Season 2
25/26
THE PACT
Me, you, her and him
-CHAPTER 25-
I spend an hour resting trying to gather enough strength for the night ahead.
After the first drip of water finishes, I feel a whole lot better but the doctor insists on administering another one just to be on the safe side. When the doctor leaves, I sit up upright and lean against the pillow. Daddy P, Palesa and Jaden c@m£ by but they have left. Currently I am at the hospital with Robert and Jada, mum wasn’t feeling too well so we asked daddy P to drop her home so she could have some rest. Robert re-ads us a bible pas-sage then he gives us some prayer points and leads us into prayer.
That night, I pray more pas-sionately than I have ever prayed. Have you ever prayed so ha-rd that you start crying while you are praying? Have you ever prayed so intensely you pour out everything that’s in your heart? That night I tell God everything that I have been keeping inside of me and by the time we are done, I feel like a shoulder has been lifted off my shoulder.
‘’Thank you daddy Robert,’’ I say when we eventually says Amen.
And speaking of Robert, boy this man can pray, I have never seen a man that prays as much as he does.
‘’You called me daddy? Did I hear you right?’’
‘’Yes daddy R!’’
‘’OMG, say it again and let me record it,’’ he gr-abs his phone.
‘’Thank you daddy Robert, you are an amazing father.’’
When he records that, he walks close to me and pu-lls me into his arms, hvgging me ti-ghtly.
‘’Thank you so much child of mine.’’
‘’Oh plea-se,’’ I respond and we all bur-st out laughing.
‘’I am starving, let me get us some coffee and muffins from the cafeteria,’’ Jada says.
‘’This time?’’
‘’They operate 24/7.’’
I roll my eyes, ‘’just wait for morning.’’
‘’I will go and get the coffee for you,’’ Daddy R says.
‘’Thanks daddy.’’
‘’He is not your daddy,’’ I whine.
‘’We share daddy P it’s just fair that we share daddy R too.’’
‘’Whatever.’’
‘’I will be back shortly.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Thank you so much for being here Jada.’’
‘’You are always welcome and st©p thanking me, you are the only sister I have so I will always come throu-gh for you.’’
‘’I love you.’’
‘’I love you more.’’
*
I am sitting on the couch holding a beer in my hand, there’s a pizza box lying open on the coffee table containing the remnants of chicken and mushroom pizza. The last few days have been the worst in my life so far, we lost the case against the minister and the court ordered us to pay him a lot of money to compensate him for the injuries the story caused. Aside from that, IBA revoked the Msizi Daily mail License, I am out of a job and so are the many people that worked for us. My father and I are not even in talking terms, he blames me for destroying everything he worked so ha-rd for.
‘’Kenzie!’’ When I hear the sound of my mother’s voice, I turn my head.
She rests her hand on my shoulder, ‘’St©p doing this to yourself Kenzie, this is not the end of the world.’’
I take a sip from the beer, ‘’have you seen how dad looks at me these days? It’s like the mare sight of me infuriates him. He regrets putting me in charge of his company, he regrets choosing me over Kristian, I can see it in his eyes.’’
‘’Baby your father loves you, he is just upset at the moment but he come throu-gh when he is calm.’’
‘’He will blame you too for forcing him to make me the Editor in chief of the magazine. You and I know that he didn’t want me to take over, he only did it to plea-se you, de-ep down he knew I would let him down but he took the risk–.’’
‘’Don’t be ha-rd on yourself baby, this is not the end of the world.’’
‘’Have you seen the comments on social media, they are calling me names mummy, they are saying I am a failure,’’ the tears begin to run down my face. ‘’The people from the company are angry because they don’t have jobs anymore. I have ruined the lives of many people. How do I even recover from this? Where do I even start from?’’ I cry some more.
‘’Shhh!’’ she holds me and soothes me. ‘’It shall be well, we shall find a way out, you just nee-d to st©p drinking.’’
‘’Beer has been keeping me sane, allow me to drown my sorrows in it.’’
‘’No baby,’’ she gr-abs the bottle from me. ‘’I will not allow you to ruin your life like this.’’
My mother is still holding me in her arms when my father walks into the living room all dressed up.
‘’Good morning!’’ Mum says but he doesn’t respond, instead he shakes his head and walks out.
‘’You see that, he doesn’t want to see me, maybe I should move out.’’
‘’You are not going anywhere, you nee-d to be closer to us now more than ever.’’
‘’I can’t deal with this kind of treatment from dad.’’
‘’It will get better, give him time to heal.’’
‘’You think he will forgive me?’’
‘’Yes he will, I will talk to him.’’
‘’You don’t have to talk to him, I don’t want him to forgive me because you said something, let him do it from his heart.’’
‘’Okay.’’
*
At 7 a.m. the next day I wake up and shower, after that I get dressed and leave for my grandmother’s house. When I arrive at her hut, I notice a noisy crowd of weeping and wailing people. I step out of the car and start toward the door. Walking into the hut, I am met by my cousin Sasha, her eyes are puffy and bloody red, she must have been crying too.
‘’What is going on?’’ I ask, my heart racing.
‘’Ba mbuya nabafwa!’’ she says before she bur-sts into crying.
‘’What do you mean Sasha? I was with her a couple of days ago, she was okay, what happened?’’
‘’She died in her sleep,’’ Sasha says between tears.
