His teeth chattered due to the chilly breeze coming from the windows. Gerald clasped his hands together in shock, the whole room reeked of unwashed clothes but he didn’t care. It felt like his mother’s death happened yesterday but it occurred two months ago. The sound emanating from the television did no justice in drowning the sniffles coming from him.
This image
The poorly lit bulb gave a glimpse of his side profile; he was a dark and handsome young man in his late twenties. His cheekbones were high and bony due to his inadequate feeding, his arms were skinny and frail. Gerald’s eyes burrowed holes in the wall as he stared into empty space.
The tattered curtains swayed due to how light they were and the windows jammed shut. The sound startled him which caused him to lay on the thin bed; he closed his eyes shut and let the hot tears stream down his face. The whole incident replayed in his head like a stereo player set on repeat.
A beer bottle was stashed shabbily under the hospital bed but Mrs Okoye didn’t care about that. Her eyes surveyed the room for any sign of movement. When she saw the coast was clear, she took a huge gulp and burped in satisfaction. Her stare at the Trophy beer bottle was childlike and that of satisfaction. She closed her eyes as she basked in the joy that the alcohol gave her.
Everything stopped when the door opened to reveal a familiar face. The man looked shocked to see his patient who was suffering from serious lung cancer almost downing a full bottle of beer. She bent her head in shame and burst into tears.
“Mrs. Okoye, I’m highly disappointed in you, after everything your son has done to save up money for your surgery, you still haven’t let go of your addiction to alcohol?” The doctor exclaimed, shaking his head.
Mrs Okoye wailed loudly and placed her hands on her head looking distraught. “I know I’m a bad mother but I just can’t help it. Alcohol makes me forget all my troubles and the past things I’ve done; it makes me happy. I know Gerald has done a lot for me but he should just leave me to die, I’m not worth all this stress.” She sniffed, taking another sip from the bottle.
The man arched his eyebrows in wonder, he didn’t expect such words to come from her. He had seen how much they she and her son loved each other and didn’t think she would want them to be separated even if it was by death. He drew a chair closer, sat down, and made it his mission to know her problem.
“Mrs Okoye, I want to know everything. Talk to me and let me know how I can help.” In all the patients he had handled, he had never seen anyone who easily gave up like her and he was curious to know what the issue was. His doctors’ intuition was spiraling and he decided to explore it.
She chuckled in disbelief. The woman had made up her mind to meet her creator and she didn’t mind the words of the doctor. “I highly doubt that doctor. No one can help me, only myself and that’s by leaving this world. I have nothing to lose so I’m going to tell you everything.”
The doctor nodded, signaling a go-ahead.
“Firstly, I’m not Gerald’s mother. I was his father’s mistress and his real mother was his wife. She died when Gerald was just a baby and I married his dad because I loved him. I couldn’t have children of my own so I decided to take Gerald as my son.”
She laid her head on the pillow and faced the other side, she was ashamed of the lies she had kept for many years. She continued “When his father died, I was devastated and had nowhere to run to because his family didn’t like me. They rejected their own flesh and blood so I took care of him myself up till now. We lived in abject poverty for some time because they took everything from me. This made me resort to drinking away my sorrow and I got addicted.”
The doctor could feel her pain, he pitied her because she had suffered greatly. Mrs Okoye looked at the window with empty and swollen eyes due to excessive crying and drunkenness, she wished Gerald’s father was there to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay but he wasn’t and this hurt more than death itself.
“Who gave you this beer?” She laughed and rolled her eyes. “I have my ways, doctor.”
Unknown to them, Gerald was behind the door listening to their conversation. He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes and absconded for three days. When he decided to see her, he was told she died in her sleep the previous night after muttering “I’m paying for my sins.”
That moment changed everything for him.
Now, he had nothing left and nothing to lose. The woman he thought was his mother lied to him all his life; he had no identity or relatives to run to. The advice of his friend to go into the Yahoo business rung repeatedly in his head and he made up his mind to escape from abject poverty.