Short Story: Silence in Chaos by Chisom Chukwuma

“Pauline I’ve never thought a day would come when I would have to explain myself to anyone but listen to me, I didn’t do it. I promise you with everything I stand for that I never made that call.” I said all these to Pauline, trembling , hoping she’d believe me, but she glared at me and stormed out of the house.

What should I do now? How do I explain myself to anyone? I’ve known Pauline since I was in high school, she has turned into my family without doing too much but just by standing by me. Losing her trust would break me, I love her so much, and I don’t like her being hurt, so how can I hurt her? I didn’t make that call, I’d never do that to her! Why would she believe I’d do that? How can I throw 15 years of friendship away just to get in some clown’s good book? This is ridiculous! I need to find answers, someone is trying to break me and Pauline apart, I’m not going to let that happen.

I just sat there reminiscing on everything that has happened in the last 3 months, how Pauline confided in me about Trevor and how much she loved him and adored him. I’ve always been happy for her because I love seeing her happy and she has been heartbroken so many times, now she met Trevor and she was happy every single time. She’s always at his place every weekend and comes back every Monday smiling. That smile doesn’t leave her face until she goes back to his place the next weekend.

Trevor makes her happy and she’s always glowing but I can’t explain why she got pregnant for Trevor and wants to pin it on Mike who moved here a month ago. Yes, I was dumbfounded when she said it to me, I asked her “why?” And she said she’d tell me later. And until she tells me, I’d keep supporting her because that’s my friend and I’d stand by her even after she tells me her reason.

How can I tell Mike that Pauline was trying to pin her pregnancy on him when I’ve decided to ride for my friend? I mean I’m already a party to the arrangement, and besides, I’ve never spoken to Mike before except the day he came over to return the book he borrowed from her and I got the door. I don’t even say hi to him anytime I run into him at the drugstore, so where? How? and when did I tell him what Pauline was planning?Who else knew about this? How did Mike get to know? I’m sick to my stomach thinking about all these because it makes no sense to me and it’s very unfair to me.

It’s been 3 days since Pauline left and all my efforts to reach her have been futile. I’ve gone to our favorite places and there’s no sign of her anywhere. 

I decided to see Mike, he has to clarify this, I can’t lose my best friend. 

Mike lives two houses away from us, but I don’t know his flat “I will find out when I get there” I murmured to myself. Luckily for me, I got there and I saw a noticeboard with the residents names on it and their flat number close to their names. “Excellent! Let’s go for Mr. Mike in flat 3” I almost screamed. 

Mike answered the door fifteen minutes late, and he was sweating profusely with just a towel around his waist. My guess was that Pauline was there and they’ve made up. 

“Hey karrueche, wha.. what are.. are you doing here?” he stuttered, “I’m here to talk Mike” I said making my way to the living room. “Hey gummy bear, who is that?” someone said from the bedroom, the voice sounds familiar. I’d recognize it even if I heard it in my dream! “karrueche you’re overthinking, breathe in and out” I said to myself, I was still trying to get myself together and look at Mike when the owner of the voice walked in, and yes! I wasn’t overthinking! It wasn’t all in my head! I was right! That was Trevor’s voice! and that was Trevor standing in front of me with only a towel around his waist too! And yes! He just called Mike a “gummy bear”. 

I felt like my heart was going to explode, I was angry, so angry that they played my friend, so angry I’m at the verge of losing my friend. “Why are you here Trevor? How do you know Mike? Why are you tying a towel in Mike’s house? Did you just call Mike gummy bear? Someone should talk because I won’t be responsible for my next action” I screamed at them. 

Mike went to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of whiskey, “calm down karrueche, you’ll get all the answers you need right now” he said. “Both of you better start talking!!” I yelled and reached out for the bottle of whiskey and gulped it without pouring it into a glass first. 

“Trevor and I are in love, I know the baby belongs to Trevor and he needs that baby since he doesn’t intend to come out to his family. I’m sterile karrueche, I had a vasectomy after I came out to my family and they disowned me. I don’t even like babies karrueche, the sex I had with Pauline was a bet. I don’t love her karrueche, I’m sorry”. 

