STUCK

       "Why wouldn't you just leave that liar? There is still life in you. Would you wait for him to suck you dry before you realize that he will kill you faster than the poison you almost drunk?" Thess chided her friend, Jessica with tears in her eyes.

"I can't leave him alone. I can't file for a divorce because…"

"Because you can't afford a lawyer?"
"No."

"Because of your children?They want you to get a divorce too. Plus they are probably suffering more than you are because of your hardheadedness. Why can't you just…"

"Because I wouldn't have a man. Yes, that's it. My foes will laugh at me for being unable to keep my husband and what will other people say?"

I stared at my friend's swollen face with mixed emotions. I didn't know how to react to her sudden outburst. I got up slowly,looked at her one last time and exited out of her house and out of her life forever.

From an outsider's perspective, I might look like a terrible friend to forsake my friend of 32 years to wallow in suffering and pain. What could I have done? The writing was on the wall, she was never going to change her mind and take her freedom from her husband.

    Jessica and I met when we were both 22 years old. It was one fine morning. The weather was as fair as my fair skin which captivated many people. I decided to meet my suppliers to get new items for my small handmade jewelry business.

I got to the warehouse of my suppliers right on time and as usual there were many women like me who had also come to restock. It was no-hands-day, which was a day where we got to rummage through different items on our own without preordering. I got some red beads, a wire cutter and round nose pliers. I wanted more beads so I moved to the section for exotic beads and there it was, a pack of the most beautiful beads I have ever seen in my life. I looked at it in its entirety and imagined how I could make some nice bracelets from them. Just as I put my hands on it, a brown hand moved like the wind and took it off the shelf.

"Excuse me, that is supposed to be mine. I was here first." I said with annoyance as I looked at the figure before me.
She was had brown skin with black curly hair that reached behind her back. Her big brown eyes fitted with her perfectly arched eyebrows. Her concave nose sat gracefully in her face. She opened her little rosy lips to say something but she ended up smirking.

"Hello, can you see me?" I waved my left hand in her face.

"Yes I can see you. I took it first so now it's mine."

"Excuse me? But you saw me here first."

"Yes but it's in my hand now so it's mine."

We went on and on until she said,
" I have an idea. Why don't we share it or I could help you find the same pack?"

I calmed down a bit after she brought up that idea. We decided to look for another of the same pack and if we couldn't find one, we shared the one available. We searched every single shelf till we found one. I was so happy and I thanked her profusely. We exchanged telephone numbers and that was where our friendship began.

We got to know each other's houses and we started hanging out.
She was smart, beautiful, industrious and of course very stubborn in a good way. She didn't change her plans easily even if she was persuaded with the most persuasive words. It did her good though. Someone almost made her put an end to her jewelry business after her shop was set ablaze to char by unknown individuals. She lost all her customers months after she was able to put up a shop again. Her inflexibility made her determined to get her customers back against all odds and she got them back.