Chapter 5 Emotional Misery

• Wright was in the kitchen trying to fix dinner for Riona and himself. He diligently engages in his task as he hopes to make a sumptuous meal for Riona, one that she would not be able to resist. She has not been taking much for a long time now and he hopes to make her increase her diet.
• Knowing who Riona was, this will not be an easy task, but Wright is determined to take his chances with her. He knows the importance of a balance diet for his daughter and he was going to ensure that she has it.
• Riona was sitting on the dining table waiting for her dad to get dinner ready, she looks all moody and her eyes were still swollen from the effect of the regular crying session that she never ceased to engage in at the slightest thought of her late mum.
• As she was waiting for her dad to get dinner ready, she unconsciously began to tap on the plate in front of her with the fork and knife that she is holding in her left and right hands respectively.
• The sound from the fork and knife created a rhyme that generously filled the entire house. But unlike every other rhyme, the one that comes from her action was filled with pains and sadness. It tells of the tale of a young a girl forced to remain in a world devoid of love for her. A young girl who had no reason to continue living.
• Riona was lost in her actions and as she unconsciously listened to the sound that came from her beat, a tear dropped for from her eyes and just like the first tear, other tears subsequently followed suit, pouring generously onto her clothes.
• She makes no sound as the tears flow, not even a sob. She only allowed the tears to freely pour out without trying to hold it back. At least that is one thing that she cannot deny her mum because even in death, her mum deserves the very best from her.
• ……………………………….
• Inside of the kitchen, Wright stopped what he was doing and listened to the beat from Riona. Memory of Evolette filled his soul and he struggled to fight back the tears that had already gathered in his eyes by this time from flowing.
• Even till this moment, Wright cannot deny that Evolette is the best thing that had happened to him. She had come into his life at a moment when it felt like his whole life was worthless. As at when he met Evolette, he felt as a complete failure for not been able to meet the expectations of those that he relied on and has as a result been abandoned.
• Evolette brought new meaning to his life and has since the first day that they met to the time of her death given him nothing but peace and fulfillment.
• Even when Evolette had taken her last breathe, Wright had not been able to bring himself to accept that she would leave him. He had secretly believed and hoped that she was going to be alive and be by his side even when the possibility of losing her was glaring and had stared boldly at him.
• He had at first refused to accept the fact of her demise and had believed that she was only asleep and would be back to him when she wakes up.
• Evolette’s death made him to see the weaker side of him, a part of him that goes against everything that he stands for as a werewolf and could not absorb pain, a part which he never knew existed.
• Back in his Pack, Shadow Rank Pack, he had been the very strongest of the werewolves and had never let his emotions out on any occasion. He could face a perceived enemy or traitor and shred their skins from their bones without blinking an eye. However, all these had become the subject of the past since the first day that he had come in contact with Evolette.
• There was a break in Riona’s beat and Wright suddenly realizes himself, he wipes his eyes and immediately went on with his task.
• ………………………………………..
• Riona already knows that nothing can bring her mum back to life. And even though this was a sad reality that she had come to accept, she has consciously refused to embrace it and forge ahead with life.
• But for the love of her dad, she would have insisted on going after her mum, to follow her wherever the cold hands of death had willfully taken her to.
• Wright enters from the kitchen carrying two plates of food on both hands, one for him, and the other which contains some oats and scrambled eggs for her.
• She stopped her beat and stared at her dad as he walked in. She smiled amidst her tears as she watched the only man that she loves struggling to make sure that she was okay.
• Riona is well aware that she was not been fair to her dad, but she also felt that he would understand that her tears were the respect that she owns her mum.
• “Riona” Wright called.
• “Thanks dad” Riona managed to say.
• As Wright draws closer to her, he could see that she has been crying and this sight caused his heart great pain.
• “Not again Rio, you don’t have to be doing this” Wright said.
• “That is what everyone thinks dad, but I am doing it for mum” Riona responded.
• “Listen to me Riona, I told you that she would not want to see you this way. She is happy wherever she is right now, in heaven. She wants you to be happy too” Wright said.
• “Are you sure about that dad?” Riona asked.
• “Yes Rio, I am very certain about that. And I have told you this several times already, she is not going to come back because she is in a better place now” Wright explained.
• “Can she be in a better place when I am not there, when the both of us are not there with her?” Riona asked.
• “Yes honey and she is happy too” Wright replied.
• “Okay, she is not happy because she is without us. She is happy because she is in heaven with the Lord, and because she knows that someday, when the time is right we would go up there and join her. We would be with her” Wright added.
• Wright sat down and placed Riona’s plate in front of her.
• “I added some scrambled eggs for you dear” Wright announced.
• “I am okay with just oats dad” Riona protested.
• “No no honey, not just oats. You insisted on having just oats in the morning and at lunch. Now allow me to make the choice for you here. We both agree that it is my time to. So I insist that you do some justice to the scrambled eggs in front of you” Wright insisted.
• Wright was worried that Riona might fall sick if she is allowed to continue with her diet of just oaths with nothing more.
• Riona had refused to eat after she heard of her mum’s death, and it took an intervention from her aunt Kyra to make her start taking something. And since then Riona had requested to take oats simpliciter.
• “Let me try it because of you dad. But promise that from tomorrow, I would be allowed to decide what I eat” Riona said.
