HONEYMOON SORROW

"Tears started running down my cheeks as I saw my wife lying down on a hospital bed armless. She looked at me and smiled. Her smile was still as magical as it was the day I fell in love with her and this reminded me that I had to be strong for her, for us."

Aaliya and I have been married for seven years now. I love her the way she is and if given chance to choose a partner again, I'll still choose her. Despite the fact that she is armless, she is the best mother, wife and lover every man would yearn to have.

Before marrying her, Aaliya and I went to the same schools and grew up in the same neighbourhood in a group of three friends; Ciara, her and me. We dated for a year before deciding on walking down the aisle. I still remember very well how I proudly said my vows and put that ring on her finger. That was and still is the best moment of my life.

After feasting with our guests, we got into the car and hit the road for our honeymoon. 'I can't believe that my dream to have our honeymoon at kazi forest cottages has finally come true.' Said Aaliya. Much as i didn't like the place, her happiness meant the world to me. Suddenly Aaliya kept quite and looked on the other side of the window for some time. I called her several times to no response. This worried me and I stopped the car. She turned and looked at me with her eyes full of tears. 'What is the matter,' I asked her. 'Ciara, I miss her already.' She replied. You know we couldn't bring her along. Trust me I also know she must be lonely. I wiped her tears, hugged and kissed her. She looked at me and smiled. Her smile was so magical that I didn't want her to stop smiling. I started the car again and drove off. Silence hit in for some minutes and I realised I had to do something to break it. I said to her, 'It's all my fault, Ciara would have been here with us.' 'Don't blame yourself, this was bound to happen sooner or later.' She said looking at me. I think I should have married the both of you so we stay the three of us. She burst into laughter and this put her back in the happy mood.

At exactly 6:00pm, we reached at kazi forest main gate. It was raining heavily. Aaliya got out, put her hands in the air and screamed, 'we are here, we are finally here.' The happiness on her face said it all. Much as i wanted her to be happy, I wasn't okay with the idea of seeing her in the rain, so I got out to get her back in the car. She walked to me romantically that I even forgot why I had come out. She grabbed me by my shirt collar, kissed me and I ended up praising the rain. A black tinted car hooted behind us, so we got back into the car, drove aside and gave it way. I opened the door to go back in the rain but Aaliya refused and said we should continue with the journey, so we did.

We reached at kazi forest hotel after driving about five more kilometres through the forest. The waitress welcomed us warmly. 'Where is the key to our room?' Aaliya asked . 'We are sorry but you will wait for about an hour, your room is still being set.' Replied the waitress. 'What do you mean it is still being set? We made a reservation two weeks back and you shamelessly tell us that?' I asked furiously. 'Calm down my love.' Said Aaliya. 'You asked for the changes just today morning and so we are trying to do what we promised'. Said the waitress humbly. We never asked for anything and..my wife cut me short. 'I did, I am sorry it was supposed to a surprise that Ciara made me organise. You will like it.' said my wife. I was a bit upset but when i looked at her, I knew I had to be calm. She hugged me and whispered to my ear, 'can't my husband please be patient for an hour?' 'Your husband can't wait to have you all to himself.' I replied in a whisper. 'If he was able to wait for a full year, an hour means nothing.' She whispered again. 'Not when his wife is this close.' I replied. I carried her and we sat on the waiting bench. I was surprised our clothes had dried up on our bodies. She fell asleep in my arms. 45 minutes later, the waitress brought the key to our room. I woke her up and we moved our luggagges up.

When i set my eyes on the way the room was decorated, I felt like I was looking at heaven. My heaven with Aaliya. I was overwhelmed, happy. I held her hand and looked her in the eyes and said to her, 'Aaliya, thank you so much for loving me and for accepting to be my wife. I promise you, you will never regret ever loving me and choosing me over ciara.' Ofcourse ciara's part was a joke, so we both laughed. We kissed romantically, I unzipped her dress and threw her on bed. As I removed my shirt, she looked at me, stood up, kissed me and whispered in my ear, 'let's go shower first.' She reached the bathroom door, looked back, and said, 'come on baby', opened and entered. She screamed on top of her voice and came out running in fear. She was shaking and jumping around as though she was afraid of stepping on something. I hugged her tightly and tried making her sit on bed but in vein. I had never seen the fear I saw in her eyes at that moment, so I walked to the bathroom to see whatever was in. She kept saying, 'don't go there, please don't open' while screaming and throwing everything off her body. I knew I had to be a man, go inside and fight with whatever was making her fear. I entered, searched around but didn't see anything

I moved back to the room, looked at my wife for about a minute and I knew something was wrong. Look at me Aaliya, there is nothing in there. 'The snake, Maxwell, the snake, it is so big.'she said. There is nothing in there, come on, let's go and shower. You have me.' I said to her. I walked to the bathroom door but she didn't move an inch. She kept looking at every corner. To be honest I was challenged. I sat down and decided to comfort her until she finally fell asleep. I then went into the bathroom to shower. Immediately I entered, I felt so weak and fainted on trying to turn and go back to the room.

