Benjamin….
I saw her face drop when I asked to leave. But I had to, I couldn’t get used to the fact that l was
insane for over 2 years. Seeing myself in long shaggy hair and beards was so unbelievable.
After Jen explained everything, l was astonished at how a stranger would pick me up in the state I
was before. She was a good looking woman for sure and from the neat house she told me was
hers, I could tell she was a working class. Her motives for allowing herself go to the extreme of
making sure I was Okey, wasn’t making sense. I knew she had a huge heart for sure.
Her eyes looked passionate whenever she looked at me which I noticed all the time as she told
me what happened, kept glancing at me.
” What happened to me?” I asked my wife Clara as we lay down in our bed the night after I went
home. I had told her all about the prayers and how I was delivered the day Jennifer took me home.
For some reason I couldn’t help feel she wasn’t happy to see me. She seemed tense and I thought
maybe my condition had affected her too. She told me our son was with my mother, after trying to
ask her why, she shrugged telling me we would talk about it late.
” I don’t know, why are you asking me Ben?” She responded unconcerned.
” Okey, honey honestly you are acting off, Jennifer is a total stranger to me but she was so excited
seeing me okey. But I can’t help think you are not pleased with my presence” I sat up looking at
her as she played some games on her smartphone.
I noticed she looked different, something about her had changed and I wanted to find out why.
” You were God knows where for over 2 years Ben, you expect me to jump in excitement just
because you showed up your face with a beautiful woman, giving the nonsense story of
Whatever!” She said with ‘whatever’ stretched out.
” I am your husband and I expert you to feel happy seeing me back. I have not gotten to see the
other family members yet and I know a lot of people will be happy to see me well” I told her but
she didn’t dare turn her face to look at me. It was like I was still dirty and mad in her eyes.
” Tell me honey, did you know I was sick, I mean, that mental illness?” I asked this time grabbing
the phone and throwing it on the pillow.
” Yes I knew, so what?” She answered with sarcasm in he voice.
“Mmmmh Okey, so it had to take a stranger to rescue me from death, and my wife was busy
doing…. games or the devil knows what” I yelled feeling emotional.
” Please Ben you just came in yesterday, I was getting used to live in peace and now am not ready
to welcome some drama. So please stop yelling at me. ” She responded with a cold face.
” Wait now its all coming back” I sighed remembering some days back before everything became
dark.
Flash back….
” Hey honey, am just from looking at the accounts records Mulenga sent from Lusaka. What is
going on there? A lot of money is missing” I asked Clara on the phone as I sat in my office.
” What are insinuating Ben? Am your wife and the accountant in this your company. Why on earth
are you accusing me of wasting money!” She screamed.
” You are wrong Clara, I just want to ask because Mulenga raised a genuine complaint of us failing
to settle debts there. The business is going down just in the few months I have been away” I tried
to reason with her but she went on shouting and accusing me of calling her a thief.
My marriage to Clara was all rosy when we first got married. She was so sweet and I knew I found
the woman of my dreams. But something about her changed drastically after she gave birth to our
son Junior Benjamin..
She became moody and some people from the company told me some rumours of her having
some affair but I was not the type to believe everything people said.
My late father had taught me to always try solve problems of my home without violence and never
to act on people’s rumours about my partner, as that would destroy us.
That issue passed and a month later, Mulenga who was the assistant accountant called me again
this time he told me the company was going into liquidation.
I travelled all the way to Lusaka to talk to my wife about the money problems our company was
facing. She had refused to shift to Kabwe saying it was a ghost town and so boring. Which made
me travel back and forth on all weekends to see her and my son.
She however just responded in a way that made me start thinking twice about what people were saying of her building a house and making some other business with her lover.
That week we had a huge fight and I went back to Kabwe very upset. I stayed for a week without
talking to her then I received a disturbing call, one Friday afternoon.
” Sir, your wife is right now lodging at some lodge here with a man. If you want to know the truth.
Come over and see for yourself” the anonymous caller told me and cut the line before I could say
a thing.
I wad still looking at the caller number when my phone rung again.
” She’s at Cresta View Hotel” he spoke and again cut the line.
I was so disturbed that afternoon and I left all my work and drove to Lusaka. My instincts told me
to first go home and confirm in case the person was bluffing, but I found her nephew, the boy I had
suggested we keep after her sister died, sitting home with Ben who was by then a year and 9
months old.
