Jill

Jackie was getting better.

She has started to eat, speak, and move around. She has gotten so much relief by just me moving into her apartment and I myself had never even imagined that staying with her was going to give me so much relief too.

Jackie's house was really beautiful, not big but beautiful. It had all these beautiful flowers all around it. Jackie loved flowers.

Her apartment was a single-bedroom space with a restroom and washroom facilities. It also has a standard kitchen where all the magic is made.

The kitchen was June's favorite place.

At Jackie's apartment, you cannot basically go in through the front door-Jackie had closed it due to reasons best known to her.

You have to go through the second door which basically opens into her bedroom. So yes, if you want to see Jackie, you would have to go through her bedroom, then into her sitting room - weird!

June, the literal baby of the house and our very own noise maker was not home. I am not sure where she went to but I figured that this would be the perfect time for me to read a novel since the apartment was unusually calm this day.

Jackie walked up to me while I was reading a book at the dining.

"Busy?" She asked.

"Yes." I looked up to her and smiled. "Is anything the matter?" I asked. "Hopefully nothing is." I thought.

"Nothing actually Jill. I am just bored. I came to check up on you hoping that you were bored too.... But I can see that you are....pretty occupied."

We both laughed.

"Well, I am done with this!" I smacked close the novel. " See?" I laughed. "Seat Jack..." I ordered, tapping a seat close to me.

"Oh yes Jill," Jackie replied, with laughter, pulling out a seat and facing it close to me.

"You know I have been thinking." She started.

"About??"

"Everything. There is just a lot to think about Jill."

"Oh Jack, I know that." Jackie gave me that look again, and I knew for the hundredth time that a lot, something else in particular, was disturbing her mind.

"Jack, you can talk to me... I have always tried to get you to talk. You love to help others, but you always refuse to receive help!"

" I do not know Jill....." I stared at Jackie in silence, wondering what was so big that she could not share.

" Do you know that Mr Maxwell wants us both to be back at work?? I mean if that is what is the problem..."

" It is not that Jill..." Actually, I knew it was not just work.

" Then what is it?" I roared, feeling a little impatient.

"June....."

****

"What?" I could not believe what I had just heard. " What do you mean June...??" I drew the words, still unsure if I heard correctly.

"It is just that...."

"Jackie, what has June done??" I asked, cutting her short. "Jackie, what has your cousin done??" I asked, hoping in my heart that it was not what it was.

"She is not my cousin," Jackie muttered under her breath, but it was loud enough for me to hear her.

"What!" I was stunned.

"Yes, she is not my cousin," Jackie said again, but this time she was more audible.

She broke down into tears. "And I struggle to love her."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" I screamed at her. " Jackie, what is coming over you?" I asked really loudly.

"Please Jill, do not shout." She pleaded, more tears running down her eyes. "You do not understand Jill."

"Then make me."

" June is my step-sister... She is the love child of my father and his mistress! You know it happened a long time ago. Once upon a time, my family was a happy family. My father, my mother, and I which I was their only child. We lived together in joy for years till June's mother came into our lives."

My heart skipped in my chest as I listened to Jackie.

"A snake, and that is Suzanne. She lured my father into her arms, and he fell into her trap. They had June together."

" Oh... Jackie!!" I called, tears filling my eyes.

" I tried to love June for years. I swear I tried but it was so hard, it still is hard because I cannot help but remember all that my mother had to suffer and...."

"What Jackie, what happened."

"When June's mother died, my dad had to bring June to live with us. So my mum and I had to take care of June...."

" Oh, Jackie!!" I drew close to her and gave her a hug.

Jackie was fully in tears.

"We had to take care of her and love her regardless, despite the fact her mother was the reason why we no longer had peace in our family," Jackie said amidst tears.

" I cannot imagine how hard that must have been," I said patting Jackie's back. " It is all good Jack!"

"You all call me mother, and I try to be a mother to anyone I meet, but what you all do not know is that it is my survival mechanism.

You do not know Jill, how painful it is to take up a role you do not enjoy just so you can stay alive! Even when my mother died, I had to be both a mother and father to June. I had no choice. If I did not, I would be punished by my father." Jackie kept on saying, and she was still also in tears.

"I understand Jackie."

"No, you do not. My mother died a few years later due to ill health, but I knew she had died because of all the emotional stress. My father, that beast is still alive, but I never talk to him, only June does!"

" It is okay Jackie, we will get to the roots of all these....but if this is the case then why can't June give you your space.....at least a little bit of closure to heal from the trauma her mother caused you."

