MY SECRET AND THE BETRAYAL

Some life experiences can never be forgotten even after a long time. In my case, it was the day when I understood that friendship may be the sharpest knife, the one that pierces at the time when you are not even expecting it. I met a girl named Ada in secondary school one (SS1). She was a new girl with the big dreams and a beautiful smile, she was introduced to our class when we were in middle of the term, she was jovial and was able to make everybody laugh even the teachers. We became friends and after one week we were inseparable, we go to school together, ate lunch together and even read our notes under the mango tree close to the school gate together everytime. I loved Ada so much that I trusted her like family.  However, one day I confined in her. After school that day, we sat on my hostel bunk and I explained to her something I had never told anyone, I explained the drinking problem my father had, which was already affecting me and I was fed up pretending that everything was okay. My dad would get home drunk, screaming, smashing and even forget to eat. Mom made it a secret but I could see the suffering in her eyes. That day Ada took my hand and told me "I need not worry, your secret is safe with me, I will never tell anyone” so I believed her. However, a week after, it all changed. It began after morning assembly, some of my classmates were whispering and giggling, which I could hear when I was passing by. Initially I assumed that perhaps I had chalk on my clothes or something but when Balikis, one of the girls in my class shouted from down the corridor after me saying "Make sure your papa does not come drunk to open day o!". The laughter was thunderous, my ears burning and my heart tearing apart, I wished the ground would just swallow me up. I ran into the toilet, closed the door and I wept like a little child, I did not even have to be told who was to blame because Ada was the only one who knew. However, I approached her at the end of the day "Did you tell anybody about the secret I told you Ada?", she looked away trying to avoid having eye contact with me and she said "I did not, I just told Ifeoma, I did not think she would tell it to others, I could not imagine my ears when I heard it from Balikis too". “You told Ifeoma?, Ada you promised me you won't tell anyone”, “I’m sorry, I just wanted advice, I didn’t mean any harm” “Advice?” I said it again and laughed bitterly, "You made my family a point of gossip in school"  I walked home alone that day with a heavy heart, nothing was deeper than a stab with betrayal, it was not only concerning my father but it's concerning trust. I had opened my heart and she had thrown it into the crowd. The following weeks was hell for me in school, it was torture. There was no place where I go without someone having something to say. Even my teachers began to behave to me in a different way, some would call me aside, whether all things were alright at home. Their pity was as painful to the eye as laughter. Ada attempted to speak to me on multiple occasions but I disregarded her. I sat at another table and took a different route to school and avoided her like a bad dream. Months slipped up and our friendship was slowly killed. I did not say anything personal to anybody again, I got to know how to smile even when I was falling apart inside. However, life is strange that it turns tables sometimes, some people call it Karma. It was Ada who was in trouble two years later, her parents divorced and this spread like wildfire. People were talking behind her back, making jokes at her expense, they began to take on her, just like did to me. One afternoon I came across her sobbing in the same toilet that I used to cry in. She looked up to me with her eyes swollen and said "Now I understand what you felt like that time". I stood and hesitated, not knowing what to say, I even felt like turning my back on her and letting her experience the pain that she had inflicted on me. However, there was still this other part of me still soft human part that could not. I sat down by her side and gave her my handkerchief. “You’ll be fine,” I said gently, she looked at me surprised and said “After everything I did to you?” I nodded, “You made a mistake, we all do but you I'm not here to learn any more lessons". It is something that healed in me that day, the forgiveness did not take away what had occurred but it liberated me of bitterness. I never got close to Ada again, but we found a way to meet without being ashamed. I later on understood that her betrayal had taught me that one of the greatest lessons in life that not everybody who listens to you cares and not everybody who smiles friendly means to be friendly, but trust is something that once bitten twice shy. The betrayal also taught me about the power of forgiveness not because the other person deserves it but because you deserve to be at peace. I can now recall what it is like to be at the receiving end of gossip and I hold my mouth shut whenever someone tells me a secret, since not all the time that loyalty entails large sacrifices, sometimes it is just about knowing when to be silent. Thank you for staying with me this far, I hope you had a good read, see you next time 🤗. Note: All pictures are generated on Meta AI