• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Under my roof

Under my roof

I worked in a bank for several years. Everything was good until the bank started downsizing. I lost my job and it wasn’t easy to find another one. The next best thing to do at the time was to use my car for cab services while searching for another job.

One beautiful morning, someone ordered a ride, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She became my wife a little over a year later.

Cynthia (my wife), had a child from a previous relationship. He was a special needs child. I knew from the get-go that taking on the responsibility of caring for Bobby wasn’t going to be easy but I didn’t mind. At five years, he couldn’t walk, talk or do anything by himself.

At some point, Cynthia had to quit her job to stay at home and take care of Bobby because no school would keep him and none of the nannies we got for him stayed more than a month. They all complained that there was something uncanny about the child and this sort of confirmed my fears.

Bobby’s stares gave me chill bumps. He looked at me in a way that made the hairs at the back of my neck stand. He made creepy sounds whenever we were alone, but becomes a cutie when he sees his mom. I could swear that I saw him smirk at me a couple of times. The boy was messing with my head.

I had nightmares about him all the time. He tormented me in my dreams and made my life a living hell. There were nights that I’d see him standing by my bedside and when I tried to scream or move, I was held down by an invisible force. My wife didn’t believe me when I told her what I was going through. She called me ‘delirious’

One particular night, I was stirred from my sleep by that eerie feeling, I turned in my bed and there he was starring down at me with dark piercing eyes. I actually peed in my pant that night, he laughed at me and walked away. My wife still didn’t believe me when I told her what had made a grown man like me wet his pants. I knew that Bobby didn’t need a doctor, what he needed was prayer or a spiritualist but my wife would not agree with me.

The whole Bobby situation was affecting our marriage and I began to spend more time away from home…I realised that this was good for my sanity and peace of mind. Cynthia cried when I left home, she was heartbroken but I told her that things would only change if she did something about her mysterious child.

I had gone for an interview on this fateful day and I left my phone in the car. By the time I returned, I had over 30 missed calls and several text messages. There was one from Cynthia, it seemed urgent. I had to be home ASAP.

I noticed a small crowd in front of my house and my heart missed a beat, as I drew closer I noticed that Bobby was on the floor, he was crying, I could tell that he had received some spanking. Our eyes locked and I felt that familiar chill run down my spine. I found Cynthia in a corner, her eyes were swollen. She had obviously been crying.

In between tears, Cynthia told me that after putting Bobby to sleep that afternoon, she had gone to the back of the building to do her laundry, she got carried away by her conversation with a neighbor and lost track of time. Bobby should have woken up by that time but she didn’t hear him cry so instead of going into the house to check on him she decided to peep through the window. What she saw was unbelievable. She saw Bobby walking around the room, playing and talking to some unimaginary people in a strange language and his voice didn’t sound at all like a child’s. Her jaw dropped in shock as she stood stupefied gazing at her son. As soon as she screamed, Bobby dropped to the floor and reverted to his usual self. Cynthia raised an alarm and the neighbors gathered. They tried to make Bobby stand but his wobbly legs wouldn’t hold him. They did all kinds of things to make him talk but Bobby didn’t budge. Someone even got an old man who most of them referred to as the ‘wise one’, he asked Cynthia how she got the child but she refused to say anything. It was now obvious that my wife had an idea about what was happening to her child yet she didn’t want to talk about it or seek for help.
Eventually, the neighbors left her to her fate since there was nothing anyone could do.

Nothing was going to make me spend the night in that house so I left Cynthia with a promise to return in the morning. Daylight came with another startling revelation. It turned out that everyone who scolded or touched Bobby had been roughed up in their dreams and they all had visible scars to show for it.

A few weeks later, I got the job that I was interviewed for. And with the upfront I received and what I had saved over time, I got myself a new place and moved my things out of the home I was shared with my wife. It didn’t make sense that she didn’t want to open up about the situation. I love my wife but I don’t want to die before my time. When I agreed to take her son as mine, I didn’t sign up to be killed.

I bumped into a friend of Cynthia’s recently who hinted that she had been in a relationship where she assumed that having a child for the guy would make him marry her. Getting pregnant wasn’t happening as fast as she wanted, so she consulted a native doctor who told her what to do. Unfortunately for her, the guy still dumped her when he found out that she was pregnant.

I don’t know whether to feel sorry for her or not. Our two-year marriage was a living hell for me and it will be foolhardy for me to continue in that marriage especially since my wife remains obstinate about finding a solution to the problem.

You know what?… I’m done.