Sister.

13

AN:: I'm truly sorry for not updating in a while. There are no excuses, I'm sorry.

PS:: I tweaked the previous chapter a wee bit, you may want to go back and check it.

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He did not call her, although he couldn’t have done so even if he wanted to. Her phones were turned off, she turned them off wanting to be alone.

When she walked into the house, she found him seated, watching television. He pretended not to have noticed her,  and she didn’t care if he did or not. She did not have the time nor was she willing to accommodate his sulking right now. 
“You did it again,” he said getting tired of pretending not to notice her.

“Michael, before you say anything that we’ll both regret. Know that I just  found out that my sister is dead. So if at all you must say anything, it had better be consolatory,” she told him.

“What are you saying, how can your sister be dead. I saw her just last week.”

“She’s dead Michael, the police called me earlier today to identify her body. That’s where I’ve been. She’s dead, my sister is dead,” said Precious breaking up at the end.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, rising to his feet and wrapping his hands around her. “How did this  happen?” He asked.

“The police say drug overdose, I don’t know”

“Drugs? That’s not like Precious to do a thing like that,” said Michael, as he led her to the chair he had just vacated.

“I know, but she was not alone. She was with a man, they both died. He may have pushed her to do it, and I saw the drugs too,” she said, her voice tear laden.

“Where did this happen?” he asked .

“Apparently it was a hotel at the outskirts of town”

“Hotel and drugs, this is sounding less and less like you sister.”

“What does it matter what it sounds like, she’s dead Michael, she’s gone,” she said breaking down in tears again.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t believe Precious would do a thing like this.”

“well, she did, and now she’s dead.”

“There, there,” he said, rubbing her on the back gently as she laid her head on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be alright, I know it hurts, I’m hurting too. But it’s going to be alright. I promise you that,” he said.
“How can you promise that?” she asked
“I don’t know, I just can,” he answered.
“Okay Michael,” she said. Logic told her that he couldn’t promise that, but the strength in his words and the way that he held on to her told her he could, and she believed him.

He continued to rub her back in circular motions and she continued to sniff, breaking the silence intermittently. The two remained in the same position for hours into the night, one comforting and the other, sniffing occasionally. Both looking at the Television, but not truly watching it, they were both lost in thought.

*****

T

hey were all dressed in black, and long faces they all wore. Just a few people were in attendance, Precious did not have too many friends, and being a writer whose office was her dinning table and laptop, she did not have colleagues. Aside her sister, her only other friends were Martha, and perhaps her editor Shirley. Martha  was out of the country on business, Shirley however was present. She kept to herself at the back.
The group comprised of eight  people aside her. Michael, the priest, their father, a neighbour, Shirley the editor, her mother’s two sisters, and of course her mother who had not stopped crying even after two weeks. Precious didn’t blame her, she’d only stopped crying this morning. But they cried not for the same reasons. One had lost a child, the other had lost her life. Not in the literal sense, but still just as bad. For this life she now lived as Tina, wasn’t hers. She was dead to the world, yet here she stood.
They all gathered round the coffin, and heard but did not listen as the priest spoke, watching as she was lowered into the ground.

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