When she walked out on what we had, it had taken me a long time to make my peace with it (maybe I never did, but); I accepted it. For as long as it lasted, it was blissful. It had all the elements of a normal marriage but for a few things. There was always a part of ourselves we kept from each other.
To be fair to her, this was done one way or the other, but I never expected it would be what would tear our marriage apart. Since she walked out the door on that fateful day, her bags and our two kids in tow, I haven't seen her again. I expected that I would eventually, but I never, even in my wildest imagination, thought it would be like this.
unsplash.com
As I sat there at that table, the images were flashing in my face all over again. The image of my mutilated son on the hospital bed needing a blood donation, of me desperately offering my blood for the transfusion, of the nurse taking a sample, and ultimately of the doctor telling me my blood sample has been tested and it can't be used, of him explaining how that means that my "son" isn't mine. You would think that is the one that would have tortured me all these years, but it wasn't.
It was the image of her crying herself into a stupor on our way home that night. Of her going straight into our bedroom and packing her clothes. All the while, not looking at me even once. I never understood it. I have tried tirelessly over the years to make sense of it, but that sense has continued to elude me.
I never really wanted to attend this reunion. I had never attended one since we all graduated from college. After many years of wallowing in the pains of my loss, I would finally decide to beat it and become a better man, do all the things she wanted me to do, that I said no to. Attending this reunion was one.
As I sat there at that table, staring at a shape of what could pass for the resemblance of the love of my life, basically acting like a servant to one fellow at the other corner of the room, I couldn't help wondering who she is. I had always thought I lost her to someone better in some way. I didn't have to strain my eyes long.
The fellow seemed to have noticed me and started my way. Before he even got to where I was, I knew this wasn't going to end well for me. I couldn't believe my eyes; it was Billy. The same Billy who ate my lunch in primary school and spent my spare money in college was here. It would have been okay if that was all.
"Hey man, how are you? Looks like you are still kicking. Thought you would have, you know, don't do something stupid, just like you always did, after the wife left you", he said. What do you know about my wife, I replied as quickly and coldly as possible. "Oh man, the joke is on you. You didn't know? She's the woman over there. Don't worry, I treat her right; for a side chick at least." he said.
You made my wife your side chick?? "She came of her own volition, don't blame me" he replied. "How?" I asked. "wouldn't like me to tell you that now? I couldn't, I promised her. Bin ut a short story, I have some leverage over her family and that gets me anything I want, including her, since a year into your marriage, mate". So you are the father of those kids; the ones I have raised for over 10 years?? "So, she said. Sorry about all of it mate. Ain't anything personal, just always had an eye for her ass-et. You catch my drift? He replied.
You are never going to stop holding it over her, are you? I asked. "I don't know, just going to keep having fun while it lasts, mate". You know Billy, you were not wrong. When she left, I kind of just gave up. I was going to end it. Bought a pistol and all, but could not quite follow through. Now I know why, I said. "Why," Billy asked.
Because Billy, it was meant for you. With that said, I pulled out a pistol from my side. Three shots later, Billy was lying lifeless on the table. It was a perfect culmination of a nightmare called the reunion of class 1997.