the Funeral…
Jude was now 12 and in JSS 1, aunty Vickky was the weekend house keeper and took a liking to him, by now his good looks had begun to show..she always had compliments, he received favours, even monetary favours and never asked questions, soon she came to collect…
Vicky had molested him until he liked it and would often offer himself to her. He began to feel he loved her. He got a rude shock when she got pregnant for the guy that owned the largest provision store in the area, she moved away and that was the end of what he thought was a great love story. She was his first love…he thought he loved her.
Jude had gone to Vicky’s house after she gave birth as she gestured to breast feed her baby he felt aroused, he made a gesture to touch her like they did to each other but the slap that hit his face was a shock, “get out of here, useless boy,” With the love bubble busted deep seated rage and hate grew…he had to leave town.
Omafuwe (his one and older sister) was re-writing SSCE and she had become a part of Uncle Efe’s family…when Jude arrived Jos he only knew Oma had referenced Rock haven, someone would know her or recognise him because of their resemblance…. life changed from then on.
back to the present:
From the church entrance the coffin was in clear site, white with gold trimmings, Charis had insisted on getting white roses, they were the kind she had ordered for her wedding, Florence was beside herself, they hadn’t spoken in months, she intended to use Charis’ wedding to smoothen things between them. She had never approved of Jude and Wanda’s toxic marriage, it was harder believing her worse fears had come to past…Oiza, oh how she had cried, she hadn’t spoken for days, she kept blaming herself (if only she had persisted, could she have prevailed?)
As the casket made it’s way down the aisle Jude could only wonder why no one had stopped him, he was regretting every moment of it…His mind drifted off to the day he convinced Wanda to have sex, they were in school, she was scared but he didn’t care, he knew she wasn’t ready but the beast in him had to be satisfied, she was somewhat a virgin…after the incident with Uncle Tam he was the next and that wasn’t a good memory as well..was it rape? he was her boyfriend he loved her… it was at that moment he knew he had control of her, she was his and no one could come between them.
the neighbours cried knowing they would live with the fading sounds of her cries from that night, Bonnie had cried a river knowing she was wearing a smile the night her friend died, what was the cry of a teething toddler to the death moans of a friend, if only she had done something. The stares from the congregation were like bullets penetrating his body even his children had a dead look in their eyes, had he ruined their childhood? did they know he was responsible for their mother’s death?
The armed guard quickly whisked him away just as the ambulance drove by, her family had used a picture of her smiling, and the poster looked so much like the Wanda he had met some 12 years ago…
THE END.
No comments:
Post a Comment