#TENDER_BEAUTY
EPISODE 15
Richa-rd sat on the floor still shivering vehemently. He still heard the persistent knock on the door and he used his hands to block his ears. After about ten minutes, he did not hear the knock but he left his hands where they were. He started counting backwards from 100 to 1 and he did that five times but was not able to calm down. He prayed for what seemed like hours but it was actually minutes and he was able to calm down a bit. He stood up on shaky legs, picked up his phone and dialed tony.
On the other side, tony was exceedingly worried. He had dialed Prisca’s number times without number and she had not picked. He dialed Belina’s number also and met the same result but when he saw Richa-rd ’s call, he knew something must definitely be wrong with this night.
“Hello Richa-rd , is everything alright?” he asked immediately.
“No, nothing is alright tony, I am going crazy”, Richa-rd responded.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked
“Tony, I just saw Tonia. I saw her. She knocked the door, and I opened and saw her. I was not slee-ping Tony”, he said becoming angry again.
“Ehn, I am coming now, just be calm ok?” he said and without waiting for reply, he hung up.
Approximately thirty minutes after Richa-rd called Tony, Richa-rd heard a knock on his door and his heart started racing. “Tony, is that you?” he asked
“Yes, open up man”, Tony responded and the door was pened immediately. Unconsciously, Richa-rd scanned the entrance to be sure no one was lur-k-ing around and seeing no ghost, he shut the door and faced Tony.
“What is going on?” Tony asked.
“I don’t know. I feel sick. I nee-d a psychiatrist cos I think I am going crazy”, Richa-rd responded sitting down f0rç£fully. Tony sighed,
“I think Tonia is taking too much space in your head Richy. You nee-d to get over this guilt you feel, I have no doubt that is why you have been dreaming about her. You nee-d to see Belina, she should be able to help you”, he said seriously.
“Oh, don’t mention Belina again. She has been taking too much of my thoughts, maybe that is why Tonia c@m£ in person today to remind me that I made a promise to her to always think about her”. Tony looked sharply,
“when was that?”
“On her death be-d Tony, maybe she knew that she would die so she asked me to always think about her when she is gone. I did and also said that no one would take her place in my heart. I only wish I saw her when she died”. Richa-rd said trying to ward off the pain he felt at that remembr@nce.
“I see, so someone else has taken her place, right?” Tony asked
Richa-rd looked at Tony for some seconds and later said, “I think about her everyday, I mean Belina. She is constantly in my head. The problem is that I never felt that way with Tonia. I loved her but it does not compare at all to what I now feel for Belina”.
“Well then, you better look for a way to drive this problem away because if you let this damsel sl!poff your f!ngers, I would agree that you are truly crazy”, Tony said with a smile.
Richa-rd sighed and relaxed fully on the chair. Tony looked at him with concern, he hadn’t seen his friend this way before. Something flashed throu-gh his mind which he quic-kly dismissed, “What if he was not hallucinating and Tonia is not actually dead?”
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Everything was silent and i am sure that even a pin would make the loudest noice if it mistakingly sli-pped from its place but even the furnitures were holding their breath as we all stared at Prisca’s father. After what seemed like eternity, i heard a strangled voice which brou-ght me out of the cocoon which i found myself.
“Explain what I am hearing Francis. What is this man talking about?” she asked silently. He did not seem to hear at first and he looked far worse than an over-cooked vegetable.
“I… I don’t know what he is saying. What is the woman’s name?” he asked facing my dad, i mean Ex-dad. I did not even give him the chance to answer.
“Linda Terresa. Her name was Linda Terresa when she was young, she told me. You don’t know her right?” I said alre-ady on my feet and i did not know when i stood up. My legs threatened to give way beneath me when i saw his face turn white like someone who was face to face with the firing squad.
Prisca’s mum flew up as if she was stung and yelled, “Francis… aaaahhhh….. what is this? You better opened that mouth of yours and start explaining ooo. So, you have been slee-ping with women right un-der my nose ehn? Aaaaahh, God would judge you” she said, weeping profusely now.
I did not have any strength left in me and Prisca just stood also gawping like someone from another planet. Mr Badmus opened his mouth and said, “i am sor-” He did not get to finish his statement before his wife pounced on him like a dog would attack a bone after ten days of hunger.
