THE PAINS OF A LONELY HEART ***
EPISODE 4
We did all we could”, the Doctor said. “What do you mean, Doctor?
Juliet asked. “I’m afraid, we just lost him” the Doctor declared.
“What!!!!!!!!! Juliet shouted “I’m afraid, we just lost him” the
Doctor declared.
“What!!!!!!!!! Juliet shouted “Doctor, plea-se tell me it’s a lie. How?
She continued as Ben held her by the shoulder to console her. “We
tried all we could. I’m really sorry for your loss” the Doctor
confirmed and left
Ben with her at the OPD. Juliet cried her heart out… She couldn’t help
herself… She was inconsolable. There was nothing Ben could do to
comfort her. He waited patiently till she was re-ady to go and drove
her home.
James and his mother were alre-ady home. Despite the mischief they had
been up to earlier, they were re-ading and sharing from the bible
together. Ben and Juliet met them in the living room. Juliet who was
still crying ran into her room leaving Ben behind and locked herself
up.
That got the attention of James and his mother. “What is wrong with
that girl, has she lost her manners or what? How could she walk pas-s
me without greeting”, Mrs. Johnson complained. “Mum, plea-se don’t
blame her. She is in pain, she just lost her friend Mike, the one we
saw at church the other day” Ben intervened.
“Oh sorry for her, but it still does not justify her actions. I am the
one taking care of her. Even the bible says “let the dead burry their
dead’ ” Mrs. Johnson responded. “What! Mum, did you just say that?
Come on, the girl is really hurt!” Ben said and walked away, leaving
his mother with James who refused to utter a word.
Juliet stayed in her room all day weeping. Ben brou-ght her food to her
but she refused to eat. Somehow, she blamed herself for Mike’s death.
She figured that if Mike hadn’t driven her home, he’d still be alive.
It was out of his kind gesture that this tragedy had happened. Maybe
her foster mother was right, she thought. She should have stayed away
from Mike. At least, he’d still be alive.
Juliet blamed herself. She knelt down beside her be-d at that moment,
looked up to her roof and began praying with tears in her eyes. “God,
why am I going throu-gh this. Forgive my sins, I beg of you. I pray
that you grant Mike rest with you. Forgive me father for I know I’m
the cause of this, forgive me.” She prayed.
Time ran fast and soon it was 6:30PM. Juliet had forgotten she had a
prayer meeting that evening. As head of the prayer group, her pres£nce
was required in church. It had completely skipped Juliet due to the
current situation she was in. Grace called her to ask if she was going
to make it. On phone:
Grace: “Hello Juliet, where are you? We are here waiting for you.”
Juliet: “I’m sorry Grace, I can’t make it. plea-se let someone stand in for me”
Grace: “Why? What’s wrong? This is very unusual of you.
Juliet: “We’ll talk about it later. Just kindly do me that favor, ok.
Let someone take over”.
Grace: “You really surprise me but fair enough, will do just that. You take care
now, I’ll call you later.”
Grace hung up and immediately called Mrs. Johnson to tell her about
the conversation with Juliet.
Mrs. Johnson got upset. She stormed into Juliet’s room. “Young lady,
what are you still doing here when you are supposed to be at church?
She aggressively asked.
“Mum, I’m sorry but I can’t make it today” Juliet answered. “Look, you
better dress up and get re-ady for church before I pounce on you. Have
you lost it? What do you think I have been bringing you up for?” she
said.
Juliet quic-kly got up and began dressing. Mrs. Johnson was leaving
Juliet’s room when she remembered that she had left her purse in her
room. She asked Juliet to fetch it for her while she left and waited
in the living room. Juliet brou-ght the purse to her and returned to
her room to finish dressing up. Mrs. Johnson opened her purse and her
facial expression changed. It appeared that she had lost her money.
She immediately called Juliet back to ask her.
“Hey! Where is the N5,000 I kept in the purse?” she asked. Juliet was
clueless “Mum, I …” she started saying, but before she could finish
speaking, Mrs. Johnson landed a heavy sl@p on her face. “Where is the
money?” she asked again, looking furious.
THE PAINS OF A LONELY HEART***
EPISODE 5
“Where is the money?” she asked again, looking furious. Mrs. Johnson’s
raised voice brou-ght Ben out of his room.
“Mum, what’s going on?” Ben asked as he joined them in living room.
“Ask her, my son, let her answer you.” Mrs. Johnson said, gesturing at
Juliet.
“Juliet what is it?” Ben turned to ask her. Juliet who was still in
tears answered. “Mum’s money is missing and she thinks I’m the one who
took it”. “Juliet, did you take it? plea-se tell me” Ben asked.
“No Ben, I didn’t t©uçh her money” Juliet answered. Looking at her,
Ben could tell she really knew nothing about the missing money. He had
to intervene on her behalf. He asked her to go to her room while he
sorted things out with his mother. “Mum, how much are we talking about
here? Ben asked his mother after Juliet had left. “Why are you asking
me that? I don’t know why you keep standing up for this girl!” Mrs.
