Photo taken by @wakeupkitty, the host of this contest on behalf of @freewritehouse.
"How did I get to this point?" Uloma asked herself severally as she looked down at her dust-clad feet. She had been sitting there God knows for how long, watching the movie of her life's journey being replayed over and over again, the honking vehicles from afar mirroring the storm in her heart.
"How did I get here? She asked again as tears streamed down her face unabated. She never knew there were still tears left to cry.
"Why me? Why?, frustration gnawed at her soul as the echoes of her questions bounced off the dusty road.
The weight of her loss was more than she could bear, then the accusations and now the emptiness, these were too much for one person.Then she remembered Obinna and broke down uncontrollably.
Life was good and she had known moments of joy and happiness, of fulfilment. She had graduated from the University at twenty three and had gone on to marry her school sweetheart, Obinna, almost immediately.
As they exchanged vows, their eyes had held each other's, with promises of a lifetime together, a lifetime of happiness.
Three months later, she became pregnant. They were both overjoyed and her husband could not love her enough. She remembered how he would say,
"See sweetheart, I want to pamper you and our baby, I want to be the best husband and father in this whole world", then he would wrap his arms around her, protecting her, loving her, more than she could ever have imagined.
They never knew there was tragedy lurking around the corner. Five months into the pregnancy, she started bleeding one night, and eventually lost the baby. They were devastated, to say the least. She wouldn't stop crying and Obinna wouldn't stop consoling her, reassuring her that there would be more children.
Then the heart-wrenching years of enduring multiple miscarriages, testing the strength of their bond, each loss forming a deeper void.
Life is never a linear journey and so one day, after about twenty years of childlessness, her husband quietly left the house, leaving just a simple note behind,
Uloma, this is as far as I can go, I liberate you from whatever bonds kept us together. I am free now so should you.
Obinna.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, yet she could not find him, did not know his whereabout, she was desperate, she was going crazy. She could not endure the thought of Obinna being gone from her forever. She wept all night, praying that he returns home to her.
Then just this morning, Obinna's family that had been like her own family, stormed into her home, shouting and labeling her with diverse accusations.
"Witch, you are a witch, you have eaten all your children and you thought you would be able to stop our brother from having children? It didn't happen, it didn't work", they branded her as the one responsible for all the tragedies that befell her, this hung like dark clouds and she wept profusely, her voice a feeble plea for understanding, fell on deaf ears.
"Obinna now has a bouncing baby boy in America, his wife gave him a beautiful bouncing baby boy. Did you hear that? So what are you still waiting for to leave this house? Obinna's older sibling announced with glee.
It was a shattering revelation, devastating her world, bringing it crashing down at her feet. So it was true, what was rumoured was true, Obinna, her husband had started a new family in far away America.
She howled out in pain, her wounds were so deep.
"This is cruel betrayal Obinna. How could you do this to me?", She whispered over and over again.
She was being thrown out of her home, empty, so empty. There were no more tears left to cry, she had lost out. She quietly picked the bags she could carry and wondered out into the street....
"Child, you have a covenant with a marine husband, you are married to a spirit but you can't see him. It's a very strong covenant that needs to be broken if you would ever have children or enjoy a marital relationship. He's a presence around you wherever you go, take this seriously my child."
She now remembered the prophecy given to her by a woman of God when she went for a church programme in her University days, even before she married Obinna. She never took those things seriously, as far as she was concerned, those so called prophecies were just figments of their own imagination.... Oh she held her head in her hands.
"So my problem is Spiritual" she whispered as she wept herself sore.
Thank you for the challenge.