Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I flop on the bench adjacent to her and I swear the intensity of the attention she is giving me is on another level. I hope, I desperately hope that she hasn’t sensed what I wanna tell them off.

Tabby sits closer to me and I hear dad clear his throat dramatically. She squeezes my shoulder gently before whispering to my ear.

‘’Relax babe, you are too tensed and that’s not good for you.’’ She tells me and I nod.

‘’Are you not going to speak to us, Clara?’’ I shrug nodding in a confused manner when mum asks me that.

‘’Um … I … want to go to the city with Tabby.’’ I say without thinking twice. I don’t know how swift dad moves but his palm lands on my cheek and I see darkness. Tabby is fast to hold me preventing me from falling. This is what I was trying to avoid. I had a faint idea of what would have happened, I just didn’t know that he could hit me because of the same.

I feel like he has overreacted.

Tabby looks at my eyes that are now glittering with tears and I see pity spread all over her face. I know what that means.

She is already regretting asking me to come back with her to the city. I wanted to too. She didn’t force me to ask my parents about it.

‘’Can you see what your daughter has become, Marcella? Don’t you know what this means? She thinks it is going to be well in the city. She wants to run away from us so that she go get spoilt in the city?’’

Mum holds his arm and pulls him gently and takes him to the house. Mum is a straightforward woman. She has always tried to fight with dad somewhere private where we are not able to hear their fights and arguments.

The door is banged behind them but Tabby and I decide that we will eavesdrop to hear what the argument has in store for me.

‘’Calm down Jerald, mum says calmly ‘’Don’t you think it is just too boring to hit your daughter with her siblings are watching? You ought to be kidding me. You hit her because she asked for permission to go to the city? Why didn’t you ask her why she wants to go? How she will survive and so on?’’

Shut up, Marcella! I have no idea what plans you and your daughter have. What I know is the fact that she will not leave this place to go to the city. Otherwise …’’

‘’What, Jerald?’’ she asks and I am already worried for her. Tabby and I share a look that’s too familiar and when she shakes her head unbelievable, I feel my eyes burning with tears and they fall rolling down my cheeks.

‘’I might just be forced to talk,’’ Dad says and I don’t know why but I feel like this is not gonna end well. And what does he mean he might be forced to talk? ‘’Please note, if she ever decided to go from here, she will never be allowed to come back to this home. And I mean it. Never!’’

I hear mum sniffle. She must be really angry at dad. Tabby holds me tight but doesn’t say a word. Something that I have no idea of what really is going on here. I may be damn but I know when they are hiding something from me.

I hear the door bang and in a flash of a second mum walks out throwing all cautions to the wind. She looks pissed off and I think I understand why.

‘’Mum please hold on!’’ I shout trying to get to her but Tabby holds me tight preventing me from doing that. She doesn’t do anything though, she walks away without even turning to hear what I have to say. I am dying to know what dad wanted to let out.

What secrets are they hiding from me? Anyway, what I don’t know won’t hurt.

‘’Let her be, babe. You cannot just ask her anything right now you know?’’ she is right. She lets her thumb up to my cheek and wipes the rolling tears gently. ‘’You don’t have to worry. I will always stand by you. Whatever happens, I will always be here for you. Okay?’’ I nod.

Dad has never laid a hand on me before. Whatever happened today is all new to me and I need to get to understand why he just did that. This must have been triggered by something.

‘’Why would dad do …’’

‘’You are not going anywhere Clara. If you step out of this compound, then, don’t ever show up here. Never!’’ I have never seen dad like this. What could be the issue?

Tabby and I cower when he says that and she pulls me to walk away with her. The walk to her home which is a stone throw away is quite quiet.

When we get to her home, the first person I notice is Luke who is looking at me with a faint smile. The smile fades away when he notices my red shot eyes and he moves towards me with sure steps and the next thing I realize is strong arms around me.

I feel my body tense a bit but I am quick to let go of the tension. I want to run away but I don’t give in to the thought. Giving in I throw my arms around him. I don’t know where dad comes from and the next thing I know, he is hitting the hell out of Luke. He must be shocked because he has never seen me with a boy.

Actually I have never had a boy hold me in close vicinity like Luke just did.

What the hell is wrong with dad? Why would he wanna do things without a plan? Luke is groaning in pain when he finally leaves him lying on the ground and Tabby takes him inside to calm him down but not before throwing a deadly glance at dad.

‘’What was that dad?’’ I ask not so politely.

‘’Why do you want to be held by men each and every time? You need to plan what you want to do with yourself. Not letting men hold you like you are a piece of cloth. Besides, this must be the reason you wanna go to the city. Do you think I will let you do that? Never!’’

‘’Calm down, dad. You are literally overreacting. You and I know that I have never been held by any man and the ‘every time’ you just mentioned is not true. You shouldn’t have beaten that poor boy like that.’’

