I stopped leaning against the door and drew closer to her. Since Kim was at Karen’s, I left no stone unturned. “Why didn’t you fantasize about you and Travis strolling in Paris, holding each other hand in hand? Or, you, bathing with him in a Jacuzzi? Huh? Why didn’t you fantasize about those good times?”
She stopped sobbing. “Elijah, don’t tell me you believed that. Please, please, believe me when I say I was kidnapped. I didn’t run anywhere with Travis. I ain’t stupid. All the things you read in the journals were written by me.”
“I know that. It’s obvious.”
“No. Not in that way. Not some months or years ago. I wrote those things a few days ago at gun point.”
“Gun point?”
“Yes, at gun point.”
“I’m confused.”
“Elijah, they had a gun to my head and told me to start writing day and night.”
“They told you to write?”
“Yes.”
“No, that’s a lie. You see, your story isn’t water tight, already it is sinking without being tampered with. Those men you claim kidnapped you, how would they know our intimate stuff? I mean everything looked real like it was written by you or me. How could those guys know about our prayer life or our financial struggles or our day to day conflicts?”
“They know that because of you. You are the one who messed up.”
My body overheated. “How dare you sleep around with your boss and come to play some stupid blame game on me. I messed up? Where was I when you had sex with your boss?”
“Elijah, forget everything you read in the journals. It ain’t true, I’m telling you. You’re the one who messed up by bringing Chloe back here. In my absence Elijah! How could you? How could you stay with that whore in the same house when I’m not even around?”
“Forget about Chloe. She is gone now.”
“Good for her because the first thing I would do is to kill her with my own hands. Where did she go? You fired her?”
“Please don’t change the subject. Let’s talk about what’s important. I have to be clear about your story and verify it. Grace, if you have been unfaithful to me, I have to divorce you. I can’t stay with someone who sleeps with every man she comes across.”
Grace cried. “Elijah, I have been one hundred percent faithful to you and God. I shall forever be. I would appreciate it if you would stop insulting me. You’re hurting me.”
“But Grace you have to understand. I also have been hurt beyond measure. If I had no hope in God, I would probably kill myself or you. I was really hurt. I’m still hurt.”
“It’s the Chloe you brought back who hurt you. She is the one who wrote all the contents of the journals. And I was told to copy everything word for word or they would rape me.” She broke down and cried again.
I sat next to her and embraced her. “Rape you!” I had started buying her story reluctantly though. And I was happy it seemed Grace never cheated on me for I loved her deeply.
“One of the men would drive here to fetch the contents from Chloe.”
“They would come here?”
“Yes, they did. I would hear them laughing, making fun of you that you were suspecting Karen for kidnapping me. Even Chloe would come to that pathetic house I was kept in. One time, she even slapped and spat on my face. Then she scolded the guys for not raping me.” She cried again. I squeezed her against my chest with the arm that embraced her. “They whispered to her that if they tried to rape me, the fire of God would send them to the abyss before time. They claimed it was always around me as a hedge of fire.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I can’t believe Chloe hated you that much. I’m very sorry.” I squeezed her again. She sobbed on my chest and arms.
Something clicked in my head, and I sighed. Instantly, all the trust that was slowly coming back was eroded. A popular belief says pictures don’t lie. I pushed her away and went to the closet. I took the pile of photos and spread them on the bed.
Her eyes bulged as she looked at herself kissing Travis – bathing in a Jacuzzi with him – even naked in some. “Oh my God!” She said.
12:24 PM
Grace stopped inspecting the photos. She gazed at my face and laughed. “Elijah, I never did all this. They must be good at Photoshop or something.” She continued laughing at the top of her voice.
“I will need proof. You know I can’t be with someone I don’t trust. I’d rather be alone. Or marry someone I don’t love at all.”
“But Elijah why don’t you take my word for it. Just trust me.”
“No, that’s impossible. Currently, I don’t trust you. Actually, we’re both trying to convince my mind to trust you again and possibly avoid a divorce.”
Something interesting hit my head and I rushed to Kim’s bedroom. Grace followed me. I went straight to the old laptop I had given to Chloe.
“I gave this laptop to Chloe. I discovered she was good at Photoshop and asked her to help me with blog images. So if –”
“I know what you want to say. But what if she cleaned up her paths and you don’t find the proof you’re hoping for. You’re going to divorce a woman who loves you because of some lie from the Devil?”
