Betrayed By My Own

Chapter 28

I run to a church

Immediately I arrive the church, I fall knees first in front of the altar. I began weeping, not sure of how to pray or how to begin. I haven't even prayed seriously in so long.

Is there a God up there? Am I not selfish to come to him at my time of need? Won't he be angry that I never paid him any attention? Will he be willing to spare the life of Jon and Marcus and take mine?

With all these thoughts and many more uncertainties racing through my head, the tears begins flowing.

"Just this once Lord Jesus, please spare Marcus and and Jon. I will worship you forever. Please", I mouth fervently as tears pool down my eyes.

"SK?", a voice calls.
I look around and find a young woman with her baby girl in her arms. She beckons for me to come sit with her.

I stand up and move to sit with her, not bothering to wipe my tears, not caring that a mere human is going to see me vulnerable.

"I see you're troubled?", she says looking into space like she's recalling a sad event.
I only nod my head.

"I'm also sure you're wondering if God will forgive you after all the killings you've done?"

"Are you not scared I might loose my temper and kill you and there's nothing anybody can do about it?", I ask, admiring her courage.

"Oh I am! The moment you ran in here and I recognized you, i wanted to take my daughter and run but I noticed you didn't even notice us. I can literally see the worry written all over you"
She says and I begin sobbing again. She uses her free hand to pat my back.

"I just found my long, lost twin brother and now he's in the hospital with lung cancer. My dad too is suffering from a heart failure and...", I break down again. Curse you tears.

"Shh! All is well!"

I look at this woman like she just said something stupid. Of course she did. How can she tell me all will be well when I'm about to loose two people to diseases I've never offended?

"When I was eight, I was raped by my uncle. In order to keep his secret, he adopted me from my parents. Now my parents were poorer than a church mouse so they accepted the offer. I couldn't tell them. When I was ten, I lost my dad to leukemia. My uncle still had his way with me. When I was thirteen, I lost my mum to breast cancer. My uncle still forced himself on me. And each time I bled. I found out I was pregnant and my uncle was so pissed. He ordered the doctors to remove the pregnancy and my womb"

She pauses for a minute and looks at me smiling. I give her a trying smile and she continues;

"When I was eighteen, I went to college and never went back. At 23, I had dated three men but they all left after telling them about me. They looked at me as some kind of whore. At twenty eight, I met a man, he was different. Even after telling him about my predicament, he still proposed to me. A year later we got married. At thirty, I hadn't still given birth. At thirty one, I lost my husband to an accident. Two weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant and now two years later, here I am. Though I have a brother, I have no idea where he is. I've been searching, I am searching and I'll keep searching for him."

I look at her in awe. This woman is tough. She has gone through a lot.

"So by my calculation, you are 33 and your daughter is just two years old?", I ask.

"That is correct"

"And your Uncle? Don't you want to kill him?"

"What difference would it make? Would it bring back all those years of pain? No! I forgave him and left him to his fate. What he did wasn't right but the deed has been done. No amount of punishment would erase that memory from my mind", she says and looks at me.