ONCE ONE FOREVER ONE PART TWO

READ PART ONE

Tommy and Ann met a number of times thereafter. And it was that pleasant. Jane got to know about their fondness but Andy never knew, not until three weeks later. Ann didn't see it as something worth raising the brows on, so she never raised one. Ann was her friend, and she knew more than anyone what Tommy meant to her.

"You probably have heard the tale of the drowned fowl."

"The fowl that would fly across the ocean, only to get drowned in its own delusion. Sure I have heard of it. Favourite bed time story if I must remark."

“Meaning you are probably aware of what happened thereafter.”

“The other fowl took his territory, took for slave his children, and marry his pretty wife. Dude got eyes for good things.”

“And who do you think that fowl is going to be between us? Come on man, there is no deniability. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about.”

”Know what?”

“Why don’t you just tell me why you are doing this?”

Tommy rested in the chair and tapped the table drawing back the chair sniffing. No word altered, not a single movement until after five seconds. At the end he stood up, adjusted his shirt, and made to leave.

“Thanks for the coffee. So bad I lost my flare.”

“You are going to regret this.”

“You can’t be so sure.”

“I will when Jane gets this.” Andy played Tommy a video.

“You are sure you want to do that?” He shared him the video he recorded.

“What? How? Don’t worry about words Andy. You keep your mouth shut, the video remains between you and me. In fact, there was never a video. You blow it up, the police are coming for your junkie ass. We are cool?”

“So, what’s the game? What is it you really want?”

Ann broke up with Andy the next day. She caught him cheating on her with the lanky girl.

“You are right Tommy, Andy is a cheat.”

“Sorry you had to find out yourself, don’t just want to …”

“To do what Tommy?”

“Don’t want to send the wrong signal.”

“By telling me the truth?”

“Not that. Don’t just want you to get the wrong idea about my motive. I am… I am…”

“You are?”

“Sorry. Nothing.”

“You are sure about that?”

“Yeah, nothing. I was probably over my head.”

“Yes, I am sure. I am.”

A month later Ann was pregnant. The father of the very child no other than Tommy. He had admitted his feelings for Ann and they had gotten along pretty well. He had left Jane for Ann, leaving Jane emotionally devastated for too many days to recover from. So when Jane came with the decision to marry Tommy two years after, her parents had the grounds to believe their daughter was undoubtedly under a spell. They wouldn’t give their consent, so Jane had to leave without their blessing.

            For the first three years of marriage marriage was heaven on earth. Sweet, blissful, and second to none. Tommy made sure to be a good husband, the blemished sinner that would convince God of his new love for purity. Jane found solace in that change of heart. It gave her the escape she needed from her probing conscience for deserting her family. She enjoyed the escape, until the fourth year of marriage when the repentant sinner returned to his abode.

            It started as a once-in-a-while-I’m-sorry thing till it became a thing of concern. The home today away tomorrow was soon becoming habitual. Jane had learnt her lessons, she raised her brows thickly.

“It was business and nothing more.” Tommy explained.

“I know, I really do understand. You really do have a good reason to be suspicious. You trusted me once and I blew it. But I am not that foolish enough to be an ingrate. You have sacrificed much for me to throw away everything. I love you Jane, no Ann can change that now.”

Tommy sold more costly lies to Jane and she bought it cheaply. Tommy knew she bought it so he cooled it off for a month. He stopped his home for today away to Ann routine to ground Jane’s trust the more. Two months three weeks after, when Tommy was sure he had her fully grounded he left and never returned home. He finally signed up for it, his full time away to Ann ticket.

 For each and every day Jane tried her best not to think of it. She tried her best not to think about what a fool she had been. To have followed her heart not inviting her brain. To have believed a cheat would cease to be one. But she couldn’t, her foolishness was so glaring like a face in the mirror, her naivety so evident like a shadow in the brightness of the day. She couldn’t just do away with the guilt, the fact that her father had died of a stroke when she took off the house against his wish. She couldn’t do away with the agony in her soul, the persistent call to end the pains. She looked still but tearfully into the photograph, trying in vain to stabilize her shaky hands. She looked, and she saw it. She saw the mistake of her life smiling at her incredulity. Laughing at her foolishness. Mocking her for her gullibility. Telling her she had been used and dumped. Telling her she would be a bad example for a good assertion. Jane would take it no more, she wouldn’t be insulted further by Tommy. She wouldn’t be mocked by a cheat. She looked determined at the shotgun. She could end it she told herself, she could end the pains. She could find the escape. She reached strongly but slowly for the gun and raised it to her temporal, her eyes still and focused on the photograph. She pulled the trigger and boom went the sound. Once one forever one.

THE END