• “Okay dear, from tomorrow. But you would also promise me that as your dad, I would be allowed to occasionally add one or two of my delicious recipe to your menu” Wright requested.
• “Nothing tastes good anymore daddy” Riona said.
• Wright could not reply to Riona. He felt bad at the pain that his daughter was going through. Riona had always been a strong and carefree girl, but the pain from her mum’s death is something that she could not handle.
• “Daddy” Riona called.
• “Yes honey” Wright responded.
• “When would be the right time for we to join mum?” Riona asked.
• Wright does not understand the meaning of Riona’s question “Sorry”.
• “You said mum has gone to heaven to be with the lord and that when it is the right time, we would go join her up there. So I want to know the right time for that” Riona explained.
• “I don’t know the right time, no one knows the right time. Mum is gone because it is the right time for her. And truth is we don’t pray for the right time to come. In fact, no one ever wishes for the right time. We’ve only got to accept it because it is beyond our control” Wright said.
• Wright was very careful in explaining all of these to his daughter as he knows that her thought are far and wild.
• Riona picks at the scrambled eggs. She does not feel like having any of it and she was going to leave it. But knowing the pain that her dad had gone through to fix it up for her, she forced herself to swallow it.
• “Do you think she would want me to forget about her completely?” Riona asked.
• Wright was lost one more time “Who?”.
• Riona rephrased her question “I mean mum. Do you think that mum would want me to forget about her completely?”.
• “No she would not honey. But she would want that you always have it at the back of your mind that she is up there smiling at you and that she would like to see you happy” Wright replied.
• “Do you love her?” Riona asked.
• “With all of my heart dear, I love her with all my heart and with every breath that I take. I would have given up everything to see her here with us today” Wright said.
• A tear dropped from Wright’s eyes as he think of all the love that he had shared with Evolette and everything that they have been through.
• Riona did not like to see her dad in his present state, so she tries to console him. “Don’t cry dad because I know that she loves you too”
• “Are you sure you want me to stop crying?” Wright said to Riona as he weeps his face with his palm.
• “Of course dad, I don’t want to see you cry” Riona replied.
• “Then you have to promise me one thing” Wright requested.
• “Anything dad, I would do anything to see you happy” Riona assured.
• “Promise me that from now on, you are going to eat whatever I prepare for you” Wright requested.
• “But dad”
• Riona tries to put up a protest but Wright was having none of it.
• “You have to do it for me Rio. That is if you don’t want to leave me all alone in this place” Wright said.
• “Okay dad, I promise” Riona agreed.
• “Thanks Rio, then I would stop crying” Wright assured.
• The both of them continued with their meal. After some time, Riona stops eating and said to her dad.
• “I have a question dad” Riona said.
• Wright looked up to her and asks “And what is the question?”
• Riona continues to eat her food and did not reply to her dad.
• “I am listening Rio, what is your question?” Wright asked her again.
• “What killed mum?” Riona finally asked her question.
• “But honey, we have talked about this several times already” Wright protested.
• “I agree dad, we have talked about it several times, or rather, I have asked you this same question several times, but you have refused to give me an answer” Riona said.
• “She is dead Rio” Wright said.
• “People don’t just die dad” Riona retorted.
• “I already told you that she was ill and later on she died as a result of not responding to treatment” Wright explained.
• “Even if I know nothing about how the whole death thing works dad, at least cut me some slacks, I know that sicknesses and illnesses or diseases that kills someone have different names ascribed to them. And at least, I deserve to know the exact one that took my mum’s life” Riona pleaded.
• “I do not deny the fact that sicknesses have names, but what would that change now, she is gone and would not be coming back to us. We gain nothing on opening old wounds” Wright said.
• “But why am I finding it hard to just go by your reply all this while? I am just so curious to know everything about her living and even now that she is no more, that desire had not changed” Riona lamented.
• “Trust me Rio that is because you have been holding on and refusing to let go. You have to free yourself from this pain and live again” Wright advised.
• “Okay dad, I would take it that you are right. I have to free myself” Riona concurred.
• “And that is my girl, always making daddy proud” Wright said.
• “I love you dad” Riona said.
• “And I love you too Riona” Wright responded.
• “I will love you forever dad as we will be together forever” Riona added.
• “Forever honey” Wright concurred.
• When they have finished eating, Riona got up and begins to clear the plates that they had used to eat but Wright immediately stood up and held her hands.
• “Daddy” Riona protested.
• “And what do you think you are doing Rio?” Wright asked.
• “Trying to clear the dishes” Riona replied.
• “No Rio, I have got this. How many times do I need to remind you of that?” Wright asked.
• “But dad, you are already stressed taking care of me all these while. I want to help too” Riona protested.
• “I am not stressed dear, and the truth is I would never be stressed taking care of you” Wright said.
• “And for how long would this continue dad?” Riona asked.
• “It would continue until I am certain that you are fit to handle these things. And even then, I would make sure that you do not overburden yourself still” Wright replied.
• Riona looked at her dad and seeing the love from him, she could not keep her emotions in check anymore. She instantly burst into tears and began to sob. Wright held her by the hand with one hand, and he placed the other on her shoulder and made her to sit.
• “Thank you so much dad” Riona said amidst her sobs.
• “I am here for you honey, never forget that” Wright assured her.