‘’Ba mbuya! Ba mbuya imwe!’’ I sink to the ground wailing in uncontrollable grief. ‘’Ba mbuya mwalufyanya!’’
‘’Kosa Malia, Kosa,’’ Sasha soothingly ru-bs my back.
‘’Ah gogo, you should have waited for me, you should have waited.’’
I cry uncontrollably for the next couple of minutes and when I am calm I lie on Sasha’s legs. This is so sudden and unbelievable, gogo was fine and healthy how could she just die like that? Where do I go now? How do I make Lee now that she is gone?
‘’Ah ba mbuya mwalufyanya sure,’’ I bur-st into tears again without restraint, unable to control my emotions.
THE PACT
Me, you, her and him
-CHAPTER 26-
A week later,
Unedited
‘’Mummy!’’ Caleb lightly taps my shoulder. I am lying on the living room floor. I have been feeling dehydrated and quite fatigued today. I can’t even stand for longer than a minute- it’s like I have lost nearly all my strength. HG is awful and it really su-cks, for me every day is a constant struggle, a struggle of fighting for survival not only for me but for my unborn baby too. This week has been the worst in my HG journey because I can no longer shower, walk, drive or do anything on my own.
I also hate the fact that I can’t see my husband at the hospital. Speaking of my husband, he is currently conscious and the doctors said he is stable and responding well to treatment. I hope they discharge him soon. I miss spending time with him.
‘’Mummmmmy!’’ he says again, this time louder. Caleb has been sitting next to me since morning, he has been watching cartoons and eating his fries, he has been a little clingy and fussy today he didn’t even go to school.
‘’Child of mine! Caleb Wandi Mumbi, yes baby?’’
‘’Take me to daddy! I want to see him.’’
‘’Daddy is unwell Wandi, you can’t see him.’’
‘’But I want to see him,’’ he whines before he starts crying.
I stare at him quietly, I swear I am drained, I don’t have enough strength to deal with him at this point. Hi ohene ome on+233544142683 to be added to story headquarters room for more stories.
‘’I want to see my daddy,’’ he continue crying while screaming.
‘’Caleb!’’ Mum walks in, ‘’what’s wrong baby?’’
‘’I want to see my daddy!’’
‘’I will take you to him.’’
‘’You will?’’
‘’Yes, you st©p crying.’’
‘’Okay,’’ he quic-kly wipes his face with the palm of his hand.
‘’Go and get your shoes so we can leave.’’
‘’Mummy! What are you trying to do?’’
‘’I will tell Jada to ask one of her doctor friends to allow us in.’’
‘’I don’t even think that place is safe for him.’’
‘’He will be fine, let me do this for your sake too, he nee-ds to see his father or else he will be fussy the whole day.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Palesa is coming, she will stay with you.’’
‘’Alright.’’
‘’Granny, let’s go now,’’ Caleb says, rushing into the room.
‘’Yes baby boy.’’
Mum gr-abs her car keys and bag then she holds Caleb’s hand and they leave.
I pray they allow Caleb to see his father, it will make him really happy.
*
We get to the hospital and I plead with the doctor to allow Caleb into the hospital so he can see his father, he finally allows us in but only for a few minutes, I hold Caleb’s hand and lead him to where his father is and when we enter, his face beams with excitement, ‘’Daddy! My daddy!’’ he exclaims, wra-pping his tiny hands around Caleb.
‘’My wandi! I missed you.’’
‘’I missed you too, mummy said I could not come here.’’
‘’Mummy was just looking out for you.’’
‘’When are you coming home?’’
‘’Soon baby, soon.’’
‘’plea-se come back soon, mummy is sad.’’
‘’I will come home soon.’’
Lee is doing a whole lot better, Robert has been coming over with some people from his church and they have been praying for him. We are hopeful that he will soon be discharged and everything will go back to normal with him and Kristian.
We spend a few minutes with Lee before the doctor asks us to leave so Caleb can rest.
‘’I love you daddy.’’
‘’I love you baby.’’
We leave the hospital and I drive Caleb to the mall so we can get some things for him and Kristian’s unborn baby.
I am glad I brou-ght him to the hospital because he is very happy and excited, he can’t st©p talking about his father.
*
I awake startled from a de-ep sleep, the sheets are twisted around my b©dy and I am covered in sweat. Sitting upright, the remnants of the nightmare I have been having for the last couple of days rush throu-gh my mind. My dream seems so real and it is slowly beginning to eat me up. I have been having this dream since we were buried. In my dream I keep hearing voices while someone is pursuing me with a knife and trying to kill me. And each time I close my eyes I keep seeing blood. I don’t know what’s happening to me but it seems like I am losing it. I don’t even know where to run to for help since gogo is not alive anymore.
My life seems to be a mess currently, I can’t even be with Lee because he is in the hospital. I found out that he was in an accident that same night he was supposed to come and see me. I wish I could visit him but I am scared of bu-mping into Kristian at the hospital. Gogo warned me against seeing Kristian until everything worked between Lee and me.
Rising to my feet, I decide to get myself a strong beer, I will just try and drown my sorrows in beer for now. I just hope Lee gets better so I can try the medicine again and hopefully this time he gets to be mine. I am not even giving up on this man, I haven’t come this far just to give up like that.
*
Tbc