Heartaches and Tears – Episode 24

HEARTACHES AND TEARS – Episode 24
A story by Kennedy C Katongo
THE PRICE OF LOVE -P-3
There was total silence in the room. It was so quite, that it became scary. On my end, I was shocked, I had no idea that Amanda was pregnant. To think of it, she had become very selective of food and ate a lot. The mood swings and all, but since I wasn’t found home most of the time, I failed to catch it.
“It’s okay. You can tell us.” Thelma commented from the back.
“Yes I knew.” She responded. Her eyes became watery and I sat there looking like a fool.
“You knew! But why didn’t you tell me?” I exclaimed.
“I couldn’t tell you. H-e, He warned me not to tell anyone – Once I made him aware of the situation.” She responded as she began sobbing. After all, it was obvious what caused the bleeding.
“Unfortunately, the baby didn’t make it. He kicked you in the stomach so much that the bag broke and the baby was deformed. That caused you to bleed a lot and eventually, you passed. Too much blood was lost.” The Dr said.
Amanda did not say a word, it was the tears that said everything on her behalf.
The Dr went on and on about other things but I didn’t pay attention anymore. I was busy trying to comfort my friend.
“I know this isn’t the best time. But I would like to ask you just a few questions and we will be on our way.” The man who had introduced himself as Mr Mbewe said.
“Nathan told us that you two actually crossed paths. And he found you under a heating argument with KK. Is that correct?” Thelma asked.
Amanda gave Nathan a strong aggressive look, “Yes. It’s true.”
“Mind sharing why you two were arguing?” She added another question.
Amanda went on to explain to everyone who was in the room that the argument was because KK wanted her to abort. In his defense, he denied to be the father and said she had to be sleeping with someone else then. When she told him that she would keep the child with or without his help he got bad and threatened to beat her to death if she didn’t do what he had asked of me. According to Amanda, that was when she had just told him about the pregnancy and it was only 2 months.
However, when KK learnt that she hadn’t aborted. He got aggressive and kept talking about doing something bad to her.
“He then called me… Asked me were I was. I didn’t tell him, yet, a few minutes later he showed up. He wasn’t drunk drunk, but I could smell the alcohol on him.” Amanda explained.
“So he started insulting me, when I got up to leave… That was when he began shouting to catch everyone’s attention. And it so happened that Nathan was near by. When he came to check and found it was me… He wasted no time and jumped on KK. The two of them were at it for a few minutes until people came to break the fight. Nathan held my hand and dragged me into a Taxi.” She sighed heavily.
“He then began to talk about how I just wanted to trap him with the baby and other ill things.” “When we got home, Mwaka wasn’t around. So he left me there and went out. When he returned he was drunk. He began pushing me around and when I tried to stand up to him… That’s when the beating started. I don’t know how long it lasted but it took time, by the time Mwaka came shouting at the door I had already began bleeding. He kept saying he was going to kill me… That I wasn’t going to trap him with a baby… He spoke of how our relationsh¡p was just to pass time and it was nothing serious. From time to time he who kick me so hærd in the stomach – such that I would feel live vomiting my intestines.” Amanda explained. She was sobbing and tears running down her face as she spoke.
“He made me lose my baby! He made me lose my baby!” She scre-med out and began kicking the beddings off her.
“Amanda… Please come down.” The Dr said. Nathan and Mr Mbewe walked to the sides of the bed and pinned her down.
“Amanda! Stop!” Nathan finally spoke.
“He made me lose my baby Nathan.” She said in tears. Her voice was drowning in sorrow as she spoke.
“It will be okay. You need to be strong.” Nathan told her.
Amanda always behaved normal around Nathan no matter how loon she wanted to behave.
“Am kindly asking if everyone can leave the room. I would like to have a word with Amanda.” Thelma asked everyone. We all moved outside, Nathan called me, he had this disappointed look on his face but still tried to act normal. Talk about being Bipolar, this dude needed a check up.
@@ @@ NATHAN @@ @@
“KK! Of all people Mwaka, you just had to let her choose a fool.” I said as we stood outside.
“I didn’t know… He seemed normal.” She responded.
“Normal? You are her friend. Its your job to make sure she doesn’t make reckless decisions. Don’t tell me she was swept off her feet by those fancy Ubuntu designs. Damn!” I shouted.
“Nathan calm down…”
“Don’t ask me to calm! Look at her? She’s a mess. She’s traumatised. The bloody man she thought she loved almost beat her to death – not only that, he killed her unborn baby.” I told her.
I felt so mad at what had happened. Maybe if she accepted my job offer all this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe things would have ended up different.
I got myself a cup of coffee and sat in the car. At that space in time, I wished I could close my eyes and everything would disappear. The pain that had surrounded my heart, I began to blame myself. Maybe if I didn’t go silent on her for 5 months, I could have saved her from this monster of a man she had taken up as a boyfriend.
Mr Mbewe had assured me he was going to be thrown into prison, even if they charged him to pay her… That wouldn’t carry any weight.
THE PREVIOUS NIGHT.
“How did we end up making love?” I asked Mable as we sat down on the carpet.
“Why are you asking me that? All I did was help you bath.” Mable responded. She moved her head and slept on my thighs.
“You know I love you right? You, Jay and Kenny. You guys are my world. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” “I know with this incident, you might have felt otherwise… But trust me, I just want to help out a friend and make sure she doesn’t go the other way.” I told her. With those words, I sealed them with a k-ss.
Mable didn’t say anything, but I knew she understood what I meant and that I really meant every word of it.
“Let’s go and cook.” she said as we got up.
“Babe. It’s 23:20. Why should we go and cook this time?” I asked her.
“You being lazy babe. Lets go just.” She smiled.
Mable and I spent time in the kitchen making noise and didn’t even cook a single thing. She just kept sending me to get things from the cupboard. Maybe that was punishment.
.
The thought of my time with Mable calmed me down. Even though I felt bad about the type of man Amanda had decided to be with… I realised that love is one crazy road.
To be continued…