There's hope even in the midst of trials and tribulations. Jehovah El-Roi, he sees us and would always come through for us.
My eyes burned from the brightness of the strange space I found myself in. Where was I? "Hello Damien." I turned around and was met with the sight of nothing, just plain white washed walls that seemed to never end. "Who called me?" I asked, taking a step forward as I viewed my surroundings. "I did." The authoritative voice that I first heard spoke up again, leaving a slight echo as I looked around for its owner. "Where are you? Show yourself!" I said, getting anxious at the oddness of the situation. "Walk forward." He said and with curious strides I ventured forward through what looked like a passageway to an unknown place. Somehow, I found myself in an opened field and when I turned back, there was no trace of the place I just walked through. Strange. When I turned back I was met with a calm middle aged man staring at me with a slight smile that threw me off balance. I managed to get on my feet after recovering from the shock. "Who are you? How did you get here? And where the
Life had been a rollercoaster. I was merely taking it one day at a time, carrying the burden of the blows it had dealt me with. It was a Saturday morning, some weeks since we moved in and I was doing routine cleanups when I peered outside the window and saw a truck approach and stop right in front of the gate. I came out to find out why they were trespassing on my property. I stood on the lawn and watched for a few minutes only to figure out it was a moving truck that carried stuff that seemed very familiar to me. It was then I spotted Amy. "How did you find this place?" I asked fiercely as I marched outside seeing that the movers were already getting to work after throwing greetings that I did not bother to respond to. "Ma Rosa told me about it. Can I come in?" She was so calm and seemed unremorseful. The blithefulness of her tone irked me. "No you can't." I bit out. "Ariana I'm not your enemy. I singlehandedly made sure all your stuff was brought to you even when Uncle Gerald di
"Water." He croaked out that morning as I woke up and met his eyes on me. I got up immediately and fought the urge to yell at him for taking off the mask that supported his breathing especially as his lungs had failed during the surgery. Was he trying to give me a heart attack?!Quickly, I pressed the button and a nurse came in."He's asking for water," I told her. "Is that okay?" My concern was obvious. What if I gave him water and he choked on it? What if he couldn't swallow? It was a never-ending trail of what ifs in my mind until the nurse spoke."I'll get the doctor." She said and scurried off before I could respond.They came back in and I had the go ahead to give him properly treated water. With his throat still in the process of recovery, it took a lot of patience for me to slowly feed him gulp after gulp. The look of relief on his face when his thirst had been quenched almost brought tears to my ears. He looked up at me again and wordlessly gave me an appreciative smile.I wa
"What day is it?" I asked Ariana randomly as she rolled me around the hospital premises. I needed the fresh air after being trapped in that hospital room for so long. And while it took some time for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the outdoors, I appreciated the opportunity to see daylight again."Friday. Why do you ask?" She said."Date?""October thirtieth." "How long was I out?" I questioned and looked up at her after she had been silent for a bit."About three months." She eventually responded."That's a long time." Three months of unconsciousness. It must have been so hard for her especially with the kids.She let out a sigh - one that reeked of exhaustion."Yeah," "How have you been?" I asked, genuinely concerned about her wellbeing."I've been okay." She said with a shrug."No really, Ariana tell me, how have you been holding up?""It's been tough," she swallowed. "But I've been good.""The family, no one has come to see me." I said as soon as I remembered. My ability t
On Damien's insistence, he was discharged less than three weeks after waking up from his three-month long coma. The doctor made him promise to come for regular checkups and speak up if he ever felt any odd symptoms. I hoped he would fulfill his promise this time because he almost never spoke up about how he felt, both physically and emotionally. The boys had face splitting grins as they waited outside for us with balloons and Welcome cards made by some of our church members after I announced Damien's discharge from the hospital. They were all waiting out there for us with warm smiles on their faces. "Welcome home." Celia said after she hugged me and gave Damien a handshake to introduce herself. "Thank you." Was his chill response. "My wife has said a lot about you." He said to her when the initial buzz had died down and Celia stayed back with the few close pals I had befriended during the last few months. Mia and Richie. We worked in the same department in church and they were alw
I was panicking. How could I possibly be pregnant? How far along could I have been before finding out? Wait, I went through my whole first trimester with no idea that I was expecting? No symptoms, nothing? This did not make any sense. "Irma relax." He exhaled. "Damien, I can't. How can this be happening right now? Of all times!" I exclaimed. His response was a blank stare. "What do we do now?" I asked him helplessly, like he could magically come up with a solution. "There's nothing we can do about it. I'm sure it's already a developing foetus." I brushed my palms over my face, disregarding dermatologists' advice against touching our faces with unwashed hands. "We'll be fine." He said. "Why is this happening to me?" I sobbed. "Ariana you're pregnant, not blind or crippled." "So you're disregarding how I feel because you're the one on a wheelchair?" I felt aggravated by his nonchalance. "That's not what I'm saying." "Then what exactly are you saying?" "I can't walk! I can't w