‘’Poor boy you say?’’ he asks sarcastically with a face I cannot decipher. ‘’That spoilt brat from the city is here to spoil you and you are calling him poor boy? Have you lost sense, Clara?’’

This is clearly very new to me. My dad is either sick, losing his mind or is going through some sort of disorder. He is always a calm man who never speaks anyhow.

Could he be going mad?

He walks away without another word. If my eyes aren’t being crazy or playing the trick on me, then, I think I saw remorse in his eyes. What could be the matter really?

‘’I am so sorry, Luke. This wasn’t supposed to happen. My dad overreacted but it will be fine.’’ He shakes his head.

‘’You all aren’t to blame. I just don’t get why he is directing his anger towards you. Does it even make sense?’’

‘You told him, bitch!’ I ask internally, giving Tabby a death glare. I don’t have anything against him knowing that my dad hit me earlier but some secrets are better off kept within the family reach. I don’t want strangers knowing whatever shit is going on in our family. Dad is so angry for whatever reason and I hope I will find that out soon.

I hope he comes back to his senses.

He has never seemed to me like the person who can go around hitting his daughters that I have assumed he loves so much. Well, that could just be an assumption but that’s it. The twenty-one years that I have lived under his watch, he taught me otherwise.

‘’Sorry babe, Luke and I will have to leave tonight. I would have stayed longer but my boss called earlier and asked me to go back. What’s up with uncle Jerald anyway?’’ I shake my head as another tear drops. I have lost count of how many tears have dropped.

‘’No idea, Tabby. He is behaving like a drunkard but both you and I know that he doesn’t drink.’’ She stops whatever she is doing with Luke and moves closer to me. Holding me gently on my shoulders, she puts on her usual genuine smile, making me smile with no interest.

‘’I know, babe. Let’s not dwell in it for long. It is sad but we will get it sorted okay?’’ I nod nonchalantly. It’s a show I am putting and I know even Tabby who knows me very well doesn’t believe in my calmness.

My dad has always been very protective of his children and him hitting me earlier has made me think about so many things. I desperately hope that he will not do this again. Because I will leave this home never to return here if he ever tries that on me again.

He is meant to be there as my dad but not to hit me for nonsense.

I feel sad for several reasons. First, I am sad that she is leaving. She hasn’t even stayed here enough. Our separation is really taking a toll on me. Two, I have no fucking idea why they, dad and mum would want to fight with. Dad threatening to unveil something to me. That makes me super angry ad third the outcome of me requesting to go to the city. Dad had to hit me because of that? Why wouldn’t that make him that angry?

‘’Can you two leave at least tomorrow? I don’t know what dad might do and I would wish to have you beside me at least tonight. I am not even going back home.’’ I finally ask her when I feel calmer.

‘’I would babe, but my employer really wanted me to go back today. You know I wouldn’t leave you all alone if it were not for the work, right?’’ I nod. She is telling the truth. I know she would stand by me always.

‘’Thanks, Tabby. Really I am grateful, you and Luke should go back I know we will meet sooner, okay?’’ she smiles at me. I know she is putting on that smile but inwardly she is sad. I smile when I realize that she is just about to shed tears and pull her into a hug.

When we get to the bus station, I am shedding torrents of tears and I know I will not stop until I find a better way of doing things. I cuss the day I became too close to her because I am suffering a great deal. It’s not her problem though, she and I are literally one thing and when one of us is affected, we both feel the pinch in equal measures.

Luke is looking at me with lots of pity and that’s literally the reason why I feel like crying more. I hate it when someone feels pity for me.

‘’I am going to work out ways for you to come to the city, babe, okay?’’ Tabby says and in as much as wanna believe that she is telling me the truth, I still think that that’s impossible because dad will never allow me to go to the city and I am not about to go against him. I nod gently though.

She pulls me into a hug as an announcement comes through that the bus is leaving in exactly three minutes. Her eyes turn teary making me feel bad for her. I, however, smile a bit to enlighten the mood and I am glad when I manage to make her give me the sweet smile.

‘’You should board, darling. You know the bus shouldn’t leave you because that’s not good enough.’’ She turns away and when she turns to look at me, I smile at her. She gives me one last tight hug and she turns on her heels and walks away without looking back.

‘’Travel safe, darling,’’ I shout making her turn to wave with a smile on her face.

The genuine smile.

Luke gives me a brief hug and walks away with a sad face, after telling me that he’ll make sure I get a job in the city.

I wave several times as the bus leaves. Tabby puts her head out of the window and gives me a smile. I think her smiling at me is great and giving me lots of hope. I keep waving until the train disappears and I cannot see her anymore.

I feel some very strong arms grip my waist and I freak out when I turn around and see who is standing beside me.