Yearning!

In life, we yearn for so many things. We yearn for plentiful, we yearn for shelter, for riches, and most especially we yearn for love. But what if there are some people who yearn for vengeance????

"Will you take Mike lawson to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The voice of the priest echoed all over the hall. It was weirdly funny how the middle-aged man decided to hold the microphone; Lucy thought that the man's sole aim was to swallow the poor microphone. And it was surprisingly funny how Lucy decided to fill her mind with the thought of how the priest chose to hold the microphone on her wedding day and obviously while taking her wedding vows.

Wasn't it appropriate for the bride to look at her husband to be with love in both her eyes and heart as she says "I DO" to him? Though Lucy's eyes were all over Mike, it was never filled with love, and neither did her eyes have any warmth in them. Lucy stared at the extremely handsome and well-built man who was grinning from ears to ears like an idiot; she knew how many ladies would die just to have him in their doorway, not to even talk about their bed.

She could count how many of them had gawked at him there in the wedding ceremony and had consciously cursed at her for managing to have such a man to herself. People who said they were here to celebrate me. Indi Ara. Lucy had cursed between her breaths. "Miss Lucy! Did you in any way hear what I said?" The priest's annoying voice blared through the microphone once again. At least Lucy thought his voice was very annoying and irritating.

Even with the excuse that his voice was annoying, she couldn't deny the fact that it actually brought her out of her reverie. Lucy's eyes drawled from the priest's face to her groom's, whose facial appearance brought a smile to her dry face. Fear and more fear were written all over his handsome face.

She could imagine the types of thoughts running through his mind, like "What's happening to her? Why is she behaving this way? Is she planning on saying NO to me at the altar?" She couldn't help but smile at those thoughts, and she wished she could pop into his head and whisper to it, "Yes, darling, that's what I'm about to do to you, so get yourself prepared..."

Slowly and gingerly, Lucy withdrew her right hand, that has been held by Mike's hand. He didn't have time to stop her from withdrawing her hand as his look was already transfixed on her pretty and emotionless face. She, however, collected the microphone from the shocked priest's hands and faced the crowd that was already murmuring and waiting to know the reason for the abrupt hold.

"You want me to marry this man? Y'all want me to get married to this beast, right? Isn't that why y'all are here?" Lucy blasted and afterward let out shaky and croaky laughter. Her voice immediately sent a shiver down all the spine of everyone that was sitting in the hall. They couldn't believe how someone's voice would be so emotionless and cold.

Her dull eyes scanned through the faces of the so many distinguished guests, and she stretched her thin lips into a dry smile. She loved the shocking look on their ugly faces. "Y'all actually dressed up in your rich and expensive dresses just to see me get married to this son of a bastard? You guys can't be this serious..." Her voice boomed through the microphone, voice filled with anger and hatred, and the crowd wasn't sure to who the hatred and anger were directed.

"And you actually want me to say "I DO" to this wicked fool? Is that what you want? Well, sorry to burst your bubbles, thou servant of the highest, but over my dead body will I ever say yes to that bastard standing there..." She shouted, throwing the microphone at Mike, who was shocked and drenched in his own sweat. He managed to dodge the microphone that was initially aimed at him, but that didn't shake him off the shock that he was soaked in.

He couldn't fathom how a woman that was all over him, feeling all lovey-dovey and never stopped ringing it into his ears how much she loved him, was now emitting strong anger and hatred on her wedding day. He was so sure that Lucy wasn't acting; she wasn't putting up a show either. From her voice and the look in her eyes, he could tell that she had been harboring the hatred, pain, and anger in her heart for a long time.

However, his attention was brought back when Lucy suddenly started to laugh hysterically. Even when her laughter sounded like music and a sound of victory to her ears, it sounded like that of a woman who has been mad for ages to the ears of the wedding guests. Stella stood at the extreme of the hall, clutching the wedding flower in her hands while she allowed the hot tears she struggled to hold to fall down her cheek like a rainfall.

She had tried; if there were any other words to use instead of "try," she wouldn't hesitate to use them. She tried all her best to see that her best friend never went on with her devious plan, but it proved abortive. She knew how much suffering Lucy had gone through; she knew the trauma her best friend was subjected to. She was there when Lucy was passing through the pain and agony, and with each day that passed, Stella knew that one out of the many humanity in her also died away.

And now, looking at her best friend, she couldn't help but shudder at the type of beast that Lucy had become herself."You're so lucky, Mike lawson, to have dodged that object; I had actually wanted it to smash your head to pieces so that your skull and brain will be seen on the ground..." Lucy said, glaring at Mike, who was already too shocked to make any move.

The whole hall was silent, watching the drama that was unfolding before their very eyes; they couldn't believe that some people in some part of the country would actually create wedding cards, invite guests all over the country, and prepare a big feast with lots to eat and drink just for the bride to turn into a maniac and starts throwing microphones at her groom. Father Ejike couldn't believe what was happening in his church; how on earth would he explain this very day to the archbishop? How will he tell the archbishop that the bride turned into a raging beast that no one could control the first time associating a wedding ceremony? How??

"You know I'm still shocked that you never for one day recognized me, Mike; I was scared at first as I didn't want anything to ruin my plans, and to God be the glory, you never recognized me. Well, if you don't, I'm sure your parents will most especially that which you call a mother...." Lucy turned to Mrs. Lawson, flashing her a wicked smile. Lucy saw the confusion in the woman's eyes and couldn't help but chuckle."I know what my son did to you is bad but take this cheque of 2 million nairas and disappear out of this village for good...don't tell me you don't remember this scene? This scene is where you were blackmailing a young promising village girl who your son brutally raped. DON'T YOU FUCKING TELL ME YOU DON'T REMEMBER...." Lucy screamed with all the energy in her hot body.

