DANGEROUS LOVE

THE PAST

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Coming back from school I was quite drained...Long speeches, crowds are just not my type of vibe, and to top it all of I was hungry...Well turns out mom was right, my great-grandma is back. The atmosphere is different, it's tense. To be honest, she is not your typical sweet grandma who is sweet, no one is ever free when Granny is around. She is the boss and you do as she says or you suffer the consequences. She and mom don't really get along they just tolerate each other. I found her sitting in the lounge all alone.

Me: good afternoon 

Granny: hello Queen what are you doing here? aren't you supposed to be at home by now?

Well, the truth is for the past seven years I have been living in another home on the other side of the village.  My mother is a married woman. She got married when I was just nine years old. Her husband is twenty-two years older than her. Growing up it didn't make sense as to why a beautiful woman like her would marry a man old enough to be her father. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't ask anyone these questions so I kept quiet until I was old enough to understand that it was all for our survival.

When I started primary school, my mother was not working but she did everything she could to ensure that I have everything I needed for school and to make my life simple. She was a true hustler, she still is...that is why I respect her a lot. Anyway, she got a job as a cook in the local hospital...It didn't pay much but it helped out a lot. Two years into school I got new clothes every month end, let's just say life was great it was weird because I knew my mother couldn't afford such a lifestyle. Soon enough I was introduced to a man who I now had to address as "dad" even though he wasn't my real dad but just my mother"s boyfriend. Mind you I didn't know they were dating it became apparent when his family came over to pay a bride price for my mother that they were dating, soon to be married. I think in Granny's eyes that was the only responsible and good thing my mother had ever done. My mother had "secured the bag". I mean getting married at a young age to a financially stable man with his own home, a man who is respected in the community due to his kind nature. She had indeed done well.

 Months later my mom was married and he became my "dad". Everything was all good for five whole years...Well at least from what I picked. For the next two years living in that man's house was hell. My mother was constantly moody. She seemed to be caged in her own house. If she wasn't at work then you would find her at home. The smile on her face became rare, she became thin. She was not the woman who raised me. One day she cracked. She told me all about her life as a bride, the a***e she went through. What I had always thought were injuries from work was just the result of the a***e she had gone through. It was painful to hear all this. She even told me about my real dad but I wasn't supposed to tell anyone the truth she shared. That night my stepfather didn't come home and it became a frequent thing. He would come up with excuses but we both could see through his lies. No one really believed my mother, her family thought she was making everything up. It wasn't until last December that the truth was revealed.