Page Sample
The house had never felt this quiet before.
Alex stood in the kitchen, staring at the cup of coffee slowly cooling in his hands. Just a few years earlier, this same house had been full of laughter, plans, and dreams about the future. Now it felt like a place where silence had moved in and refused to leave.
Upstairs, he could hear footsteps moving across the bedroom floor. MD had been distant for months. At first, Alex blamed stress. Life had not been easy for either of them. The long drive to doctor visits, the endless fertility treatments, the emotional toll of hoping every month that something would change.
But nothing had changed. Instead, something else had slowly taken its place.
Bitterness.
Disrespect.
Silent treatment
Alex never imagined that something they both wanted so badly—a child—could become the very thing that started tearing their marriage apart. What made things even worse was the constant voice in MD’s ear.
Her sister.
Jahlan had a way of turning small disagreements into full wars. Alex had noticed it and heard of it many times before, but he never thought it would one day reach inside his own home.
Yet little by little, it did.
A suggestion here.
A complaint there.
Evil ideas from Jahlan.
A quiet whisper that slowly planted doubt where trust once lived. Alex placed the coffee cup down on the counter and looked around the house he had worked so hard to rebuild. He had poured years of work into these walls, believing he was building a future for both of them. But lately, he couldn’t shake a growing feeling in his chest. The feeling that the battle destroying his marriage was no longer just between a husband and a wife. It had become a serious family matter.
Jahlan’ interference.
Easter Sunday drama.
Alex’s anger had reached the point where his hands almost acted before his mind could catch up. For a brief second, he was ready to grab Jahlan and drag her out of his house. The constant accusations, the disrespect, the chaos she had brought into his home that morning—it was more than any man should have to endure.
But just as he moved forward, something stopped him.
It wasn’t Jahlan.
It wasn’t MD.
It was a voice inside him—clear, firm, and immediate.
Don’t touch her. You are better than them.
Alex froze.
The warning struck him so strongly that he stepped back and looked behind him, as if someone had physically tapped his should and pulled him away. He stood there breathing hard, fighting the storm raging inside his chest.
If he laid a hand on Jahlan, no doubt his wife, MD, would also join in fight Alex, even for a second, the situation would spiral into something far worse.
Still, the rage did not disappear.
Instead, it turned inward.
His blood pressure shot up like a rocket. Alex walked toward his bedroom and grabbed the blood-pressure monitor he kept nearby. When he checked it, the numbers were so high that even he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Impossible…” he muttered under his breath.
A wave of dizziness washed over him.
Then came the headache—sharp and sudden—pounding on the right side of his head like a hammer.
Alex sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, trying to make sense of what was happening to him.
What is going on in this house?
Before he could even gather himself, he felt something warm running down toward his lips. At first he thought it was sweat.
Then he looked down.
Blood.
His shirt was suddenly soaked as blood poured from his nose in a steady stream. It ran down his face, dripping onto the floor, staining the front of his clothes.
The stress had pushed his body past its limits.
Alex grabbed tissues and tried to stop the bleeding, pressing them against his nose. He needed the bathroom, needed water to clean himself up, but that was impossible at that moment. MD was already in the bathroom, putting the finishing touches on her hair before heading to church.
And right outside the bathroom door, Jahlan still stood there.
Still shouting.
Still accusing.
Her voice echoed through the hallway as if nothing was happening. As if the man she was attacking with words wasn’t standing a few feet away trying to stop blood from pouring out of his face.
Alex leaned forward, breathing slowly, focusing on stopping the bleeding.
It felt like the house itself had turned against him.
After what felt like an eternity, the bleeding finally slowed.
Alex sat quietly on the edge of the bed. The house was still noisy with tension, but inside his room, a strange silence settled.
He closed his eyes.
Then he folded his hands together in front of him.
A prayer.
“Lord… please tell me what to do.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“My mom and dad are no longer here to advise me. You’ve always been my guide. You are my everything.”
His chest tightened as the words left his mouth.
“I love my wife… but I am reaching a point of no return.”
He paused, searching for clarity in the silence.
“Give me a sign, Lord. Tell me if I should stay… or if it is time to leave this marriage.”
The room remained still.
But then, suddenly, one thought rose in his mind with unmistakable clarity.
Not anger.
Not revenge.
A decision.
Go to the police. Report what just happened.
Alex opened his eyes slowly.
For the first time that morning, he felt something close to certainty.
If this situation continued unchecked, it would destroy him.
And that was the moment Alex stood up, preparing to walk out of the house and take the first step that would change everything, A police report was made.
Looking back, Alex would later question himself- “what if i didn’t feel that tap on my shoulder or did not hear the voice that told me to stop?”
If he had opened that door with that raging anger in his heart…
his life might have taken a very different path that Easter morning.
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— From the upcoming novel
A Family Matter/ Sister-Sister (A horrible plot to send a man to jail)
by ~Lexces Ulysse