Mrs. Lawson's eyes widened, and her body began to shake like one who was blessed with the spirit of convulsion. Lucy smiled again as it was clear that not only did his mother remember but also his father and the bastard himself."Oh, how I hate you, Mike. You ruined my life; you killed me countless and countless times. You gang-raped me because I had refused your sexual advances; you thought I was a shameless village girl who would come running into the arms of the handsome and rich city boy whose family had come down to the village to set up their political life.

I can remember vividly telling you that I was still in SS2 and I didn't want to have a boyfriend yet and what your cemented brain could tell you was that I was just proud, arrogant, and rude. Mike, can you still remember how you and your friends kidnapped me when I was on my way to the market? Do you remember how it was you that bore me on your shoulders heading inside the thick bushes?

Can you remember the so many pain-stinking slaps you gave me just because I wouldn't stop shouting for help? You raped me, and your four friends used my body the way they liked and in the position they wanted. It while you stood there laughing and jeering at them......" Lucy said in a surprisingly calm but deadly voice. She waited till the shouts of disbelief from the crowd died down before she continued in a hoarse voice."You thought I was dead by the time your last friend was done having his way, and then you fearfully carried me to your house. After you managed to revive me, your wonderful parent started to threaten me. When it was obvious to your beautiful mother that I wasn't prepared to collect anything from her, your father told me that if I dared say a word against his most adorable and innocent son, he would wipe out every member of my family.

Because I was naively stupid and scared, I danced to your tune and told my family that it was I that got hungry for sex and decided to have sex with five guys. Do you know what happened after I made that statement? My mother fainted, and my father tried to wake her up, but all proved abortive, and all of a sudden, my Dad held his chest, and before I could run from my Mom to my Dad, he too was on the ground, sleeping? NO! DEAD...." Lucy shouted, enjoying the distorted look on their faces. Their faces had gone pale, and it looked like blood was no longer in them.

Lucy strode to a woman who was equally as shocked as everyone was but was unfortunate enough to have sat down at the very first seat."Do you know what I did after realizing that I had just killed my parents? I ran. I ran for my life because if the villagers were to hear of what I did, they would burn me to death. I ran to the only human being I'll forever live to love and cherish, Stella. I ran to her, and she cried with me, she didn't want to let me go through it alone and so together we ran out of the village.

We saw ourselves in the city of Lagos, and with each day that passed, I longed to have a night that I would be able to sleep peacefully without having the occurring nightmare of how I had murdered my parents. I cried. Nights after night, I was becoming a shadow of myself, and when it seemed that everything would be fine again because Stella had struggled and managed to get a job at a big supermarket and the pay was quite huge, the worst happened. I realized that I was pregnant. Pregnant for Who? I never knew. Which of the five boys owned the child? That question never got an answer..." At this point, some women who had the motherly trait in them had already started to shed tears for the lady telling her story.

"I felt like dying, Mike. I prayed to God every day to take away my life, but instead, God blessed me with good health. Since God didn't want to do the needful, I decided to help him, and so one faithful day, I gulped the content of the sniper bottle in a flash. But unfortunately, Stella was right on time to see me collapsing, she saw the empty sniper bottle by the corner of the room, and she cried in panic. She rushed me to the hospital, and after saving my life, the doctor was kind enough to tell me that in order to wash away the sniper that had already gracefully aborted away the child, they had to remove my womb so therefore I would never be able to have a child of my own..." Lucy said, staring at her best friend with tears in her eyes that she forbade ever dropping.

This was no time to cry; it was already too late for tears. She wasn't going to cry anymore. She tore her gaze away from Stella to the guest who was already crying aloud for her and to those who wore the pitiful look on their faces before facing the bastard that was the root of her problems. "At that point, I knew that all life had for me was nothing but pain, sorrow, and anguish, and at that very moment, I vowed to make my own pound of flesh. I kept tabs on you and finally found out that you and your family were back in Lagos, and my plans kicked in.

The job application letter I sent to your company was the starting point, and fortunately for me, you called me in for an interview. I was scared that you'd recognize me upon the heavy makeup I was putting on, and joyfully you never recognized me from the day I started working as your personal assistant till this very hour.

Mike Lawson! Do you now see the reason why I said you ruined my life? You kept me in perpetual pain and agony for years, and now you want me to marry you? Yes! I will marry you, and our marriage will only end in death......" Lucy declared, and before anyone could say jack and jill, she brought out a gun, and everyone began to play survival of the fittest. The first to go out of the door wins a trip to Dubai. Lucy's eyes trailed the hall now filled with terrified guests, some of which were tired of pushing and trying to run out and some that had chosen to hide underneath the tables in front of them until it finally stopped at her best friend's face.

Their eyes locked, and a conversation broke out between the two at that moment. Lucy was so sure that Stella was telling her not to do it with her eyes, but why won't she do it? Why can't she just end it once and for all? Here is the man that ruined her life at her very front; he was actually at her mercy; she can just end his life and hers too. That way, Stella won't even have to worry about her going to jail.

Yet! She still doesn't want me to do it, Hell! She didn't want to do it. Lucy thought that she had prepared herself all these years for this, but holding the pistol in her shaky hand right now, it feels like she never prepared her mind at all. She threw her head back in sheer anguish, and gradually, the pistol slipped out of her hands. She thought that was what she actually wanted, but right now, she doesn't even know what she wants anymore... 

©emerald