Twisted Part C--Contributed By @winarobert
Onyinye had taken too long to return and console her, and Eunice was afraid that she would drive herself mad with her pitiful state. She wished anyone would call to help her break the swift spiral movement she was making towards depression but her phone was suspiciously silent, if Eunice didn’t know better she would have thought that Onyinye had shared the news of her breakup with the rest of their friends, but she knew Onyinye would never do that to her.
Onyinye was the epitome of secrecy and loyalty and that was one of the many reasons Eunice loved her. She wouldn’t make her pain of little effect, she would never make fun of her so. So why was her phone silent?
Eunice stared at the phone willing it to ring. The silence was driving her mad and she needed a distraction from the pain she felt. Any distraction would do, more than ever she wished a work related call would come in, needing her to get out of the house. The report still needed editing, but Eunice would rather bury her head in the ground than face the computer right now.
She was about to break down into another bout of tears, this time feeling sorry for herself when her phone rang, the ringtone alerting her that it as her Ma calling. Eunice groaned internally. Her Ma’s call was the last call she needed right now for various reasons; she would know something was wrong from Eunice’s first ‘hello’, and she would pester her until she spilled.
Eunice would have let the phone ring and maybe call her back when she felt better, whenever that would be, but her Ma would keep calling and would also be getting more and more worried with each unanswered call.
Eunice had just one option.
“Hello Ma, Ma good morning,” she answered the call, smiling and hoping the faux cheerfulness would find its way into her voice.
No such luck.
“Ugochi, O gi ni, Ugochi what is it?” her Ma asked immediately she heard her voice.
“Ugochi, O gi ni, Ugochi what is it?” Nneoma asked immediately she heard her second daughter’s voice. She knew when her children were sad, and judging from her voice, her daughter was presently very sad.
She also knew that was the reason she didn’t pick her phone immediately. Her children knew that she suffered from anxiety if they don’t pick up her calls as soon as was possible and avoided it happening after she had almost killed herself when Tobechi, her first son, had not picked up her call on time one day when he was choked with work, according to is explanation when he came to see her in the hospital after she had repeatedly thrown herself on the floor calling on death to come.
If not for the neighbours who had rushed in the moment she hit her head on the wall and slipped into unconsciousness, she didn’t know what would have happened to her. Although she was wiser now and less dramatic, Nneoma still got worried when her children don’t pick her calls at the first ring. She knew it was time to let go of such fear, but it was hard considering that that was the way she learned of her husband’s death.
Nnanna, her late husband, was usually busy and so when she had called and he didn’t pick up immediately, she had stopped calling believing he was busy and tried calling again at a later time. It was at the third attempt that someone else picked telling her without finesse and unsympathetically that her husband was dead.
He died of heart attack.
Nneoma still blamed herself for not trying to reach him repeatedly, maybe if she had, someone would have heard it ringing repeatedly and known something was wrong. Instead, her husband had grown cold where he had slumped in his office before he was found. She would not allow it happen again.
“Nothing Ma, I’m fine! How are you?” Ugochi asked breaking into her thoughts with her false cheerfulness.
“Ugochi.”
It was a simple mention of her name, but Nneoma knew her children knew when to stop playing around and get straight with her.
It worked.
“It’s Kenneth.”
“Gi ni mere, what happened?” Nneoma asked, her heart skipping a beat. Most news these days told about someone’s death, and she hoped that was not the case now. She had told God not to allow any of her children become widowed. She asked Him to put all the suffering on her instead; she didn’t wish the loss of a partner on anyone, not even her enemy, not to talk of her children.
Although Kenneth was not yet her son-in law, Nneoma knew her daughter liked him a lot.
“He broke up with me,” Ugochi replied.
For few seconds, Nneoma tried to gather her thoughts. Reining in her anger, she asked the first question that came into her mind. “Why?”
“I don’t know Mummy, I don’t know. He sent me a text this morning and broke up with me,” her daughter replied then broke down in tears.
“On your birthday,” Nneoma finished.
Nneoma was pained that her daughter was far away, she would have held her while she cried.
“It’s okay, stop crying. I called to pray for you on your birthday and I will do just that,” she consoled her daughter. As she prayed for her daughter, blessing her with all her heart, Nneoma noticed something and felt a bit disturbed about it.
She knew it was partly her fault and she knew just what to do to repair it. She only hoped it was not too late as she knew the heart tends to have a mind of its own.
She sighed deeply then started talking sense into her daughter.