#ShortStoryNight A True Story- Full Episode

story written by Nnamani Sandra

 

As she watched the scene unfold before her, she got a sense of déjà vu, the feelings she always tried really hard to curb rising to the surface again. She knew they were not fault of the people in front of her but as a result of the past that had somehow twisted her in a very horrible way. 

As far back as she could remember she was told she was beautiful always but never by those who matter, somehow everything is her fault or turns sour right after she dips her hand into the pool, to some her life was glamorous really good schools, a rich husband, friends, 4 lovely kids and the many frenemies that seemed to ever expand daily. Known as daddy’s little girl somehow sparked a jealous streak in her mother as she realized years later, with daddy away on business often she began to feel the sting of mummy’s presence but as there were 2 other prefect children whom mummy preferred then she had to work full time to bring home the bacon as daddy couldn’t no matter how hard he tried and try he did.

 With child’s intuition she sensed she had to withdraw from daddy whenever he came back, as luck may have it in its own twisted way life got simply harder as the sexual molestation seemed to be starting, to last a few years though, it had all started when she broke a neighbors vase that was left outside, it occurred one hot afternoon when mummy wasn’t back and the nanny was busy so she decided to go outside to play before mummy got home, she knew she just landed in a really big trouble, the pervert then told her if she did what he wanted he wouldn’t report her to her mother, as a kid it seemed easy enough to do after all what could he ask her to do since she couldn’t even do house chores, thus the dark journey began, a beautiful exuberant child started withdrawing and no one noticed. 

At the age of 10 she felt she had to run away and maybe just maybe she won’t have to live through this silent horror film that was her life. Fortune smiled and she believed it wasn’t on her but on her siblings and they moved to a bigger house, to her that was salvation. 

 

Then came the big leagues “high school or secondary school as it was popularly known” a new school, new people, new friends, and a new state as it was a boarding school, at first she had really tried to adjust but nothing went according to plan and she did the only thing she knew how to do well, create a harder shell and climb inside emotionally and almost physically by this time the close father daughter relationship was broken beyond repair, she felt alone hated rejected and dirty. 

Fortune smiled once more but it never really favored her again, this time her parents relocated and she had to live with her aunt due to the fact that she couldn’t survive boarding school, living with her aunt husband and kids who were mean thrifty and just plain wicked but no one else saw the hell the children unleashed and once more she was dragged through another case of sexual molestation along the line something in her snapped, the little flame of hope died and she knew for the foreseeable future she’ll be miserable and out of what she never expected she fell in love, with someone quite older who didn’t love her at all but had somehow saw that the fire in her eyes were gone and wanted to help, and couldn’t bring himself to destroy the little flame that had come up in those eyes he had taken a liking too.

 After awhile he began to like the her, she felt as if he had opened up an escape route for her, but when it came down to sex she recoiled remembering everything she had been through and she had told him a very edited an shortened version of her sexual history, the more he asked the more she withdrew, and she realized that though she loved him and would probably have a soft spot for him always she knew she had lost someone else to sex and its pretentious devices. 

Education was another frustrating labyrinth she wanted to escape from, she loved acting as a child especially because she wanted to live like someone else since she didn’t like the hand she was dealt. But societal pressure then dictated that all actress were cheap prostitutes and as the thought was put in her father’s head she was not allowed to study art subjects in secondary school so as not to even think of studying theatre in the university, after trying to convince to no avail she gave up but without knowing how especially when, she knew she had lost her parents in this fight for happiness as she was never close to her junior brothers she didn’t bother. Thus came the biggest role of her life pretending she was happy when all she felt up to was to be far away from every one she knew. University was worse and so as not to remain a loner she tried harder than most actors to let some people into the life of mirage she had created. Loners in this part of the world hardly ever made it as she doubted she had a high IQ. 

After she tried dating she realized she wasn’t sure a person who would get her existed at all, so the hunt for a rich husband began, after a few unsuccessful tries she understood that her sexual past her made her frigid, this self diagnosis was stemmed from novels, past relationships and the internet. She began earnestly to look for a solution by herself, none of her friends knew exactly what was going on in her head and she made sure it was kept that way. 

She began picking up habits that would make her more appraisable by rich guys even though her friends questioned her on why she seems interested in just rich guys, one flimsy story or the other popped up. She was happy when she landed a good enough looking guy with a big ego whom she never forgot to stoke his ego and that was the secret to her pretend happy marriage she also learnt to pretend she liked sex even though she always felt dirty and used with no one the wiser. Some 15 years into the marriage her husband started cheating on her she felt relived she didn’t have to sleep with her husband anymore and if people reported seeing her husband she claimed he was on business or gave one silly excuse, but she had 4 amazing kids which she tried not to screw up their lives.

After pretending for so long it became as much a part of her as breathing, so when her husband was killed in an accident she looked genuinely sad and acted as much, after the first two years following his death she didn’t pretend to look hurt when people tried to inquire about her coping with the kids  in this economy, she used her skills but mostly intuition to make sure her late husband’s company didn’t die off soon after his death, though her children lacked nothing financially, money was never enough cause that and her children were the only constants in her life and somehow her kids adopted her fake independent life truthfully, none even pretended to try being close to their mother but at least they kept up with each others’ welfare and that was all they could get.

As she watched people called her friends especially the reason they were gathered there, to celebrate their silver jubilee, she began feeling lonely and jealous of her friends, why should they always get everything she had ever wished for and not really appreciate it. Outsiders looking at the family thought they were rich people who had it all, seemed close yet independent. But even her friends came to realize she’ll never let them know what exactly in her past twisted her so much. As she never really knew how to love she couldn’t give her kids what she lacked, but she taught them how to pretend that everything was alright. That they all didn’t turn out to be merciless robots was as a result of their father’s best friend who loved their mother and was totally willing to die for her, which was also a reason that factored in his divorce with his own wife though it wasn’t known. 

As the children grew and realized the reason he was really around were happy but sad as they couldn’t help him because they were never close to their mother but would love for their mum to find happiness that they themselves had found in other people and their kids. It took a really bad workday and some heavy drinking for her to see the man who had always loved her even before she got married to his best friend. It took all 45 years for her to get, understand, and appreciate the unconditional love she felt she would never have. And just like that she started her healing process, never totally cured after living a lie so long she saw the world in a new light, one where she was truly happy for as long as she could.

 
^{THE END}