This was the exact church building I saw in that encounter. The realization sent a rush of excitement, fear and wonder coursing through me. "This is your church?" I asked Ariana as she set up my wheelchair while the boys ran ahead of Ma Rosa into the building. "Our church." She corrected me, grunting as she tried to get me out of the car. "Easy. I don't want you hurting the baby." I said cautiously. "I can do it. I'm just a little tired." She insisted, stepping back to catch her breath. I decided to push my way out of the car and ended up landing on the chair with a hard thud. I groaned at the pain and she rushed to my side. "Babe why did you do that?" She rubbed on my back while I writhed in the pain that soon dissipated. "I'm fine." I exhaled. "Are you sure?" her concern was obvious. "Yeah. Let's go." I said as I pushed myself forward. "Are you okay?" I asked when I turned back to see her walking slowly behind me. "Yeah, just a little gas." She giggled and I found myself ch
I received a message from Fiona that morning and though I initially did not want to respond, I could not resist congratulating her on her engagement. She apologized for not reaching out sooner and asked about Damien's health. In response, I told her everything was fine and I wished her the best of luck as she prepared for her wedding. When I told Damien about it, he simply nodded and muttered a half-hearted "Congrats to her." That was an understandable reaction as far as I was concerned. My bump was growing. I had had a few antenatal visits and the baby was doing just fine even with all the rigorous and tedious activities I had been doing, oblivious of its existence. "I think we're going to have another boy." I mused, trying to start a lighthearted conversation with Damien who had been bent over a book all day. "Hmm." He hummed absentmindedly. "Babe?" "Yes?" He still was not looking up. "I know things aren't really easy for us right now, but I want to ask you something." I
There was something about weddings that always made Ariana fuzzy on the inside. The scent of flowers, topnotch catering, the cascading white decor or just the feel of love in the air. Love that she had experienced bountifully and was drunk with it. Looking back at the year before, she remembered how hard it was to settle back into their 1% of the 1% kind of life. In all honestly, she had missed the simplicity for the past year, ever since they had to move out from what Damien thought was a rich neighborhood but not for the wealthy which they were again. On the bright side, he had sold the old house where their journey started and all its memories - the sweet and bitter ones alike - were now things of the past that they would savor in their hearts for the rest of their lives. Her one worry had been how their relationship with their creator would be when Damien went back to his workaholic ways. Pleasantly surprised, she saw that the revelation of Christ had reverently dawned on him and
~~~~Damien~~~~~ It was a Sunday afternoon. We were back from church after the service turned into a celebration when Ariana and I went up to give our testimony - our story. Coming back home, my heart swelled with gratitude. Looking back, I never would have thought that life would take me through all that and I would come out strong. It was not until we got to our home and approached the gates that the smiles on the faces of my wife and I dropped. We had an unexpected visitor. "Congratulations." He said as we met eye to eye. "Thank you." I uttered, eyeing him surreptitiously. "Ariana." He nodded in her direction, courteously. "Aiden." She returned and breezed past us, taking the kids who were innocently excited to see him with her. "Can I come in?" He gestured towards the house and though I wanted to say no, I was in too much of a good mood to. "Come on in." I led the way into the living room, seeing as Ariana was on halfway up as the led the children to their room. "Have a
It came faster than lightning. One month passed like it had been just a week. We were back in the courtroom and even with the air condition that cooled the room, my hands were clammy with sweat as I held on Damien's hand. I was nervous, but strangely, he was so calm. Looking up at his chiseled face, I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder while he held me close. "It's going to be fine. We got this babe," He assured me in a whisper. I nodded, praying in my heart that this was the truth and that we would come out victorious.I sat up and saw Gerald and Damien's siblings walk in, some were courteous enough to say hi, which I responded to. I watched them sit on the other side while Gerald looked in our direction and sneered. Damien gave him a hard glare before looking away.The proceeding started and a different judge walked in. Instinctively, I turned to Damien and it seemed he was as surprised as I was. Gerald shifted in his seat uncomfortably.Soon, our lawyers were up, briefing t
