Over the next few days at her parents' home, Nene began to feel more like herself. Her parents continued to make a fuss over her, trying to draw her out of herself with a lot of local gist while plying her with so much food, the likes of which she never had time to prepare for herself due to work and other commitment.
It was always such fun visiting her parents; they really were a loving and devoted couple who doted on their kids.
Nene felt blessed to have such wonderful parents who never judged or forced their views on their children. They always gave them the space to spread their wings and to choose their own path in life.
Buoyed up by the love her parents were lavishing on their only daughter, Nene felt she was ready to make that final leap and tackle her current marital issues once and for all.
She always dreamed of having a loving relationship similar to what her parents had but sadly this was not to be with Zelinjo.
Nene decided to go home and pack her things out of the house she once shared with Zel.
On arriving at her house, she noticed all the cars were parked in front of the house meaning Zel was probably at home. She did not feel like having a confrontation with him but she knew it was something she could not avoid.
She opened the door gently and stepped inside the living room, nearly bumping into her husband who was coming out of the kitchen and heading for a chair.
“Oh, the prodigal wife returns,” Zel sniggered, clapping his hands in slow motion.
Nene decided she was not going to utter a word back, looking briefly at him in acknowledgement.
She walked straight into her bedroom and began to pull out her stuff.
“Hey you, come back here. Are you not the person I am talking to?” Zel shouted, shoving her slightly, again with the thumb and index finger.
“Please Zel, can I pack out of your house in peace?” Nene responded in a forlorn voice, wishing he would just go away.
“So the house is now my house eh? Bravo for you. So my dear Nene, where are the documents to my so called house and other property eh?”
Nene stared at him with a blank expression “Pardon?” she asked
“Oh, don’t give me that crap. Do you think I am stupid? I have not seen those house papers and a few other legal documents including bank documents and all your certificates and awards. I know your handiwork so you can stop with the pretence!”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Nene deadpanned.
“You must really take me for a fool. Do you believe it’s a coincidence that all those papers disappeared from this house whilst you have been gone?” he said hotly.
“I believe after you were discharged from the hospital you decided to leave for good. This would have been fine for me except you now have a lot of items that belong to me. I'm demanding you return them after which you can go to hell and burn to ashes, for all I care,” he yelled at her.
“Please, stop all this yelling. I have no documents with me and possibly you have taken my certificates as another means of punishing me but me I am also tired of all this abusive ranting and unnecessary beating.
So, I no longer want anything to do with you too. Let me get my stuff and when you find those documents you can put mine in the post," Nene fired back, tired of playing the mousy housewife game with him.
“Ha, wonders shall never cease. So, the mouse has finally found the mouth to talk back to a lion, eh?" he said gruffly, taking off his belt.
“Okay, since you don’t want to do this in a civilized manner, we will do it in the only way you understand!”
That was all the prompting Nene needed to take her leave and she decided she would abandon the packing for a later date as she started making a fast exit for the living room, knowing very well what was about to follow.
Sensing she was about to flee, Zel grabbed her hair and she lost her balance, falling down as she made to run.
“Stupid woman! I'll show you that I am the man in this house!” and he started raining blows on her. She put up her hand to protect herself but the blows were coming in fast and furiously.
Nene soon realised he was not going to let up until he put her in hospital and she began to fight back with weak punches at first and then with all she had in her, kicking, punching, scratching.
Then she found the pestle on the floor, bringing it crashing down on Zel’s head, sending him down like a bag of rice.
Seeing the blood gushing out of him, Nene turned and ran into the bedroom in a panic to pick up her wrapper and a pair of slippers before running out of the door. She ran and kept running until she made it to the corn field.
Once she had managed to get some rest and catch her breath, Nene got up and started walking until she came to a main road. She hailed a cab, which took her straight to her parent’s house.
As soon as Nene got home, she got some money from her mother and paid off the cab driver before heading back inside, kneeling down in front of her mother and begging her to forgive her.
“Forgive you for what, Nene? What have you done?” Her mother Cecilia asked, her voice laced with panic.
“Mama, it is, it’s…Zelinjo” she blurted out “I, I, I think I have killed him oh!” She began to wail.
“Calm down, my daughter! Calm down and tell me what has happened this time again? Did he not let you pack your things? What is it again now?” her mother said, trying to soothe her daughter’s frayed nerves
“I think he’s dead oh! I used the pestle….that’s what I could find to make him stop. He wouldn’t stop... he wouldn’t stop hitting, hitting me. So, so I, so, so I picked it up and, and, mama there was blood, blood, there was blood everywhere. So I ran, I ran away mama!” Nene stammered, trembling and wringing her fingers in anguish.
“Oh my God, Nene, what have you done?" her mother screamed. "So where is Zel now?" she asked, grabbing Nene by her shoulders and shaking her slightly.
“He is, he is at home in a pool of his own, his own blood, mama, he looked like, like he was dead!” Nene sputtered.
“God forbid, he will not die! I will call an ambulance straight away to go round to the house. is the door open or locked, give me your hand!” She took hold of Nene’s hand.
“Look at me, look at me, my baby. Your husband will not die ok, I will call the ambulance and they will see to him. In the meantime, take a seat and try to calm yourself down.” her mother said, swinging into action as she started to dial the ambulance number.
She remained on the phone with the ambulance company as they arranged to pick up Zel whilst Nene continued to stare into space, trembling viciously as she continued to pray he would not die but asking God to allow him to have severe brain damage so he would not come for vengeance.
Even with the gravity of the situation, she could not bring herself to feel sorry for Zel.
After what seemed like an eternity, her mother joined her on the settee and gently scooped her into her arms, cradling her as she had done on countless occasions when Nene was younger.
“Now dear, you can relax a little, Zel has been taken to the hospital by the ambulance service and from their initial assessment, I think he had a very lucky escape as he had a broken skull but none of his major organs have been affected by that pestle blow to his head. They are hopeful that he will recover in due course.”
“Now tell me what really happened, starting from the beginning,” Cecilia said, gently prodding her as Nene tearfully began to describe what happened when she got home and how it degenerated into the very bloody fisticuffs that led to the near mishap...
Watch out for the concluding part of this series this weekend! And thanks everyone for dropping by my blog today. Do enjoy the rest of your day!
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