For the first time in the 29 years of my life, I was speechless. I searched for words but I couldn’t find any. I just picked the bottle of whiskey again and gulped it down without blinking. “Where’s Pauline?” I whispered

“She’s at Ann’s” Trevor said, I looked at him, picked my bag and left. 

It took me 35 minutes to get to Ann’s house. Pauline was asleep when I got there but I waited for her to wake up while I made myself at home like Ann said. 

When she woke up, she was still pissed at me for something I didn’t do, but well I was there to make it right. 

“What are you doing here? I asked you to stay away from me” she yelled, “sit down, I already know how he found out” I told her but she eyed me and walked into the kitchen. “Pauline, Mike and Trevor are sleeping with each other. Trevor wants you to keep the baby because he doesn’t want to Come out to his family. Mike is sterile” I said all these in one breath. It was too much for her to take in because she lost color immediately. 

“karrueche this is you going too low, how can you lie against Mike and Trevor just to save your ass? I hate you so much” she said to me, almost whispering. “Pauline, I’m just coming from Mike’s, Trevor was there, Mike said all these to me himself. If you doubt me, we can go over there” I was still explaining to her when someone knocked on the door, Ann got the door and guess what? Talk about the devil! Mike and Trevor walked in. “Baby, Mike, I’ve been calling you, Karrueche is lying right? She’s saying things to me, it’s a coincidence right? you and Trevor coming together is a coincidence right? Tell her, tell her” she said in tears. “Pauline it’s true, I’m sorry, Trevor and I are in love, we’ve been dating before I moved here, sleeping with you was a bet I made with him, I’m sorry”.

Pauline lost balance and staggered, thank God I was close enough to hold her and sit her down. Trevor said “Pauline I don’t know if this is the right time, but I promise I will be there for you and…” “shut up!!” Ann and I screamed at him almost at once, cutting him off. “if you don’t want to keep the baby, I know a doctor” Ann said “nobody is touching my child, I can Carter for she and the child until I die, that baby will live” Trevor said looking at Ann and I, “please shut up, the only person that can make any decision here is Pauline. Just shut it! Bozo!” I said to him, 

“So it was all a joke? I was just a toy for fun to y’all? I’m just a baby carrying toy to you Trevor and a bet toy to you Mike? Why? Why did you guys single me out? There are millions of women in the world, why me in particular? What did I do to deserve this? Just when I was thinking I’m done having “man problem”, life hits me with a disaster instead. Trevor you pretended for 3 months so I could give you a baby? wow! Well, if I live through this heartbreak, I will decide on what I want to do with the pregnancy. But now, you two should leave” she said, staring blankly. 

15 minutes after they left, Pauline went inside, dressed up and said “I’ll be back in 5minutes”. Ann and I called the doctor she talked about earlier and scheduled an appointment. I was determined to help Pauline get through this and we will start with convincing her to terminate the pregnancy. 5 minutes later, she came back “I’d like to be left alone” she said and went inside. Ann and I decided to give her some time to think before we talk to her. I slept off on the sofa and when I woke up it was already past midnight. I went to check on Pauline, the door wasn’t locked and when I got in I felt chills down my spine, there was an empty bottle and a note on a pillow beside her, I picked the note and it read;

    “I’m sorry for ever doubting you karrueche, please forgive me and I am also sorry for doing this, but I can’t live with this pain. I’d rather sleep through the chaos. 

Love you girls so much 

xoxo” 

I screamed her name while shaking her vigorously, she didn’t respond, she was dead. Ann ran in and I showed her the note. We were crying and cussing Mike and Trevor out, Pauline would still be here if they were truthful with her from the beginning. I don’t know about Ann, but I know I’ll make them pay, no matter what it will take.

About the Author

Chisom Chukwuma is a writer who is just starting her journey in writing and writes about almost everything. This is one of her first writings and she’s is still working on many more.

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