That Incident

SEVENTEEN

❦

𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘚𝘗𝘖𝘛

I was a bit scared walking on the almost lonely road of our estate. The gloomy airy atmosphere reminded me of that night. Hearing my own screams in the cold dark night. I was so shocked and terrified of my own voice.

The night was cold. What was I thinking coming out here, I thought to myself as I rubbed at my arms which were almost numb with cold. My pride wasn't going to allow to get back to that house.

The old bougainville tree wasn't really far from our house. I could recall how the bougainvillea glabra shimmered in the afternoon sunlight. The spot used to be the kids' playground when I was growing up. Seven years old me would go there almost every day.

Not to play like the other kids. Not to make friends but sit down on the bench under the tree. It was a way for me to get away from everything especially when my parents had started having arguments for the first time.

I would sit there and ponder all day staring at the beautiful flowers that usually bloomed in harmattan season. Purple bougainvillea were said to be rare.

I spotted the tree as I neared the old playground. Thank goodness there were new solar lamps which illuminated every corner. And just as I thought there was nothing to worry about when I was here, I spotted someone who was probably my stalker forever sitting down on the bench with his eyes glued to his brightly lit phone screen. He was cladded in a hoodie and pyjamas trousers.

"Triton!" I said out loudly giving him quite a scare.

"Aubree?!" He said with a shock pulling off his hoodie cap and tucking his phone away.

"Why are you always stalking me?! This is getting out of hands. I will report you to the estate security. You are not supposed to be...." I was saying out loudly without a pause.

"Calm down, this girl. Stop jumping into conclusions. How can I be stalking you? I stay in this estate too. I thought Alisha told you. She knows about it..." He explained.

I bit my lips in annoyance. Alisha! What was with her and keeping very important informations from me?! He was right I was jumping into conclusions. Just yesterday I saw a meme on Instagram about how girls quickly jumped into conclusions. Was it true?

"I'm...s...sorry." I stuttered out. I despised apologising so much. It felt really difficult.

"It's cool. You seemed a bit angry or tensed or i don't even know what to say." He said slapping his forehead lightly.

"Whatever." I blurted out sitting down on the bench inches away from him.

"Do you want to talk about it. I could listen and you could listen to mine too. Did you come out here to maybe....clear up your mind?"

I nodded staring up at the branches.

"The same thing with me. As much as I hate telling people things that bother me but I just have to cause it helps unburdened my mind. You might be wondering why I'm out here at this hour." He said with a pause.

He sighed.

"My mother's been crying. I can't bare watching her cry over some man that doesn't care about us. She said he's having an affair with someone. I don't know but there are signs. We are not sure about it just yet. It hurts me seeing her cry that way after the efforts she put in the relationship. Sometimes I just want to punch him for making her cry that way. She's emotionally unstable and I just have to handle things for her now as her big son. He doesn't even bring money like that anymore. I'm working a part time job to get money but it's not enough. He doesn't even stay with us so much."

How could he get that off his chest so easily and that with a warm big smile.

"My gender can be scumbags. The way they make good women cry. I would never do that to the person I love. Women go through a whole lot but it's so pitiful to see the way they are treated." He added.

I turned to steal a quiet glance at his face. Calm, expressionless and beautifully modelled by God the divine being. Perfectly sculpted God's work of art. Those eyes. They were mesmerizing as people would say.

"Is it crazy I hate all my grandparents except my paternal grandfather? Never met him. Even if I did, I probably hate him too" I heard myself say in a high pitched tone.

Why did I sound that way?

"Why do you think so?" He asked.

I chuckled, "I don't know. I just feel like he will be like everyone else even though my father said he was pretty cool. But I don't know. I also just can't seem to let go of my terrible childhood memories: the fact that I lost my little sister, the fact my father left us and broke my mother's heart. It all makes me so sad. I find it hard being happy. I just doubt I'm gonna be really happy ever again. I hate myself. Everyone probably hates me..."

"But I don't..." He had cut in.

There was a brief silence except the sounds of cars moving in the estate and the slight breeze ruffling the leaves and flowers.

A brief silence that got my head filled with thoughts of what he said. His facial expression. A brief silence of my heart pounding for some reason I had no clue of. Probably the way he stared at me.

"Umm...Alisha doesn't hate you, I don't, your mum doesn't, your dad and I'm sure a whole lot of people love you, Aubree. You just feel..."

My phone rang when I was so focused on what he was about to say. My mum.

"I have to go." I said getting up and smoothing the creases on my gown.

"Oh...yes. It's really late and your mum should be worried. The same thing with me. My mum's already texting me. I bet they are pacing around worrying about us." He said with a little laughter.

I smiled. His smile and laughter probably had an effect on me.

"I'm honored to be the one to make you smile, Lady Aubree. We should talk more... like do this more. We could unburdened ourselves together. We could meet at this spot...our spot." He said.

"Umm...thank you. I have to go before my mum drives over here. It would be quite embarrassing cause she'll be yelling so much."

"Let me walk you home?" He offered.

"No. I can manage." I said with a weird thought in my head. He will probably walk me to my gate...and then he will probably give me a goodnight kiss.

A kiss that will scent like strawberry. Aubree! Your head is all messed up with movies, teen and Y.A romance novels.

"Byeee." I waved walking away.

"Bye, Lady Aubree. A pleasure." He called out as I made my way home with a wide smile I'm glad he didn't see.

A/N

Hey Lovelies🤍,

So sorry for the late update. Been busy with my exams. You know what it's all about: studying, cramming 😂🤭, sleepless nights, crazy distractions, the urge to cry and scream...
I'll be updating more from next week when I'm finally done with my papers.

Xoxo,
Gina(penofablackgirl).💕