18 Maybes and Wonders
In the tree house as the three of them sat around a table with different types of food garnishing the top, Nosa watched Moriah cry again as they all forgave one another of their past sins as darkness and cold covered the surroundings. He wondered what would happen from that time, but he was sure he had a lot of questions that needed answers. Moriah had played a great deal in making sure Chloe was still alive. That Monday afternoon, he would have killed Chloe, but Moriah pleaded on her behalf. She and Raphael gave him reasons to leave her. After many pleas from them, he still allowed the police take her custody.
Moriah and Raphael played a larger role in how she remained in a good position. Raphael was the face, while Moriah kept providing the money. They were able to pay for a top lawyer, who argued and provided substantial evidence against the state to make the judge send Chloe to a psychiatric hospital in time. So, they were all surprised when they received a skype call notification.
'Can it…'
'Chloe?'
Raphael shook his head, but still ran to his phone and connected it. There, was Chloe smiling at them like she used to. She was wearing the psychiatric home's uniform for the mentally disabled. Her acne was finally gone. She was looking as beautiful as he used to know her. He was sure he could never root for her like he used to.
'Happy new year', Chloe said and they replied as they always did, seeing that she always connected to them late.
'Just like years before', Raphael said as he gulped a glass of wine.
'Improved version. Now, we are sitting to eat in memory of three dead bees', Chloe said as she showed them her own bottle of wine. She still had her way of getting things. Nosa smiled warily. Chloe had never called any of their fathers bees before.
'You said bee', Moriah said and tears returned to her eyes.
'I said bees. I know. At least, we all have one remaining'.
'One?' Moriah said as she wiped tears from her face.
'Yes. Your father. Our new papa'.
'Not me and you. He is disbeed. He is dead to me'.
'There are times you, like Nosa, would wish you saw him at least for the last time'.
'I don't want anything'.
'Things would be happening soon. I'm here with Papa's… Nosa's bee's friend. He said there would be the destruction of Fortunecity with water. Just like the days of Noah. The man is exposing me to a lot of bottle of stale urine'.
'Well, you are all…' Nosa started to say.
Moriah seemed to have anticipated what he wanted to say and pinched him.
'Good people', Moriah said.
Chloe laughed. 'I know what he wanted to say. We're all mad. But we're not. Things are happening. I have been looking for three people all this while. Did you see my acne, then? They were three. Immediately we found Joana and Agnes that those F.A.L.T members killed, two disappeared. But it was until I got here that I found the third person. I had been the one all these while. I'm seeing a vision of when the rapture would happen'.
'No. Chloe', Raphael said disgustedly. 'Not a memorable day like this'.
'Yes. We want to enjoy the New Year memory', Moriah said as her fingers played on the tumbler she was holding.
'To the bees', Chloe shouted excitedly.
'To the bees', Moriah said and burst into tears.
Nosa drew her nearer and raised his cup. Ever since the ordeal happened, he had been staring and trying to laugh. But he couldn't laugh much. His smiles were short-lived and wary. Most times, he wished he could cry, but tears avoided him. So, seeing a crying Moriah and petting her, showed his conscience wasn't dead. Maybe he also needed to talk to a psychiatrist.
Then, they proceeded to sing the song 'Four years' by Stylplus. Raphael waved the ticket he bought to have a cruise with Joana on a voyage for a week, just the two of them.
'By the ways, guys, my game is out, and I finally got a name', Moriah announced. 'Mountain and the…'
'The Bee', Chloe said.
'How did you know?'
'She told me during my last visit to her'.
'We should play it after the prayers'.
Nosa nodded and soon, he listened to them half-heartedly until Chloe said her goodbyes and they promised to visit her.
That evening, Nosa climbed down the mountain and dialed Shayla's number again for the fifteenth time that day. It rang and soon stopped again. He wanted to know how their baby was faring, but she refused to pick his number.
'Nosa', Moriah called from the top of the mountain. 'It's time to pray. The new-year watch for the bees and Mountain Papa would start soon'.
He nodded and climbed up the mountain. As he climbed the mountain, his mind roved to all his family members that were available. His mother alongside his siblings would be at home weeping over his father, whose burial they all had just returned from to have their New-year tradition. Nosa saw the love that people had for one another and wondered why he didn't cry. He had been looking blankly at the ordeal. His father was a great man, whose only flaw was always being near perfect. There was nothing in the world that he had caught him doing that was illegal. The New Year didn't meet him on earth. The New Year didn't meet him and his wife, Chloe, together. The New Year didn't meet him and Shayla and their baby, together. He wished he could be there for the baby, to listen to its heart throbbing in its mother's belly.
Maybe he would have had a family if he was there for his wife. Maybe he would have known about Shayla if he had shown her love. Maybe, if he had shown his father love, he would have stayed put and wouldn't have followed Chloe. Maybe, if he had stayed back to listen to Mummy Church, if he didn't detest her, maybe Chloe wouldn't have heard about the other woman; Agnes. Maybe, if he had always agreed with his father on issues, he would have had a way to make Moriah happy and invariably Chloe. Maybe she wouldn't have had reasons to kill if he had just broken his method and had slept with Moriah before Chloe did.
As he clambered to the top, he looked at the empty, lonely road and knew his life would be like that for a long time, even with Moriah in it. The gathering cold and darkness that approached their tree-house had been in his heart all this while, and he wasn't sure he could drive them out. He wiped a drop of tears from his eyes and entered the house, and Moriah locked the door behind him.