SILENCE
Chapter 23

Elisha sat in the living room unaware of what had just happened, he couldn’t believe that Larna was the one that was talking to him like that. One minute she wanted to try and make things right between them, the next she was acting up.

He sat in that position for a long time as he thought where he was going wrong as a man and a husband, maybe she was right after all; maybe he had been so consumed with the thoughts of her falling in love with him again when in actual sense the only thing that was supposed to happen was healing.

When his head hurt and his heart shattered even more, he got up from the living room and went to the bedroom where he shut himself and cried his eyeballs out.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had a good sleep, his mind was always clouded with thoughts of the twins and how he could have avoided the accident but nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

Most times he wished that he had a friend he could talk to, he appreciated Ben and all he had done but he couldn’t possibly start telling him every detail of his marriage.

So when he couldn’t think anymore, he got two sleeping pills from his little pill box and minutes later he was asleep.

The first rays of light hit Larna’s face and she sighed as she thought of the day ahead, it was a Saturday which meant that Fernando wasn’t coming. The thoughts of the previous night made her smile a little; she was completely growing fond of him and even though she didn’t want to feel that way she just couldn’t help it.

She heard footsteps and she pretended to be asleep, it was probably Elisha and for some unknown reason she didn’t want to spend time with him.

Someone knocked once then opened it.

‘Larna?’ she called

Larna removed the beddings from her head and smiled genuinely

‘Wangu.’ She screamed, if only she had legs; she would have jumped on her.

‘I missed you.’ Wangu said moving forward to embrace her

‘So did I, you just went quiet on me right?’

Wangu pulled a chair.

‘Well I thought why not give this lovely couple some time to cool off before coming back here?’

Wangu expected to hear something from Larna but she pretended as if she had not heard anything

‘So tell me, how have you been?’

‘Same old same old.’ She said shyly

‘Larna I can read through you, spill the beans.’

‘Well his name is Fernando, Wangu you need to meet him. His tall, muscular, his good looking and his sense of humor is amazing.’ She said her eyes glowing

‘Hold on Larna, who is this guy?’

‘Well Elisha’s friend Ben has a cousin and since Elisha has been going for work; he asked his friend to be watching over me.

‘He asked his male friend to be watching over you?’ Wangu asked surprised

‘Yes he did.’

‘Can you give me a moment Larna?’

‘Sure.’

Wangu walked out of the room and went straight to see Elisha who was in the kids’ bedroom. She banged the door behind her afraid that Larna might come through

‘Are you losing your mind?’ she asked almost yelling

‘I lost my mind the day I lost my family.’

‘Elisha come on you are not the man I met months back, even in your hospital bed you were still as strong as titanium!’

He chuckled.

‘What do I have to live for? I lost my kids and now my wife is gone. I have nothing in this world.’

Wangu’s heart shattered but she wasn’t going to allow that to crowd her judgment, her entire being went out to him but that was not the way to go about things.

‘Why did you ask another man to watch over your wife?’ she asked after much silence

Oh you mean Fernando, he is a friend.’

‘A friend? You mean you couldn’t hire a maid or someone?’

‘Lady cut me some slack, what are you insinuating?’

‘How does Larna go into the bathroom? Who lifts her up when she can’t manage to do something? Have you seen how her eyes glow when she talks about this Fernando?’

‘Larna is my wife and I know her, she can never do anything to destroy the sacred union of our marriage.’

‘Elisha your wife died in that accident, Larna is a totally different person and if she doesn’t want to get better you can’t impose it on her.’

‘Shut up!’

‘No I won’t, you will have to listen to me. I have been married to my husband for a long time but before that we had our own battles and trust me those battles were strong enough to break us apart but we chose to fight for what we had.’

‘I am fighting Wangu, can’t you see it? I am fighting really hard for things to be okay between us.’

She shook her head as she paced about the room.

‘I love Larna and my life would be shattered without her, I am fighting for us to be like we were.’

‘Elisha choose your battles well, how can you be fighting for someone that doesn’t want to be fought for?’ how can you possibly be putting all of your energies in a dead relationship?’

‘You are a counselor; you are supposed to help us get back on track!’

‘No Elisha, my job is to help your wife fight her emotional battles, my job is to help her make concrete decisions and somehow help her get her memory back. But Larna has refused, she wants nothing to do with the life she had with you and I guess this is the part where I say my goodbyes, you should consider that as well.’

‘Are you saying that this is it? That I have lost my wife just like that?’

She kept quiet calculating her next words

‘Elisha the signs have been there way too long, it is not up to me to decide what you want. You can choose to love her from afar or you can continue fighting a lost battle. That is all up to you. But one thing I am totally sure of is that Larna’s heart is not with you.’ She said now heading for the door

‘One last thing, just do some digging on this Fernando guy and see if he is as good a person as you consider him to be. And do it away from your friend Ben.’ She said before walking out

Elisha slumped his shoulders as reality suddenly hit him; he couldn’t believe that this was it, that nothing could be done to try and make amends for the past.

He got his phone and went through Fernando’s Facebook account, everything he had said about himself was there and now he wondered why Wangu was skeptical about him.

He decided to go through Ben’s account and nothing interested him until he came across one photo that sent him into instant fear.

‘What have I done?’ he asked himself