It was as if the universe could feel the pain she was feeling. The clouds had darkened and it looked like there was going to be a heavy storm soon. Just as she thought things couldn’t get any worse, it started to pour.
“Exactly how I wanted my day to go!,” she thought, with sarcasm, but Chorale couldn’t stop driving. She had to do this today. Today seemed to be her only chance.
She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her face as her mind drifted to all the times she and Kay had spent together. Things were about to change and she was helpless. She did not have any other choice than to watch everything crumble under her nose. She had to leave and she had to do that today. Kay was out of the country for a business trip. He had been away for two days and she used the opportunity to put her 'escape plan' to action- the one she had had a draft of, in her mind, for a few years now.
After twenty minutes, she arrived at Kay’s house- their home. She came out of her car and stood watching the building. She didn’t care that she was going to be drenched in the rain. Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest, she thought it would explode any moment.
This feeling wasn’t the kind you experience when you feel elated or anxious, it was the opposite. What she was feeling was pain- lots of it, but she didn’t know how to let it stop.
She took in the view of the house she had been living in for years now. It was a modern two storey building, painted in cream and black. Chorale loved gardens and so they had big gardens at either side of the house. Behind it, and in front were two heavy sensor gates and there was a large compound. There was also a big garage, at the side which extended all the way to the back. Kay loved cars and so he had a lot of them. In fact, one of his companies was into export and import of cars. He was even making plans to go into manufacturing now. The house was more glass than block walls. She recalled how excited he had been about the glass walls when he bought the place. There were six bedrooms in total: three downstairs and three upstairs, a large living room, an equally large kitchen and dining area.
The rain was coming down in torrents now. She remembered she didn’t have much time to spend there so she quickly rushed inside. She noticed the doors were unlocked, which could only mean that Mama Rica was home.
Mama Rica, the older lady who works in the house. She had been working there for several years and naturally, both Kay and Chorale had bonded with her. She was a kind-hearted and soft-spoken lady in her late fifties. She took them as her children because she had no children of her own and they treated her with a lot of respect. Most days, even when she didn’t really have much work to do (because Chorale did most of the cooking and cleaning), she’d still come around just to be with them. She had refused to live with them however because she said she did not want to be far away from the memories she had with her late husband. Even still, she had a room in the house.
Today, unlike most days when she would go into the kitchen to give her a hug and tell her funny details about her day, Chorale prayed that Mama Rica wouldn’t notice her. She quickly dashed upstairs to her and Kay’s room and packed all her stuff into one of the suitcases she had purchased from the mall yesterday. She wasn’t going to carry all her things. It would raise too much suspicion. Call her crazy and weird, but she wanted to leave some of her things behind so that he wouldn’t forget her.
Kay.
She was really going to miss him. She loved him so much and right now, leaving him seemed like the only way out of a situation as complex as this.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled the many times he had asked her to never leave him, asked her to be his forever. All those times, she knew in her heart that a time like this could come, but she still gave him the assurance that she would be with him for forever.
She slid against the wall that faced the bedroom door and buried her face in her hands. Nothing could stop the tears as they freely trickled down. This was going to be hard. She hadn’t wished for this to happen, but we don’t always get what we want in life. And now, she had to make a decision that she wasn’t sure was right.
She heard the sound of glass shattering to pieces, from downstairs and that pushed her to get up. She had to be fast. Kay was due to come home today and she couldn’t risk being seen by him. She dragged one of the footstools close to the closet, climbed it and then she raised the suitcase and put it on top of the large closet they both shared.
As she got down from the stool, a memory flashed through her mind and made her sob a little louder. She bit hard on her lip to prevent Mama Rica from hearing her.
When she first moved in with Kay, there was a time when she was trying to reach the top of the closet, but failed at every attempt. She almost fell down at some point. Kay, who had been watching her intently the whole time burst into laughter, “You know this closet was designed with you in mind, right. It was designed so that even you can reach the top of it. But apparently, I overestimated.” He had laughed so hard that she feigned anger. She threw a pillow which hit him square in the face. He never joked about her height again, at least not in her presence.
It was cute moments like these that she was going to miss. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hands and quickly pushed the memory aside.
She had to get going. It was going to be a long flight from Ghana to Mexico. She carried the smaller suitcase that had the few things she needed to take along with her, and with one painful look at the room again, she shut the door and run.
She run like her life depended on it, because it did. She run like doing that would free her from her conscience that was eating her up.
Midway down the flight of stairs, her long black dress tripped her and she fell. She muttered a curse under her breath. The stairs were made of maplewood and so, her fall couldn’t go unnoticed. Mama Rica came running, a few seconds later, from the kitchen. This was not going as planned. Mama Rica’s eyes quickly darted to the suitcase she held in her hand and she frowned. She rushed to help her up but the young lady burst into tears. She had not planned to do this. She had wished to leave unnoticed.
“Chorale my dear, stop crying,” Mama Rica consoled, despite her obvious confusion. She sat down on the stair beside her and hugged her tight. “Calm down and talk to me. What’s wrong and where are you going with that suitcase?”
Amidst sobs, Chorale replied, “Mama Rica, I have to go. Please. Don’t let this be any harder for me than it already is.” She freed herself from the hug.
The older lady couldn’t understand. All the years she had lived with them, she had only known the young couple to have minor fights- fights that usually resolved within minutes, hours at most. So she was certain Chorale’s weird act wasn’t a result of a fight that she might have had with Kay. Why then was she leaving and where was she leaving to?
“Chorale, please calm down and talk to me. Why do you have to leave and where are you leaving to?” she didn’t like to see Chorale distressed this way. She was always, always cheerful.
“I cannot tell you anything right now, but promise me, Mama Rica. Promise me you’ll take care of him for me, now that I won’t be here to,” she took the older lady’s face in her hands, looking at her with very teary eyes. “Don’t leave him like I am. Promise me, please.” She was crying so much now and even Mama Rica couldn’t contain her own tears.
She laughed a sad laugh, amidst the tears and added, “You and I know that man can’t take care of himself.” She zoned out, looking into space. “Remind him to watch the late news every day, to not leave his clothes on the floor, to always leave his shoes outside, after work, to not leave his beer glasses unwashed in the sink and…” the loud sobs were back. She quickly stood up from the stair, looking Mama Rica in the eye for the last time, “Remind him to not forget about me, Mama Rica”
Before Mama Rica could even process all of the chaos she had just witnessed, Chorale ran out of the house. It was still raining heavily but she could hear her drive out of the compound and the electronic gates closed after.
What had just happened?
YOU ARE READING
CHORALE SANDERS
Dragoste"I cannot tell you anything right now, but promise me, Mama Rica. Promise me you'll take care of him for me, now that I won't be here to." She took the older lady's face in her hands, looking at her with very teary eyes. "Don't leave him like I am...