" June lives just down the road, but she is a little irresponsible if I am even being kind. She could no longer pay her rent and she slowly moved into my house. Now, I have a grown up with no job to take care of ........ everything coupled together makes me so sad" she burst into tears again.

" I will talk to her.....trust me," I said, reassuring Jackie.



***

" What do you mean by that!" Screamed June. " If I am making her uncomfortable, I think it is I that she should tell."

"Oh June." Now I felt bad. " That is not what I meant.

" Then what the hell did you mean?" She thundered.

" June, I just asked if you could consider getting a job. Nothing much."

June stormed to the bedroom and started packing her bags.

"June, this was not what I meant!"

"It does not matter now!"

She packed all her belongings into her bag and was about to storm off.

"June, I am sorry, but I cannot let you," I said blocking her way.

" Really bitch?"

"Now you are just being mean," I told her.

" Get out of my way!" she screamed.

"Let her go." We could hear Jackie's voice from the hallway. "If you want to leave, then leave!" Jackie said.

" Jackie!!" I screamed at her.

"No, I want her to go into the world and see how easy it is to survive. She has done it before, and she failed, so let her do it again...."

" Jackie!!!" I screamed again at her.

June dropped her bag and walked slowly to her sister Jackie.

"Sis!" She called. "I do not know if it is just me, but I sense bitterness in your words."

Jackie narrowed her eyes at her.

" You are ungrateful June, I took you in, fed your lazy ass and all you do around here is nothing...."

" Oh please." June cut her shut. I felt a hot battle coming up, and I was not sure if I wanted to be in the heat of it all.

"I am lazy. I agree, but I am not dumb! Do you think that I have not noticed your cold attitude towards me? Why on earth do you think I insisted on Jill staying over?"

" You do not know what you are saying, June!" Jackie tried to stop her.

" No sis, I am not done speaking. All you have done all this while is to speak, but hold on a minute, someone else has something to say." June walked up to Jackie.

" You say your mother died from trauma because of the affair my parents had, but my mother died from giving birth to me! She cursed me on the day I was born, saying I had only brought her misfortune."

" June." Cried Jackie.

" You say you and your mother were forced to take care of me as a daughter and a sister, but I never experienced the love of a true family."

" June please." Cried Jackie some more. "I am your family." She cried.

"No, you are not!" June fired. "You never have been!"

There was total silence before June started to speak again.

" I have to live with the guilt of killing my mother, but I also must live with the guilt of destroying your family, right?" June asked. She was now in tears.

" Have you ever placed yourself in my shoes, Sis??" June asked. " No, I do not think so, because you have only thought about yourself."

" June!" Jackie cried.

" I also have the right to hate the father. He was also never there for me. I had to grow up seeing my father drink in a stupor, blaming me for the death of both of our mothers!!!" June screamed at the top of her voice.

I did not know what to say or do. June and Jackie were both hurting so badly and I did not know what to do about it.

"But it is fine, sis. I forgave father, which is something you could not do, so I guess am a much better person than you are or will ever be!!!"

" June!!!" I screamed at her. " You really have to stop this now!" I said, but June was not done.

" You do enjoy, right? Feeling like you are the right person and every other person is wrong, right?" June asked. " Then I am so sorry sis, to turn the narrative around, but you are the most selfish person I have ever met, and I curse the day I met you!!!." June was really cold when it came to things like this. Her confrontations were always painful, to say the least.

"It is sad that the only person I thought I had left turns out to be a monster just like every other person."

" June please!" I cried this time around. " June you do not have to tear people down just because you are hurting." I cautioned in tears, but she paid me no attention.

" So all the times you told me you loved me was a lie."

" No." Jackie whimpered, she was on her knees now.

"So all the time you cared for me, you just patiently wanted my death??"

" No June baby. It is not true."

" But you are the liar here. All this cruelty towards me for something I did not do.....for something that happened before I was even born!!! Forget I exist Jack! You never knew me!!"

June picked up her bags and walked away.

"Where are you going to June?" I asked, still in tears.

She gave me a look that screamed "Don't you dare!" But I was resilient.

"June if I remember correctly, you have no place to go!"

" If I remember correctly, you have no right to stop me from leaving," She answered.

"If anything happens to you June...."

"It does not matter. I am a grown-ass woman with no job, right? Please get out of the way I have to leave!"

" Please do not let her go." Jackie whimpered from the corner of the room, already so weak from too much crying.

"June please...."

"Get out of my way...." She launched at me, pushing me away while she stormed out.....