I woke up in a dark room to my wife tied up and screaming from a lit distant corner of the same room. My hands were tied, and my mouth tapped. I tried moving and talking but failed. 'Anybody here?' Aaliya yelled to no response. 'Please why have you brought me here? Where is my husband.' She asked while crying. I closed my eyes and prayed for a miracle. I couldn't tell what was happening but I had to fight for my wife and myself.

Aaliya stood up slowly and walked to the door courageously and tried opening but failed. While there, I saw an arrow being directed to her. I wanted to scream and tell her to get down but I couldn't. Fortunate enough she turned around saw it and moved aside. It scratched a bit of her right cheek and hit the door. She sat down in fear. I knew whoever was behind this wanted us dead. I wished Aaliya could see me from the corner I was but it was the darkest in the whole room.

A loud funny laughing voice at the roof top made it worse for Aaliya as I saw her move around holding her ears. 'Why don't you come out and we finish this once and for all if you are woman enough or man enough or whoever you are.' Aaliya yelled on top of the laughing voice. It suddenly stopped and everything was silent. She sat down and closed her eyes. The door opened and a masked huge monster entered, touched her shoulder. She was terrified on seeing it's face. It had an axe in it's right hand. It kicked her as if she waa ball to the next corner and then walked to the door. 'Why don't you kill me already? What did i do wrong to deserve this on my wedding night? ' Asked Aaliya in tears. 'You snatched my man away from me. This is just the beginning. I want you to feel the same pain I feel before you die.' A funny voice answered. 'I didn't snatch anyone's man. I know Maxwell and I have known him since childhood. He has other girlfriend but me.' Said Aaliya . I was so happy that she made that kind of statement for me but I was thinking hard on who could have planned that. The monster went out and closed the door.

Aaliya walked around and got a small metalic bar. She walked to door and tried opening it. I saw a courageous woman who had hopes of getting out no matter what. I wished she could see me and untie me so we could figure our way out together. 'I wouldn't do that if i were you.' Said a voice from the roof top. This didn't stop her from continuing to open. 'Ohhh i see. You want to go to him, he is already dead.' Said the voice and started laughing again. 'Liar' Aaliya shouted. The next thing I saw was her left arm falling off and blood spilling to all directions. I froze a bit and started crying. She fell down screaming in pain. The monster came in picked her arm, removed her ring and threw it to my side and said. 'That's what you get when you choose the wrong woman.' I wanted to stand up so badly and fight him but i couldn't . He hit me on the head with an axe and I blacked out.

After sometime, I woke up, I wasn't tied and the room's door was open. As I walked out, I saw my wife's hand on the door. I knelt down picked it up but she was no where. I sat down and cried a river before thinking of what to do next. I wished I never married her. I wished we never went to kazi forest cottages. But then I remembered that sitting and wishing can't solve anything. I walked out to a thick forest calling her name. I couldn't trace my way back to the hotel because I was walking in circles. I walked until I saw the road going to the hotel. while i ran excitedly to the road, i stepped on a knife planted in the ground. I screamed for help to no response. I pulled my foot out. It had gone so deep so the bleeding was too much. I removed my shirt, teared it into pieces, tied the foot to reduce the bleeding. I then walked to the road. The black tinted car we had given way on our coming was a few foot steps from where I was, so I walked to it.

I knocked on the Windows to no response. I tried peeping to see if there was anyone inside but to my surprise there was no one. I opened and checked to see if I could find anything to help. In the back seat was Ciara's phone. I didn't mind so much about that, I called police emergency and asked for help. I was slowly losing energy due to lose of blood from the wound on my foot. I checked around the car more. When I opened the boot, I couldn't believe my eyes. Aaliya was there lying dead with both arms cut. I fainted while screaming for help.

I woke up on a hospital bed the next day. Ciara was there sitting by side crying. 'Aaliya, where is Aaliya?' I asked. 'Relax, she is in the emergency room being treated.'ciara replied. I stood up removed the drip bottles and asked Ciara to take me there.

