Chapter 22

Cameron returned home at exactly 6:45pm that evening. To my surprise, he embraced mom tightly, until she yelled that he was hurting her belly. They both laughed as he apologized, and for some reason, I loathed that moment. I just hoped in my mind that he'd not hit mom again and she'd deliver the baby safely.

"Look at you!" He said laughing. "Ain't you just a strong woman, carrying a whole human in your tummy! Or are they two? When are you due, babe?" He asked. I wondered what kind of husband he was. He didn't even know how many months his wife had been pregnant. The pregnancy he put there.

"I'm 32 weeks gone, Cameron" she said going back to the kitchen and Cameron walking towards his room. I walked past him towards the main door, and he pulled me back.

"Your daddy is back, little big thing" he said. "Are you behaving at school?" He asked. He actually did bend down to my height to look at me closely.

"Get your hands off me!" I yelled and stormed out of the house. He turned back and shook his head, shrugged and went to his room. So much for being a daddy.

"Cameron, leave the little girl alone, she's going through a trauma right now. She needs all the love she can get" mom said.

"She just rejected my love" he said. "I can't do any better"

Mom shook her head and came outside to meet me. I was at Mike's door knocking but he was not around. I wanted to be away from the house for a while and play with Mike but he was out.

"Darling, come back inside. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to" mom said and I had to follow her back inside our house. Cameron was in the sitting room then. He called my name, saying "Hey I got something for you" but I didn't answer him..

"It's a pallet, for your painting"

He said pulling out my favorite type of drawing pencils

"I don't want it. Mom can get me one. Stop trying to be nice, we all know you're not" I hissed.

"Oh well then, I'll give it to your mom, she's in fact better than you at painting" he said and laughed. It was so immature.

"You're just an asshole" i said and went to my room. There in my room, I was so angry that I started to punch my wall. Mom heard me and started to yell at Cameron for giving me some fits again. He yelled back and that began to grow into a serious argument. He hurled cuss words at her and said it was her fault for giving birth to me in the first place. I heard him say that he warned her that he didn't want a child.

"I just wanted to fuck and go!! I told you I didn't want a child! I was not ready then! The one in your stomach should have been the first one" he yelled. I grew quiet so as to eavesdrop.

"Cameron, let's not do this" mom said. She was not having it. " Don't start"

"I won't, if you can rewind time! You were just so stubborn! I told you what I wanted!"

"Cameron! How dare you blame me now? How dare you?? You told me you didn't want a child but then you went ahead and slept with me without any protection. What were you expecting, a motorbike?" Mom yelled some more. I held my head and shook with fury and confusion. I was an unfortunate pregnancy. I knew it. But it was not mom's fault.

"I told you to get rid of it" he said so loudly that I felt the tone in each word. It was heavy. He had wanted mom to get rid of me.

"Seriously?" Mom sounded annoyed. I started to think maybe I should go out and separate the fight. I always caused arguments between them. I felt so bad about myself to the extent that I wished mom had actually got rid of me.

"Yeah.. Abortion is allowed. But you chose to keep it. You chose to keep it and now you bear the consequences" he said and I heard him make a short evil laugh.

"Ain't I such a nice guy though? I allowed her in, feed her everyday, send her to one of the best schools and clothe her with MY money. You owe me, you know that. I don't know what you're so mad at. I don't know why you want to leave when I'm such a nice guy" he said laughing dryly. "You'd never find any one nicer" he added.

Now I understood it. Now I knew why he hated me so much. Now I knew why he beat mom. But surely I was not the only reason he beat mom everyday. There must be something else. I had to find out, but first, mom,the baby and I had to leave safely.

"Nice you say? Cameron, you're far from nice. You and I both know" mom retorted, silently fuming.

"But you chose me! You chose me, , I'm a nice guy, admit it! I'm so good in bed, I know how to make you moan like..

"Cameron, shut up!"

"This short cute sound you make when I pound you.. that look of satisfaction on your face when..."

"You're disgusting. I regret the day I met you" mom said. Her voice was teary and full of pain.

"What did you say? I am what?" He sounded like he was about to hit mom. "You know you dare not repeat that statement"

"You're disgusting. I can say that a thousand times" I knew what was going to happen next. I hurriedly fetched the sledgehammer from where I hid it. I had to stop them because no neighbor was around to save mom. He'd send mom to hospital again. I had to do something.

So I took the hammer and came out to the living room where they were arguing. The hammer was heavy but I lifted it and hit it on the stool to announce my presence.

"I'll hit you with this, and I promise to destroy this house if you both don't FUCKING stop arguing like kids!!!" I shouted.

Mom gasped. Perhaps it was because of the slang word 'fucking' that I used(I learnt it from them) or because of the realization that I had the sledgehammer in my possession all this while, or because of the frustration in my voice. Whatever it was, it shook her to the roots. I sat on the floor and began to cry.

Mom came over to me but I shoved her away. Cameron shook his head and went out of the house. I was glad I stopped the argument but I was exhausted.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled at mom. "Leave me alone. Just leave me alone!!!" I shouted at her at the top of my voice. She moved back a bit with shock and concern clearly written on her face. I was clearly not mad at her, but I took it out on her.

