SILENCE

Ever sat down and watched as your life crumbled into a million pieces? Maybe that is too much for you to comprehend, have you ever waken up only to be told that everything you have ever believed in is a lie? That what you thought was real was just a lie and you have been living with this lie all your life.

Mrs. Chishala wiped the tears that seemed not to stop falling for the millionth time, she had been locked up for two days not believing that this was what her daughter had been keeping all these years. How could someone harbor so much pain in their hearts without talking to anyone about it? Another part of her blamed herself, how could she not have seen it? Not once did she worry that her husband would cheat on her, things were not always rosy but she knew in her heart of hearts that he would never betray her with another woman.

She rushed to the bathroom for the fifth time that morning when she thought of him sleeping with the dead, just the thought of it made her want to puke.

Too many questions left unanswered and yet there was no one she could talk to. She slowly closed the blinds and got into her beddings, with the aid of sleeping pills she was already asleep but not for long because dreams about her late husband kept waking her up.

She felt like she was slowly losing her mind and if no one gave her any answers she would be just the same as Larna was.

The knock on her door made her look at her clock, it was three in the afternoon and was guessing it was Elisha.

When she opened the door it was indeed him but she didn’t have much to say to him.

‘Mum you can’t continue like this.’

She tried to close the door in his face but he held it.

‘What do you want Elisha?’

‘Can we at least talk?’

‘Talk?’ she asked with a weak laugh

‘Yes mum talk, silence won’t do you any justice.’ He pleaded

‘Silence? My daughter has been silent for I don’t know how long and now I should listen to whatever explanation you have to give me huh?’

He kept quiet, he understood where she stood, he understood the pain she was feeling and if he were in her shoes he would have felt the same way as well.

‘Mum dad is not alive to save himself from all this but we have the chance of digging out information to find out what exactly was going on.’

She looked at him with a blank stare.

‘You have no idea what I feel do you?’ she asked wiping the tear that had dropped from the corner of her eye

‘I don’t get you.’

‘Elisha I was married to my husband for forty good years, in those years he never laid a finger on me. In those years he never came back home drunk or raised a finger to hit me.’

She paused to swallow

‘Do you honestly think that I want to remember him as the man or husband that was having sex with dead people?’ she asked almost choking on her words

Elisha looked at her for a minute before dropping his gaze.

‘Mum we need to find out the truth.’

She laughed much to his and her own surprise.

‘Have I told you that I want to find out the truth?’

‘But mother, what about Larna?’ he asked

‘Larna is my daughter and I love her very much but that doesn’t change the fact that she hurt me, Larna was wrong. I am her mother and she was supposed to confide in me!’

‘The past can’t be undone but we can change the future.’

‘There is nothing that I didn’t do for that girl, I would have gone to the ends of the earth just for me to know what exactly was wrong with her. I even thought he was abusing her sexually but he swore.’ She paused allowing her tears to fall.

‘He swore on his life that he would never hurt his daughter Elisha.’ She said almost in a whisper as her tears continued to fall

‘Mum I am not saying that I support everything that she is doing but she is my wife and I have more reason to want her to be healed.’

She looked at him with disappointment written all over her face.

‘Larna is not a child, she is a grown up woman who allowed emotions to get the best of her.’

‘What are you talking about? Do you realize the amount of pain she must have gone through all those years?’

‘She is selfish, that is what she is. Her father my husband was one hell of a monster but had she confided in me all this wouldn’t have happened.’

She paused now out of the bedroom

‘Do you have any idea how many corpse he disrespected? Do you have any idea what it could have meant for her to just open up?’

‘I understand you are hurting but can you at least be empathetic? Think of everything she has been through?’

‘Empathy?’ she asked now moving to the kitchen

She got hold of a bottle of whiskey and poured herself some before she gulped it down, the liquid hurt her insides but she needed it if she had to continue having this conversation with him.

‘For fourteen years that child treated me like I was just a stranger in her life, she caused a drift between us. Every night I got on my knees to pray for her, I asked the good Lord to forgive me if at all I had hurt her but all for what?’ she asked drinking some more

‘Mum you need to slow down on that.’

‘Now Elisha listen to me and listen real well, I have nothing else to lose. I lost a husband and grandchildren, there is nothing in this forsaken world that I am living for. Larna is as selfish as you are and if she doesn’t want me in her life anymore then guess what, I too don’t want her.’

‘Mother you can’t do that.’

‘I want the both of you out of my house, I never want to set my eyes on you again.’

‘Mum!’

She looked at him once then headed for Larna’s room, she was laying on her bed when the two walked in.

‘You, I want you out of my house before the day breaks.’ She said

‘What?’ Larna asked

‘You heard me, you don’t want your past back, fine. You don’t want anything to do with me, fine. But all I want is never to set my eyes on you again, I don’t care where you will go as long as I don’t ever have to see you again.’ She said and walked out

Elisha stood still without knowing what to do, he couldn’t believe what had just happened. He leaned against the wall as he tried to process everything.

‘Well are we leaving or not?’ Larna asked struggling with her clutches without a care in the world