Burned By the Alpha I married

Chapter 3

Nelly's POV

The credit card, just a thin piece of plastic that weighs so heavy in my heart, but lies so light in my palm like an eagle's feather.

“Payment”, that's what he called it”. Payment for services rendered, like I was some sort of woman he picked off a street corner and not the wife he married before our elders and ancestors, but should I have blamed him when he was forced into marriage?

Should I have cried further, no! Not when I have already cried more than I have ever cried in my whole life. So to me, it wasn’t a thing of surprise anymore, seeing that my eyes had already dried up, even though the shrinkness of my face was a fact, that I couldn't hide no matter how strong I might pretend to be, looking at myself on the wall mirror, hung at the center of the white wall, as I zipped up my Black Ecolag box.

I looked around his room one last time. The white bedspread with the drop of stain on it, that symbolized the sacrifice of my woman's pride to him, the innocent bedspread that has suffered in our hands like the grass suffers whenever two elephants fight. I laid the two sliced pieces of ribbon on it, side by side, like a burial coffin. Then I placed my folded written note in between them, with my shaky handwriting in it, where my hand wouldn't stop trembling.

“You never wanted my love, J.J, so take my silence instead, as I hope it finally lets you find peace."

I wrote”, then dropped my pen on top of the paper, and the credit card beside it.

I didn't wait to see if he would read the note or not, because he was already gone, chasing after Suzzy, who had just called him on the phone the moment I was thinking he would have amended things, after the caving-in, in his chest where he suspected our mate's bond. But he didn't. Instead, he chased after her like a starving man, chasing the smell of food.

But should I say that it’s in man’s nature, or maybe it just pertains to him alone: “J.J Stone”, the man who held a woman's fragile heart in his hand and then broke it like it was a rotten egg.

My house hasn't seen me in months. The window glass, the counters, everything has already lost its true colours. The glass windows that were once whitish now turned brownish. It was such an eye-saw, as I dropped my box by the doorway and just stood there for a second, breathing in the staleness, the mustiness of the room. I felt the silence that used to be my whole life in this humble abode before Braze Rock Pack decided that my body belonged to a man who never wanted anything more than friendship.

I knew that I had a lot of cleanup work to do here, but the strength left in me may not sustain me till I get it all done, so I cleaned a few things that I could. I wiped the counters, washed the silver drinking glasses and the sink basin, cleaned my white Nexus Refrigerator, and then opened the window glasses and cleaned it with a dry piece of cloth, in a way that it looked better.

Then I entered the bathroom, and took my bath. When I was done, I had to put on my Yellow Chiffon top and black jean trousers, and then jumped onto my bed to rest my head, when all of a sudden, my body started aching again, though I told myself that it was just a minor pain, and nothing serious.

But then it came knocking even harder this time. This wasn't a matter of tiredness, I muttered, because it felt like something just grabbed my belly and twisted it, like a fist closing around everything soft inside me, that I didn't even know when I dropped on the floor, struggling to breath, as my hands pressed hard against my stomach.

"Not again," Nelly, not now. I whispered to myself.

I couldn't quite figure out the actual cause of the pain, if it was as a result of the way he handled me on that bed earlier, like my body was something to conquer and not something to be cherished? Or was it the liquid, the one he forced past my throat thereafter, that was so bitter, he called it “cleanser" like I was an overloaded vessel that needed emptying?

No, I can't sit on this floor, inside this room and find the answers. I needed to seek medical attention, so I must visit the hospital now, as I forced myself to rise on my feet. But getting up on my feet felt like I was climbing a mountain climajaro, as my legs shook under me, my vision swam at the edges, but I made it to the wall, one hand gripping the wall, the other still clutched against my stomach.

Just get to the road, get a taxi. You can do this, “Nelly”, you can, “so I gingered my spirit."

Walking down the stairs, the floor became so deep that it felt like I could just stumble and somersault, which made me gripped firmly on the rail, till my knuckles almost turned white.

Halfway down the stairs, the pain rolled through me in a stronger wave that I had to stop.

“You are "almost there," almost there Nelly, I said to myself,"

By the time I hit the road, sweat on my body had already soaked through the top that I was wearing, which made it stick to my body.

Many cars have driven past me, but none slowed down, as I scanned desperately for a taxi or even any private vehicle owner that could help me, because it was already getting late.

The world tilted, sounds started fading off my ears, when suddenly I heard the sound of tires, an engine slowing down & eventually, pulled over right in front of me.

And then a voice, one that cracked something open in my chest, something I'd buried so deep and forgotten inside of me, came to live.

A name but not the one known by people around me. When last I heard that name was when I was tender enough to be carried on someone's shoulders.

"Ada," “the voice called."

As I turned my head slightly, trying to figure out who he was, but my vision was blurring now, shapes melting into shapes, the ash-grey color of a jeep swimming in front of my eyes. I strained to make out his face, strained to place that voice in my memory, but the pain in my belly surged one last time that my legs gave out completely, and I felt myself falling.

Just then, before I could hit the ground, I was caught by a strong arm, wrapped around my waist, and lifted me to his arms.

Who are you?,

And what do you want?

My vision blurred, that I couldn't see anything, I couldn't even feel my voice anymore. My body went cold, and I suddenly lost consciousness.