"I am sorry Ariana. I am sorry, please" mom knelt on the floor before me, pleading with a teary voice. She stopped trying to touch me. After a while, I quietened and she slowly fetched the sledgehammer on the floor near me. Then she went out of the house, and when she returned, she was without it.

She pulled me up and put me on her back. I was already calmer.

"Let's go for a walk, okay?" She said.

She groaned as she tried to balance me on her back, with a small bag in her hands. I didn't know what was in there. She carried me like that and passed through the back of our house into the less noisy road behind it. She put me down and held my hands as we walked in silence. There were many birds in that area...many colourful birds and I immediately started to feel good. They sang and chirped as they flew above our heads. My hands grabbed one, and I showed it to mom. A rainbow bird.

She smiled and rubbed my head. "Good girl, that was a good catch" I smiled. Then she said quietly when we got to a garden of flowers. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well i think we should paint" I said.

"Whoa! That's what I'm thinking too. Shall we?" She said laughing out loud. She lifted the bag on her thighs and emptied its contents on the ground. There were many drawing pencils, cardboards, pallette, paper and every drawing materials you could think of.

"Shall we?" She asked. I screamed in delight.

"Yes" i said, and just like that, we set to work, first talking to each other and giggling and then not talking at all. We worked in silence, and just like that, every memory of the bad day evaporated as I put all my mind to painting.

I painted a life I wanted, a vicinity with colourful birds, colorful garden, happy mother , happy father and happy sister. I drew myself, my baby sister, my mom and a man who in my imagination was supposed to be Jack, the guy mom was seeing. Mom didn't ask me anything about the sledgehammer. We decided without agreeing to put the past behind us. That moment was so beautiful. We painted and painted into the night until mom's phone rang. That made us stop. It was Jack.

"Baby, Jack is moving to his other house, he needs some help moving, I have to go help him" she said packing together every item we've used

"Moving? By this time?"

"Yes" she said. I didn't believe her but I allowed her as long as it was going to make her happy. But she didn't say "new" house but "other" house, so maybe he was actually moving to one of his other houses? What did I know?

I wanted to ask her to take me along but she had already said I'll soon meet him. Mom took me to Mrs Hawkins' apartment and asked her to take care of me. Mrs Hawkins had returned from work at that time.

Mom put on some makeup and some loose dressing and left the house at half past 8. Who goes to assist someone move his belongings with make-up on their face at half past 8? Was it necessary? That should let you know that it was either there was something more than helping him move or in the first place, there was no moving.

It continued like that for the rest of the week, she'd go to see Jack and return three hours later or the next day if Cameron was at work. And so I'd sleepover at my neighbor's. She did it so neatly and never got caught by Cameron. Mom was having an affair outside her home but it was much needed; She was lonely. Or maybe they both were planning how to get Cameron to sign the divorce papers as quickly as possible. Whatever it was, mom was happy so I would continue to let her.

What was both amusing and alarming was that mom didn't care that she was pregnant; she still went out with her bulging stomach, danced and made herself active. Maybe it was needed, I don't know but I was worried for her. I was especially worried that she might get caught by Cameron. And it did happen, one night.

Eight nights later, I woke up from sleep, disturbed. It was actually in the middle of the night. Stretching and yawning, I stared at my table clock. It was 1:38am. A bad dream had woken me up. Guess what I saw? Mom, again. Mom carrying the baby in her arms, but she didn't look happy and the baby wasn't moving. The baby was dead. It was the second time I'd see that the baby died, in my dream. Or the third time, I can't tell, but I know for sure i had seen it before.

Mom was not in the room with me. I felt the bed but she wasn't there. I switched on our lamp and fat night candle but it only revealed mom's absence clearly.

The bathroom door was left open. I went in and called silently, "Mom?" But alas! She wasn't there either!

I ran to the living room, kitchen, toilets, hallway and also peeped through the keyhole in their matrimonial room. Maybe mom had left my room while I was sleeping to keep Cameron's company. It was something she did sometimes or maybe he forced her to do it. I grabbed the door handle and the door opened easily

Normally, if they were in, the door would be shut from inside. They were not in. To my surprise, I saw streaks of blood on the floor, dotting the floor and footprint spreading the splatters of blood. Mom must have escaped the room, bleeding.

"Oh God!!! No!!" I screamed. I began to run round every room, all the while calling mom, and I finally checked the guest room but she wasn't there either. I started to panic. She wasn't anywhere in the house.

"Mom!" I shouted, not minding the fact that it was midnight.

"Mom!" I ran around the house, opening every door ajar. But I couldn't find her. Her laptop was still on in the guest room where I left her to go to bed. She had left the guest room to join me in my room, some minutes after.

I started to run helter skelter around the estate. Her phone was on the floor of the guest room, with its screen broken in two places. It looked as though someone hijacked the phone from her hands and dropped it on the floor. The main front door remained locked, so I wondered how mom left the house.