"Tears started running down my cheeks as i saw my wife lying down on a hospital bed armless. She looked at me and smiled. Her smile was still as magical as it was the day I fell in love with her and this reminded me that I had to be strong for her, for us." When the doctor finished working on her. He allowed me to get in. I hugged tightly and thanked God for our life. I stayed at the hospital for the next two days taking care of her. I went home to freshen up and rest a bit on her request.

When i came back to the hospital, Aaliya wasn't in the room I left her in. 'Where have you taken her?' I asked the nurse. She took me to where was. Aaliya was fighting so hard and three of the doctor's were holding her down. I rashed in and pushed them all away. 'She is very weak. We can't put her back to sleep. ' Said one of the doctor's . It is here. 'The monster is here Maxwell. Please don't let it take me away please.' She said crying. I put her in my chest and calmed her down. I won't leave your side my love. Not even for a second. She fell asleep in my arms.

I looked at my wife and started asking God where we went wrong. I couldn't stop myself from crying. I didn't know what was going on and when it was to stop. 'We have to be strong for her Maxwell.' Said Ciara who had been there without me noticing. 'How do you think she'd feel if she woke up to you crying for her?' Ciara asked. I got a hanky from my pocket, wiped my tears and went to the doctor and requested for my wife to be treated from home.

My wife got better with time. I often closed myself in the bathroom and cried but I never saw her cry for herself, not even once. One night as i carried her to bed, she looked at me and cried. I begged her to stop and she finally did. 'I am a burden now max, I never dreamt of making your life miserable.' She said sorrowfully. I put her on bed, lied next to her, looked her in the eyes and said, ' Aaliya, my love look at me, when I said I love you I meant it. My love for you is still the same and I will always love you. When I vowed for better for worse I meant it. I want to and will grow old with you. I will always be here for you. I won't get tired of doing whatever I can to make us happy. You know you have many lives, in every life we shall have many children and don't be worried I will carry them and change the diapers tirelessly.' Looking at me in years, she said ' I love you so much Max but i.. I kissed her before she could finish her statement. We made love that night for the first time. And when we were resting, she said to me, you can marry Ciara. She laughed jokingly. That was a joke right? I asked. Ofcourse it was. She can't even say yes even if you wanted to. It was a happy night for us and the beginning of our good days in life. Ciara moved in and started staying with us to help Aaliya as i was about to start working. But we kept asking ourself who could have done that to us. And the fear of that monster returning couldn't let us rest.

On a beautiful Monday morning, my wife woke up feeling dizzy so I called the doctor home. He gave us the best news, Aaliya was pregnant. With all the excitement, I went to the kitchen to prepare for her something to eat and she ran to Ciara's bedroom to tell the good news. I cooked for her chicken pizza her best and brought it to the bedroom. She was seated leaning on bed silently. 'I thought you were still with Ciara.' I said. She stayed still and didn't say anything. I put the pizza on a bedside table and walked to her. 'Have you ever dated or had any love interest in Ciara?' She asked angrily. 'What kind of question is that my love?' I also asked. She kept quiet. I sat besides, looked at her and said, ' My love, if you don't trust her, at least trust me.' She showed me her wedding ring on the floor. I picked it up. It had blood stains on it. 'I got that from Ciara's room. She said. 'I have called the police and they will be here to search the whole place soon. You better be as innocent as you sound.' Stated my wife. I couldn't believe that those words from her. They broke my heart. I looked at her and I remembered finding Ciara's phone in that car. God knows better is all I said to her and got out.

Police came in and to my surprise everything we saw that might was in Ciara's room. The plastic snake, the mask, the boots, the axe and Aaliya's arm bones. The police hunted for her and she was sentenced to life imprisonment upon being proven guilty.

Since that day, Ciara's speech on our wedding still rings in my head on our anniversary. She said, ' Maxwell and Aaliya, a couple we never saw coming. I am extremely happy that my best friends have finally married each other but extremely unhappy that they have left me alone. I am jealousy, actually very jealousy that I am the one left on the group. Let's toast to the most beautiful and deserving couple I have ever seen.' I wish we took her speech seriously. Maybe this would not have happened.

Ciara's life imprisonment can't bring my wife's arms back. We learnt to forgive and forget. We are blessed with two daughters Aamal and Maxinsia. That is an experience that opened our eyes. We have no room to friends in our life.

UNTIL ETERNITY AALIYA AND I.