Sister.

24

AN: Thank you for sticking with this story to the end. 
I'm not ashamed of it, but it was not my best work.
At some point I lost interest, but i decided to finish it. And finished it I have, albeit a rushed ending.

*"*"*"*"*"*

She sat by the window, looking down at the throng of people. Her apartment was two floors up, affording her the view she now had.
From where she sat she could hear the noises of the people. The market women in their stalls calling out to passersby, the commercial buses and their conductors shouting out the routes through which their buses would go, and then there were the dare devil motorcyclists on their bipedal vehicles, weaving in and out of the very small spaces between cars. All of these noises  culminating into a cacophony she’d since come to love. Though discordant it was, it was the sound of a people who despite not having much still found a reason to smile and laugh and in spite of the hardships that they so clearly faced.

It was from the street vendors who smiled genuinely while being baked by the scorching sun, it was these that made her want to smile again.

It was from the diminutive woman, who had taken off her head gear and had it tied round her waist, puffing out her chest and standing on tip toes while antagonizing and raining imprecations on a man whose upper torso she barely came up to. From the woman she drew the will to continue fighting despite the odds.

It was the women who balanced nearly as much as they weighed on their heads, all the while carrying a child strapped to their backs and yet still managing to laugh and talk animatedly with one another, from them she drew strength.

It was the little children, well fed but poorly dressed they were, with mismatched clothes either too large or too small. laughing without a care in the world and running after these women who were their mothers, it was from them she got the will to continue living.

She closed her eyes, taking a mental picture of the sight. She wanted to be able to call it up always, with its many colours and undertones, and trying to capture every bit of the moment; the near palpable excitement with which the air was charged with, and the spiritedness that every individual, small or big appeared to have a bit of.

She’d come here to escape from the demons of her past life. This was supposed to be a refuge, a place to live out the rest of her life in isolation, but  instead she’d found a reason to keep living.

“KNOCK!  KNOCK!"

It should be the land Lady she thought, looking at the door. The middle aged woman who was broader than she was tall, she was also very nosy. The woman had taken a liking to her, and always found time to visit. Precious enjoyed her visits, there was always something new to be learned from them.

“Coming,” she called, rising out of the chair with visible effort. She was in the third trimester of her pregnancy and it was beginning to take it’s toll on her. With a careful shuffle of feet, she made her way to the door.

When she opened the door, in front of her stood a tall man with a pleasant enough face. A man she thought she was never going to see again.

“Hello Precious,” Michael said. “Can I come in?”

Silently, she moved away from the door ushering him in.

“Nice place. Small, but cozy,” he said.

“Yes, thank you,” she said.

“And how are you?” he asked, looking at her swollen belly.

“I am fine thank you,” she said, still recovering from the surprise of seeing him.

“Hmmm, I can see that,”

“What are you doing here?” She asked.

“I came to see you,” he said.

“Obviously! If you had only wanted to hear from me you’d have called instead.”

He smiled. “I have missed that sharp wit,” he said. “I came here Precious to tell you that I forgive you, and also to beg your forgiveness in turn. We are both victims here, it wasn’t right for me to have treated you the way I did, and for that I’m sorry,” he said.

He moved closer to her, and placed his hand on her stomach. “I love you Precious, I love you for you as Precious and not as Tina. You could never be Tina, you two are too different. But I love you, with all of my heart and more, I do. This here is my child, our child. Conceived out of the love that we share. I will do all that I can to protect and provide for this child, and for you. We’re in this together, it is us against the world. You and me against them all.”

*"*"*"*"*"*
Vote and comment.