SHATTERED

╣THIRTY-TWO╠

      A blonde woman was seen standing ashore, watching her two little girls pick seashells from the shallow part of the water on the beach. All of a sudden she saw a whale swim up to where her little girls where, puling one of them into the sea. She tried to run to help her poor child who was screaming as the whale swam deeper into the ocean but, she felt her feet were glued to the beach sand.
“Somebody help me!” she screamed on top of her lungs. Her other daughter who was frightened, ran to her, cowering in fear.
“Help!” she screamed again with hot tears cascading down her cheeks as she squatted to hug her daughter who was spared from the whale.

                    ➰➿➰

The loud shriek from her mum made Ethel jerk awake from her sleep.
They were in the hospital. Ethel had brought her down to the hospital for her weekly therapy.
While waiting for the psychologist that afternoon in the lounge room, they both fell asleep.
“Are you okay?” Ethel asked, worried.
Thelma who was breathing heavily, started sobbing.
“I couldn't save her.” she blubbered.
“It's okay. It's just a nightmare.” Ethel hugged her mum, rubbing her back gently. “Everything is going to be alright.” she whispered in her mother's ear.
“Good afternoon Mrs Clifford, sorry for taking your time.” the psychologist finally walked in, apologizing.
Ethel released her mum and stood up to greet the doctor.
“I am Ethel Clifford, Thelma's daughter.” she introduced herself.
“Oh, I see. You look so much like her.” the doctor replied with a warm smile. “By the way, I'm Doctor Dera.”
“Nice to meet you.” Ethel shook hands with the slender, ebony skinned doctor.
“Come into my office, please.” she said when she opened the door to her office.
 “Have your seat.” Doctor Dera said politely with a bright smile.
“Thelma, how're you doing today?” Doctor Dera asked Thelma who was picking her long, dirty nails.
Thelma replied with a nod, smiling slightly.
“Have you been using your antidepressants drugs?”
“No.” Thelma replied sharply. “I don't want to use them, I don't need them. I'm not seek.”
“You are not sick but, you have to use them so you'll be able to sleep peacefully.”
“When I was using it, I still had nightmares so…” she trailed off, chewing on her bottom lips as she slouched on the plastic chair she sat.
“It is alright. Thelma, do you remember my name?”
“Doctor Nwabueze Chidera.”
“Hmm, I'm glad you still remember. Can you introduce yourself, please?”
“I am Thelma.”
“Thelma what? You must have a surname.”
“You don't need to know because, I'm nobody, okay?!” Thelma flared up.
“Calm down. I want to help you that's why I'm asking you all these questions and I'd love it if you'll cooperate with me. Will you?” Doc. Dera asked, pleadingly.
“Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“I was formerly known as Thelma Clifford until I divorced and remarried Rex Wilbur, the devil who ruined my life. So, I bear Thelma Wilbur although we've divorced.”
“Alright. Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood?”
Thelma sighed.
Ethel sat on the couch adjacent to where they were, watching in rapt attention.
“Well, the memories of my childhood isn't pleasant. I grew up as an orphan in a foster care home. I was bullied by my peers for being my mistress favourite. Miss Jacqueline was her name. I didn't know why she preferred me to the other girls, maybe it was because I was very pretty and was also well-mannered. If she buys clothing accessories for everyone, mine will be the best. I wasn't promiscuous. I had my first boyfriend when I was eighteen.”
“Oh, really?!”
“Yeah,” Thelma smiled, blushing. “I left the foster care home when I was sixteen and I became independent. I worked in a restaurant  for two years after I graduated from highschool.
I have a Bachelor of science degree in Food science and technology, I also have Msc (Masters degree in science) too.”
“That's cool. You must know so much about food.”
“I do.”
“So, you said you had a boyfriend at the age of eighteen, tell me about him?”
“Okay. His name is Henry Henshaw. We met at work.  He was a bar man in the restaurant I worked in. He liked me and I liked him. He asked me out on valentine's day and that's how we started dating. But, he wasn't loyal. Apart from me, he had other girlfriends which I got to know about. So, I ended the relationship. Three years later while studying in the university of london, I met a young charming, brilliant man named Logan Clifford. He was studying Public administration and finance, then.”
“How did you both meet, what was your first encounter like?”
Thelma laughed.
Doctor Dera and Ethel were happy to see her laugh.
“Um,… there was a time I came late for lecture and when I arrived, there wasn't any vacant seat so, Logan gave me his seat.”
“Aw,” Doc. Dera cooed while Ethel smiled.
“He was a second year student while I was a fresher.”
“How come you both did the same course?”
“We offered one course together, Economics. ”
“Alright. So did he also ask you out on valentine's day like Henry?”
“Hell no!” Thelma laughed, again. “We were just distant friends even until we both graduated. I never had his contact and he never had mine. We met after a year at a bank. I was the first to recognize him and that's when we exchanged contact.”
“Okay?”
“One day he surprisingly called me to wish me happy birthday which no one has never done before not even Miss Jacqueline.”
“How did he know your birth date?”
“I don't know how. He even knew my childhood friend, Cynthia. He knew almost everything about me. I never knew he had been stalking me not until one day, I saw or should I say I caught him watching me come out of the restaurant where I worked.”
“So, he tracked you down there to know where you worked?!” Doc. Dera exclaimed.
Thelma nodded her head, smiling.
“Wow!”
“I had to confront him to stop stalking me but he didn't. I threatened him with a restraining order but he didn't care.”
“Why couldn't he come up to you to ask you out on a date?”
“I guess he was shy.”
“What happened after?”
“I decided to talk to him and that's when he was forced to spill the beans. He confessed his feelings for me.”
“And what did you do?”
“I don't know but I made sure I was careful. I asked him few questions about his family background. Surprisingly, I found out we had a lot in common. He was an orphan too so, my heart melted for him. Afterwards, we started a relationship and that's how we got married and we have a daughter, Ethel.”
“What a love story! Before we proceed, what would you like to eat?” Doc. Dera asked.
“Anything.”
“Would you like to try something new? Ethel, why don't you suggest a good meal for us?”
“Ethel? Wait! Is Ethel here?” Thelma got up abruptly from her seat, alarmed.