I opened all the files created with Photoshop but I could not find the proof that had to save my marriage. I searched every location. Nothing. Even in the Recycle Bin.
I sighed, terrified I had to take her word and live with her with wobbly trust. I went back to the Recycle Bin. I opened some folder labelled “Christmas.”
It had all the Photoshop source files and image files that proved how Chloe constructed every photo. I gazed at Grace’s eyes and smiled…then laughed…both of us laughed. I kissed and hugged her. The assurance that she never kissed Travis or bathed with him in some Jacuzzi or slept with him or whatever made my heart warm.
I felt peaceful. “Baby, those savages, did they ill-treat you in anyway?”
“They didn’t, but they were gonna kill me after finishing the journal I was writing.”
“You were writing another as if the first three didn’t torment me enough.”
“The fourth one would kill you. It was too cruel. It would make you believe Kim is not your child. It would make you believe I’m currently pregnant with Travis’ child. Also, it would make you believe I killed Leon and also attempted to kill you. I remember part of it, it went like this, ‘Yeah, Leon was Elijah’s boy, but Kim is not his. If he didn’t rush to name her Kimberly after his grandma, I would have named her Victoria. We had actually agreed with Travis because that’s the place where she was made – Victoria Beach Hotel.’”
I laughed. “Victoria. How are you Victoria’s mom?”
Grace spanked me and chased me to our bedroom with Kim’s pillow.
I grabbed her and we kissed. “I guess the fourth one was God’s plan to preserve your life, sweetheart. The first three made me believe Kim isn’t mine. And that you and Travis killed Leon and attempted killing me.”
Grace looked at my eyes. “You believed Kim is not yours. But you –”
“I got DNA results to confirm she is my baby.”
She tilted her head gazing at my eyeballs. “DNA! You’re such a jerk, do you know that?”
I spanked her as we laughed.
“Let me ask you, let’s say I had cheated. Would you forgive me when I come apologizing.” She stared at me smiling. “Don’t forget you’re a Christian.”
“Of course, I would forgive you. And you would go to enjoy my forgiveness with your new man.”
“No. I mean you forgive me and keep me as your wife.”
“No, that’s impossible. I couldn’t do it. I don’t have such abilities. I’m not even sure there is a man who can keep a cheating wife. The few I know who tried are either dead or walking dead men. Baby, a man is an intellectual being, so the intellectual property called trust is so important to him.”
Grace grabbed my cheeks and squeezed. “Tell me, where is my stuff? My photos on the walls, my clothes. The closet is empty.”
I laughed. “Backyard.”
She frowned. “What backyard?”
I continued laughing. “Our backyard. In the grave. Your grave.”
Grace shook her head. “What grave?”
“Shallow grave.” I laughed together with her.
3:02 PM
“Why the waste? I would love those muffins more than the pitiable sandwich you made me,” Grace said, laughing, enjoying the coffee I made her.
I closed the tap and gazed back at her. “Are you sure?”
“They look nice.”
“Chloe baked them. Come and see what happens when I put them in the water.”
She couldn’t close her mouth when she saw them turn into huge black ants. Her eyes swelled like balloons. After a while, there wasn’t a trace of the dough, it all changed into a heap of the huge ants. Even the water disappeared.
I destroyed them with boiling water.
Grace grabbed her hair with both hands. “What is this thing we were staying with here?”
“We harbored a monster in our house for years. Who knows? Probably, even human blood was one of the ingredients she used to bake those stupid muffins.”
We sat at the table facing each other, still shocked at what we had been eating. I said, “Start talking. You promised you will narrate your ordeal after eating something prepared by your husband.”
She giggled. “After is the key word here. You see I’m still in the process of eating it.”
“When will the process end? You eat like it’s your first time seeing a sandwich. Don’t forget we have to call everybody and tell the police that you’re back.”
“Even the media.”
“Yeah, you’re right, because everybody who was helping has the right to know you’re back. But I guess the police will take care of the media.”
“Oh yes.” She pushed her mug away. “But I don’t know what we will reveal to the public. I mean you have just told me a bizarre experience you went through yesterday. Dragon, fire, destruction of our house. Who will believe that crazy stuff? I mean even this house you claim was destroyed is still intact.” She laughed.
“You’re right. Very right. And I have a plan on what we will do.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I will reveal it when you have told me your part of the story.”
She held her cheeks with both hands. “One thing I didn’t mention, baby. I’ll tell you my ordeal after a full body massage.” She laughed.
