A step in the past

Paula

We are sitting on a dead tree trunk, lying on the ground. My mother remains silent, lost in her thoughts then she launches into the story
"Well, for short, my parents always treated me like an outsider. They always compared me to my older sister, who was the perfect girl for them. No matter what I did or I said, they always took it badly, judging that I should follow my sister's example. She said putting her hand on her neck.
"So that's how I grew up hoping to make not only my parents pay, but also my sister for all their mistreatment." Continued my mother.
At this level of his story, my memories fly back to our childhood, Martina and me.
"As was the case for Martina and me." I said in a low voice, lost in my memories. I spoke more to myself than to her.
My mother stops talking and answers.
"Yes, like Martina and you."
"What happened next?" I asked her the question, in a hurry to know the rest.
"I ardently harbored the desire to make everyone pay for their rejection, contempt and lack of affection. Thus a golden opportunity one day presented itself."
"Which ?" I hastened to ask.
"The village did not have a secondary school at the time, my sister had to go to town to continue her secondary education. She was progressing very well at school. After a few years of study, she got engaged to a handsome man, whose future was promising. He wanted to take her as his second wife, and she accepted. As for me, my father stopped sending me to school, because judging that I was finishing his money in vain, after all my school failures. So I accompanied my mother to the field to be able to bring back food and pay for my sister's school, while the latter was strutting around freely in town. I harbored a growing hatred towards her , as time passed. Despite her attempts to approach me so that we could have a good sister-to-sister relationship, I hated her more. I wanted our parents to love me on the same level as her. , but they couldn't. My only crime was being less intelligent than my sister , and not to walk at the whim of the parents. It was then that she came to introduce her fiancé to the parents, and the latter gave his word to return very soon with his parents to start the marriage procedure. So I had an idea that will upset their whole plan."
My mother pauses to catch her breath as I wait impatiently to hear the rest of her story. I ask in a hurry
"What is this idea?" She resumes her story
"I did everything I could to get as much information as possible, cunningly getting closer to my sister, making her believe that I was happy for her. Naïve as she was and being ready to do anything to keep us close, she gave all the information needed for my plan. This is how I did everything to get to town and was able to trace her fiancé. Once I found him, I arranged to meet on his bed, putting drugs in his drink the night before. My stunt succeeded wonderfully. From that day on, I was blackmailing my sister's fiancé, threatening him to tell my sister and parents everything, s "He wasn't doing what I expected of him. A month later, I told him I was pregnant with him. My sister couldn't understand why he was acting weird towards her."
I interrupt him in story and I ask him
"That child you were pregnant with is me, right?!" She answers me
"Yes."
"Were you really pregnant with him?" I continued in my questions.
My mother remains silent and lowers her head. I resume.
"The wine's already been drawn by now mum. Don't you think it would be best if you let it go once and for all?"
She realizes she has no choice but to wake me to the truth.
"No, the pregnancy was not his, but a villager with no future, whom my parents wanted me to marry." Answers my mother with her head still lowered.
"And what happened when you told your sister's fiancé you were pregnant?" I questioned her once more.
"He asked me to have an abortion, because he was madly in love with my sister." Mom answers.
"But he had another wife, didn't he love her too?" I exclaimed.
“She was a woman who was imposed on him by his father, who absolutely wanted him to marry a girl from his tribe. The latter had told him that he could marry anyone afterwards. didn't actually like it." My mother explains to me.
"I understand. So what did you do next?" I asked, curious to know the outcome of this story.
"I understood that as long as my sister was alive, her fiancé would not agree to marry me. So I prepared her favorite dish and injected poison into it. As usual, she was happy that I wanted to approach her. She ended up swallowing the poison that I gave her. After a few days, the poison began to work in her and she died of it."
"Mom..." I whispered, stunned by what she did.
Not that I find it cruel, because I too have killed more than one person. But what intrigues me is that I could never have imagined that my mother could kill someone, especially her own sister. In the end, the proverb like mother like daughter applies well in this case. At least I have confirmation that it was not my biological father that I killed. Once I come out of my thoughts, I ask my mother.
"What happened next?"
"I told my parents that I am pregnant with my sister's fiance and that I will marry him. The whole family opposed this decision. I was judged to be cruel, which I rejoice in the death of my sister, because with less than a month of her death, I already want to monopolize her fiancé and many other nasty things. But I was firm and I decided to go to the against their will. My father disowned me and cursed me. When I left, I did not fail to tell them their truths, even if in a disrespectful way."
"And you came to your sister's fiancé who you eventually got married to. And I'm guessing that man is my dad, right?!"
"That's right! And so here is told the whole story of my life." Concludes my mother.
This story amazes me, so many similarities can be detected in it with my story and that of Martina. In the end, history repeated itself between Martina and me, and I know it can only end with the death of a man. Indeed, this world is small enough to contain the two of us. Even though I'm in a bit of a mess right now, I fully intend to give Martina her due. I will never have respite, as long as she is alive. I will make sure she leaves this world, even if it is the last mission I should accomplish on this earth before I die. If history is going to repeat itself, then it does! The night was long and silent. We slept in mosquitoes and the cold. At the end of my mother's story, no one dared to say anything, because everything was said.