to him.
” Mike get up, plea-se get up” Aunty Amara cried.
Tears
Of A
Child
Episode 9 & 10
Aunty Amara was confused I could see her reactions , her heart was pounding , she was sweating and crying.
” What have I done oooh!? What have I done ? Ben has killed me oooh, Ben has killed me. Am finished ” She cried out loud .
“Mother, this is not the right time to blame someone over what you have done , let’s take Dad to the hospital before he runs out of blood ” Chioma her first daughter spoke out in tears .
” Mike get up plea-se , am really sorry it wasn’t intentional ” she kept on crying
I never knew that aunty Amara husband’s name was Mike untill that day she cried out loud calling him by name .
The name Mike made me remembered the name of my father . I could remember very clearly some months back when Grandpa was telling his Friend papa chinedu that my father’s name is Mike and that he lives in the city with Mom.
That evening they were drinking plam wine gisting and laughing to themselves.
I could still remembered very carefully what papa chinedu asked grandpa. He said ;
” If his parents are in the city alive , why then do they left him with you here in the village ? ”
I love Papa chinedu’s question , I st©pped doing what I was doing that day just to hear what grandpa will tell him . I drew very close to the door just to listen to Grandpa’s replied.
But his replied didn’t make any s-en-se to me he said;
” Drink palm wine your questions carry weight . That is a story for another day”
I was in thought when an ambulance drove in to the compound and rushed uncle mike to the hospital .
” Sister chioma , is daddy going to be alright? Emeka her younger brother asked in tears .
” I don’t really know ” she replied in tears.
I was standing by the gate when aunty Amara was asking one of the nurse if her husband will be alright. The nurse was like;
” We will try our possible best because your husband is not breathing at all” the nurse replied.
” Is he dead? ” aunty Amara asked in tears.
He is not. but what really happened to your husband cause he is bleeding seriously ” the nurse asked .
” It was an accident. I wanted to drive out when I ran in to him with my car ” she replied .
” Is ok , I have to rush to the hospital madam ” the nurse replied.
“I am going with you, plea-se wait let me wear something better” aunty Amara replied, as she rushed in to the house .
Minutes later , she c@m£ out and they drove off with the nurse in her husband’s car.
I was scared and started praying de-ep down inside me. I was like .
” Dear God, I asked for a helper and you s£nt me uncle mike, I was hungry he feed me, I was tasty he gave me water to drink , I was hated , he showed me love. so plea-se lord don’t let him die ” silently I prayed in tears.
Throu-gh out the day aunty Amara didn’t return home . The house was quite Ada ,chioma, and emeka were all quiet .
I was the smallest among them all .
” Have any of you call mother yet? ” I asked .
” Her number is not connecting. We are so worry . I hope dad is ok” she asked in tears.
I heaved a sigh and said to her;
” Daddy is fine . I have spoken to God and he said daddy will be fine ”
” I pray he be fine because I don’t want to live a life without father ” she spoke .
” If you really want your daddy to be ok table your problems to God , he alone can do that for you” I replied.
” Why do you so much believe in this God ? The last time I c@m£ to your room, you were kneeling down praying and crying . What is so special about this God” Ada asked .
“We really want to know ” Chioma her elder sister added .
” I want to know too” emeka spoke out in tears .
” The truth is that , I don’t really know what is so special about this God, but I have a strong feeling that when you table your problems to him he will answer you. My grandma used to tell me that when ever am in trouble I should call upon God which i have been doing . I asked God for a helper and he s£nt me one . Come let’s pray for daddy he will be fine I swear to you ” As a child , I didn’t know how I encouraged them but I did . That night we prayed together for daddy like a family for the first time in the house.
For two days aunty Amara didn’t show up and her numbers weren’t going throu-gh . so sister Chioma decided to take us to the hospital.
” plea-se a man was brou-ght in here about two days ago with a wounded head where can we find him? ” Sister Chioma asked one of the nurse .
” Am sorry , I don’t know of any man with a wounded head ” the nurse replied.
” But he was brou-ght in here ” ada added.
” plea-se I have better things to attend to excuse me ” she spoke and went upstairs.
“Are you sure this is the hospital ?” Emeka asked . Just then I sighted the nurse that aunty Amara was talking to at home .
” That is the nurse that c@m£ to our house ” I spoke in excitement. We walked to her and Chioma asked of her mother which the nurse took us upstairs .
Aunty Amara was alre-ady in tears , regretting her evil act . Uncle Mike her husband was lying down on the hospital be-d with an oxygen covering his noise.
The doctor walked in and asked us to leave the room which we all did . We were quite in the hospital some minutes later the doctor c@m£ out nodding his head the negative way.
” Am sorry madam , we lost him, we tried all we could but he is gone ” the doctor spoke in a cracky voice .