The court proceedings had begun. Damien had gone all out to get the best lawyer he could find for this case. There was no backing down on his part and the media was ready to feast on this frenzy with its juicy details. I followed each and every headline, every blog post and read through comments back to back. I had people messaging me to ask if the news was true but I decided to keep mute until it was all done and over with.As I sat in that courtroom, silently watching as they battled for justice, I could not help but feel a sense of trepidation in spite of how I was supposed to hold on to hope and faith that things were going to turn in our favor.The sneer on the judge's face when the plaintiff spoke was worse when Damien got into the box for questioning. Gerald was relaxed and even had a cocky stance as he watched with a smirk anytime my eyes trailed over to him. I smelled a rat. I would not put it past him to have bribed the judge."This case is hereby adjourned until the 20th o
"She's what?!!!" I dropped my phone in reflex when I heard him yell from the balcony. Quickly, I got on my feet and rushed to meet him over the phone looking like he had seen a ghost. "What happened?" I asked as he limply dropped the phone. It took him a while to respond to me. "My mom is dead." "What?!" I screamed, clasping my palms over my mouth. "What happened to her?" I managed to ask as the tears started to stream down my face. "Aleena says she was found dead in her room. I smell foul play." He frowned deeply. In the next instant, he rushed out of the room and I followed him closely. "Carina?" She looked up from the boys who seemed to have fallen in love with her personality ever since she began living with us. "I need you to check the CCTV footage thoroughly. I think Gerald killed my mom." "Jeez!" She exclaimed, getting up to head to the room where the computers were while I ushered the children upstairs so they would not have to hear any of this. I came back down a
She looked different. Very different from the last time I saw her over seven years ago. "Damien," she walked over and hugged me, I limply returned it. "It's so nice to see you. Thank you for gracing my invitation, I thought you wouldn't even respond to me." She said, more excited to see me than I was to see her. I nodded slowly, "Well, here I am.""You're not going to ask how I'm doing. You're still mad at me?" She gasped."I'm not mad at you, just suspicious that you would reach out to me for the first time in years and now of all times." I said honestly."I heard everything that happened and I'm so sorry." "How did you hear?" I asked."Your mother.""You're still in contact with her." That was a statement."I saw her at an event a couple of weeks ago when I came back to LA.""Hmmm."Aleena sighed sadly and her face stiff with lots of plastic surgery hardly moved. "She's very unhappy Damien," "Serves her right." I muttered."Gerald treats her like trash.""She deserves it." I said
"You got a cake?" I asked, swabbing a piece of icing with my index finger as he set the white colored buttercream cake with cherry toppings on the kitchen island."Oooh yummy." I moaned, savoring the taste. "What's the occasion?" I asked, going into his arms as he pulled me close. "Kiss me first," he placed me on the island and placed his lips on mine before I could respond. "It's a peace offering." He finally answered my question when he let me go. "Peace offering? What did you do?" I asked, squinting my eyes in suspicion as he looked away in guilt, muttering something under his breath. "Babe, speak up." I said, tapping on his strong arms that held me in place in case I wanted to walk out. He definitely had done something that would really upset me. "I invited Claire over," He managed to say after a while of probing.I was shocked. "You did what? I thought you were just going to speak to her and that's it?""I want to see her when she works.""So she's going to stay here?" Now I
"You had one job, both of you! And all you can say is that they were good to you?!" She sighed in exasperation. "Dad, they were good to us. Why would we want to do that to them?" "You let Gerald win!" "At least now you're not caught up in their mess. It's now a family issue." "You made me lose out on a lot of money." "Aren't you wealthy enough? You framed my husband and put him in jail just for me to destroy someone who has never done any wrong to you!" She screamed in annoyance. "Shut up!" He said and coughed loudly. Cheryl wished he would just die already. "I regret having you as my daughter," he said to spite her. "Trust me, I wish I had died as a baby." She said and hung up. "That was so brave of you." Leon said, hugging her from behind. "I wish I had done this earlier." She sighed. For too long, she had hidden in the fear of losing her father's support but now she had learnt to be content with her husband's earnings. "We need to do something to help Damien and Ariana." S
I dabbed the blending foam over my cheeks one more time, staring at the finished look in the mirror with as satisfied smile on my face. I was still good at this makeup thing despite doing without it after so long. Damien went out of his way to stock up on my makeup products. I was so shocked that he got the shades right. It was such a pleasant surprise. Things were coming together. With the help of someone in church, through Pastor Anderson, he was able to secure a remote job in a tech startup that paid quite a sum. We had carved out a home office for him in what used to be our guest room and whenever he was in there, he was not to be disturbed. I shut my eyes as I sprayed the setting spray over my face, completing the look and waiting for it to marinate as I set up the tripod and camera I was going to use for my video. "Oh my goodness Mama Mia," Damien came in just then and I blushed as he showered me with compliments. "You are delectably gorgeous. The most beautiful woman to wa