FACADE {Completed ✔}

CHAPTER SIX

Uduak was folding the freshly washed clothes when her phone started to ring. She immediately picked up the call without checking who the caller was.

“Hello!”

“Hey sis, I’m in front of your gate.” It was Mary.

“Okay, hold on,” she said, and dropped the clothes she was holding and quickly went to open the gate.

“Hello!” Mary exclaimed and wrapped her arms around her.

“I thought you travelled with your mother and brother?” Uduak questioned, leading Mary into the house.

“You know I can’t leave my work and start going back to Akwa Ibom. And don’t forget I travelled not too long,” Mary responded.

“If you were there, you won’t be here now so it’s okay. That aside, I missed you. How come you remembered I existed? I’m surprised to see you.”

“I missed you too and I’m happy to see you. By the way, you are getting thinner and thinner every time we see, sis. Are you sick? Or did you fall down the stairs this time?”

“How do you mean?” Uduak rolled her eyes and left her at the door step.

“Sister! Don’t pretend as if you don’t know what I am talking about.”

“No, I don’t know what you are talking about. Please enlighten me,” she feigned ignorance.

“I know my brother has been hitting you, sis. I have known all this while.”

“What! Your brother is the most caring man on earth. Why will you lay such accusation on him?” she asked, looking sternly.

“I am 24 years for God’s sake, sis so I can identify when someone falls from the stairs and when someone is being beaten, constantly. It is clear you are trying to defend him, but for how long will this go on?”

Uduak was utterly astonished. So Mary knew, but refused to say anything.

“Sorry if it seems I am intruding in your marriage. I have waited for you to tell me yourself, but since you didn’t want to, I had to bring it up. How long has he been hitting you sis?”

“He didn’t mean it.”

“That is not the answer to the question. How long has my brother been hitting you, Uduak,” Mary asked, calling her by her name. She never did that.

“The first time was three years ago,” she replied. For a few seconds, her eyes flickered on something she was unsure of. The replay of the memories, of the pains, of the day everything changed, the very moment she realized Michael wasn’t the man she thought he was.

“Why?”

“I spoke to one of his colleague during the end of the year party his bank hosted. He called me a whore and accused me on flirting with the guy.” Her eyes clenched shut, as tears began to roll out her eyes. Each one showing just how torn apart she really was.

“You are not a whore sis, and anyone who abuses a woman should be locked up in jail, even if he is my blood brother.” Reassuringly, Mary patted her on the shoulder.

“But I still love him.”

Mary’s eyes widened, “How can you still love someone who has attempted to murder you so many times? Very soon, he will start raping you.” When Uduak kept quiet, Mary stared at her with her mouth opened widely. “Sis, has he raped you?”

Uduak nodded and sobbed on her arms.

“You have to leave this marriage now before it’s too late,” Mary sighed. Of all the things Michael could learn from his father, it was how to beat a woman. Their father during their childhood always abused their mother. The abuse continued till even the last day he died in a car accident.

“Where do I go when I leave? What will I tell the people who look up to me as their role model? They will think I can’t keep a home,” Uduak sniffed and continued “If I leave, then my unborn child will be without a father. I don’t want that for my child.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“Yes, I found out two weeks ago. I’m 10 weeks gone already.”

She wiped the tears in her lower lashes and continued folding the clothes on the couch. Mary paced round the sitting room totally confused. She didn’t know how she was going to help her, not yet anyway, but she would have to figure it out one way or the other before her brother killed her. And now she is pregnant, she has to leave for the sake of her child.

“This is the more reason you should leave, think about your child, please. People will talk but they don’t know what you are passing through in the name of marriage. If you can’t do it on your own, I am here to help you.” Mary reassured.

Just for a moment, a glimmer of hope flashed across her face. It didn’t stay long, before quietly fading.

“Thank you dear. Nothing will happen to my child, I will make sure of that.” It was time she stopped making excuses for him, hoping that he would change. The love Michael had for her was poisonous and toxic and she’d escape from it no matter what it took. No matter the choice she made, she’d always be haunted by the truth of the kind of man she fell in love with.

Yes! It's about time someone spoke to Uduak. Do you think she'll listen?