VILE

Chapter 37: The Present

It was raining. Tomike walked down the long narrow veranda, tip toeing. Her surrounding was awfully familiar. The washed off green walls, the shaky railings and the view of the dilapidated dimly lit street that came with the two storey building. She knew it all too well.

Apart from the sound of rain hitting hard on the roof and walls around her, there was quiet.

Suddenly, she heard a slap, a male voice shouting followed and a child started crying. Of course she knew the child that was crying, she would be able to recognise her own voice.

"Ayo! Don't you dare touch my daughter again!" Her mother's voice.

"Shut up woman!"

Tomike felt her heart racing, she couldn't breathe.

Another nightmare.

She closed her eyes tightly and tears fell. She wanted to wake up but she couldn't. The only way for it to be over was to see it through to the end.

"I won't let you touch my daughter again you filthy bastard"

Tomike approached the slightly opened door with dread. As she slowly pushed it open, her stepfather slapped her mother. She shook.

"So you are growing wings right? You have mouth to talk back abi? Okay, I will show you today"

He drew his belt and began beating her mother. Tomike tried to scream "Stop it!" But the words wouldn't come out. Then she tried holding his hand, but he shoved her aside and she fell to the ground. He continued without hesitation.

Her mother held on to the belt, she seemed tired of being beaten. With all the strength she could muster, she pushed him to the ground. She reached for young Tomike, carried her and started towards the veranda. Tomike followed, trying to prevent what she knew would happen.

"Mum! Careful, he'll try to drag your hair"

But she was too late, her stepfather had already reached them. He dragged her to the ground and she let go of little Tomike. Tomike's mother wasn't going to give up that easily. She struggled with him. For every slap he landed on her, she returned a counter attack. He lost his grip on her again and this time she headed for the stairwell, shouting for help. But her cry was swallowed up by the thundering rain.

Lightening struck as if in anticipation of what would happen next. Tomike stood where she was and watched the whole scene unfold once again, as helpless as before. She watched her younger self cry on the floor, confused and scared. Tomike cried for the little girl. She sobbed deeply for the pain that that little girl would soon come to know.

Her stepfather was soon behind her mother who was running down the stairs. He was a tall man, so for every three steps she took he needed just one to catch up to her. He held her neck tightly and tried to slam her head against the stair railing. But it was unstable and wet from the rain, and so she fell and landed with a loud thump. Little Tomike rushed to see what happened and as she looked down she saw her mother in a pool of her own blood.

She screamed loudly in horror and it pierced Tomike's soul.

Tomike jolted off her bed. There were tears in her eyes and as she blinked awake they fell. She felt relived the nightmare was over.

She wiped her face and tried to shake off the horror, but she only ended up crying more. She couldn't hold back this time. She was just tired of being hunted by her miserable past.

She had been talking to Dr Angela about her abuse and it really did a lot of help. She felt herself sliding out of the uptight, cold and obnoxious person she used to be. But this incident was different. She never told anyone about it, not even Iya Bose. She kept it all to herself and it was eating her up.

She looked at her neon green table clock and it said 5:15. She stood up from her bed, headed for her bathroom and washed her face.

She knew she wasn't going to go back to sleep so she headed for the kitchen to start her day out with some coffee. It was Monday the 24th of December, Christmas eve. She had to go to work, so some caffeine would be good for her.

As she approached the living room she heard noises. She immediately switched on the lights and found Dayo stealing chocolate from the fridge.

"Jesus! You scared me!"

"Maybe it's because you shouldn't be here in the first place" Tomike replied him.

"I was just hungry"

"Well good morning to you too Dayo"
She walked towards the kitchen and put a kettle of water on the cooker.

"Good morning ma. I should go back to bed"

"Yeah you should"

Dayo rolled his eyes as he walked passed her and headed for the doorway. He paused and looked back. Tomike was casually resting on the kitchen counter.

"Mum, are you okay?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, I heard you while I walked past your room. You seemed to be sleep talking and it wasn't pretty"

Tomike stood upright.

"What was I saying?"

"Not sure, but you seemed to be having a really bad dream. And this is not the first time it's happening"

Tomike now slowly moved closer to her son, her two hands warmly tucked into her robe pockets. She feigned confusion, but she was nervous.

"It's not the first time?"

"Yeah. Whenever I wake up at night to do something, it's either you're having those bad dreams or you're already awake. Why can't you sleep mum? What do you keep dreaming about? Is that why you keep seeing that therapist?"

"You should go to bed Dayo" she turned away to avoid his curious eyes.

"Why'd I bother? You never tell me anything anyways"

As he turned to leave, Tomike called out his name, and before she could process it in her head she blurted out the words. The words Dr Angela encouraged her to tell Dayo, the words Todd complained she never told Dayo. The words she had never told her son before.

"I love you"

Dayo was so perplexed Tomike couldn't tell if it was excitement or confusion that was rubbed all over his face. Maybe it was both.

"What did you say mum?"

"I said I love you Dayo" she moved closer to him and held his face with both hands.

"I know I don't say it often and you don't think it's true, but I love you Dayo. You are my son, mine, and I love you. I want you to remember that, okay?"

Dayo was too surprised to respond. Before he could digest what had just happened, Tomike wrapped her hands around him in a tight hug and her head was on his chest. He couldn't believe it.

As she let him go, she stood on her toes and planted a kiss on his forehand. She smiled, patted him on his back and headed back to the kitchen area to make her coffee.

"Aren't you going to go back to bed? Or you want to spend Christmas eve morning with your mama"

"Em... I'll go back... to bed" he stammered.

"Alright"

Dayo couldn't believe it. Christmas miracles were a real thing!

                    **********

I think I'll describe this chapter as sour and sweet. Started off badly, but ended so nicely. Let me know what you think about this revelation of events in the comments. Don't forget to vote and share!
Xoxo 💕💕
Val💓