All I wanted to do was get a cup of water and then go back to my room, that was all I wanted, I wanted to just quench the thirst I didn’t walk down to stairs just to watch in humiliation as Nora slaps me and begins pulling my hair all the while shouting. “You just had to involve him in all these” November stands behind her, and keeps looking at me in a way that suggests mockery.
“Yes hit her Nora,” she says each time I get a pull of my hair. My scalp begins hurting me, and that is when I decide I have had enough, I know it is a reflex action when I hold her hand far away from my hair, and because of her lack of stamina, she falls back down on her butt taking November along with her.
From the floor, she yells “you had the effrontery to push me to the ground?” I look at her and shake my head. In my mind I think, when am I going to be able to keep up with all of these? Its three weeks left till the day of my first hearing, and my heart beats faster each time I remember this fact, and now that this transpired between I and Nora, I feel like it’s going to make the whole court process worse.
November stands up first and then helps Nora up to her feet. Nora is in a messed-up state, her usually perfect hair is now messed up, and her clothes are now rumpled, and from what I can see in her eyes that’s the shame, and perhaps future plot for revenge, I can tell it’s going to be too hazardous for me. The pain from the pulling of my hair from my scalp has caused me tears, I can tell even without looking at my face that my eyes are teary, and I can also feel a headache coming, as if that was not enough I hear Donald’s voice from behind me.
“What have you done too Nora?!” his voice thunders, I close my eyes shut in response to the outpour of emotions. ‘I mean did I really expect Donald to choose me over his fiancée’.
Donald walks towards Nora and begins patting her head, seeing it as an opportunity to put me in the wrong Nora increases the sound of her wails and hiccups. “it’s okay darling” coo’s Donald as he cradles her head in his arms and keeps dropping little kisses on her forehead.
“I’ll speak to Katherine” he mentions.
“Why is she still here? Just let her go back home, she’s dangerous can’t you see?” Nora quips; Donald shakes his head and drops a kiss of Nora’s cheek before he leaves her side and begins heading towards me.
“Come with me” Donald beckons and walks past me. I look at the duo before me and watch without surprise as their once sad faces become hopeful and happy.
On getting to Donald’s office I wait for maybe an apology or a “just go to bed, I’ll handle things from here” but no it was different.
“I implore you to please leave Nora out of whatever schemes you have planned out, I love her and I will choose her over and over again, so it’s best to know where we both stand in each other’s lives” with that said I knew he had already dismissed me.
Shouts could be heard from within the walls of the house, and all I can do really is pick up the bits and pieces of the information passed, once the shout was over I made a move to his study to see if what I heard before was really from Donald, and the response I received convinced me of the fact that Donald was slowly returning back to his shell.
I sit on my bed and begin to swipe on my phone, making the whole room burn with a lot of tension. I can feel both their eyes on me, it’s like it's pushing me to the wall, telling me to get into the wall and never come out, and even if I do I shouldn’t come out alive.
“you just have to watch your back,” Nora says as she dusts her shorts and walks out, November follows her lead by rolling her eyes at me and matching away in an over-exaggerated manner.
I pull my eyes from the weather app I unconsciously opened on my phone, and slap my face so hard “I really wasn’t dreaming” I mutter to myself once I feel the impact of the pain on my cheek.
My hand flies to my skull, as I think of the after effect of the depression I feel coming. Thoughts on suicide, and wishing I would have kept a safe distance from my mother’s womb.
I hear a knock on my already open door.
“Remember to be awake before seven,” Donald says and shuts the door; tears almost drop when I hear the sound of his retreating footsteps.
I immediately cover my head with my duvet and let sleep find me.
I forgot to set my alarm. So it results in Donald standing in front of me wearing a frown when I see him. He throws a file on my bed which makes my once dim eyes open widely. “That’s the reason I wanted us to go early enough” I hurriedly open up the document and see a lot of transactions using my name. my pen name I mean, it appears MR. Bowe, despite our nice kiss, still went behind to steal some of my art works, and he has been selling it, my mind thinks back to the very awkward and bizarre email names I see recently sending me mails. I immediately close the file and remove my stubborn hair off my face.
“Just give me a second, let me just brush my teeth and wash my face” I get up from my bed and begin to head to the toilet when he says. “I’ll wait” once my foot touches the entrance to the bathroom I recall something.
“How do you even know my pen-name?”
Donald smiles and walks up to me, and like he catches himself the smile vanishes as soon as it appears.
