BLESSED BUT BROKEN

Episode 5

Mama's POV

It was already evening.

The aroma of dinner filled the small house as Grace moved around the kitchen, preparing the evening meal. The house, however, felt unusually quiet.

Too quiet.

Mama sat outside, patiently waiting for dinner to be served. She frowned slightly as she glanced toward the hallway.

"I'm sure I heard Deborah come in hours ago," she muttered to herself.

Normally, Deborah would have greeted everyone the moment she arrived, teasing Grace in the kitchen or chatting endlessly about her day.

But today...

Nothing.

Not a sound.

A strange feeling settled in Mama's chest as she waited for Grace to call Deborah for dinner.

---

Grace's POV

"Deborah! Dinner is ready!" Grace called out as she walked toward their room.

There was no response.

Pushing the door open, she froze.

Deborah was curled up in the far corner of the room, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. She wore a simple oversized gown, which immediately struck Grace as odd.

Deborah never changed into night clothes this early.

As Grace stepped closer, she heard it.

Soft sobs.

Painful, broken sobs.

Her heart skipped.

"Deborah?"

The girl quickly wiped at her face, trying desperately to hide her tears.

But it was too late.

Grace could see her swollen eyes.

The bruises scattered across her arms.

The trembling of her body.

Fear gripped her chest.

"Deborah..." she whispered again.

---

Deborah's POV

Please...

I can't do this.

Deborah squeezed her eyes shut.

She didn't want anyone to see her like this.

Didn't want to answer questions.

Didn't want to explain the bruises.

Didn't want to explain the missing documents.

The thought alone made her stomach twist painfully.

How was she supposed to tell them?

How was she supposed to tell Mama that the house documents were gone?

That she had trusted the wrong person?

That everything had fallen apart?

The bedroom door creaked open.

Then she heard Grace's voice calling her for dinner.

A few seconds later, the room went silent.

Grace had seen her.

Seen the tears.

Seen the bruises.

Seen everything.

"Oh God... help me," Deborah whispered shakily.

Slowly, she turned to face her sister.

The concern on Grace's face made fresh tears gather in her eyes.

"What happened?" Grace asked immediately.

She rushed closer.

"Deborah, why are your eyes so swollen?"

Her voice grew more frantic as she noticed the bruises.

"What happened to your body? Who did this to you?"

Question after question poured out.

Then Grace's eyes landed on the torn clothes lying carelessly on the floor.

Her face paled.

She picked up the ripped fabric with trembling hands.

"Deborah..." she whispered.

Her voice cracked.

"What happened to your dress?"

The room fell silent.

Deborah's lips trembled.

Tears streamed down her face.

But no words came out.

Only pain.

Worried about how long the girls were taking, Mama slowly made her way toward their room.

She expected to find them chatting or arguing over something trivial.

Instead, she found Deborah crying uncontrollably while Grace knelt beside her.

The sight alone made her heart sink.

"Mama..." Grace whispered.

Deborah looked up, her face drenched in tears.

She knew she could no longer hide the truth.

With trembling lips and a broken voice, she began to explain everything.

How she had trusted Mr. Fidelis.

How he had deceived her.

How he had forced himself on her.

The room fell silent.

For a moment, Mama couldn't even breathe.

Then Grace suddenly sprang to her feet.

"What?" she shouted.

Her voice echoed through the room.

"No! No! What do you mean he r***d you?"

Deborah flinched at the word.

Fresh tears streamed down her face.

"We need to arrest him!" Grace cried angrily.

"I warned you about him! I told you he was no good!"

She paced around the room, her hands shaking with rage.

"Now look at what he has done to you!"

Then another thought struck her.

"The documents!"

She turned sharply toward Deborah.

"What about the house documents?"

Deborah lowered her head.

The shame and guilt were crushing her.

"He took them," she whispered.

Grace stared at her.

"What?"

"He took them and ran away."

Her voice trembled.

"I couldn't stop him."

The words hit the room like a thunderbolt.

Mama's eyes widened in horror.

The assault.

The betrayal.

The stolen documents.

Everything she and her late husband had worked for.

The future of the family.

Gone.

She staggered backward.

"No..."

Her voice was barely audible.

"No..."

"Mama?" Grace called out.

The elderly woman clutched her chest as tears filled her eyes.

The shock was too much.

Far too much.

Her legs suddenly gave way.

"Mama!" Deborah screamed.

Before either sister could reach her, Mama fell heavily to the floor.

Her head struck the edge of a wooden stool with a sickening thud.

The room froze.

For a second, nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

Then Grace rushed forward.

"Mama!"

She dropped to her knees beside her.

Blood slowly trickled from the side of Mama's head.

"Mama, wake up!"

There was no response.

Deborah crawled toward her, sobbing uncontrollably.

"No... no... no..."

She grabbed Mama's hand.

It was already growing still.

"Mama, please don't leave us!"

Grace shook her desperately.

"Mama! Open your eyes!"

Nothing.

No movement.

No answer.

No breath.

The realization struck them like a crushing wave.

Mama was gone.

The woman who had sacrificed everything for them.

The woman who had raised them with love despite hardship.

The woman who had been their strength for so many years.

Gone.

Deborah let out a heartbreaking scream that echoed through the house.

A scream filled with grief, guilt, and unbearable pain.

As she clung to Mama's lifeless body, only one thought kept repeating in her mind:

This was all because of Mr. Fidelis.

And for the first time since that terrible day, her grief began to mix with something else.

The scream that tore from Deborah's throat was so loud and heartbreaking that it echoed through the entire neighborhood.

Doors flew open.

People abandoned their meals.

Children stopped playing.

Within minutes, neighbors came running toward the house.

What greeted them was a scene of pure devastation.

Grace was kneeling on the floor, shaking Mama's lifeless body while crying hysterically.

