Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty-three

“And that’s one thing I can attest wholeheartedly. Roland Bones would not lie to you for any reason, even if he was in the face of death, and though I was not here when he told you about it…i’m sure he told you the truth." My dad explained with a grave look on his face. He looked like he was regretting everything that had happened, and he seemed unable to face me.

“You… you killed people?” I asked quietly in a cracked voice with tears streaming down my face.

“I did kill people.” He said quietly and swallowed the lump in his throat as he totally avoided my eyes. “I did so many things in my past that I am not proud of. And I know you are not proud of me either.” He said with a bitter look on his face.

“Dad!” I cried. I wanted to hold him. Touch him. Make him know that I couldn’t help but love him still, even though it hurts to find out about him like this.

“I’m sorry Galena.” He said remorsefully and turned to leave, but I quickly grabbed his hand in a reflex, though it caused me some pain to jerk so much all of a sudden.

“Dad, please don’t leave me. Please.” I begged, crying.

“No…” he said, shaking his head as he tried to pull away from me.

“Yes dad. You don’t wanna leave me, please!” I held on to him tighter, even though he struggled softly to free himself from my grip.

“I can’t face you Galena…” he was crying now, sobbing throatily and my mom too was crying by a corner in my room. It was a really emotional moment for all of us, and it seemed like we were caught in some sort of melodrama, acting out a script that held so many emotions.

I didn’t want to be in this drama. None of us wanted to be in it anyway, but we just had to act it as it fell on our lot. There was nothing we were gonna do about it order than play out this very sad script that held us in a corner that we did not want to be.

“If you can’t face me dad, just gobble me down like your favourite waffles!” I screamed at him half-angry, half-frustrated.

“Galena!” he cried and I watched his back quiver with his emotions. He cried for a long time and I did too, holding his hands for as long as I could, crying and letting out all the emotions I had held in for so long, that were seeking a means of escape from within.

“I love you dad. I still do.” I whispered through my tears subconsciously, and I watched his back straighten a little as he turned to face me with teary eyes.

“You don’t hate me?” He asked in a broken voice.

“No, I don’t.” I said, shaking my head to add a little more emphasis, as I held onto his hand tightly.

“Can you give me a hug?” I asked in a tiny voice, just like I used to as a baby, and before I could finish my sentence properly, he had already grabbed me tightly in a hug, squeezing me with the weight of his pain and crying as he did. I cried back into his shoulders as I wrapped my fragile hands around his stouty frame that was heaving with a lot of emotions as he cried.

After some bitty seconds, my mom joined in our big hug, and we all stayed there crying, healing, and reuniting all that was broken between us.

* * * * *

I searched for my phone frantically in my room, but it was nowhere in sight, and I wondered if my mom had come by it and gone through all those numerous threats that had filled my inbox. My eyes widened in terror as the thought crossed my mind, cos that would be a total disaster if she were to find out about the blackmail. I know how paranoid she can get.

I quickly stole into her room to search for it there, and when I got in there, my jaw dropped at how beautifully she had transformed her room. It looked so different from what I could remember from the last time I had been here.

I walked deeper into the room admiring the stacks of beautiful branded shoes that filled a glass shoe case. I just admired them through the glass without opening it. I remember that her huge jewellery case stood at a farther end of the room, and I quickly rushed down there excitedly to see her newest collection.

My mom was a lover of jewellery, and she had so much that she didn’t remember to touch some for years and I'm pretty sure she hasn’t changed that for a bit. When I was in high school, I used to steal some of her costly jewellery to wear to hang outs with Mia and Gin, but she never noticed for once. When she finally caught me one day stealing her jewellery, she decided to make it our jewellery so I don’t have to be scared of taking any. She authorised me to use any jewellery I so desired from her jewellery case, indirectly making me the owner of something so big, I would say, just too much for me.

They never wanted me lacking anything as a kid, and sometimes, it felt boring when I heard other people complain about some certain things that I could easily get and I couldn't do the same. I wanted to be able to feel what they felt in order to understand them better, so sometimes, I just choose to be really simple and act like I had little to see how people would treat me, I chose to hold back in getting some things for myself, just to see how people might treat me differently, and it did work. I wasn’t accorded the same respect I got when I was that brilliant, rich kid, and I could finally see through their soul, understand what they really felt. It was really sad to be caught in such ugly life, but I was always curious to know both the ugly and beautiful parts of life, and it was just crazy how more ugliness visited me often than the beauty in life.

Mom was never comfortable with my way of living and she tried talking me out of it, telling me to live like who I really was, but of course, when Galena got curious about something, there was no going back until she had seen the end of it. I did see it, and I still prefer the simple life. The simple life had less dramas and criticising eyes to quell, so the simple quiet life just worked better for me.

“I was looking for you everywhere.” my mom spoke softly behind me, and I turned to her quickly, startled. I had travelled far too down memory lane that I was totally oblivious of my whole surroundings.

“Mom,” I called heaving, “what are you doing here!?”

“This is my room. Do you want some jewellery?” she asked instead, moving to open the case.

“No. I just want my phone.” I said, shaking my head.

“Ohh. That reminds me. You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” she said, wagging her fingers at my face and my jaw dropped open in horror.

Did she find the messages???