Chapter 09: Ruth; the veritable demon

'What is this old man?' Twenty-seven-year-old Norad asked when he walked into the tension-filled room carrying a steaming cup of coffee and a newspaper. 'Who pissed in your coffee?'

' I' m just about done anyway. You should leave too. The meeting will start soon.'

' I don't have intentions of going to that circus. But have fun. I hope this is all worth it.'

Enrique harrumphed. 'Useless Ingrate'

'Well, I may be that but at least I know how to show my loyalty.'

Enrique turned to leave and informed him over his shoulder that his mother had been asking about him and she would like to see him. But as usual, Norad had no interest in knowing what his incarcerated mother was up to.

'You should go, ' an exhausted Frank told him. 'You know he's a vengeful man. I wouldn't want him to take out his wrath on you.'

Norad chuckled, that was unlikely to happen. He was probably the only person in the world who could get away with anything that included snubbing the old man. He had no idea what his psychopathic mother who was serving a life sentence for three counts of murder had on him but whatever it was, it was powerful enough to keep the spiteful old man in check.

'So what was that all about? You looked just about ready to kill the old man. On seconds thoughts, I don't want to know,' he said, settling into the sofa. ' I thought I just saw Taylor. Did she come here? Is she feeling much better?'

Sighing, Frank ran a hand through his bald head. 'Yeah. So much better that she came to personally inform me about her engagement to Dylan.'

The news left Norad dumbfounded. He couldn't find the words to comfort his friend. But more than being shocked, he felt guilty because he had been the one who had encouraged him to let down his guard and date Taylor.

✴✴✴

Felida had spent most of the night between trying to calm down a hysterical Elida and trying to confer with their lawyers. None had yielded any positive results.

After spending just twenty-four years of her life sentence, the woman who had murdered her brother in cold blood as well as his first wife, Leonard's mother and second wife, Tapiwa's mother, was about to be set free.

'Elida, you have to stop reading that. It's not doing you any good,' Felida said to her late brother's widow as she walked into her room.

'What did the lawyers say?' Elida asked folding the letter from her husband's murderer.

'They are not saying anything that we don't already know.'

'They are all incompetent imbeciles.'

'You should get some rest, you have been up all night.'

A mirthless chuckle escaped from Elida's mouth.

Sleep? How could she? When all she saw whenever she closed her eyes was the face of the veritable demon who had turned her into a widow on her wedding night. She had not only robbed her of her husband and friend, but she took away the father to her children.

And now they had to find there was a possibility she would soon be pardoned?

It was a joke.

The twenty-four years she had spent in jail would never be enough to compensate them for the pain and damage she had done.

And the best part of it all was she her asking them to help her with her release and if they couldn't, she hoped they wouldn't interfere with the process.

'What are you going to do? They are saying the cancer is in its late stage. She only has six months at the most....'

'What the hell do you mean what am I going to do? I hope she has a safe trip to hell.'

'Elida...'

'Don't.'

If it was possible to book a first-class ticket to hell, Elida would do it for her.

'Listen to me. We were all hurt with what happened...'

'Were you? Sometimes I doubt that.'

'He was my brother and she was my best friend. Not only did I lose my only surviving relative but I also lost a dear friend on that day. I am angry and hurt too. But what good will holding on to the pain do? You need to let go of the anger and pain you are carrying inside, it is turning you into an ugly person. Sometimes I feel like I don't recognize you.'

'Is that so?'

'I am not your enemy Elida. Twenty plus years have already passed can't we just forget the past and move on?'

'Move on? Move on to what? Do you know how I feel each time I look at Tapiwa? She was barely two when she murdered him. She has never known what the love of a father is like. And Leonard? It was supposed to be his new start when the she-demon took Jonathan away as if murdering his birth mother in cold blood was not enough. And I? The scars she left on my body will always be a reminder of why she doesn't deserve anybody's forgiveness.'

'I am sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.'

'Yes, you shouldn't have. It's my pain and anger. I will hold on to it for as long as I can cause without it, I will go crazy Felida. I will go crazy from the unfairness of it all,' Elida said, her voice shaky and eyes misty. She turned away to stare out of the window tranced.

Once, Elida had thought waking up next to her husband's bloody dead body on their wedding night was the worst pain ever. Nothing could have prepared her for the diabolical schemes of her late husband's obsessed psycho ex-girlfriend. Even though till date she still claimed her innocence in the events of that day, Elida strongly believed she had been responsible for the death of her unborn baby. She might have been incarcerated at that time but there was no doubt she still had some faithful minions who were loyal to her.

If not her then who? As far as Elida was concerned, there was only one vindictive person in the world who would go to the lengths they had gone to, to completely break her.

Ruth Simataa.

Seven months after Jonathan's death, on her way from visiting his grave with the kids, a heavily pregnant Elida was drugged and kidnapped. For days, she was kept in isolation in a dark room with no idea what had happened to the kids. On the third day of her kidnapping, she found herself drugged and laying on the operation table.

Till this day, much of what had happened in the few hours that had followed was still a blur but when the anaesthesia finally wore off, she found herself in the hospital with her baby dead and her uterus removed.

Sometimes it all seemed like a dream as if it had all happened to someone else but each time she took off her clothes, the ugly scar from the Cesarean surgery was like a slap to her face.

In the months that followed, Elida wished she had died too. To her, death was better than being alive. Twice she had tried to take her own life. When she failed, she turned to the bottle and antidepressant pills. For years and years, she battled with her demons.

With each day that came, she sunk deeper and deeper into that deep, dark hole. But thankfully, with the love and care of her family, she was able to pull out.

'All right then, rest up. I will be in my room if you need me for anything,' an apologetic Felida said as she turned and walked out.

Elisa reached for the letter and ripped it to peace.

Only God can forgive you, Ruth Simataa.