” Ben your God is fake. You told us that he will be find after praying to him” Ada spoke out in tears …
**************
Episode 10
Aunty Amara started rolling on the hospital floor crying and shouting chioma was by the corner shedding tears emeka on the other hand was shouting and crying like his mother .
My b©dy was weak , my heart was pounding , my eyes were red but I wasn’t crying out loud , I was crying emotionally de-ep down inside of me .
” Madam, you have to st©p crying out loud, take your children out this is an hospital plea-se. You are disturbing other patients ” the doctor spoke in a cool manner.
” No!!, No!!,No!! , Mike can’t die just like that, he is my husband for crying out loud. Doctor plea-se do something to bring him back to live . I have money , plenty of money , I will pay you in dollars , in pounds . plea-se do something Doctor ” aunty Amara spoke in tears.
” As I said earlier madam , your husband is dead and there’s nothing i can do or anyone can do about it . He is gone and gone for good . Your money can’t bring him to live. Am so sorry madam” the doctor spoke in a cool voice and went upstairs.
“Ben has killed me Oooh, Ben has killed me, I regretted ever bring him to my house . The very day he stepped his legs in to my house, I knew he was nothing but bad luck. Where am I going to start from ? What will I tell the world that happened to my husband?” Aunty Amara kept on crying and blaming me for her husband’s death .
I bec@m£ so worried to the extend I didn’t know what to cry for . Should I cry for saying I made her killed her husband? or should I cry for the dead of uncle mike? .
I was so confused in tears , I cried like never before . I was de-eply in tears when aunty Amara walked to me and said;
” You have succeeded in killing him ,you evil child. I must kill you today ” she spoke in anger and landed me four h0t sound sl@p on my face , she was about booting me when a nurse c@m£ to my recuse .
” Madam you shouldn’t be doing this , you should be thinking of how to bury your husband not on how to kill a child ” one of the nurses spoke wrathfully at aunty Amara.
Aunty Amara angrily walked out of the hospital with her children . I hurriedly followed them behind .
” Where do you think you are going to ? And whose car are you thinking of entering? Haaaah, you have killed my husband and now you want to kill me and my children ? Mba nu, nu. Go and eat him stupid child ” she spoke angrily at me and drove off .
I chased her car in tears but she didn’t st©p .
I went back to the hospital in tears . I went back to the hospital room where uncle make was lying down and started crying bitterly.
About some minutes later the nurses and the doctor c@m£ in to carry uncle Mike’s corpse to the mortuary when they saw me crying inside the room.
“What are you still doing here ? You should go home is getting late” the doctor spoke in anger .
” This is 8pm. Where is your mom and your siblings?” One of the nurse asked .
” They have gone home ” I replied in tears .
“Go and stand outside we want to take his corpse outside ” the doctor spoke in a cool voice.
” Doctor do you believe that I killed him? I asked in tears .
” Son, You didn’t kill him , God knows why he took him away . Everyone will die one day we are living by God’s grace in this world . It’s his time and we shouldn’t question God for that. God gives and takes. It’s not the end of life for you, God knows how to take good care of his children. That is what my pastor told me” the doctor replied.
” Doctor do you believe in God ? I asked in tears .
” Hahaha, there is no God in this case. Person wey done die , done die ” the doctor added.
” If you all don’t believe in God as you said , then allow me to pray for him. If he didn’t wake up the next morning then you can come and take him to the mortuary”
The doctor and the nurses were all amazed by the kind of words that was coming out from my mouth.
” We can’t allow him here , he is dead alre-ady . Our hospital is one of the best in this country when one is dead here is dead “one of the nurse replied.
” No, nures jen, let’s allow him to pray , tomorrow we will take his corpse to the mortuary if he didn’t wake ” the doctor spoke and they all left .
I was left all alone in the hospital room . I have never seen a corpse in my life before until that day . My heart was beating , I was scared before I decided to pray .
I prayed all throu-gh the night asking God to bring back uncle mike but there was no sign of him breathing.
The next morning , the doctor c@m£ with nurse jen to take the corpse to the mortuary.
” I told you, your daddy is dead . There is no God. We are born to give bath and die ” the doctor spoke.
” re-move the oxygen from his mouth ” the doctor instructed nurse jen.
” After you have deposited his corpse to the mortuary ,you take the boy home ” the doctor added.
I angrily ran outside the hospital in tears . I was outside crying in disappoinment throwing away the Jesus n£¢kless grandma had given me .
I could remembered very clearly when she said Jesus is the light if the world .
” If he is the light of the world why didn’t he safe Mike ? ” I thought to myself in tears .
I was crying so bitterly when nurse jen c@m£ .
” You have to st©p crying , let me take you home ” she spoke in a cool voice .
” I don’t want to go back home . Aunty Amara will kill me ” I replied in tears .
” She won’t kill you,let’s go home ” I entered her car and she drove off .
TBC…