Index
Chapter 1 (a) – The Odds Around me
Chapter 1 (b) – The Odds Around Me
Chapter 4 – Dad’s Secret
Chapter 6 – The Truth (Last Episode)
Chapter 4 – Dad’s Secret
The person pulled me along the now fully dark hallway while I struggled in his arms, kicking and trying to scream while the hands were still on my mouth. I felt the person open a door, and roughly hauled me into a room, the hand put on the light in the room putting it out of darkness, and then released me from his grasp.
I ran to the far corner of the room when I realized that I was in my room, then twirled around to confront the intruder.
As soon as I turned and the person’s face came in full vision, it was a man but it was not just any man it was my dad.
“Dad?” I marveled at who it was and sighed deeply in relief then continued “Dad, I was extremely terrified, I thought it was a thief”
“I know” he replied curtly
“Why did you grab me that way, I was mortified?”
“I was protecting you”
I gaped at him confused at what he was saying and asked him what he meant
“Dad, what are you going on about, what are you protecting me from?”
I am protecting you from yourself” he said quietly
I was still confused and wanted to ask him what he implied by the statement when I remembered what had happened before he had grabbed me.
“Dad, there was someone in the room, and mum was there as well”
“I know,” He said it so simply that I was left dumbfounded, then he spoke again
“I was protecting you from what you could have found out in that room, you didn’t have to eavesdrop, Annabelle, there are some things you should leave be but you are a too curious child”
“Did you overhear what was talked about in there?”
“Yes, I was behind you listening to it the whole time”
I was discussing with some guests when I caught a glimpse of your mother speaking to someone in the living room, soon after that a man in a black mask walked up the stairs, that piqued my curiosity but I couldn’t just leave my guests to go check it out, I thought it was one of the servants”
“Then a few minutes later, your mum walked back into the dining hall to ask me when I would be coming to the bedroom, I told her I had a thing I would be doing in my office before coming into bed, she talked with some guests for a while before slipping quietly up the stairs
My curiosity skyrocketed, she was glancing at me trying to ensure I did not notice her leaving, I feigned being too busy to notice it but I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on, as soon as the last guest had left, I went into the office, took the back door and came up to find out what was happening when I met you at the door, eavesdropping, I waited behind to listen till I could not go on”
“Why didn’t you let us barge into the room and confront them?”
“That is what I wanted to do before finding you at the door, and I realized it’s not the right thing to do at the time especially not with you there”
“I don’t understand why you……” I was cut off from completing my statement.
“Hush, Annabelle, Today I’m going to keep you from the dark about so many things, I’m going to tell you some of the things you needed to know”
“Really? That will be delightful, dad, I’m all ears” I uttered under my breath excitedly.
He hemmed for a few minutes before speaking again
“Long ago, about 17 years ago, Lucy’s dad came to work one morning and with him was your mum, she was a recent graduate around the time and was in frantic need of a job.
At the time, Lucy’s father and I were business partners, and when he walked in with her that day and said I should fix up a job for her to do in the office, I couldn’t think of one to give her because every job position I could think of was already filled up, so I told her I was sorry but I couldn’t find any job for her to do around the office worthy of her merits.
She begged that she doesn’t mind doing anything even if it was a cleaning job or running errands, so we resolved to employ her as an errand staff
A few months later, our secretary vanished into thin air leaving a note saying she was sorry but something urgent came up and she needed to leave, that automatically made her the company’s secretary.
As soon as she became the secretary she shamelessly and constantly made sexual advances on me, at the time I was married to the love of my life which was my first wife, and I loved her with my very soul and will love her till my dying day” he said the with raw emotions, hesitated for a while, he then continued.
“I respected my wife a whole lot, she was everything to me, and I could not imagine ever hurting her by cheating on her, so I turned down her advances profusely and sternly, but this did not get her to discontinue her advance except that she became more cautious about it
One day, my wife, whose name was Rita paid a surprise visit to my office which wasn’t unusual, she met Victoria wearing an Indecent cloth with excessive makeup, she talked to me about it saying she wasn’t pleased with what she had on and was going to address it
Rita called Victoria with her sweet soft voice and advised her to always dress decently and appropriately, Victoria was displeased but she heeded her advice.
About a year later after Victoria started working in the company, Rita went to the hospital for her usual medical checkup, I remembered she called me while going back home saying she has a surprise for me and compelled me to come home soon, we were still on the phone when I heard tyres screeching her, her scream came next before the phone disconnected abruptly.
I was in a panic and kept calling her phone severally in futile attempts for two long hours before getting another call, it was a call from a police officer explaining that my wife had been involved in an accident, he described that the car had fallen off a hill and I was told to come there immediately.
