SILENCE

Larna couldn’t hold her breath any no longer so she just stood by the lawn and watched her husband make funny faces just besides the pool.

‘And you go to the gym everyday right?’ he teased

She shot him an evil stare then settled on the lawn

‘We need to see the kids off.’ Elisha told her as he walked towards where she was seated

‘You could have thought of that before making me chase you around.’ She said trying to catch her breath

He looked at her before shaking his head vigorously.

‘We need to see them off.’ He said walking towards her

She got on her feet reluctantly and walked back into the house with her husband, Sandra and Saidi were just about to walk out when the two appeared.

‘See you later!’ they exclaimed at the same time

Larna smiled as she watched her kids run off, she couldn’t believe that she was capable of bringing such beauty into the universe.

‘You know they are yours right?’ her husband asked

‘Yes they are ours.’ She said moving closer to where he stood

‘You know how this ends.’ he said staring deep into her eyes.

*

Mrs. Chishala watched as the last relatives left, the funeral had finished the previous night and because they couldn’t travel; they had to wait for morning.

She looked on as the car left, her mind taking her back to the night that her husband had died.

He had not been sick a day but it looked like something was troubling him, he kept telling her about how he felt like death was about to come his way and that he needed to work things out with his daughter.

She had been against this because she knew the kind of person Larna was but he insisted, so after arguing about it; they finally called her over. Now you see Larna is not the kind of child that will jump at her parents’ words, they didn’t know why she even hated them and by the time she was showing up he was gone.

Not once had she shed a tear and despite people talking it didn’t shock Mrs. Chishala, she had hoped that maybe she would be remorseful but she had dragged her husband out of the place in the night. It was like she was trying so hard to get away from their lives as soon as possible.

She settled into an armchair and just allowed the tears to fall, she just couldn’t understand why her husband would leave her alone in a cruel world with no one to call family.

Grabbing her phone, she called the only person she thought of.

‘Hello.’ Larna responded trying to catch her breath

With two kids their marriage was still a ball of fire and they still managed to go to heights they never thought they would.

‘I need to see you.’ Mrs. Chishala said between sobs

Larna got up from the bed living her husband wondering and rushed into the bathroom.

‘Why do you want to see me when I was with you yesterday?’ she asked coldly

‘Larna don’t you have a heart?’

‘I have a family, you should know that I have one otherwise how would I have been living under the same roof with them?’

‘Girl I am your mother!’

‘I am not disputing that fact, I am just stating the obvious.’ She yelled back

There was silence between them.

‘Why do you hate me so much?’

She couldn’t help but laugh, after so many years she was finally asking that question.

‘I don’t hate you neither did I hate your husband.’

‘Larna he was your father.’

‘Then he should have acted like one!’ she screamed memories of the past hitting her hard

‘He is dead, whatever he did to you; you should let it go.’ She pleaded

‘Let it go huh, let it go you say? You think him dying will just make everything okay?’

‘If only you could tell me what he did, if only you could just open up. Maybe I would know how to help.’

‘I don’t need your help.’

Just then Elisha walked in and grabbed the phone from her

‘Mother.’ He said with a smile

‘My son.’

‘How are you holding up?’

The conversation went on and on until he dropped the line before promising that he would go over there with the kids to visit her.

Then he turned to look at his wife who had an angry look on her face.

‘Were you eavesdropping on me?’

‘Why do you hate your parents so much?’ he asked avoiding her question

‘We have been through this a number of times, I don’t hate them. I just never liked them much whilst growing up.’ She said taking off the towel she had wrapped round before stepping into the shower

‘And you always do that right?’

Larna opened the tap and whatever Elisha said fell on deaf ears. He walked out of the room and went to the guest wing where he took his bath from.

He just couldn’t understand why she hated her parents so much, when he had met her; he thought it would change but it never did.

After bathing, she changed into a pair of slacks and a vest then headed to the kitchen. She needed to start her daily routine which was baking whatever orders she had and the funeral had been a draw back for her because now she had pending work.

She looked at all her notes and got busy, by the time she was resting it was already lunch hour and the kids would be back soon so she quickly fixed some pasta with meat balls.

Elisha on the other hand was working on a new design for a hotel which was supposed to be put up in the months to come. This was the most challenging design for him to come up with but he trusted himself to bring it to life.

The sound of his phone brought him back to life, it was his private investigator Ben; after the incident in the morning, he had asked him to do a search on his wife.

‘Anything for me?’ he asked

‘Nothing Sir, I couldn’t get into her past and I should mention that they are no records of your wife anywhere. It’s like she doesn’t even exist.’ He told him

‘How is that even possible?’

‘It could also be that someone in high authorities is protecting her Sir.’

Elisha dropped his phone when he heard that, what was his wife hiding that she had to be unknown to the world?

..

Kwenje’s Girl

Winnie