Stephnie was calm for a while, and then managed a few words, “we do have tough times, sometimes. I find it difficult to understand him, but on the whole, he was a loving and caring husband. What do you think Doctor Lens?”
Doctor Lens brushed his hair with his left hand. He wasn’t sure Stephnie understood his question perhaps she was still traumatized by the events. He forced a cough and tried reframing his question. This time, he was more forward, “yes, I know Mike is a lovely man, and quite frankly he was the most organized man I have ever meant. I ask again, was he a member of a cult? Perhaps you should know.”
She stood up sobbing for a while and then stared at Doctor Lens, who was waiting eagerly to hear her talk.
“I honestly do not know, but what I saw a few hours ago got me thinking fast. When the men in black walked in uninvited there was a friend of Mike I know was with them, his name is Ohman Chrest. It was when he spoke to me, I had a clue Mike was in some sort of cult. He never told me, I think he was lured into it by that villain of a friend, he is such a beast.”
Doctor Lens knew Stephnie was telling the truth, he could see it in her eyes. He was short of words to express his sad feelings but managed to counsel, “The burden of Mike’s death will be too much for you to bear Mrs. Dickson. I suggest you look for help, try and get in touch with Mike’s extended family or relatives, friends—”
Stephnie knew she had to be strong now. Mike was dead and must be buried.
She closed her eyes as she spoke interrupting him, “he is survived by two brothers and a sister, and I will let them know about this soon. “The only problem I have is that they never love me. I mean they never wanted me. They thought I forced myself on Mike to marry me, and that was not true, Mike loved me.” She stared into space as her fingers drummed nervously on the chair she sat on. “They never accepted our relationship, never attended our marriage. Calling them now and telling them about Mike’s death will make them have this evil impression I killed him because of his wealth or properties. And that also is impossible, Doctor Lens. I’m afraid, I guess Mike never knew death will knock at his door so soon. He was only thirty-eight, well I guess nobody does,” she put on a fearful look and continued, “you know as well as I do that our tradition sometimes stinks and for a woman who lost her husband this early it is nightmares for her. They never wished us well, they have always wished something mysterious happens to us, and guess what, I think the devil in hell had answered their miserable prayers now, and I feel I am in a river too hot for me to swim.”
She started crying but held back her tears as she stood up and walked up to where Terry was sitting down playing with his toys.
“You see Doctor Lens. I know he wouldn’t have a pin of his father's inheritance. Mike never wrote his will, it would have been stupid if he did at his age. I’m in a state of dilemma. I see a horrible future ahead. I think I better start calling Mike’s family before they hear about his death from someone else.”
She was about to dial Mr. Felix Caplor’s number when Doctor Lens stopped her.
“Please not now, I’ll call my hospital to come with an ambulance, let’s take him to the Mortuary first, and then you could go ahead with your calls. I am deeply sorry about this Mrs. Dickson. I pray the good Lord to grant you the fortitude to bear this great irreparable loss.”
He picked up his cell phone from the center table where he left it a while ago and called his hospital.
A few minutes later, the ambulance was in Mike’s compound, they came inside and took his lifeless body, and drove away.
Doctor Lens looked at Stephnie for a while and stood up, “I’m afraid, I must be leaving for the hospital now. I am sorry about this Mrs. Dickson. The Lord is your strength. When they come, I mean Mike’s relations; please they should come to my hospital. If you need my help or attention never hesitate to call on me.”
He checked his wristwatch and frowned, “by now he should be in the mortuary or…not to worry Mrs. Dickson, everything will be alright—will be just fine, okay.”
Stephnie knew everything wouldn’t be all right as she watched him drive away. She could hear the throbbing of her heart now.
She groans in pain as her waist aches. She knew what she dreaded most had finally come, and it was obvious this was just the beginning of an imminent family war.
Stephnie was in the sitting room alone. She was happy that Terry was already fast asleep upstairs.
Was she really happy?
Or she never wanted to be disturbed by him. She relaxed back on her seat with eyes gazing far—far into the realm of uncertainty.
She had not fully recovered from the trauma.
The trauma, came into her at a terrifying speed, too difficult to handle.
Though few days have gone by, she could still feel the weight of the incident on her nerves.
The forming substance mixed with blood dripping down Mike’s lips as he sat helplessly on that chair and came back to her in a flash. She widened her eyes and jerked uncontrollably in her seat. Fresh panic crawled through her spine; she felt instant heat swelling within her stomach. She placed her hands on it, trying hard to suppress it.