Deborah lay beside them, clutching Mama's hand against her chest as though refusing to let her go.

Blood stained the floor beside the wooden stool.

"Mama... please wake up..."

Deborah's voice had become hoarse from crying.

"You can't leave us..."

But Mama never moved.

Never opened her eyes.

Never answered.

The woman who had sacrificed her entire life for them was gone.

And nothing they did could bring her back.

---

The day of the burial arrived far too quickly.

Gray clouds hung heavily over the church grounds as if even the heavens were mourning.

As Mama's coffin was lowered into the earth, Deborah felt her knees give way.

A cry escaped her lips.

The kind of cry that comes from a soul that has been shattered.

"No..."

She struggled against the women trying to hold her back.

"No, please..."

Tears streamed endlessly down her face.

"You promised you wouldn't leave us."

Grace stood nearby, her eyes swollen from days of crying.

She had no tears left.

Only emptiness.

Only anger.

Only pain.

As the first shovel of earth landed on the coffin, Deborah collapsed completely.

The sound felt final.

Cruel.

Permanent.

And in that moment, she realized she would never hear Mama's voice again.

Never feel her warm embrace.

Never see her waiting at the door.

Never hear her call them "my children."

Never.

---

After the burial, the sisters immediately sought out the pastor.

Surely he knew where Mr. Fidelis was.

Surely he could explain something.

Anything.

But the pastor looked as shocked as they were.

His face turned pale as he listened to their story.

"God forgive me," he whispered.

"I never knew."

The regret in his eyes was genuine.

"I trusted him."

"So did we," Grace replied bitterly.

The pastor had no answers.

No address.

No phone number.

Nothing.

It was as though Mr. Fidelis had disappeared from the face of the earth after destroying their lives.

---

Days became a blur.

The house felt haunted.

Every corner carried Mama's memory.

Her empty chair remained untouched.

Her Bible stayed where she had left it.

Her cup still sat on the kitchen shelf.

Sometimes Deborah would wake up expecting to hear Mama's voice.

For a brief second, she would forget.

Then reality would hit her all over again.

And she would cry until her chest hurt.

The sisters barely spoke.

Not because they were angry with each other.

But because they were drowning.

Drowning in grief.

Drowning in guilt.

Drowning in memories.

The silence between them grew heavier each day.

Until one evening another tragedy arrived at their doorstep.

A loud knock echoed through the house.

Grace opened the door.

Two men stood outside.

Neither looked familiar.

One of them handed over some documents.

"We're here regarding this property."

Grace frowned.

"What property?"

"This house."

A terrible feeling settled in her stomach.

The man looked uncomfortable.

"We purchased it from Mr. Fidelis."

The world seemed to stop.

Deborah, who had been standing behind Grace, felt her heart drop.

"No..." she whispered.

The documents slipped from Grace's trembling fingers.

"No..."

The men continued speaking, but the sisters barely heard them.

All they heard was one thing.

Their home.

Gone.

The last thing Mama had left for them.

Gone.

Sold.

Stolen.

Destroyed.

Just like everything else.

"Please," Deborah begged through tears.

She fell to her knees.

"Please don't do this."

The men looked away.

"We're sorry."

"We have nowhere to go."

Silence.

"Please."

Their voices broke.

Their dignity shattered.

Their hearts bleeding.

But it changed nothing.

The men refused ..... Grace asked them how they can reach Mr Fidelis but the answered received was far more heartbreaking......he relocated to another state and currently planning on getting married

---

By sunset, the sisters were forced to pack.

There wasn't much left.

A few clothes.

Some old photographs.

Mama's Bible.

And the framed picture taken years ago when life was still kind.

Deborah paused in Mama's room.

The bed was empty.

The room was silent.

Yet somehow it still smelled faintly of her.

That familiar scent shattered the last piece of strength she had left.

She fell onto the bed and cried.

Cried until she could barely breathe.

Grace found her minutes later.

Neither said a word.

They simply cried together.

Because there were no words left.

---

As they stepped out of the house carrying their small bags, Deborah turned around one final time.

The home where they had laughed.

The home where Mama had loved them.

The home where they had been a family.

It was no longer theirs.

The door closed behind them.

And it felt like another burial.

Another goodbye.

Another loss.

---

The church became their shelter for the night.

The pastor offered them a small room with two thin mattresses.

Nothing more.

But they were grateful.

Because they had nowhere else to go.

That night the room was cold.

The darkness seemed endless.

For hours neither sister slept.

They simply sat in silence.

Listening to each other's quiet sobs.

Then Deborah finally broke.

A painful cry escaped her lips.

The kind of cry that had been trapped inside her for weeks.

Grace immediately pulled her close.

And suddenly everything they had been holding back exploded.

They cried in each other's arms.

Cried for Mama.

Cried for their stolen home.

Cried for the future that had been ripped away from them.

"I'm sorry," Deborah sobbed.

Her entire body shook.

"If I hadn't trusted him..."

She couldn't continue.

The guilt was choking her.

"Mama would still be alive."

Grace's eyes filled with tears.

"Stop."

"But it's true."

"Stop!"

Grace shouted before breaking down herself.

The room fell silent.

Then Grace pulled Deborah closer.

So close it almost hurt.

"We both lost her."

Their tears soaked each other's shoulders.

"We're all we have left now."

Deborah buried her face in Grace's chest and cried harder than she ever had in her life.

Outside, the wind howled through the church windows.

Inside, two broken sisters held onto each other as if letting go would mean falling apart completely.

For the first time, they truly understood how alone they were.

No home.

No grandmother.

No money.

No answers.

Only each other.

And in that cold church room, surrounded by darkness and uncertainty, they cried until there were no tears left to shed and slept off on eachother arms.