The Junkie

The Junkie

She couldn’t really remember again what attracted me to him

It was all a lie from the beginning

He pretended to be what he was not in order to marry her

He deceived her

She fell for his deceit

She had always prayed for a perfect or at least close to perfect husband

She didn’t want to groom anybody’s son for a role he ought to be prepared for by his parents

She was a student of one of the most prominent relationship teachers in the church of Christ

She had learnt from her teen years the principles of a home and marriage

She knew She was ready

She had saved enough money as a single lady to buy all her kitchenware by herself

She bought her own wedding gown even before she met her husband

She was financially ready

She was materially ready

She was spiritually ready

She was emotionally ready

She was very, very ready

His parents moved to the South-west because of the incessant crisis in the north at the time

He was a Christian

He was devoted

When he joined our church

She was the Sunday school teacher that thought him at the foundation level

Even though he was not a new convert

Our church doctrine stated clearly that new members must do a refresher course

He responded well

The day he told her his intentions, he did so with class and dignity

He approached her after service and asked her if he could take her out on a date

She smiled

He said he hasn’t seen her anywhere outside of church and he really would like to

She searched his face

He was dead serious

She realized he was talking relationship

She went out with him

He took me to a concert at the national theatre

It was elegant and classy

She enjoyed myself totally

As we left the show, he told me he had been praying and he would like me to pray also

He would like to marry her

She told him she would pray

she did!

She spoke with her mentors

They prayed and observed him

They said he was a good prospect

They got married a year later

He worked in the IT department of a bank

She worked at the Public relations department of a media house

He was prayerful, diligent and responsible

But he was always playing video games

It was the only pastime he had and he played on line with other people all over the world

It was a costly habit!

At first, she tried to be interested in the past time and enjoy it with him

But it was too technical for her

He spent three to four hours every day playing these games

He would leave the house in the morning everyday

Return home around 9pm

Eat his dinner and sleep till 1 am

He would play the game till 4am or 5am in the morning

Prepare for work and the cycle would repeat itself again and again

He bought data of as much as 100 thousand every month in order to play the game

Sometimes they would be searching for treasures in the game, at other times they would be chasing ghosts or fighting a war

Whatever it was that they were doing

She hated it

It took him away from her

Whenever he was playing, she wouldn’t even dare speak to him

He would snap at her irritably

He wouldn’t eat

He wouldn’t drink

He wouldn’t communicate with her

She was married but all alone

During the weekend they spend some time together

He would take her out, they would play with her and make love to her

But the love making and niceness would last until it was time for him to play

It got so bad that they only have sex on Saturdays and Sundays during the day

Especially whenever he was in a gaming tournament with his viral friends

Why didn’t he tell her he was a game addict?

Why did he pretend he was a normal person?

Why did he act as if she mattered?

She became frustrated

She became irritable

She snapped at him, yelled at him

He would often retreat to his game

His heart sincerely belonged to another

If it was a human being, she would have found it to be worth fighting for

But contending for affection with a game?

WOW!

One afternoon she walked into his games room with a pestle

She smashed the game console to pieces

When he returned home from work and saw it

He cried like a baby

He got into his car and drove away in the middle of the night

She didn’t know what to think

He disappeared for weeks

One day several weeks later she got a text message

It contained information about how to purchase another console and how much it costs

She laughed

She waited and waited

He refused to return home

She spoke with her friends

Everybody blamed her

Her parents got very angry with her

“Your husband could have picked other vices that could tear your home apart, he picked the one that kept him at home! You better make it right”

She caved and bought the new console

She bought the very latest with all the pads, lasers and earphones

It cost her a small fortune

She took the picture of the whole thing after it had been set up and sent it to him

He returned home the next night

He didn’t even bother to ask her how she had been faring in his absence

He went to the games room, caressed his game console, tested it and promptly went back online to play

She had to accept him for who he was

But it made her very unhappy

Here she was dreaming of a perfect man to marry

Dreaming of a perfect marriage and a perfect future

She got herself a game junkie!

He tried after the whole episode to pay her some mind

But it was always half hearted

It was as if the game thing was knitted to his soul

He was more excited playing the game than being with her

He was more alive playing the game than being with her

She felt like a piece of furniture

A plaything in his house

She tried to occupy herself as best as she could

But her desire was for his love

Why couldn’t he love her even half as much as he loved his game?

She cried herself to sleep several nights

He doesn’t even notice it

He was always asking her what else she wanted that he had not provided

As if money is everything!

One year after they got married, she got pregnant

Everybody told her things will get better

She would become more engaged and busy

It was a lie

Her heart was still heavy

The night she delivered her bay was the only night her husband played his game for only two hours

The baby came and to her consternation

It didn’t change him

He still played his game steadily

While she wept on in silence