CHAPTER 2 WENDY’S BACKSTORY
1261 Words
CHAPTER 2
WENDY'S BACKSTORY
Wendy entered the car and closed her eye. The pain from Steve's rough handling still lingered, but it was nothing compared to the anguish that ravaged her heart. Memories of the conversation she had overheard and the scene she saw few hours ago flooded her mind, and a wave of betrayal and anger surged in her heart.
Her father's words echoed in her mind like a curse:
"She's better off dead." He had spoken of her mother, who lay bedridden, fighting for her life.
FEW HOURS EARLIER
"I have spent all the money on that useless wife of mine. I might as well just kill her, she is better off dead.” He said as he injected something into Nana’s drip.
As the potassium chloride surged through her veins, Nana’s face contorted in anguish, her body convulsed violently.
“You…. You….”Nana manage to say as she looked at her husband Mr Jackson in disbelief till she became still.
Wendy who was still peeping, didn’t understand what was going on until she heard his next word.
“It worked. She is dead. Thanks for the recommendation . One more thing, I have run out of money and even borrowed and the loan sharks are after my life now. Don’t forget to send me something when the work is done since I gave you different ideas.”
The person on the other line said something and he replied “They won’t come after me, I made a deal with them and they are coming to take my daughter tomorrow"
Wendy was furious, but it was the next words that had left Wendy's heart in tatters.
"I'll just sell her off to those loan sharks like I sold her sister 6 years ago and till now, no one knows, they just thought she went missing."
The revelation made her legs go weak. Her little sister, missing for six years, was not just a victim of circumstance, but a pawn in her own father's twisted game.
She couldn't believe her ears. So, her perfect, loving and hard-working father was nothing but a monster???
He killed his wife and he is also responsible for her sister’s disappearance?
Such is life!
But the truth was too hard for Wendy to believe.
What was her mother’s offense?
Her sister was only 9 years old then. So he sold a child for money.
His own daughter???
She was so disappointed in him and has lost every respect she has for him.
What else is her father capable of that she doesn't know?
Seeing that he was done with the call, Wendy pushed the door open.
“Wendy? You’re back already?” Mr. Jackson asked, setting down his half-empty glass of cheap whiskey.
She didn’t answer. Her hands clenched into fists by her sides, her breaths shallow. She was shaking, but it wasn’t fear—it was fury.
“How could you? How could you be so heartless?” she said, her voice low, trembling with restrained rage.
Mr. Jackson blinked. “I don’t understand you. Wendy what’s wrong?”
“Don’t play games with me,” she snapped, stepping forward. “I saw what you did to Mom. I heard the call. You injected her with something and watched her die like she meant nothing. And you’re planning to sell me to those same people you sold my sister to? What kind of a man are you? Do you have conscience at all?”
“You’re confused,” he said, his voice flat. “You must have misunderstood.”
“Don’t lie to me!” she shouted. “I saw the way she looked at you before she died. She was disappointed in you. You said she was better off dead,so, you injected her. I saw her body convulse, I saw her eyes plead with you. And you… you just stood there, enjoying her suffer.”
Mr. Jackson stood abruptly, his voice rising. “She was suffering! She was in pain! What was I supposed to do, Wendy? Watch her rot in that bed like a vegetable? You call that life? I was doing her a favor!”
Wendy recoiled as if slapped. “A favor?” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. “Is that what you called it when you sold my sister too? Was that another ‘favor’?”
His mouth opened, then closed. He turned away from her, shoulders heaving.
“I didn’t mean to…” he muttered. “Your sister… it was different. I was drowning in debt. I had no help, and she was just one more mouth to feed. I thought they’d treat her well. They promised they would.”
“Promised?” Wendy’s voice cracked. “She was nine years old! You were her favorite! She was scared of thunder. She trusted you!”
“I didn’t have a choice!” he roared, spinning around. “Do you know what it feels like to owe people who carve names into your skin just to make a point? I had to make sacrifices for you and your mother. Or do you think it is just my salary I use to take care of your mother’s bills and the family expenses?.”
Wendy’s tears flowed freely now .” We didn’t ask you to sacrifice Wyonna for that.”
For a moment, the room was silent—thick, suffocating silence that settled into her bones.
“You’re my daughter,” he said finally, his voice softer. “I’ve done horrible things… but I did them because I was desperate. I never meant to hurt you or your mother, or sister.”
She looked at him then, really looked at him. And she saw not a desperate man, but a coward. A selfish, broken man who justified his cruelty with excuses and lies. A man who had let money outweigh love.
Something inside her snapped.
“No. Don’t say that. Don’t pretend this is love. You don’t get to say you care about me after what you did to Mom, to my sister, and what you planned for me.”
“Wendy just forgive your father and obediently follow the loan sharks when they come tomorrow. It is for your own good. They will give you the life I couldn’t give you.”
She stepped back, shaking her head. “You’re not my father. You’re a monster.”
She turned and ran out of the house before he could respond.
—
The rain started as a drizzle, light and almost gentle, but it mirrored the storm inside her. Wendy wandered aimlessly through the streets, numb, lost, and broken. Her clothes clung to her skin. Her hair was soaked. But she didn’t care.
She ended up by the roadside. The night was dark and silent. It was strange how peaceful everything looked.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She didn’t check it. What was the point?
The pain inside her chest felt unbearable, like her ribs were caving in on her heart.
Her mind flashed back to moments with her mother, Nana humming while cooking, kissing her forehead goodnight, holding her hand when she cried. She remembered her little sister, clinging to her dress, giggling at cartoons.
All of it… gone.
Her family had been a lie.
It was better to reunite with her mother in heaven than to stay in this world and be her father’s sacrificial lamb.
If she died, everything would be over……
No more pain. No more betrayal. No more monsters hiding behind fatherly smiles.
- Writer
