CRACKS ON THE CRYSTAL BALL

Chapter 11

The next week end, Nella eventually met with pastor Lisbeth. She had been closing Dex and not willing to talk. But she couldn't boycott talking to pastor Lisbeth.

" You knew me through Dexon, right? Mind you, I'm not only his pastor. I'm his therapist too. That tells you you can open up to me. Talk to me Nella. Whatever it is. I feel like you have so much to vent. Try me." Pastor Lisbeth sat staring at Nella who leaned back on the seat across her table.

"I hate therapists. It's just a disguise people come under, to know your flaws and later use them against you and rip off your joy."

"Wow. That's a really harsh opinion, Nella. Could you please tell me why you think that?" She insisted, and Nella sighed before she began.

"You see, last Sunday, your Jerry asked me to forgive the people who killed my mom." She replied and pastor Lisbeth flinched on her seat. The statement was terrific.

"You're Mom was killed??" She asked, sitting upright. Ready to get the details.

"She died because of my Dad and his numerous mistresses." When she said that, pastor Lisbeth just leaned back on her seat.

"Nella! You should have said it that way rather than saying she was killed"

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. Yes there is. In this case, there is. Killing is taking a life on purpose. I want to believe your Dad causing your Mom's death wasn't deliberate."

"But it happened."

"What happened?"

***
Nella sat on the stairs, watching her parents yell at each other with tears running down her cheeks.

"Did you even care?? You couldn't even leave your office to come see what was happening to your daughter!! And you call me careless?? At least I was there for her!!" Her Mom's voice projected.

"What do you mean, do I care?? Melissa need I remind you? She's my child! Whether I like it or not! So don't you dare ask me that!" Her Dad's followed.

"Yes she is your child. And I am your wife!! We are your family, Greg. We should be your priority!"

"You're a grown enough woman to take care of yourself and a child, Melissa! I shouldn't have to ask everything!"

All the fuss was about an incidence that caused Nella to pass out that morning in the kitchen. She got electrocuted, playing with a boiler on current. Her Mom was upstairs, getting their luggage ready for a weekend visit to her sister's.

News of the accident got to Mr Saam but he didn't burge from his office, until his working hours were over.
That evening, the quarrel sparked up when Mr Saam called his wife careless from the incident that happened earlier that day.

"One day, you'll wake up and we will be nowhere to be found. Because truth be told, you've never cared about me or this child!" Mrs Saam threatened. Walking to the crying child by the stairs, she carried her to her chest and began walking away.

"If you want to leave, you're free. But don't you dare drag my daughter into this. Do you hear me? Melissa!!"

***
"You should stop smoking in front of this child. It's not healthy for you both, and you're not setting a good example." Melinda, Mrs Saam's twin reprimanded her.

"I lost Greg a long time ago,sis. I just was too stupid to realize. All the late nights at the office, and sleep overs at a friend's house were all lies. He'd been disinterested from the very day I gave birth to this child. He didn't want her. He wanted a boy." She replied, with tears running down her cheeks as she stroke the hair of the child laying on her lap with one hand and pulled on her cigarette with the other.

"Does Greg really have such an archaic mindset? Are you the one that creates children?... Then what? His solution to the problem is cheating?"

"I'm done, Mel. I can't continue living like this."

"No, Mel. Don't say that. You have to fight for your marriage. It's not easy anywhere,sis. Think about your daughter. Do this for Ornella. She needs a father. Her father. Because whether he likes it or not, he's HER father. By the way what's with men and male children?? How else do they need to be told that it's God that gives??"

Six months later, Mrs Saam Melissa was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Her frequent consumption of cigarettes had taken a toll on her and left her with the disease. She started going from one hospital to another, neglecting herself and slowly wearing off. Mr Saam now saw his wife more like a burden, and started sorting comfort outside. The home gradually started falling apart.

When Nella turned fourteen, one afternoon, Mr Saam returned home with a woman Nella termed his mistress her Dad had been giving her soft eyes whenever she came for a therapy session with her Mom. Emelda was a young therapist Mr Saam came across during their frequent hospital visits concerning Melissa's health issue. She was roughly 26 at the time, and Nella was a little rebel she was hoping to help cope with her mother's situation too. That day, Mrs Saam locked her door, and wouldn't allow her therapist, nor anyone else in. After several failed attempts to dissuade her, Emelda left.

Yet, Nella didn't give up. She kept banging and crying on the door.

"Mom please!! Open up!! It's me, Ornella ! Please Mom!" She kept begging till the door clacked open.

The room stunk of cigarettes and alcohol. Nella could barely breathe when she walked into her mom's private Chambers.

"Mom what is going on here??" She asked in between coughs. She was actually choking on the smoke.

"Nella!!" Her Mom cried out her name as she beckoned her.

"Mom this place is toxic! Are you smoking again??" She rushed to the window and pushed it open. The air that hit her face was a relief. She rushed back to her crying Mom, toasted the cigarette off her fingers and took her into her arms.

"Mummy please. Don't do this to yourself." She started crying too.
The woman left her child's embrace and took her puffy cheeks in her palms.

"I love you child. I'll fight for you, Nella. I promise you, my baby. I won't give up. I promise." She told the little girl.

"What is going on Mom? You promise you won't do this anymore. Aren't you thinking about your health??" Nella asked, sobbing. But the response she got from her Mom was a convulsive attack. She went into seizure and Nella felt her heart beating out of her chest.

"Mom!! Dad help!!" She screamed and her father came rushing.

With the same haste, they took Mrs Saam to the hospital, but it was too late. She had given up the ghost. Doctors reported her kidneys were destroyed, and that apparently, she hadn't been taking the drugs prescribed to her, and had been drinking and smoking more than before.

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