Image credits: AI
It was August the 17th, 2019, a day Joan will never forget. This day she received an unexpected shocking news of her life. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she received another shocking news greater than it.
She was on her way home from an evening service when she got a message notifications from her phone:
"I truly apologize for bringing you to this point, but I don't think I can do this anymore."
She searched for tears, but there was none.
Someone else must have probably gotten a hold of his phone; she kept saying to herself, just a a way to trying to deny the bitter reality of what she had just read in her phone.
They had been engaged and made plans on getting married February that following year.
She quickly put a call across to his siblings and parents, with the hope of getting some answers or explanation. They were just as surprised as she was and said that he made an unexpected trip outside after he gave them the news.
They hoped and prayed, even fasted, that he wouldn't bring such heartbreaking news to her.
She felt a sudden weakness. This was a lot to take in.
She tried figuring out what went wrong. They hadn't had any fight. So far they hadn't had issues with each other.
It was sudden. It came as a total shock. Something she didn't see coming.
She tried calling his line severally, hoping maybe he could tell her the area where she might have gone wrong.
She thought it might be a waste of time because he even ignored his family's calls, but surprisingly he picked up her call. The hurtful part about those kind of calls is that after the long silence what followed was "I am sorry."
"Obim" which meant my heart in Igbo language—a pet name she cherished calling him, "did I by any means do anything wrong?" she'd asked him with a trembling voice and a heavy heart.
All she would get from his reply is, "I'm sorry."
She called four more times after that, but he still answered the same thing. Hearing those words felt like a torment.
She thought of traveling over to meet with him, even though she didn't have enough money to embark on such trip. But even if she did, she still had a problem and that was finding out where he was in the first place.
"Is it possible that we meet?" she'd ask. But all she got back was deafening silence.
"Why didn't he just block me?" she asked herself. "Maybe that would've been much better. Or better still just tell me what I did wrong. Why was he avoiding getting in a conversation with me? Why was he making me go through this frustration?"
She gradually began to lose my joy, my peace, and even my mind. It was unbearable for her.
At some point, she began thinking of some rash actions to take. But she was lucky for the prayers and support she got from people close to me.
She had never fallen in love with anyone like she did with Daniel in her entire life. She looked for answers, but they were nowhere to be found.
She didn't even worry much about the wedding that was cancelled. What she was more worried about was that the man she had dreamt of spending the rest of my life with had deserted her and couldn't give her a reason for doing so.
For three miserable weeks, his lines were going through. Then all of a sudden, his lines stopped going through.
All his lines became unreachable. His numbers stopped connecting altogether.
Some weeks that followed, his father got hit with a stroke due to his absence.
She tried getting across to him but it kept saying switched off.
"I think we should post his picture on the social media indicating that he is missing. Or what do you guys think?" his sister suggested.
"I'm not really sure," Joan replied hesitantly.
"I think we should do it," his mom agreed.
Posters were made with his pictures on them, and they began to go round.
Four months later, Joan was at his parents' place when a young man reached out to Daniel's sister via Twitter.
"I was at the hospital with him," his message read.
She was about replying when he added, "The doctors are awaiting someone who could come and claim his body."
Joan froze. Like a volcanic eruption had occurred, voices wailed across the living room.
She was speechless.. motionless. Wasn't able to cry. Couldn't even sleep.
A thousand thoughts ran through her mind.
Like a Godsent, the young man provided them with the details of where he was. He was in a far away country on a small island.
The results of the autopsy indicated that he had suffered from a terminal disease.
Joan couldn't get over the whys and the what-ifs . They were countless. Her imaginations kept cycling.
But in that moment, she found closure.
Today makes it six long years. She hates thinking about it but somehow the thoughts find its way into her mind.
But every single day, Joan rises up with a thankful heart.
Despite the fact that certain things happen which leave us puzzled, the Universe has a reason for everything.
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