Johnson responded. “Come on Mum, just tell me” Ben asked her again.
“5,000 Naira” Mrs. Johnson grudgingly answered.
“5,000 Naira? Was that not the money you told James to take from your
purse this morning for the DSTV subscription? Ben asked. Mrs.
Johnson’s face dropped as she remembered that she had actually alre-ady
given the money she claimed was missing to James that morning.
She was, however, too embarras-sed and proud to admit her error. So she
decided to stick to her story, even though she knew she was lying and
falsely accusing the poor girl. She insisted the money she was looking
for was not the same one she had told James to take. Ben didn’t
believe her. He knew his mother well enough to know when she’s hiding
something or lying. But he couldn’t tell his mother that she was
lying. She was alre-ady furious. He couldn’t afford to have her more
angry than she alre-ady was.
Ben told her he was going to pay the money and that he was going to have
a talk with Juliet. He said that just to calm his mother down.
Juliet was going throu-gh very difficult times both at church and at
home. Apparently, her foster mother had been reporting to the church
Elders how that she had been stealing at home. Even though she was
innocent, this rumor about Juliet’s supposed behavior had quic-kly
spre-ad throu-ghout the church. Living un-der Mrs. Johnson’s roof was
virtually becoming hell for her. She ha-rd ly smiled these days. In
fact, she cried every day.
Ben was the only person that stood by her throu-gh those difficult
times. She prayed and prayed, all day and night. It seemed like things
only got worse as she prayed. She was no longer comfortable at church
as everyone was talking behind her back, calling her a thief.
Soon, Mrs. Johnson and her two sons had to travel for a 3-day church
outreach. Juliet was left alone at the house.
On the first night of their dep@rture, Juliet locked up the doors of
the house and went to be-d. Around 2:00 am, she woke up to hear
foot-steps in the hallway. She c@m£ out of her room to find out who it
was because She was so sure of what she heard, she then went and check
if she had really locked the door. It was locked, nothing had changed.
She then went back to her room and within some few minutes she was far
asleep. Suddenly, her door opened slowly and someone who was dressed
in all black with a mask on his face entered the room. Juliet didn’t
hear anything as the person slowly went closer to her be-d. The only
thing that woke her up was when her nose was suddenly covered with a
handkerchief to prevent her from inhaling fresh air. Within some few
seconds she become weak, it appeared that there was some sort of a
substance in the handkerchief that made her weak, helpless and
vulnerable.
The unknown person then str!ped her n-ked and R@p£d her that instant.
He went away right after this, leaving Juliet bleeding profusely. She
was a v!rg!nuntil that night. 😥😥😥
EPISODE 6
Even though she was weak and found it difficult to move, her eyes
could not st©p the tears that were coming out of it. She had just been
R@p£d by an unknown person. She was slowly regaining her strength as
the chemical from the handkerchief began to fade away. She had no idea
what to do and she could ha-rd ly endure the pains. She just la-id there,
completely lost in thought. She was scared. The incident was
definitely affecting her psychologically.
Once she had gained enough strength, however, she gently stood up and
with the support of the wall, walked slowly to the bathroom to wash
the blood away. The pain was so severe she was willing to do anything
to make it go. She went and la-id back in the be-d. Then, she decided to
involve the police. She looked everywhere for her phone but couldn’t
find it anywhere. It seemed the ra-pist had taken care of the phone.
She had no option but to go to the living room and use the land line.
She got there only to find that the phone lines had been cut with a
sharp object. The ra-pist obviously knew how to cover his tracks.
Juliet was stuck. The only thing she could think of was to walk down
to the police station and report in person… But she was too weak for
that. She started feeling dizzy and as she made to go back to her
room, she fell down and coll@psed in the hallway. No one was there to
help her. It was 5:15am in the morning and she was all alone. She la-id
there until about 6 am when James and his mother got back.
Apparently, they had had a change of plans as their outreach was cut
short. The rest was postponed to a latter d@t£. Ben didn’t come home
with them. He had gone to drop off some church elders who had
accompanied them on the outreach trip. James and his mother saw Juliet
lying in the hallway. They immediately concluded that she had gotten
herself drun!k.
“Look at that idiot! Look at the shame she is bringing to this family…
We left her just for one night and she has taken to drinking alcohol”.
Mrs Johnson said. “Mum, her excesses are becoming one too many. We
nee-d to st©p her” James said.
“plea-se carry the stupid girl to her room. I can’t stand the sight of
her” Mrs. Johnson said and went to her room. James carried Juliet in
his arms and took to her to her room. As he la-id her down, his eyes
were drawn to her beautiful dark n£¢k and they moved on down to her
che-st. He placed her on the be-d and continued gazing at her. Suddenly,
lvst set in. Before he knew it, he had started un-bu-ttoning her t©p.
Juliet was completely knocked out and oblivious to what was going on.
“Hey James, what are you doing?’ Ben said from Juliet’s entrance. He
had returned.
TO BE CONTINUED…