Forgetting Dad Episode 5 and Episode 6

*FORGETTING DAD * ??

(EPISODE 5)

If there’s a list of people who don’t deserve to walk freely with other humans on the surface of this earth, Mr Jones would take the lead on that list. There’s this popular saying that everyday is for the thief but one day for the owner, it was clear that the day of reckoning had finally come for the child molester. The funny thing was that Mr Jones was taken absolutely by surprise because he had no clue that his daughter had a guest, talk more of finding out that the guest knew about his evil atrocities. A Big scene was inevitable!

Immediately Dennis set his eyes on Vera’s dad, his heart raced and his eyes turned red, waiting to devour the pedophile that was shamelessly standing in front of him. On the other hand, Mr Jones was still trying to get over the shock of seeing Vera with another man and also hide his jealousy.

“Vera who’s this disrespectful person in your room?” Mr Jones asked panicking but Vera kept mute. Dennis wasn’t going to let him ask her another question so he cut in. “Mr man, face me and leave her out of this. How could you ruin your daughter’s life? What sort of father are you? I’m putting it to you now that you are an evil man because I know all your evil deeds. Be thankful to your daughter who’s stopping me, otherwise by now you would have been in jail” Dennis furiously said and before they knew it, Mr Jones angrily stormed out on them. Dennis wasn’t having it and immediately pursued him but Vera tried to stopped him from pursuing any further so they don’t create a big scene and wash her dirty lining outside for the whole world to see.

For a moment, it occurred to Dennis that he was at the verge of revealing Vera’s secret to her neighbours so he had to calm down a bit. They went back to the room after Mr Jones had driven out. One look at Dennis and Vera could tell that he was highly pissed and was ready to devour someone. That was the first time ever she had seen him that upset and angry. She tried her best to calm the situation down and after several attempts, he finally cooled off.

Deep down in Vera’s heart, she was happy that someone stood up for her at least for once in her life. There were slight butterflies in her stomach due to the excitement, but she tried to cover it all up. “How do you feel now?” She curiously asked, “I’m more concerned about you, how do you feel?” Dennis inquired, “I’m very much ok. Thank you for standing up for me like that, I really appreciate it” she said and he told her not to mention.

It was such a sad way to end a once beautiful meeting but they were both glad things turned out the way it did because the confrontation was very much necessary. Dennis hurriedly finished up with the help he was rendering to Vera with her studies and headed home afterwards because it was getting quite late.

Before Dennis left, he instructed Vera not to open the door for anyone and also told her to ignore any calls from her dad for now, because her dad could probably be hanging around and might decide to come back to her house later that night. Vera received Dennis instructions and promised to obey them.

Just as predicted, few hours after Dennis had left, there was a strange knock on Vera’s door. At that time, it was already passed 8pm so she kept wondering who could be knocking at her door by that time. The knocking persisted and Vera suddenly became scared for her life. She hurriedly picked up her phone and dialed Dennis line but it unfortunately wasn’t reachable.

The thought of not being able to reach Dennis increased Vera’s fear. She kept mute and didn’t utter any word as the person knocked. After knocking for over 20 minutes with no response from Vera, the knocking ceased. Confused and curious to find out if the person had gone, Vera tiptoed quietly and placed her ear on the door to check for any sound but there was non. She sighed in relief and went back to bed.

All through that night, Vera was restless and couldn’t sleep properly because of fear. Her eyes were opened most of the time with her heart beating fast. So many thoughts crossed her mind that night and Dennis was the major one. She smiled whenever she dwelled in his thoughts and blushed also. It was such a memorable day for the young lady.

First thing the next day, Dennis called to check up on Vera and she narrated all that happen after he had left. It was there and then that he realised that something truly needed to be done to get ‘thirsty’ Mr Jones off Vera’s neck for good.

Due to the insecurities Dennis now felt whenever Vera wasn’t with him, he decided to keep her close to him as much as possible. Whenever Vera wasn’t in school, she was either at Dennis apartment or the hospital were he worked. Due to the new measures he was now taking to keep her safe, she actually started learning alot and began to do tremendously well in her academics. Whenever she was at the hospital, she would sometimes volunteer to help out with work since she was also a medical doctor in the making, and whenever she was at Dennis house, he would personally teach her and also engage her in beneficial good conversations. Vera only went home at nights just to sleep and return to her normal daily routine the next day. Dennis dropped her off every night and made sure she was safe before leaving.

