PAINKILLER

I just got my release papers after spending seven years in prison. You might all be wondering why I got in prison. It's that simple. I killed a man for raping me. Now, most people and the court didn't see what I did as self defence because that man was my husband. They thought me cruel and heartless to murder a man who I was supposed to love. I don't blame them because they were actually right but they did not know the full story behind my charade of a marriage. I only blame my parents for selling me off and getting me married against my will. I had just turned eighteen and I wanted to enjoy my adulthood but they ruined my plans. They got me married and I spent the other years in prison. 

I was the only child of my parents and things were not so good for us. I was willing to not go to school in order to help them hustle and provide. But they thought marrying me off would solve our financial needs. I begged and pleaded but they wouldn't listen. And after three months of marriage, I turned a murderer. 

I was willing to leave all that in the past now and start anew. But I couldn't help but wonder if my past was willing to leave me and let me start anew. One way or the other, I knew, that my past was gonna come haunt me. And I don't know if I was prepared or not yet. 

"Victoria Williams?" a female police officer asked me when I got to the counter. 

"Yes ma'am," I replied and nodded. 

I watched her fill out a book and let me sign. She gave me some new clothes and a wallet. Another police officer unlocked my handcuffs and showed me a room to change in. 

I changed quickly and observed myself in a mirror. I had changed a whole lot. All my fat was gone and was replaced by thin skin,  jutting bones and sunken eyes. The new clothes made me presentable to the world I was going to meet and that was satisfactory. I walked out the changing room to the waiting room to be greeted by a small girl who ran and hugged me. 

"Mummy," she said.

Before I could focus on something else though, the door to the ice cream shop  opened and slammed shut so hard that I flinched before looking up.


Standing there, mostly swaying and unsteady was a young woman with jet black hair and a sort of familiarity that I was not sure of, she had grey eyes and a sharp cheekbone that somehow looked very familiar to me.


I frowned as she zeroed her eyes on me and I heard Arlan suck in a sharp and shocked breath probably at her.  


I stood my ground as she swayed towards me, eyes hardening even more as she took me in. I silently wondered who she was and what she was doing in an ice cream shop early in the morning dead drunk.


"It is you… is it not?" She slurred as she got to the counter, resting her upper body on it as she leaned towards me. At the back of my mind, I noted that Arlan made to shift towards me in a protective stance and I wondered what the fuck was going on.


Chapter 61 - 23