CHAPTER SEVEN

"Ben," Agnes called out her son in a feeble voice. She was lying in their meagre hut, knowing fully well that she could take her last breathe at any moment. 

"Yes mama," Ben answered. He was sitting very close to his mother, watching her speak without much energy. He didn't expect her to still be as sick as she was looking right now. Mory told him that everything was going to be fine. So he was wondering why nothing seemed to be happening, his mother looked worse. 

"I want you to remember this moment. Don't forget these words. I love you so much, forgive me for lying to you," Agnes said, weakly.

"Mama, what are you talking about?" Ben questioned. 

"Regardless of what happens, promise me that you will not end up like your father. Promise me you will make the right decisions," Agnes continued. 

"You are scaring me, mama. Please stop talking like you are leaving me. I will not be able to bear the pain. Please, mama. I promise, you are going to be fine," Ben poured out. 

"My son, please listen to me carefully. I have lied to you your whole life."

"You lied? About what?"

"About not knowing the cause of your father's death," Agnes confessed. 

A million things ran through Ben's mind. He thought about the possibilities of his mother's next words. He weighed the chances of the villagers being right. 

Could my mother be behind my father's death? Could she truly be a witch? Was that what she was about to confess to? Could he forgive her if that were the case? Ben deliberated

Ben was quiet, he was waiting for his mother to pick up from where she stopped.

Agnes sat up from her lying position. It looked like she suddenly became healthy. Even her rapid breathing had stabilized. She beamed at his son. It had been a while since Ben last saw his mother's smile. He couldn't understand the change in her entire demeanor. He concluded that his mother was finally getting better. Mory had miraculously cured his mother. "Mama, you just sat up by yourself. Don't you feel any pains or discomfort?" Ben inquired, not being able to look past what was happening.

 "I am fine, my son." 

Agnes still had a smile on her face. She also didn't know where the new found energy was coming from, but deep inside her, she knew the end was fast approaching and she needed to let her son know how much she knew. She had kept it to herself long enough. Agnes made a promise to her late husband never to share the story with any other person, which was why Agnes had kept it to herself. 

She continued, "He told me. The night I got married to him. He told me about his powers."

"Powers?" Ben asked, he had started to have an idea where this conversation was going. He pondered on whether to let her mother aware of what had transpired between Mory and himself. Instead, he decided to put it off until later and focus on whatever his mother had to say. 

"Yes, my son. You see, your father was not always a rich man. He told me that he was gifted the powers of riches when he clocked twenty one years of age. He also told me that the powers might overcome him. He assured me that the powers will remain in his lineage till the end of time. Before he went on a trip that he didn't come back, he confessed to me that he had made some wrong decisions and that his decisions might be the end of him. I tried to get him explain better but he assured me that he will clarify everything if he made it back from the trip, which he never did," Agnes narrated. 

Ben heaved a sigh and asked, "Who gave him those powers?"

Agnes started to cough uncontrollably. Ben dashed up to get his mother water to drink. 

"My son, I love you so much. Promise me that you will not make the same mistakes as your father. Always remember that, 'a stupid person is someone who has the facts, who has the proper information, and still makes the wrong decision.' This is why I have chosen to tell you all this," Agnes coughed again for the last time as she fell back to the floor before Ben could save her. 

She was gone. 

Ben started to shake his mother vigorously, crying for her to wake up. Begging her not to leave him but Agnes laid with her eyes open, but with a lifeless body. Ben was sure his mother was dead. 

Pain fused with anger boiled within his chest. He had just lost the only family he had ever had. He knew the woman he called 'mama' would never be able to respond to his calls ever again. He knew he was about to face this cruel life all on his own. The anger was targeted to Mory, Mory promised him that his mother was going to be okay. He had believed Mory. He had foolishly thought that he would be able to save his mother. For the first time in his life, he had wanted to believe in miracles but it had turned out that miracles don't exist.

"Mama please, don't do this to me. Where am I going to start from? What am I going to do without you? I am sorry for not doing enough to keep you alive. Please forgive me and just come back to me, please," Ben cried, hugging his mother's corpse. 

He thought back to his mother's words about not making the right decisions. What if he had already made the wrong decisions, he thought. 

He thought about how he may have made bad decisions by signing a pact with Mory.

Ben condemned himself for actually believing his life could get better. He scolded himself for believing Mory. And finally, he decided there was no reason to be alive with his mother dead. His suicidal thoughts had returned. 

Life was only going to to get more miserable than it already was, there was no point of living.