Her thoughts rushed down memory lane again. Now she was ready to pull them out. What went wrong, how it all happened, and why she never saw it coming?
How could everything just happen so quickly?
The thought of Mike in the mortuary was still a dream to her. A dream she doesn’t knows how it came but she had dreamt it and everything looks so real and she can’t hinder it from replaying in her mind anytime, she remembers the incident. The incident came with so many tears and agony.
What is he doing there?
Is he dead?
But how come, he never said anything?
It sounds so unbelievable, how could he just leave like that?
Not even a word of goodbye or something. Yes, the sign was there in a way. When he was behaving sickly and when he never ate the way he should. That was when he said he had a fever and when he started coming home before closing hours—but how come, I didn’t just know it or recognized it?
Was my eye out of this world?
How could I have acted so stupid?
Pondering so fast, her anger swells. Suddenly, she watched her teacup crash on the floor out of her hand. And that moment, her thought sank as she stood up to attend to the pieces.
Suddenly her thought resumed.
Has Caplor delivered the message?
She had already delivered the message to Felix Caplor, who was one of Mike’s distant cousins. He was shocked on hearing about Mike’s sudden death but had promised to convey the sad message to Mike’s brothers.
Stephnie never anticipated her marriage to Mike Dickson.
Squeezing back her thoughts into memory lane with her right hand to her cheek, she captured vividly how it all began—
He had meant her on the way when she was on an errand to buy a few liters of oil. He was looking great. A man any woman will desperately want to have. He was a man, who knows how to break through the fortified walls of a woman’s heart with words of love too hard to be ignored.
They started talking, then dating, and not long they got married.
She had never wanted the relationship to be that long because some other ladies were fast becoming interested in Mike. They were all trying to get his attention.
Mike was calm, smart, and intelligent. She knew from the start, she was getting married to an intelligent man, but what she wasn’t too sure about was Mike’s family background. He remembered Mike had asked about hers, and could still remember vividly what she told him, “I lost my parent on their way back to City in a ghastly car accident. They never loved traveling at night. But the traffic got them stuck up, and they were forced to travel blindly in the dark. I lost them both. I was ten at the time, and the house and properties we had were auctioned by my callous Uncle. He sold them for peanuts and used part of it in sending two out of his sixteen children to Spain with the hope they will in turn help him out of poverty when they start making money overseas. He said he was investing in their future, but it was with my inheritance! It was horrible for me, I grew up in pain. I escaped immediately after I turned fifteen without his knowledge. I later found help in Tinda, who brought lots of hope into my life. I managed to complete my secondary school education through her brilliant efforts. She hadn’t enough money, but she tried her best, and her best was good enough and now I found you, that’s all to it!”
She still recollects Mike’s smiles after, she told him about herself.
Stephnie remembered meeting some of Mike’s relations when she finally got married to him.
Their action and behavior towards her were insane, she wanted to withdraw, but her love for Mike kept her going.
And now, Mike is no more, leaving her all alone—alone to pass through the heat of a family, who never loved her. She knew what she was going to pass through would have been better imagined than experienced.
Her heart pounded once more against her chest.
She sighed and yawned.
She knew being a widow wasn’t going to be funny at all and now she is faced with the world and its challenges.
Her eyeball moved again as if, she could not see into the future—a future so dark and full of horrors. It won’t have been so, if Mike told her everything she needed to know about his business, and what she does, but he had kept all that to himself.
She stood up and walked towards an opened window at the far extreme corner of the sitting room. Closing it, she spread the curtain across it.
The sitting room was becoming cold and the temperature was fast dropping.
She started for the bedroom where Terry was sleeping. She entered the bedroom quietly and covered Terry with thickly covered clothes.
She watched him for a while and left the bedroom quietly for the sitting room. As she sat down, thoughts flew through her mind once more.
She had earlier called Mike’s lawyer to find out if Mike had written a will and had got a no for an answer. And that was like swallowing a bitter pill. She knew she had to calm down and face life challenges soon to manifest.
What does the future hold for me?
How can I walk through life without Mike?
As unstoppable thoughts flogged hard on her, she stood up and made for the window. She pulled the curtain to her right and then peeped at the moon bending her neck. As she gazed carefully at the moon, she wasn’t so sure whether it was an eclipse of the moon or something more scientific.
Her mind was completely far away, all she can see now in her mind her was the trauma ahead of her, which will come with more tears.