You read some books and you just can’t stop replaying the
events in your head. You pick them up and read them over and over again,
getting the same sitting-at-the-edge suspense and adrenaline pumping in your
veins. Even if you want to, you can’t stop. It’s like you’ve been bewitched,
reminding you why you fell in love with words. You can’t just explain it, it’s
sweeter than the last spoon/handful of your favourite meal. Exactly how I felt
when I read All Fall Down by Erica Spindler. If i had the e-book, would
probably have shared it with you but it is paperback I have :(.
Enjoy today’s story and leave your comments, thank you.
Continue reading.....
DONNA’s DIARY
Mom said I should keep quiet and not tell anybody what was
happening to me. She said people will only laugh and point at me whenever I’m
outside. She said people will not respect me anymore and no man will want to
end up with someone like me, so I should keep quiet and learn how to live above
it. I should try and forget everything. She said I should pretend as if
everything was fine with me like she has been doing with her life. Honestly, I
had tried it before I even went to mama for help but it drove me crazier. How
do I pretend that my world was perfect with nothing to worry about when my
world was topsy-turvy? How do I live above my predicament? The happy girl
attitude I put up as a public show was killing me and I needed help. Mama was
my best option. Who knows best how to comfort her child but the mother, I had
thought but I was wrong. Mom had scolded me instead and told me to keep quiet.
“Don’t let the world know, it will ruin your reputation,
this family’s reputation. Keep quiet and let God sort this out”, she had said.
Why she was concerned about reputation, I could not say but a part of me died
when I heard mama utter those words. Mother said God will sort it out, is she
not supposed to be my god on earth? If she’s not willing to help me, I should
help myself then. I’ve heard these adults say that there is rest only after
death. I want to rest too. I want to be free. I want to be happy, I want the
picture perfect world I had always imagined as a child. If I can’t have it
here, I have no reason to be alive. This drugs should work, google said it will
especially when taken with alcohol. I hope find peace when I’m gone.
She put down the pen and closed the diary. She went to her
wardrobe and brought out the drugs and the bottle of rum she had been hiding
there. She swallowed the 20-something pills and washed it down with the
alcohol. The alcohol burned her throat but she did not mind. She laid on her
bed, waiting for death’s visit.
In a room, not so far from Donna’s room….
“Sanya, look at me and tell me the truth. Are you sleeping
with our daughter?”
“Our daughter or your daughter? She is not mine and you know
it”
“You bastard, she is your child. Because she is not a boy,
ehn?”
“That’s your business. She’s sha not my child”
“Is that why you are raping her, Sanya?”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes, she did and it made sense. All the sneaking out of the
room at night, looking for things that are not missing, coming home during the
day. I was suspecting you and the maid, not knowing it was our child all along”
“Well, maybe I’ve been sleeping her. So, what? Nothing is
new under the sun besides, I don’t see her as mine”
“Olusanya, what nonsense are you saying? Your own child?
What will the public say when they hear?”
“I know you won’t let them hear. You love your reputation
too much for a scandal. I bet you already told her to keep it to herself.”
“You are a devil, Sanya. Why did I even marry a man as
wicked as you? You’ve sold your soul to the devil…
“So have you. You sold your soul in exchange for money and
material things. You don’t want your public image tarnished or rubbed with dirt”.
“Go to hell, bastard. I’m not like you. At least I have a
conscience and don’t sleep with my own child”
“Well, if the mother had been doing her wifely duties, maybe
that wouldn’t have happened”
“Are you blaming me? Didn’t you see other women there? It
had to be your child, ehn?
“Woman, just shut up. I’ll do whatever I like and you can’t
stop me, okay?”
They kept on arguing not knowing their child was dying.
Later at night they found her body, the empty blister packs, half empty bottle
of rum and her diary. Donna’s mother read the diary and all she kept muttering
was “I killed her”
Written by David Maduekwe (The Gang Member)
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