THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN Part Two
Her mother-in-law was the most annoying to her. Each time the woman came around, she must use the toilet. Her malodorous poo always filled the air even hours after she had used the guest toilet attached to the living room. Everyone present in the living room would have to cover their noses. Multiple spray of air fresheners would have to be sent on errand before the fetid odour would vanish. Aneesah doesn’t understand if the woman always hold the poo only to come and release it in her house because there was hardly a day she visited that she would not poo.
This went on for 18 months into their marriage. Aneesah was getting tired. It got to a point she had to open up to her mother concerning her plight. Her mother asked if her husband was giving her problems. Her reply was no. Her mother asked if her husband wasn’t responsible or that he was a wife beater. Her response was no. Then her mother told her to only focus on her husband as he was the only partner she had in the marriage. Since he wasn’t giving her any problem, she should just ignore his family like they never existed.
“But mom, it’s difficult to ignore. This people have practically turned my house to a family centre. I don’t have any privacy with my husband. The stress of entertaining them is draining me.” Aneesah cried out.
“That is still bearable compared to when it’s your husband that is giving you problems. You can endure it please my darling. Your husband is a good man. Do not lose a good man. May you never be as unlucky as I was with marriage. Do you think I wouldn’t have remained married if my husband was good? If it were to be only his family giving me problems, I would have endured with the faith that we won’t stay close to them forever. Do you know I always got scared that suitors will not approach you because your mother had three failed marriages? People in this part of the world are judges over other people’s lives. They believe a woman whose mother is divorced isn’t suitable for marriage, hence they stigmatize her, not caring to know if the divorce was actually her mother’s fault or not. They believe that divorce may run in the family. This make people run away from children of single mothers. I really got scared that my life might affect you but God answered my prayers and gave you a good man who didn’t look at your mother’s past to judge his future with you. Please my sweetheart, hold tightly to your husband and pray that God touches his heart so that he can rent an apartment far away from his family. It’s not by fight. It’s by prayers. May you not be unfortunate.” Aneesah’s mother prayed for her.
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Aneesah went back home and continued to hold it in as her mother had advised but it wasn’t easy. There was a particular week that her mother-in-law visited every day of the week. And on each day, she would pass her stinking poo as well.
On Saturday of that week, Aneesah was going for grocery shopping. Her husband had an emergency at work so he left for work. She closed the door of her house and set out. She was already at the gate when her mother-in-law walked in through the gate. Aneesah squeezed her face. Her mother-in-law told her to quickly come and open the door because she was pressed already. Aneesah mumbled a curse under her breath. She reluctantly went back to the house to open the door.
Immediately the door was opened, Mama rushed to the toilet. Aneesah hissed loudly as the stench of the poo accompanied by the sound of paparapapara filled the air. Then a devilish thought crossed her mind.
She moved to the toilet and locked the door from outside. She locked the house and went out to get her shopping done. She decided to do that in order to teach Mama a lesson.
When Mama was done, she tried to open the door but discovered it had been locked from outside. She knocked several times without an answer. Hours passed and Mama was still stuck in the toilet. The toilet’s bad smell and absence of fresh air suffocated Mama. She was beginning to lose consciousness.
Aneesah got to the shopping mall. She picked the few things she needed to buy. She proceeded to pay after which she got out of the mall. On her way out, she saw her old school mate walking into the mall. They embraced each other excitedly. Her old schoolmate, Hafsah, told her that she lived on the next street to the mall. Aneesah decided to pay her a visit. She waited till Hafsah completed her shopping. She forgot totally that she locked her mother-in-law in the toilet back home.
Aneesah followed her friend home where she spent hours. They caught up on old gists. They laughed and giggled to jokes. They discussed their family. Hafsah had two children already. She showed concern on why Aneesah’s 18 months marriage had not produced a child. Aneesah told her they’d been to the hospital and the tests showed they were fine. Hafsah wished her the best. Aneesah was carried away by the reunion ecstasy with her friend that she totally forgot she locked her mother-in-law in the toilet back home.
Aneesah left her friend’s house after Asr She’d left home since 11am. She was a few steps to reaching the house when she suddenly remembered her mother-in-law whom she’d locked in the toilet since 11am.
She raced home like a flying bird. She quickly opened the door and rushed to the guest toilet. To her surprise, the toilet was opened and Mama was not inside. She wondered why that was so because the house door was locked. Her brain quickly processed the fact that her husband might have returned home and released Mama from the toilet prison in which she’d kept her.