I frowned. “Who will massage you? Travis?”
She spanked my hand on the table. “Okay, okay, before you cry. I was kidnapped by these guys whom I discovered just yesterday were dragons too. At the same time you fought Chloe, an angel appeared in our midst. He was big, majestic, scary and very bright. I couldn’t even look at him. He had to touch my eyes first before I could gaze at the wonder he is.”
Guilt seized me because an angel also visited me some days ago, but I forgot the entire message he was sent to give me.
Grace proceeded, “These two guys exploded into dragons soon after seeing the blazing angel stand on my side. Thunder and lightning covered the area quickly. And a heavy rain accompanied by a hailstorm took over. They fiercely fought the angel. They attacked him with fire escaping their mouths as they roared like huge lions. The angel did not spit any fire; he had a sword made of fire. When he struck them it was as if lightning was striking them. Terribly injured, they flew towards Long Island. The angel then gazed at me and the chains used on my feet and arms dropped to the floor. He said something I will forever cherish, ‘You and Elijah, never stop praying. Never lose focus. Pray for America. Pray for all countries of the world. And you must resign from your job and serve God full time with your husband. God has used the blog to sustain you.’ Then he disappeared, leaving my stomach boiling like I was going to explode. I kind of swelled up inside when he started talking, his voice sounded like a big waterfall. Somehow, I passed out. But just like you when I woke up, everything was in place. The abandoned house wasn’t destroyed like it was before I passed out. Fine, when I ran out, I did find evidence of the hailstorm outside. Even trees had been uprooted. I asked the lady who gave me a ride whether there had been thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. She said, ‘Oh yes, dear. Weather change. Such weather at this time of the year.’”
I clapped my hands once. “Things are more complicated than they seem. But you know I understand now. When Chloe disappeared into the sea, there were three dragons that followed her. Yes, the two were the two guys who kidnapped you, and the third one was Mila.”
“My friend? No, you’re losing it now.”
“I’m telling you. About a week ago I called her and the system said ‘the number you have called does not exist.’ And when I called Verizon they told me the number was never ever used by anybody; it was never created, in fact. Then I called your workplace and talked to the ladies you work with. They said they had never worked with anyone called Mila. They said they don’t know her. I even went to her apartment. I found a Fernandez family. They told me they don’t know any Mila, and they had been living in that apartment for the past ten years. I thought I was going crazy. I went through your stuff and found her social security number written on some envelope. But when I verified it they told me that that social security number doesn’t even exist in the system. It never did.”
Grace shook her head. “I’m shocked. Aren’t we crazy or something.”
I laughed.
She continued, “It’s confusing. Some things are really disturbing and hard to understand. You know, those two men who held me would go out to nightclubs almost every night, come back with prostitutes and sleep with them in the different bedrooms of that house. I mean, technically those girls slept with snakes without knowing it. Argh!”
“Awful indeed,” I said embarrassed I almost married Chloe. “Where is our car? How could I forget something so big?”
“It’s in front of that pathetic house. It has no gas. Those monsters used it to fetch the prostitutes.”
I sighed.
Grace held my hand. “Yes, you promised you will tell me a big idea after I narrated my side of the story.”
“Oh that. It’s a simple idea. I suggest we tell everybody about the two human kidnappers who collaborated with Chloe and Mila to kidnap you. We should not tell them anything about dragons or whatever. Instead, we should write a novel to narrate the real, complete story.”
Grace smiled. “I like that. Great, great idea babe. And I suggest we entitle the novel Wicked Girl.”
I laughed and Grace joined in. “Perfect. And we must dedicate it to the memory of Leon.”
The End…
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About the Author
Mcebo Michael Malungisa Metfula has been a storyteller since he was little. He writes stories that are based on true stories. Three dimension stories, which use spiritual realities to make sense of what happens in the physical. He lives in Piggs Peak with his family.
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Other Books by this Author
The Supreme Court of Heaven
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
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Acknowledgements
I thank my family for supporting me as I worked on this lengthy project. As the first installment of a series, it had to take me years – thanks, for you understood and stood by me.
I am grateful to my brilliant editor, Shanice Collymore. Your work speaks for itself.
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Mcebo Michael Metfula.
All rights re
served worldwide.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically,
including photocopying, recording, or by information storage
or retrieval system without written permission from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to places, entities, persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1546571896
ISBN-10: 1546571892
Published in the United States of America
Wicked Girl (THE FIRE Book 1) Page 27