With all this going on, Mr Jones couldn’t get any access at all to his daughter because she was never at home whenever he visited. Mrs Jones started suspecting that something was wrong somewhere and was truly bothered as to why her daughter wasn’t reachable. Confused and highly bothered, Mrs Jones came down to Vera’s school one morning in the hopes to see her one way or the other but wasn’t able to.

Unable to give up, Mrs Jones tried her possible best to track her daughter down and fortunately found someone that knew where Vera lived. It was a hectic day for Mrs Jones but she was bond on seeing her daughter no matter what.

When Mrs Jones arrived, Vera’s sadly wasn’t at home but she waited regardless. Mrs Jones sat in her car from 4pm – 7pm but there was still no sign of Vera. She asked the gateman if he knew Vera’s whereabouts and he told her all he knew was that Vera normally came back late every day. On hearing that, Mrs Jones still had hope that her daughter will show up.

An hour later, there were flashes of lights and a car drove in afterwards. Immediately Mrs Jones heard the car sound, she opened her car door and alighted to see if it was Vera. Lo & Behold, it was Vera in the company of Dennis. When Mrs Jones doubts were confirmed, she hurriedly walked towards her daughter and called her attention.

One look at Mrs Jones and Vera’s heart was filled with anger, bitterness and rage. She wasn’t excited to see her mum at all and was quite uncomfortable because Dennis was there. “Here comes my mum, I had no idea she would be here” Vera said to Dennis as they watched her mum draw closer.

“Where have you been and why don’t you pick up your phone when I call?” Mrs Jones flared up but Vera wasn’t that moved and was ready to give her mum a befitting reply. “Hasn’t it occurred to you by now that I don’t want to be around you or have anything to do with you? I don’t even know whether to call you Mum because you clearly don’t befit that title since you have decided to ruin my life with your negligent attitude. I hate you so much and don’t want to ever look at you again” Vera said with tears falling off her eyes.

The manner at which Vera spoke and the things that came out of her mouth took her mum by surprise. Mrs Jones had no clue what her daughter was talking about and why she was so angry with her. Dennis figured that he had to give them some privacy to talk, so he pleaded with Vera to calm down and talk to her mum in a more reasonable tone. He greeted Mrs Jones, told Vera ‘Goodnight’ and drove off afterwards.

With Dennis out of the way, Mrs Jones finally spoke. “What did I ever do wrong to you my daughter? Why are you so angry with me?” She calmly asked with tears in her eyes.

Vera looked into her mum’s eyes as she sobbed quietly. On seeing that her mum was also tearing up, her heart melted and she opened up. “Daddy has been molesting me since I was five years old, how could you not know mum?” Vera said with tears dripping from her eyes.

Mrs Jones almost collapsed due to what she heard. With her mouth wide open due to shock, she asked; “What did you just say?”. Vera broke down and burst into tears afterwards and her mum immediately hugged her. “Oh baby!” Mrs Jones cried as she hugged her daughter. Vera cried bitterly and said; “How could you not know mum? How could you?”.

Broken and shattered, Vera’s mum held her daughter tightly and said; “Oh My! I’m so sorry baby”.

*FORGETTING DAD * ??

(EPISODE 6)

A forgiving heart is a good virtue for everyone to possess but most times, it isn’t that easy to let go and forgive someone that hurt you. We are humans and not supermen after all so it’s absolutely normal to feel resistant for a while before finally forgiving someone that badly hurt you. In Mr Jones case, it was going to be an almost impossible thing for Vera to completely forgive and forget all he did to her. The painful reality of the whole matter was that Mr Jones succeeded in crushing his daughter’s spirit and inflicting a wound that would take till eternity to heal.

