[STORY] FORSAKEN (Episode 02)

Episode 02.

Being a bastard child is bad, but being a bastard and an abandoned child made my case a special one. As frustrating as it may sound, I did not give up, I had a big strong heart, I knew it was a phase of life I had to pass through to make me better. Even though I had no idea as to what the future had in store for me, I just lived my life with so much enthusiasm and optimism.

My childhood was a very painful one. I lived with the stigmatization of being an abandoned child, rejected by my very own parents. At home, grandpa made my life a living hell and at school, students who knew my story mocked and ridiculed me at the slightest provocation. I was an average student but I was very good at outdoor activities. I loved sports especially athletics, I had won many prizes for the school in outdoor competitions.

At last, I was in my final year in high school. I had honestly thought my being focused in bookwork could change grandpa’s opinion about me, but even after my final exams in high school nothing really changed. What is next for me was the big question I kept asking myself.
Secondary school was tough; grandma was everything, my grandfather refused to contribute a kobo saying he could not risk making the same mistake twice. According to him, nothing good would come out of Joy’s daughter as that’s my mother’s name.

That fateful Saturday evening, I came back from an errand only to meet my grandmother shivering on the bed. She was running temperature. I ran to the nearest chemist and bought some drugs. I prepared some food which grandma could barely eat and gave her the drugs I had bought for her.

At about 7pm, grandpa came to meet mama in a worse condition. She didn’t get better despite the drugs I had given her. Grandpa and I had to get a cab and take her to the hospital closest to us. The next morning, granny’s other daughter Aunty Faith came with her husband. Later that day, the doctor came and informed us that Mama had suffered a heart attack. We were all surprised and wondered what could have caused it. Grandpa concluded I was the cause of Mama’s condition, saying she must have been thinking about me. According to him, he had heard grandma mentioning how she was trying to get money to enroll me for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB). Granny managed to speak and told them I was not to blame for her predicament, but her words didn’t help at all as grandpa remained upset at me. Aunty Faith didn’t help matters too, she took sides with grandpa that I and my mother had been a bad omen to the family. I just stood there speechless and prayed that Mama get well soon.

Four days later, we were still at the hospital, I was all alone with mama, papa had gone to buy something, while Aunty Faith had gone home to prepare food for her children. Mama called me and spoke so faintly, “My child of destiny” she called me “The road you are walking on would be lonely, rough and difficult, but you must not give up, for a better turn awaits you at the end of it, you must stay strong dear child, pray and forgive people even before they ask, be the best you can be, put God first and do good to all”. These were her exact last words to me. She then asked me to go and get her apples. I left to get the apples two streets away.

Upon my arrival, I saw a doctor, two nurses, grandpa and aunty Faith, in Mama’s ward, the doctor covered her head to toes, and told us she couldn’t make it.
To Be Continued… . . .

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