The Wake 3
THE WAKE
Mayowa Ojo
6/10/20263 min read
Vera sat in the back of a taxi crying as she left the venue of the wake.
After she announced that Paloma was her mom and felt the shock reverberate throughout the gathering she began to go into detail of the abuse she suffered before the shock wore off. She tried to speak quickly before someone would cut her off.
Ferdinand and Paloma snapped out of the shock first. Once they did, Ferdinand moved with incredible speed and carried her like she was a sack of feathers over his shoulders. Within minutes she was bundled into a taxi and on her way away from the venue.
Although Dennis was dead she was happy she got a chance to expose a bit of the real him. Paloma on the other hand... she was happy to have ruffled her feathers if nothing else.
As Vera sat in the back of the taxi on her way from The Wake she had no idea she was being followed...
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A month had passed since Dennis’s wake keep but Paloma was still hurting.
Paloma sat alone in her room crying. Of the few things she regretted, Vera was number one on the list. She often found it puzzling that she could regret having birthed Vera as much as she regretted losing her.
Paloma was betrothed by her father to marry Dennis. She did not like the idea and so eloped with her boyfriend at the time. When she was pregnant and the boy refused to take responsibility she found her way back to Dennis and tried to sleep with him so she could say the child was his.
Dennis caught on to her scheme and when he threatened to expose or kill her she begged and they reached an agreement. He would marry her and pretend like the child was his but he would not touch her until he was ready. He also told her to stop working and become a house wife.
Paloma agreed out of desperation wondering how long it would take for Dennis to be in the same house and not make contact. But she did not know Dennis. Dennis found satisfaction outside their marriage for the first five years until, indeed, he was ready. Although she begged, pleaded, tried to seduce him and more during those years he did not give in. He wanted to make sure that she was punished for running off and getting pregnant. Ferdinand arrived in the sixth year.
Paloma gradually became a bitter woman and Vera, the one who suffered her frustration. She blamed Vera for everything that was wrong in her life. As Vera grew up, despite the lack of love in the home, the little girl excelled in school - a constant reminder to Paloma of her own failure in life.
Paloma graduated top of her class in secondary school and University. Her attempt to defy her father’s wishes to marry Dennis landed her right back in the very place she was running from but this time with stringent conditions. For the umpteenth time in her life she asked herself, What have you done? How did your life end up this way? How did you go from top of the class to bottom of life?
When she learnt that Dennis was abusing Vera, a part of her was happy because of the hatred she had for the girl. When Paloma could not take it anymore, she decided the only way out was to chase Vera away. She could see how it would have been misunderstood and taken for an act of wickedness but it was the kindest thing she could think of doing.
Paloma heard a knock on the door and quickly mopped her tears.
You should have stayed away you fool. Now you’ve come to tarnish my reputation which is about the only thing I have left.
“We have everything ma,” the male voice said.
“Good,” she said without turning to look at him.
“When do we move ma?”
Paloma thought hard but not for long.
“Tonight.”
“But ma...” he sounded surprised.
“The iron is still hot. We strike now,” she said and smiled.