Imagine living the rest of your life with the memories of your own biological father making love to you. Do you know how traumatising it will be for that person to live the rest of their lives with that barbaric act lingering in their mind? A lot of people think it’s only when a person is 6ft below the ground that they can be considered dead, but forget that someone could be killed in so many ways that doesn’t warrant them to be physically injured or lie in a casket.

The death of the soul is more painful than the physical death we all know of. It’s a sad reality indeed that alot of people we come in contact with on a daily basis are dead within, due to some hurtful and hunting things they might have gone through that crushed them. You never know if that lady or man that smiled at you few hours back was molested by trusted relatives, raped or sexually abused. If only looks weren’t deceptive, we might learn to be a little more kind to people we come in contact with on a daily basis.

It was sad that the one woman who was supposed to be her daughter’s ride or die partner, gossip mate, trusted companion and adviser, was just finding out after 24 years that her only child and daughter was molested by her husband and constantly undergoing sexual abuse still as an adult. Words would fail me indeed to properly explain how Mrs Jones felt at that moment. At that point, nothing else in the whole word mattered to her because she realised that she had ruined her daughter’s life and wasn’t fit to be called a mother.

The atmosphere that evening was filled with diverse emotional outbursts as neither Vera nor her mum could contain their brokenness and how they were feeling. It was such a heartbreaking moment to behold.

After over 20 minutes of crying and letting out piled up emotions and pain, Vera managed to cool down a little and gradually stopped crying. On the other hand, Mrs Jones was still sober because she was overshadowed by guilt and highly ashamed of herself. Everything still felt like a bad dream that Mrs Jones wished to wake up from but sadly it wasn’t a dream.

Shortly afterwards, they went upstairs to Vera’s apartment and the real conversation started. Vera narrated everything that has been going on under Mrs Jones nose and didn’t leave any stone unturned, unlike she did with Dennis.

As Vera narrated her ordeal to her mum, Mrs Jones opened her mouth all through and couldn’t shut it. Tears fell off her eyes all through Vera’s narration as she couldn’t believe that her own husband that she trusted with her life could boycott other matured ladies that could have been willing to satisfy his lustful urges, but rather decided to have his way with his own blood daughter. Totally Unbelievable!

When Vera was done talking, her devastated mum finally spoke. “Baby I’m so sorry for not being the best mother that I could to you. Honestly, I thought I was doing you a favour by being hardworking so I and dad can provide everything you need, but I never knew I was ruining your life. How could I have known that your father would do such an abominable thing to his own daughter? I trusted him and couldn’t have been that carefree if it was someone else. I might never forgive myself for making such a terrible man your father. I knew he was a womaniser right from our courting days, but never believe that his womanising will reach his own daughter. It kills me so much to realise that you even told someone else before me. I will never forgive myself knowing that a stranger could notice something in my own daughter in few months of knowing her, than I ever did in over 24 years of being your mother. How am I going to sleep at night with the thought of your dad sexually abusing you? I hate my life right now and just wish God can end it because this guilt is just too much for me to bear. Vera my darling, please find a place in your heart to forgive me. I know I have failed you as a mother and don’t deserve any forgiveness but I could die soon if you don’t forgive me. I’m so sorry baby, I’m so sorry for being blind and not sensitive enough. Baby how could I have known? I trusted your father and feel so disappointed for making that monster your dad. Please forgive me I beg you, please forgive me my child” Mrs Jones soberly said.

The atmosphere charged up again due to all Mrs Jones said that Vera didn’t know when she started tearing up again. “Mummy I don’t know what forgiveness means because I have been damaged beyond repair. I can’t give what I don’t have and forgiveness is certainly an alien to me. How can I forgive from a damaged heart? How can I let go when the memories are still fresh and hunt me everyday? How can I see you as my mother when you failed me when I needed you most? You failed the five year old Me and now this grown-up ‘Me’ can face the cruelness of this world without you. I love you but don’t want you in my life because you and your husband are toxic to my mental health and well-being. Please stay away from me for as long as possible because I need to finally navigate my life towards the direction I want it to go without you or dad’s interference. Thanks to my friend Dennis, I am now beginning to rewrite my story and position my future to the direction I want it to go. You are my mum by title but not by actions because a true mother could have looked into my eyes 19 years ago and tell that something was wrong somewhere. You failed me mum and I have to live the rest of my life with hurtful memories that could have been prevented. I’m sorry but you have to leave now so I can rest and prepare for tomorrow” Vera soberly said.

