THE PRICE OF HER TEARS:2
402 Words
Episode 2: A Night of Fear
The room fell silent.
Angela quickly pulled Tracy and little Divine behind her as Gilbert stood in the middle of the living room, breathing heavily. His gaze shifted from Florence to the unpaid school fee invoices scattered across the floor.
“You are embarrassing me!” Gilbert shouted. “Every time I come home, all I hear about is school fees, food, and bills!”
Florence bent down to gather the papers with trembling hands.
“I’m not asking for myself, Gilbert,” she said quietly. “I’m asking for your children. They deserve to stay in school.”
Instead of responding, Gilbert kicked the old wooden chair aside. The loud crash made Divine burst into tears.
“Mummy…” the little boy cried as he ran into Florence’s arms.
Florence held him tightly, trying to shield all three children from the argument.
Angela looked at her father with tears in her eyes.
“Daddy… please don’t fight with Mummy.”
For a brief moment, Gilbert hesitated. Then he grabbed his car keys from the table.
“I’m leaving. Handle your own problems,” he said coldly.
The front door slammed behind him.
Moments later, Florence heard the sound of his car speeding away.
The children clung to her as the rain continued to pour outside.
She held them close and whispered, “As long as I’m alive, none of you will stop going to school. I will find a way.”
The next morning, Florence woke before sunrise. She prepared a small breakfast with the little food left in the house before leaving for the market to look for work.
She spent the entire day washing clothes for neighbors, cleaning houses, and selling vegetables just to earn enough money to feed the children.
As evening approached, her phone rang.
It was an unknown number.
“Hello, is this Florence?” a woman’s voice asked.
“Yes… who is this?”
There was a brief silence before the woman spoke again.
“I think you deserve to know the truth about your husband.”
Florence’s heart skipped a beat.
“What truth?”
The woman took a deep breath.
“I’ve been seeing Gilbert for months… and I’m not the only one.”
The call ended.
Florence stood frozen, the phone slipping from her hand.
She realized her nightmare was even worse than she had imagined.
- Writer