I did not even move an inch, i just stared blankly and was only there bodily, i was actually in another realm. My life was just like a broken plate and the more i put the pieces together, the more stupid it becomes.
The tears just flowed without hinderance and i felt so useless. i heard the words of Prisca’s mum who was in tears, behaving like a crazy person as if from a far distance.
He g@sped and looked like he would faint soon and i got my answer. I stood up slowly because my legs could not just carry me but i ensured that i was on my feet because the seat could no longer contain me; my tears were coming in torrents.
“So you are my f… father” i said shaking terribly. The entire room was in chaos and virtually everyone was standing except Mr Jeg@s.
“You did not answer my question Francis… I said, do you have anything to do with all these?” she asked charging forward towards her husband. He opened his mouth to say, ‘i am sorry’ but did not get to complete the statement because she got to him and started pummeling him and my former dad’s efforts to seperate them was almost futile.
I stood like a stick as i looked on as events unfolded before me. Everything was blurry because of my drenched eyes and i was shaking like a leaf on water. I felt prisca’s pres£nce behind me and noticed that she hadn’t spoken at all throu-ghout the drama but i couldn’t care less. Prisca’s mum was shouting because she was de-eply hurt and her dear husband did not have the audacity to tell her to calm down.
“Aaahhh Francis, after all i have been throu-gh with you, you did this to me…Oh God… So you can keep this kind of secret of maybe 25 years from me. So because i gave birth to four boys, you outside to look for a girl thinking i would not have one right? You are heartless. How many more are out there ehn? How many?” She continued ranting and Prisca for the first time moved from her position and went to hold her mother tenderly and that was when i noticed that she was in tears. They cried together and i later found my voice.
“So you are my dad. You have been criticizing my dad saying he hired people to kidnap his own daughter not knowing that you are far worse. You are a murderer, you never wanted me and you made my mum suffer. Thank God my dad picked her up if not, i don’t know what would have become of us. I would never forgive you. Never” i said and gathered the strenght i could and walked into Prisca’s room but not before i saw the tears in Prisca’s father’s eyes.
i entered Prisca’s be-droom and knelt by the be-d with my head on the be-d crying profusely. I was shaking all over and felt it within me that i would fall sick soon. The thoughts of what my mother had gone throu-gh in life and how my father had wanted me dead bugged me and i cried until i had no strength in me.
I wanted to leave the house but my legs refused to give my legs the priviledge of rest so i f0rç£fully pushed one leg up, i fell down and hit my head on something very sharply. The next thing that i encountered was darkness and time was forgotten as i entered into a state of unconsciousness.
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Richa-rd turned and tossed on the be-d but could not sleep, Tony also could not sleep because he had been dialing Prisca’s phone and she hadn’t picked.
Richa-rd left the be-d and moved to the sitting room to join Tony. He had also become worried because he knew that they always chat at night endlessly and for Belina not to pick her call also means that something was wrong somewhere. Tony had wanted to go over to their house to be sure that there was noting wrong but Richa-rd had held him back because of the time. It was alre-ady 1pm and sleep seemed to have dep@rted the world.
Richa-rd was worried that the problem might be with Belina because he remembered the events of the previous day and was worried that guy might go after her later.
He did not want to review the pain he had felt when he saw her tears the previous day, he had wanted to squee-ze the life out of that guy for ma-king her feel that way.
He sat down beside Tony and the atmosphere was very silent and his hand frantically pressed his phone. Richa-rd offered words to calm him down but the words did not calm he himself much less Tony’s phone started ringing and he picked immediately.
“Oh baby, thank God. I have almost died”, He was saying alre-ady on his feet hearing a sigh of relief
“plea-se Tony, we nee-d your help, get Richa-rd . Belina is terribly hurt and we are taking her to the hospital now”. Prisca said over the receiver.
“what?, we are coming, plea-se be careful honey”, he said and hung up.
“What is going on?” Richa-rd asked even before Tony hung up. His worry had now reached its peak.
“It is Belina, she… i don’t know what is wrong. She has been taken to the hospital”, he said gr-abbing his coat and shoes.
“Jesus…” Richa-rd said and ran into the room to pick his car keys even though Tony’s car was available.
WATCH OUT FOR EPISODE 16