” Where is your aunty?” I asked the boy and he shook his head.” She left early in the morning
before the maid came and she has not yet come back. The maid just received a call to spend a
night with us. She is in the kitchen ” the boy told me .
I couldn’t keep my peace. I rushed out and drove at a high speed to Cresta View.
The cool wind blew in my face as I sat in my car waiting to see any signs of her as I didn’t find her
car parked outside.
I was almost giving up when I saw her Jeep drive in and they came out with a dark huge guy I
couldn’t recognise. My blood boiled at the sight of them walking and laughing their hands locked
together.
I walked towards them and called her out, as they got into a room. I stepped in the door way
before the man could close the door.
” What is the meaning of this Clara?” I asked
” Ben! What are you doing here?” She answered her eyes wide open.
” So people have been saying the truth about you all this while?” I shook my head and didn’t stay
to hear her response as I walked back to my car outside.
I was so mad I broke a few items in our bedroom. To make things worse, she came back after 2
hours and just stood watching me like I was a fool.
” l want you out of my house! I yelled angrily. You are ungrateful you s–t and..”
” Hey !” She raised her hands up to Shut me.
” Don’t insult me Ben. If you so wish do all you want like I care” she shrugged and I pulled her
close slapping her face.
” You are a coward and apparently not man enough for me!” She spat crying as she held her face.
“You are right people told you and you are too naive to notice. Just like you forced yourself on me
even when I told you I was in love with another man. Henry is the man for me and he has always
been.” She shouted her voice infuriating me the more.
” I loved you and you promised to make us work. He dumped you for crying out loud and you are
apparently cheap enough to go back to him. He’s using you to get my money you fool.
I can’t stand you! ” I spat
” Am going back to Kabwe cause I can’t stand your sight of disgrace. You are a snake and I can assure you, the money you have been spending on that clown is all you will get from this marriage,
it’s over!
Leave my house and take my child to my mother because I can’t risk driving a small child this late.
”
I screamed and left the house angrily. From that point, everything was blank. I couldn’t remember
anything else until I woke up in a room with a priest and the woman I came to know as Jennifer my
saviour.
………..
” Oh my God!” I held my head looking at Clara.
” That’s it, how could I forget” l sighed looking at her now active glance.
” You witch! Don’t tell me this madness was your doing, cause l swear to God I will make you pay.
The priest talked about some woman involved. Now it is making sense why you are acting up. ” I
scoffed
She stood up standing up to me, ” And who will believe you Ben? There is no proof to what you
are saying. People just know you were involved in rituals to boost your business and something
went wrong” she smiled wickedly.
” You devil!” I shouted trying to hit her but she held my hand. ” Don’t you dare! I am warning you.
Am not that stupid woman you married years back. You don’t want to mess with me, or you will
wish you remained in your madness!” She snapped and walked out on me leaving me shocked
and lost of words.
” Clara?” I asked myself sitting on the side stool defeated. Her face had something strange to it.
I however refused to give up. I wanted to know what happened to the rest of my family especially
my son, mother and sisters and the companies too.
I had no phone, no money and nothing I could use to get to anyone that night nor call anyone.
I felt trapped in my own home and I walked to the living room which was down stairs. As I
emmgered to have a view of the living room I saw Clara walking outside with her car keys in her
hands.
” What happened here when l was away?” I asked the boy, her nephew.
He looked at me and shook his head. ” aunty has been coming with different men. First it was that
man she called Henry but he suddenly stopped coming and she started bringing different men.
She told me everyone you went mad because of rituals and she took Ben to grandmother’s ” the
boy explained.
” Oh my God what happened to that woman, how and when did she turn into this demon?” I asked
myself laying my back in the couch and noticing our wedding photo which used to hang straight
where I sat wasn’t there. Things had changed, it was so clear.
I didn’t know how to start picking the pieces of my life back together. I looked for the company
documents in the bedroom but there was nothing, according to the boy, Clara was now running my
company in Lusaka though the boy wasn’t sure what happened to the Kabwe branch.
I shed tears as I walked around my house which felt so strange. Everything had changed, my gym
room was empty and filled with some boxes of old clothes, All my gym equipment gone.
” Oh my God help me” I whispered sitting outside on the veranda feeling my head cracking. Only a day after coming back from the dead, now I was shuttered to pieces.
To be continued…