All Mrs Jones effort to get her daughter to forgive her that night proved abortive and fell on deaf ears because Vera’s heart was as strong as stone. On seeing that the forgiveness wasn’t forth coming, she shamefully left because Vera didn’t want her to spend the night at her house.

However, before Vera’s mum left, she dropped a hug amount of money for her daughter and kissed her ‘Goodbye’. On Mrs Jones ride back home that night, she cried bitterly in the car and was lucky that there wasn’t much vehicles on the road otherwise she could have had an accident. There were series of thoughts and emotions going back and forth within her and the most intense one amongst all was ‘Rage’.

One thing was clear to Vera’s mum that night and it was the fact that her marriage was Over. There was no way in this life things were going to go back as normal after coming to the knowledge of what her husband did to their daughter. No way!

Immediately Mrs Jones arrived home, fortunately her husband was back and chilling in the living room. Without prior notice, she pounced on him and held his singlet tightly. “Useless man! How could you? How could you? You must kill me today because I wouldn’t leave you. How could you ruin our daughter’s life with your stupid urge. God will judge you! It will never be well with you Jones. My God will judge you for ruining my only daughter’s life. Ha! This man you are shameless. This marriage is over and I promise to fight you with my last dime to make sure you pay for your evil atrocities. Useless man, God punish you! If not because I care about my daughter’s remaining dignity and reputation, the whole world would have heard by tomorrow that you are a pedophile and child molester that sexually abused his own daughter. It shall never be well with you Jones” She angrily said.

Everything was happening so fast that Mr Jones didn’t even know where to start digesting from. Before he could utter a word, Vera’s mum spat at him and stormed out to pack her belongings that night. She managed to pick few important clothes and called her sister to inform her that she was coming over first thing the next day. It was such a dramatic night as Mrs Jones exhausted every curse word and energy that she had.

While there was fire on the mountain on one camp, their was peace and happiness in another. Vera and Dennis had spent so much time together that they began to bond and it got to the extent where they could finish each other’s sentences. Vera couldn’t do anything without Dennis and vise versa.

With time, they began to look alike because they spent so much time together. Dennis tried to always maintain a positive atmosphere by never bringing up Vera’s pending forgiveness for her mum. He knew his place and never tried to force her into forgiving her mum because he knew that forgiveness ought to come naturally from the heart.

As time went by, Dennis began to realise that he had suddenly began to develop feelings for Vera. At first he thought it was just his emotions playing games with him but later realised that it was serious. If there was one man or person in the entire universe that knew Vera in and out, it was Dennis! For him to love her regardless of everything he knew she had been through shows that Love supersedes judgments and human comprehension. His feelings remained hidden till one fateful day.

On that day, Dennis picked Vera off from school and they went for outing because it was his day off. It was such an eventful day and it finally ended at a cinema.

They unfortunately saw a movie that was a bit similar to what Vera was going through. Being a sharp guy, Dennis figured the movie was beginning to get to Vera’s emotions so he suggested that they leave. They left halfway into the movie and gently walked down to the parking lot.

There was silence all through till Dennis broke it. “Is that tears I see on your eyes? He curiously asked and Vera soberly nodded ‘No’. He playfully held her waist and pinned her on the car door. “What are you doing?” Vera asked with a faint smile on her face and Dennis mimicked her. They laughed afterwards and finally locked eyes when they were done.

Deep down, Vera was head over heels in love with Dennis but felt he only saw her like a sister. She never had the slightest clue that he actually felt same way.

As they looked into each others eyes, they couldn’t resist their emotions and out of nowhere, Dennis leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Vera’s lips. As he tried to redraw himself, she held his neck and kissed back passionately. As they locked lips and could hardly breathe, Dennis dropped a shocker. “Be mine” he gently said as he kissed her passionately.

Immediately Vera heard that, she removed her lips; “What did you just say?” She shockingly asked.

Dennis looked right into her eyes and repeated; “Be Mine!”.

To be continue…