I drove there as if someone was in hot pursuit of me praying profusely and hoping for the news to be anything but not true. As soon as I got to the accident scene, the now destroyed car had already been pulled back to the road, only the driver was found dead it, his body had been packed in the bag and moved into the waiting ambulance
But my wife was nowhere to be found, it was thought that she couldn’t have survived the accident, and it was either her body had dropped off from the car while the car was falling off the hill and was probably lying somewhere.
The search party arrived at the scene and we searched for her body all day but we could not find her, when we had thoroughly searched the area for three days, we had it broadcasted on Tv stations, we published it in the papers, and missing person papers were pasted everywhere across the country in search for her but still, we had no luck finding her.
I was in utter misery for the longest time, I still am, my friends kept trying to comfort me but I wasn’t having it” Dad said in a soft voice which depicts emotional trauma, he paused for a little while, then continued.
“A week later from that time, I couldn’t handle the pains anymore and resort to indulging in alcohol to make the pains go away, A day I remembered was going to a bar and drinking to stupor, I was oblivious of where I was or what I did, I woke up to myself in bed with Victoria.
I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t look her in the eyes, I growled her out of the room and warned her never to return to work.
A few months later, I got a call from a strange man saying Victoria had given birth to a child for me. It was the wedding anniversary of my first wife so I wasn’t in a reasonable mood so I yelled at him telling him the baby wasn’t mine and disconnected.
The phone persistently rang after that, so much so that I got so pissed off at the endless calls when I couldn’t put up with it anymore I snatched the phone from the table and switched it off.
Days later she barged into my office with you in her arms, I was already phoning for the security to have her thrown out when I caught a glimpse of you, your hair and your eyes were the same color as mine, and the facial resemblance was striking. I knew at the moment you were mine
The thought that ran across my mind was to do the right thing for you, although I was still traumatized from the loss of my beloved I didn’t want my child to stay away from me and your mother furiously refused to give you to me except I marry her,
She threatened to take you far away from me if I refuse to marry her, I and Rita had been looking for a baby for two years so I couldn’t let you leave my life, not after the loss of the woman I cherish the most, so I ensured we did a quick wedding so that I can bring you home to your father” He expelled a long breath, raised his eyes to meet mine, and pulled me into his arms
“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you all this sooner, I do notice the questions in your eyes, and how much you have been trying to figure out what is going on, I apologize that it took this long Annabelle”
I held close for a little while, restraining my tears back, and mumbling to myself that I understand him now, then I let out
“I understand, dad, my mind had always been in turmoil trying to figure everything out, why you were withdrawn from your mum and why she doesn’t seem to love me that much, I drive myself crazy from thinking about it but I now understand better”
My dad, gently held me at arm’s length and interrogated “What do you mean by she doesn’t seem to love you? Your mum doesn’t love you?” He asked perplexed by the fact
“Yes, it always seems she doesn’t, she often tells me, I was born to distress her amongst other things that don’t make sense to me, she never says words of endearment to me unlike my brothers except when we have audiences “
“So you mean Victoria has not been nice to you? Why would she do that?”
“She hasn’t been very nice but it’s okay dad, perhaps it could be her unhappiness with the way you’ve been treating her and she unconsciously turned the sadness towards me”
“Something seemed off here, but do not trouble yourself, go on to the bed, your mother and I might need to talk”
My father jerked up from the bed, his mind seems to be in a spiral of thoughts, he watched me as I climbed into bed
“But Dad, what about the man in the room with mum?” I inquired curiously.
“Don’t worry about that Annabelle, your mum and I will talk about it but you, my darling needs to get some sleep”
He turned towards the door, put his hands on the light switch, he turned again and called out softly.
“Annabelle”
“Yes Daddy”
“Whatever happens” he hesitated “You remember that hole?”
“Yes, I do remember the hole, I have been wanting to ask about it”
“Whatever happens” he continued “everything I’ve owned is in it, so make sure to safeguard it”
“Are you going somewhere, Dad?”
“Not at all, I just want you to take care of it and no matter what, never mention it to anyone, your life, that of your brothers and mine depends upon it”
I wanted to ask him what he meant by our lives depending upon what was in the hole and wanted to know what was in it, I was so curious to ask him all the thoughts that ran through my mind but he switched off the light, implying he wanted no further questions and was about to leave the room when a rasp knock came on the door…
Read Chapter 5 (Victoria’s Secret) Here
You will definitely love this Fiction story titled 'Annabelle'. Click to read
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