Secret Mission: Revenge

Sometimes he wondered how good God was because his father's death was the most painful thing that ever happened to him. Though he was thirteen when his father died, he still had a vivid memory of what happened.

But now he was a grown-up man, full of responsibilities and it was thirty-three years past his father’s demise. His mother and sister are looking up to him for support. When ten years have passed, and family responsibilities have all been upon his shoulders, he pondered, and a flash of emotions hit him. His daddy meant everything to him since he was also named after him, Vincent Jr.

His father's death left a huge void in the family. His mother, Mary Alijha-Vincent, became accustomed to sorrow. She shed tears of agony more often. Though she was a housewife, she managed to feed the family from her husband's savings. It was supposed to sustain them for only three years. It did. In the third year, his mother found a new man. And they had to relocate from the outskirts of Somalia’s Capital City to the city of Mogadishu. Accommodating a second dad into his life brought so much discomfort, and it did not resonate well with him. They argued for hours about it with the mother. It was the most difficult moment of his life.

One morning his mother knocked and entered his room and set gently on the only chair. The drawer-chair had his clothes spilling off and scattered on the floor.

“Jr…” his mother said softly, her hazel eyes fixed on her firstborn son. He had pulled the blanket over to the waist. A fine hairline ran from the belly button up to the chest. His upper body was muscled and nicely built up.

She dropped her gaze to a pile of books laying on the floor. She continued talking, “Jr, what do you think of Jad?” He rose a bit, supporting his back with the pillow against the wall. He looked at her mom for a moment, eyeball to eyeball. Their calmness always withered the lingering anger between them. He didn’t want to have anything to do with Jad. The family was still economically strong because a certain Good Samaritan had volunteered to help the family financially, they didn't need him. 

“Mom let’s not discuss this...” He paused as he pulled the curtain aside. A flash of sunrays rushed into the room, through the window he saw the “stepfather” playing with his little sister. Ninny was getting on exceptionally well with her stepdad. She seemed to be in desperate need of a father figure to fill the void left by her dad. He watched them play. She was laughing joyously with so much ecstasy in her body.

He then turned and faced his mother and said, “He is a nice man. But I don’t like him.” He turned, giving her mother his back, looking far beyond the garden. Imagining the new face of life, they would be facing. A bitter pill to swallow.

A few months after moving to the city. His mother called him one morning and told him his dad had long bought the house they were currently staying in. He was astonished for a moment, and happiness lit up his face.

All along he thought the house belonged to Jad. His father was very smart, that’s why Jr envied him. They dwelt on a modern townhouse with a balcony, a large living room, dining, and three bedrooms.

“I wonder how my father died. Do you have any clue, mom?” Mary remained silent for a while. She never thought Jr would ask such a question. She avoided eye contact. Held her breath and fought back her emotions. When they received the sad news that Vincent Senior was late, she never cried?

“I am as perplexed as you’re Jr. I don’t know the cause of your father’s death.”

“Mom, the so-called Good Samaritan who keeps on depositing money on daddy’s account, who she”? She then regretted coming into his room.

“Seems your daddy had some undisclosed businesses. They are the ones who keep depositing the money.”

For three days, Jr had a replicating vision. He saw an old man, an Arabic man with a grey and long beard. In the vision, he would sit with him under a tree by the river bank, and every time they parted ways, he would say, “bye-bye my grandson.”

 

He kept the vision to himself, and it became vivid and fresh every time he thought about it.

One afternoon he took Ninny for a walk. He usually did that on weekends. Mostly to refresh his mind from the exhausting tertiary school work. He was enrolled by the Somali High School of Justice, where he was pursuing a Criminal Law degree. The course demanded excessive study. He loved this course for some, and his lecturers loved him, too because he was a well-performing student. Ninny began to enjoy going with him to the stream because she loved swimming and fishing. One Saturday afternoon, when the sky was so clear, it was neither hot nor cold. It was generally a good day for any outdoor activities. Ninny was swimming while Jr was basking in the sun.

While reclining there, he had another vision where he saw Jad beating his mother. He immediately hurried home with Ninny. He wondered whether the vision was about what would happen in the future, or about what was happening at that moment.

On his arrival, he hurried to his mother’s bedroom and knocked. He could hear her mother snivelling and sobbing. Umbrage and anger intensified within him. He knocked again and again, swearing and breathing heavily. The door opened, his mother’s face had red bruises, and blood from her cracked lip crystallized. Jad was there sited on the couch. He didn’t bother to turn around. He ignored the swearing that Jr was making.

“How could you wound my mother like this?” His mom softly calmed him. But his grievous look silenced her. She had never seen before that vile persona of his son.

“Watch your tongue.” He muttered in Arabic.

“Ooh, what happens if I don’t?” He was making his last steps into the bedroom. Jad was tall and muscular, with strong arms and Jr always envied his physic.

“I said if I don’t mind my tongue, what will happen? You going to get your ass up and try to slap me, as you did to my mom?” Jad slowly stood up and released a thunderous punch.

Jr diverted the punch away from his face, swiftly moved away, and punched him harder on the rib. He yelled out. With a hasty uppercut and a sidekick, he knocked him down. Like a fainted man, he lay there prone for a moment. Mary gasped while dragging herself to scrutinize Jad. Jr pulled her away from Jad. “Mom, this monster bruised your face.

Jr poked him with his shoe. Jad opened his eyes and dragged himself to the couch. Jr threw him a cloth to stop the bleeding. He was badly cut.

“My father never laid a hand on my mom. What gave you the audacity to do so? If you don’t want to stay with her anymore get out of her life.” Jad then went away, perhaps to his friends while Jr and Ninny sat there beside their mother, sympathizing with her. Ninny’s eyes were red. She cried a lot, and she lost the respect and love she had for Jad.

Jr wanted to tell his mother about the vision. But it wasn’t the best day for it, so he kept it to himself. For many years it hadn’t been clear about the genealogy of his mother. He was told that his mother never saw her mother, her mother died after giving birth. As for her father, the story was more baffling. It wasn’t clear what happened to him. He raised Mary, and when she was old enough to take care of herself, he disappeared and was never seen again.

Perhaps the old man who kept interacting with him in the vision was his maternal grandfather. Her mother looked more like an African and also looked like an Arabian. Jr got a sense from that vision that the old man was alive. He had to know the truth. Maria was supposed to tell him the truth. A sickening thought sunk in him. ‘What if the family got a dark secret? A secret that may have led to the death of my father.’ Ninny called Jr, disturbing his wandering mind. He rose and went into the house. Jad then sent a message to Mary that he had decided to leave for good. A tremendous relief.