Thread by @GbengaWemimo

The storm came upon her family suddenly
It was relentless
First it took her mother's last child
He was a sickle cell anaemia patient whose health had been managed carefully since childhood
He woke up one morning, ate breakfast and told their mother he was going to rest a little

more because of a slight headache
That was it
He was gone like a candle in the wind
She was at the office when her mother called her with the news
Her mother was distraught and broke the news like a bullet to the jugular
The news did something to her
After years of praying and

care
She could swear that it was because of his brother's health that she ventured into nursing
She loved his brother silly
It was a horrible way to see a young vibrant life come to an end
Her brother was just 22 at the time
She was thirty
The news numbed her
It was as if she

lost the ability to feel or to function emotionally
She was in a relationship at the time
A brother she met at the "Nigerian church she was attending in Ireland
The relationship was a match made in heaven for heaven
The brother was a medical doctor and a beautiful instrumentalist

She and he became drawn to each other when she practiced a solo rendition with him for the Christmas carol two years before she lost her brother
The brother was a gentleman who loved her sincerely and wanted to marry her
The brother had hinted that he would be taking her to meet

people in Nigeria by April that year
The brother's family had a huge family reunion planned and it would be the best time for him to bring his wife home
They had agreed and sorted everything out together
They both took their leave at work and bought tickets for their journey
She

suddenly didn't feel like going home with him
It was a sudden fear
An irrational belief that if she didn't see her parents face to face the death of her brother would somehow not be true
She just wasn't ready
The brother couldn't believe it or understand it
First she ghosted him

for several days while refusing to pick his call or see him
He was patient
Eventually, she called off the engagement and told the brother to move on
She felt that was the best thing to do
Walk away before she complicates his life
How would she handle going home with him to meet

his people and celebrate so soon after her brother's death
What if his family members see the death of her brother as a bad omen and begin to attach meanings to it?
She just didn't feel like being happy or going through the motions of joy and bliss
She wanted to be by herself

She wanted to be alone
The brother told her he would travel home by himself but he will not accept her verdict on their relationship because he knows she was not in the best frame of mind
He dropped a note under her door
She wrote it and got angry
She got angry that he was still

traveling despite the pain she was feeling
Why couldn't he cancel the journey to be with her?
It was a reasonable demand in her opinion, although it was unreasonable because she had refused to talk to him or see him since she got the news
How was he to know that was what she

wanted
How was he to know that she was hurting so much that she couldn't even imagine anyone she loves not feeling the same way she was feeling at that time?
She didn't respond to his message
The evening of the very day he took off, she dressed up and drove herself to a club in

city
She had never been that kind of girl but she needed to get him out of her system
She felt the best way to repay his betrayal was to meet somebody else and do something stupid
She was in a self destruct mode
She didn't know it at the time
She had fallen into depression but

who cares?
She couldn't recollect much of what happened at the club
She got into a fight with someone and she got arrested
The police officers didn't make a big deal of it
She was kept behind bars until the alcohol in her system cleared and she was driven home by a caring police

officer
The police officer promised to come back later in the day to check up on her
She could barely remember his face
She slept off as soon as she laid down on her couch
Later that day, her mother called again
Her mother asked if she had spoken with her immediate younger sister

who was located in New York
She said No
Her mother said she had been trying to get across to her sister for several days without any success
She tried her sister's number
It rang out
Her mother was in a full panic mode
The events of the past few weeks, coupled with the current

crisis was just too much
She was a;already on leave from work and had time on her hand
She had an American visa
She got one when she had to travel the previous year to help her sister settle down in New York when she got admitted into the University
She bought the ticket and

hopped on a plane to New York
When she got there, her sister was nowhere to be found
The apartment they rented just the year before was empty and nobody seemed to know her sister's whereabout
She spent five days in New York
Her days were basically spent in her sister's apartment

She waited for her sister to return home to no avail
She didn't call the police, she didn't report the event to anybody
She didn't know why she didn't do any of that
She just stayed in the apartment and cried
While she was there, her mother called several times
She didn't pick

She didn't know what to say
After five days, she suddenly decided to return to Ireland She couldn't say why
It was just an impulsive thing
When she got to Ireland, the same police officer was waiting for her at the airport
He just happened to be there when she came out of the

airport exit
He recognized her immediately and walked up to her
He asked her if she was feeling okay
She didn't hear him
All she felt was a maniac rage
Somehow she had convinced herself he wanted to put her in trouble and was tailing or stalking her
She lashed out at him with

rage
Screaming and cursing him
He arrested her and took her to the police station
When they got to the station, he explained to her that her mother had called the police station from Nigeria to report that she went to New York and couldn't be reached
He took an interest in the

case and started investigating it based on the incident they had at the club earlier
He felt she was on a self destruct mode and needed help
When he confirmed that she was alive and on her way back to Ireland, he decided to welcome her at the airport
He assured her that he had

only her best interest at heart
He told her he would let her return home without entering the arrest in her record if she would promise to talk to someone about what she was going through
She didn't feel like talking to anybody but she promised him she would so that he could let

her go
Later that evening he came to her house with a Christian brother who was also a counselor
He said he came to ensure she kept her promise
They prayed and somehow she began to talk and cry
What she thought was nothing turned out to be quite a big deal
She was able to sleep

for the first time without jerking awake several times in the middle of the night in panic after that talk
The police officer came back the following day with this brother and they talked some more
He led her to Christ and got her filled with the Holy Spirit
It was a taste of

heaven
She had always been a "Christian" from a very conservative background
She never even believed speaking in tongues was a godly thing to do
Everything changed after then
She began to see life in beautiful colours
She traveled home to see her mother
They grieved together and

traveled back to Ireland together
She felt her mother needed a change of environment
She changed her church too
She began to attend the spirit-filled church where the brother that she spoke with was a worship leader
It was also the church the police officer attended
Her mother

got better and better
A week after they got back to Ireland, they heard news from her sister
She had traveled to Jamaica with some friends on a whim and was very fine
It was the best news ever!
When her man returned from Nigeria, he met the new her
She told him everything that

had happened and apologized for her behavior
He told her he understood
The relationship went on but it didn't thrive
He struggled to cope with the new reality she was walking in
They broke up a month after he returned to Ireland
One year later, she married the police officer

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