A pricking conscience was her ordeal. She knew her husband would be angry but she would beg him for forgiveness and that would be all. She unbagged the stuff she bought and placed everything in their proper places. She entered the bedroom to relax before making dinner. She slept off and only woke up at quarter past 7. She quickly got up and prayed magrib. She was worried that her husband wasn’t back. She put several calls through to him but he didn’t pick up.
She sensed trouble. That was very much unlike Marwan. Aneesah decided to go check him in their family house. She got there and met no one. The gate to the house was locked.The shop in front of the house was also locked. She soliliquized worriedly.
“Where could they all have gone to?” Aneesah soliloquized.
She was turning back when her teenage sister-in-law emerged. She greeted her cheerfully but Khadijah, her sister-in-law, hissed loudly at her. Her heart did a marathon of somersault. She knew she was in trouble. Her action had definitely backfired but to what extent was what she didn’t know.
“Khadijah please where’s everybody?” Aneesah asked her sister-in-law again but the later hissed, opened the gate and walked in.
Aneesah quickly followed her. She asked her questions to which she didn’t respond. Khadijah went to Mama’s room. Aneesah followed her. Khadijah opened the wardrobe and started picking Mama’s clothes into a bag. Aneesah trembled with fear.
“Why are you picking Mama’s clothes? Aneesah asked but Khadijah didn’t answer.
When Khadijah was through, she exited the room and walked out of the house. Aneesah followed her. Khadijah walked out of the gate while Aneesah walked behind her.
“Please walk fast I want to lock the gate. Or do you want me to lock you in the house the way you locked my mother in the toilet?” Khadijah shouted and at this juncture, she knew she was in a big mess.
Khadijah walked to the motor park and boarded a vehicle. Aneesah followed her. When Khadijah got down, Aneesah also got down. Khadijah walked straight until a hospital was in sight. Aneesah swallowed her dried throat and broke into tears. She knew her action had landed her mother-in-law in the hospital.
After Aneesah locked Mama in the toilet, Mama screamed and knocked tirelessly till she passed out due to suffocation. Marwan got home around 4:15pm. His instinct just told him to check the guest toilet. He was surprised to meet it locked. Upon opening, his mother’s lifeless body was what he saw. He rushed her to the hospital immediately. Mama wasn’t totally unconscious. She told her son that it was his wife that locked her in the toilet since morning and then went out of the house. Mama passed out completely after informing her son of what happened. Marwan was furious. He called the other members of his family to meet him at the hospital.
Khadijah walked into the hospital. Aneesah paused for a few minutes before walking into the hospital like a prodigal son. Her heart was palpitatating heavily. She got to the entrance and paused. She peeped from the entrance.
Her husband’s entire family was in the hospital. They were all sitting at the reception with their head bent worriedly. Aneesah couldn’t go in. They might eat her raw. She wept bitterly and lamented with regret.
“What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?” She lamented amidst hot tears.
She couldn’t go into the hospital. She stayed outside and cried. It was getting late already. Aunt Bola asked the rest of the family to go home that she would stay with her sister.
The family walked out of the hospital together. They saw Aneesah seated at a corner. They all hissed at her and walked away. Aneesah followed them and tried to hold her husband’s hand but he flung her hand away. The family entered into the space jeep they brought to the hospital. Marwan was the driver, he zoomed off without looking back at his wife.
Aneesah ran to the park to board a vehicle home. By the time she got home, her husband had already locked the door. She knocked and pleaded without him showing mercy. She spent the night at the entrance of their apartment amidst fear and tears.
The following morning, Marwan opened the door. He was going to the mosque to observe subh. Aneesah got up and ran to him with plea but he pushed her away. He closed the door and went to the mosque.
Aneesah cried and waited patiently for him to return. He returned shortly after. He opened the door and was about to walk in when Aneesah quickly sneaked in through his legs. He shook his head with a long hiss.
Aneesah begged him for forgiveness.
“I’m so sorry Marwan. Please forgive me.” Aneesah apologized amidst tears.
“I should forgive you? If my mother had died, will you still be standing there and asking for forgiveness?” Marwan shouted.
“I’m sorry. It was a mistake please forgive me.”
“No, it wasn’t a mistake. It was something you did deliberately. I can never forgive you. In fact, this marriage is over.” Marwan said angrily and walked into the bedroom.
He packed Aneesah’s clothes into her bags.
“What are you doing?” Aneesah cried out.
“I am taking you back to your mother. This marriage is over.” Marwan said while Aneesah quickly held onto his hand.
“Please don’t do this to me. My mother will be very heartbroken. Please forgive me and give me a second chance.” Aneesah pleaded amidst hot tears.
“You should have known that your mother would be heartbroken before trying to kill my mother. I am done with you.”
****Watch Out For Part Three*****
THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN Part Three