CONCEIVED IN DARKNESS

Chapter 21

After months on client site, Mr. Eneanya returned. As the car honked in the cool evening, Mrs. Eneanya shivered then grabbed her jacket and went outside to greet him "welcome" She said dismally.

He hugged her tight and placed a long kiss on her forehead. "how are you dear, you look good. I'm so happy to be back home."

She smiled dryly before asking "for how long,?  before the next trip?" then started to walk back inside.

He pulled her back and hugged her assuring "not any time soon love."

"Where is Adanna?" he asked looking around wondering why she hadn't come out to welcome him as was the norm.

"hmm, lets go in, I will speak inside" She answered releasing herself from his embrace,

"why not here? He questioned. He was worried, she could tell by his frown.

Okay," he said and motioned for her to lead the way.

"what happened to your phone and Adanna's?"  He paused and with a raised eyebrow, continued " It has been switched off these past few weeks, you got me worried there."

Mrs. Eneanya bowed her head, itching it "err, I was getting strange calls ....."

Smirking he said "really, that is strange."

"very" she replied catching her breath.

"Ohh I see" the corners of his eyes creased as though he was holding back a smile.

"okay so where is Adanna? He asked as he sat down. "Don't tell me she's asleep already."

"she left the house." She said calmly.

"What! what do you mean? She went to Claire's?"

"No" swallowing hard, she spoke again, this time her voice thinner as she shrugged "She ran away."

"She did what? What do you mean, she wouldn't do that, not at this time?"

"Well she did". She replied and turned her back to him.

"Okay, did she say why? ". He asked getting on his feet.

"Err,"

"Speak up woman" He shouted getting agitated at her annoying responses.

"She left a note" she answered as she moved closer to hand it to him. She had it tucked in her wrapper "I am sorry" she said solemnly.

He snatched it from her hand and read it. He couldn't believe what his daughter wrote,  he imagined the pain she felt when she wrote it. He tried to soak it all in and it left him weak to the knees. "when did this happen?" He probed rather quietly.

"Two months ago" she replied

"Pardon!" he exclaimed "and you didn't deem it fit to tell me since, O God, where do I start from, where is my daughter, please keep her. Is that why you switched off your phone all this while and lied to me that you were receiving strange calls?" he barked in angst like a raged dog.

"where do we start from, where do we know to look" he asked further.

"I have tried all the places to look, none of her friends have heard from her or know where she is" She replied him sniffing quietly.

His steps rapid and aimless took him around the room several times before he returned to her

"you did this, you. di...d this" he said brokenly with fury.

"I am sor....."

Mr. held up his hand indicating her to be silent.

Before she could attempt to speak again, he turned and walked away in haste into the bed room leaving his suitcases behind.

A few hours later, he came back out to her and said "You finally won, didn't you? Now you are alone. Lingering, he continued "how could you? How could you be so callous and unfair even to your blood. She loved you, respected you, honored you yet it wasn't enough." Pausing again and fisting his hands, he continued "I begged you, pleaded with you but you couldn't even put yourself together talk more of our home. YES, we lost Condolesa that day, but Adanna is still alive. Why can't you look past what happened that night? Whether she was speaking the truth or not, it happened and she has pleaded with you also. What else do you want?"

"You can talk now because you weren't there. I can't." she replied tearfully.

"Were you? No tell me, were you there?" He asked furiously as he stepped closer to her.

"Why did she leave? What happened that day, did she have enough money, has she called since then?" He wanted answers to so many questions that flooded his heart as he poured them out as they came in no particular order. He was hurt, angry, in pain and it felt so empty like a shallow pit with no end. He wished he could just turn back the hands of time. He blamed himself for not having defied his boss and come home, for not being there-here again. Everything seemed so fuzzy. he threw his hands up in the air with vexation as the guilt ate at him.

"She just got angry and left in a haste." Adanna's mother answered. Tears streamed down her face covering her eyes as she replied.

The sheen of tears blurred his eyes "I cannot stomach your lies woman, speak the truth" his eyes reddening in anger as he spoke "She's all we got and you don't care, she is still our daughter. We have drifted so much and ......." tears just continued flowing and he couldn't speak anymore.

"I do care. Why would you say that? I don't know how to forgive her, she let her die just there when I look at her, I see only a murderer not my daughter, how do I move past that" She asked

She couldn't keep her tears at bay as they streamed down effortlessly

"Enough! You should have let go."

"I am sorry. I miss her too but I don't know how to move past this. I really want too but I can't." She struck her forehead with her open palm.

"get out"

"what!"

"you heard me, I want you out right now. I want you to feel how it was for her when she left the house maybe that way you would figure how to let go."

"No no, you can't do this. I have no place to go. Please let's figure this out together. She begged on her knees.

"I have thought about it, deeply. Go and I don't care where. You better hope to God she's alive or you are not coming bac....." He trailed off and stormed out of the house. 

Thank you for reading. Please do not forget to vote, share and comment. 

Love;

Tito.