Scandal of Grace

34

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

*Listen to Chain Breaker by Zach Williams for this chapter.*

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It was as if the night was going to stretch on till forever. I guessed that was because I could not sleep and just watched the clock tick. I imagined every kind of reaction I could get from Gladness. When I got tired of being anxious, I got off the bed and prayed.

When the morning came, a dull ache disturbed my temples. It would become a banging headache later in the day if I did not try to get some sleep. But I ended up not sleeping throughout the day and the headache was bearable. I took some drugs to suppress the aches.

Nevertheless, I spilled it all out to Gladness.

"What if you realize that your older sister was alive all along?" I started. "What would you do?"

Claudia tore her gaze away from the television and stared at me like I just grew two heads. Gladness shifted uncomfortably in the chair. My dad and mum were not home. They did not get to support me in the situation.

Often times, I wondered, what if I had stayed? I might have turned out worse than I got to be. That was the response my heart gave me each time.

"Gladness, I'm serious. What would you do?" I repeated.

The moment was like one of those where you waited for a validation of a test you've written. Your fate was about to be decided and stated to you. You would be on edge.

"Well, do you know where she is?" He questioned, looking me straight in the eyes as if he never believed that she truly was gone. "I did not see her die. I never saw her corpse but my Uncle said she was dead. Aunty Bennie told us the same. I won't say they never lied."

I felt the tornado of anger, disappointment and hatred welling up within me. I was so angry that these kids had been fed with lies and I was the object of their lie. It hurt me so bad I just dropped my head in my hands and began to cry.

"I'm so sorry!" I wailed.

"Are you okay, Grace?" Claudia asked, shocked at my reaction.

"No, I'm not!" I screamed and she flinched.

I was obviously not okay. I was not okay that people who were same blood with my parents would do such evil to us. I was not okay with the fact that they treated us like they had picked us from the dunghill. Gladness lifted his gaze to me slowly, deliberately, like he was figuring out something.

"Are you...? The bracelet... Your name... What the heck?! You really are!" Gladness exclaimed, pointing a finger in my direction. "What about Pastor Alexander and his wife?" He looked confused.

"They adopted me. Uncle treated me like I was not human so I ran away." My voice was so icy, so cold. I needed warmth  either my mom's hug or Stephen's presence would do.

"Grace! What in the world?! Who are you?" It was Claudia's turn to exclaim. Her eyes narrowed down at me like I was a total stranger.
"I'm sorry to have kept you in the dark Claudia."

"No. Don't say my name. I trusted you but you never even trusted me for once?"

"I'm sorry Claudia. Don't make things harder than it had already been." I pleaded.

But she was not listening.

She gathered her stuff and left. I called after her but she wouldn't stop. I gave up trying. I was tired out. I did not sleep overnight and I cried too much already. Needless to say, I was having a serious headache at the moment.

When I returned my gaze to my younger brother, "Hello, big sister" He drawled.

"Hello, baby brother." I replied. The tears welled up in my eyes again and I could not hold myself back from capturing him in a hug. He was thinner than he looked, I discovered. He held me so tight I thought I would lose half my bones.

We finally broke apart when my parents came in. Gladness called Claudia and Joy then but they were not picking up.

However, he sent two pictures of Joy he had to Dads phone. Luckily, they were pictures that she recently took. Seeing her face in the pictures brought back fragments of sweet memories. Mum said we looked so much alike.

Gladness gave us the details of the school she attended, her class and the street they lived. The plan was that inspector Collins would find her and watch her for a space of a month and see if they maltreated her. If yes, he should try as much as possible to get evidences against them. According to Gladness, they had no child yet.

Finding her would not be difficult after all.

But getting Claudia back was definitely going to be difficult.

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This chapter should have been up yesterday but I wouldn't, couldn't bring myself to do it.

I'm having this weird writer's block and I was 80% sure that 80% of this should have been better but oh well.

I hope you still enjoy it though.
So, please click The Star!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New year in advance, loves!

Stay Blessed,
Dassah.
❤❤❤