“I think it’s safe to say I bought the first painting you put on sale, it’s in my room, But to answer your first question. I just had to connect the dots, you know because definitely no painter in the whole of Koura hides his or her name. And on my part I think it was quite foolish of you to do that, because everyone knows only you has a reason to”
I nod my head seeing the point behind his reasoning, I am about to bring up what happened between us last night but I decide against it. Because I know how hard it must also be on him, he loves his girlfriend, and I am just a friend to him, so whatever it is that he chose to do yesterday must have been for his own good, and plus me bringing up yesterday may spoil whatever friendship we have going on.
Immediately I am done with brushing my teeth and cleaning my wet face I walk out of the bathroom and run to lock the door. I put on my jeans and a big polo, and throw on a pair of white sneakers just then I hear a knock making me smile as I mutter “right on time” immediately I slip my right feet into the right sneaker I hurriedly go to open the door. I am thrown back to the room by a force on my cheek as I stand face to face with “November” she tries to throw me another slap when I hold her hand.
With her hands up in the air, she begins screaming.
“How dare you! Where do you think you’re going to with Donald.” Is she kidding? Does she think she’s his girlfriend or what? I think to myself.
“Do you even know what you sound like?” I ask her.
“No but I know what I want” I feel my life is slowly becoming a telemundo drama, and my whole being is responding to the plot by accepting every insult thrown at me.
“You know what Nov; I have had enough of your tantrums, both from you and your new bestie. And I will not accept the unexplainable assault being thrown at me.”
With that I let her hand fall free from my grasp and walk out of my room, few seconds later I see her coming down the stairs in a hurry, but what I did not predict is her trying to push me, once I feel her presence looming behind me I shift a little, making her fall down the stairs, luckily for me I have some witnesses, both the kitchen staff and Donald stand just below it.
Immediately she lands on the last stairs I see the shape of her leg change. And her face contours in pain. I visibly shake as I think of the consequence.
“Let’s get going” says Donald. “You” he points at a helper.
“help her up” I see Novembers face play different emotions at the same time, a look of longing, a look of self-pity, and I think ‘had I known’ as she looks at the direction of Donald.
**
I peel off my seatbelt from around me and open the car door, my head thinking back to the empty art-hall.
Apparently MR. Bowe has quit teaching, for reasons best known to him, and he has also let go of his once booming art studio.
When I get down from the car I wait for Donald to come around, we are in front of MR. Bowe’s house, and I have to say it looks relatively huge.
“Shall we?” asks Donald once he comes around to where I am standing. MR. Bowe’s gate opened on its own so we have the pleasure of walking in. we are currently standing at his door.
Donald knocks on the door expecting a reply, but his door too, pushes open. And I begin to think, just why would someone that owns a big house leave his security unattended to, and leave no house keeper behind if he isn’t around.
“I guess this guy relies so much on the free security provided by the country,” Donald says making me smile at his comment.
Donald as a lawyer apparently didn’t care about the fact that he is currently trespassing as he walks subtly into MR. Bowe’s house.
The interior of his home is designed with lots of paintings. I walk whilst looking around, while Donald aims directly for the rooms.
I decide to follow Donald just in case anything occurs, at least let me have some moral support.
Coming to a particular room we come to a halt.
“What’s the problem?” I ask Donald apparently this door is open, unlike others. I look inside terrified of what I will see.
A shout tears out of my mouth in fear and disgust, and shock when I see MR. Bowe touching himself as he looks at a clip of me bathing, the whole walls of this room has my face slapped on it, and paintings of what looks like a brown skin on the mirror.
Looking on top the mirror the words “my brown skinned” is splattered across.
MR. Bowe who is still in shock drops his headphone and looks back at us slowly. But the shocking thing there is there is no remorse in his eyes.
MR. Bowe is grabbed by the collar by Donald as he dashes across the room, knocking him off his feet with a punch he falls, and the chair he was sitting in shifts, and the laptop he is using to watch the clip topples over. Donald delivers another strong blow that throws him off guard, then another.
Punch "how".
“Can” punch
“You” punch.
He wipes his mouth clean of blood and begins laughing.
“Her skin” he looks at his hand, and smiles creepily.
“I love it" he says as his eyes glow manically.
YOU ARE READING
HIS BROWN SKIN GIRL| (EDITED VERSION)✔
Romance"His dislike became his obsession" Set in a time and place where being black became a stigma. Katherine Mendel found herself in a dead category of brown skinned. Katherine's father was said to have committed suicide. But a murder planned wrong broug...