"How could I have slept so deeply? I was supposed to guard mom" I blamed myself. Don't forget, I was only seven years old. Left with no other option, I went to Mike's door and knocked on it but there was no answer.

I thought about where else mom could be.

Mom sometimes went to the garden to meditate, but at midnight? Mom could not have gone to the garden. And when i got to the garden, mom was not there.

"Oh God!!! Oh God No!" What if Cameron had killed her and dragged her body to the bush to bury her secretly. He could do it! He was worse than a demon!.

If it hadn't been for the nightmare, I might not have woken up at the time. I could not even call Mom, because she definitely wasn't with her phone wherever she was. It was lying there in the guest room.

As I was running around the environs of our house without an iota of idea about what to do, I heard a faint sound, of someone groaning and panting at the same time. I followed the sound and landed at the foot of a tree, very near the part where mom and I painted days ago and not far from our house.

It was mom!

She was sprawled on the ground, at the foot of the tree, with her back to the floor, and she was holding her legs which was seriously bleeding. First thing I did was touch her stomach; it was still intact. Still big and she wasn't bleeding from there.

"Mommy" I cried, holding her arms.

"Are you okay, mom?" I was confused. There was no one to call for help. It was the time when our neighbors went on a planned vacation. Only our family plus Mike didn't go with them. Mom insisted that I needed to be home with her and that she was pregnant and not in a position to travel that far, so they had to leave without us. I didn't know what excuse Mike had, but I knew he didn't go too.

"Ariana"

"Mom?" I called rubbing her hands. Terror was written boldly on my face.

"Ar..ia..,.Ca..call Jack" she stuttered, amidst heavy breaths.

"Call Jack, tell him ...tell..tell him..to..co..me over" she said again. I ran back into the house with unbelievable speed and picked up her phone, came back to the root of the tree.

"Hurry" she pleaded. She was dying-i could see that. With shaky hands, I scrolled through her contacts and found Jack. It was not hard to find because he was the one she called the most in the past two weeks. Mom had told me sometimes ago that where Joe lived, like his main house was ten hours away, so I wondered how he'd make it down to our place to save mom.

I dialled his number anyway and thankfully he picked on the first ring, and luckily, he was nearby. He wasn't home. I hurriedly introduced myself and said "Ruby is dying, please come over to S4, Littleton Avenue, Kangaroo Estate". He immediately said "Okay" and I heard him rush out of the house. "We're behind the house. Please hurry" i cried. He heard the desperation in my voice. For the first time, I would meet this Jack guy. I was so relieved to learn that he was only minutes away from our place. Probably that was where mom met with him every night.

I held mom's leg which was still bleeding and I kept talking to her. I also wiped it with my pyjamas not caring about a thing, except her safety. I knew she was weak and needed to be quiet but I needed to be sure she was not dead, so I kept calling her and she opened and closed her eyes in response. It was scary. I prayed and hoped Jack would arrive on time because there was almost nothing little me could do. There was no other person to call for help.

"He'll soon be here mom" I cried. She rubbed my head and told me not to cry.

In a twinkle of an eye, he appeared, driving madly into our parking lot. Thankfully, mom was still breathing. Jack rushed to her side and carried her to the car. He could not lift her really well but he carried her as fast as he could to the car. He didn't ask me to help. I mean, could I have done anything really?

I joined him at the passenger seat and I had barely settled down when he started the car, driving like a mad man to the nearest hospital. I was grateful he came to time. I didn't get to see him well but it was obvious he was really tall, and of course kind. He actually did apologize for not allowing me sit properly before swerving off the parking lot because he saw I almost lost control of my weight on the seat. I could have fallen but I didn't care; he meant well. I kept staring back at mom as he drove. She was groaning.

Next time(God forbid), but if any emergency like this happened, I would always remember to call an ambulance. But thanks goodness Jack came faster than an ambulance would.

At the hospital, mom was collected by some nurses and she was immediately wheeled to the emergency labour ward. She was in labour already. After the door was shut, Jack pulled my hands away gently and walked over to the seats in the reception room with me, he sat me down beside him and rubbed my hands.

"Ariana" he smiled. I stared into his face just then. He looked so cool and concerned. "Your mom will be fine. Both the baby and her will come out of the ward, alive" he said. I nodded. "Stop worrying" he said, smiling. "I hope you're good. Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked

"No I'm fine" i replied.

"We can only hope and pray. Worry does no one any good" he said and I nodded in full support.

Then he laid my head on his chest and kept rubbing my fingers and patting my back. It was so soothing. He was like Mike Tony. Maybe a little shorter in height, but as caring as he was too. He didn't care that my body was big and hairy.

"What happened? Why was she bleeding on her leg?" He asked me later on

"I don't know. I think Cameron hit her" i said and he sighed. "That rascal!" He said, gritting his teeth and at that moment I knew if God made it possible for Jack and mom to be together, he'd be a great father to me. He looked and sounded like he'd never lay his hands on a woman, and he's been making mom happy, so I believed he was a good man.