Half Step At A Time

chapter 24: Troublesome you

"What is going on?".
Out of the one thousand and one words I had in my very proficient vocabulary, those were the words I could say.
I walked Into my sister's hostel after classes, into her room, with people staring weirdly at me for some reason. I just wanted to give my sister her pocket money for the week. She kept it with me and I gave her little out of it every week.
I met my sister beside her bed, head hung low and one of my classmates standing in front of her, holding a metal cloth Hanger. Few other people were standing beside her, all of them in their underwear. It was a both funny and disturbing sight.

"Oh good, your sister is here". The girl holding the Hanger said.
I sighed. She must have gotten into trouble again. They must have been staring at me weirdly because of that. They were probably thinking 'her sister is here to save her again'.

I wouldn't blame them because this was the umpteenth time I was standing as a solicitor for my sister. Seriously, I've counted like five times that she would have ended up in band aids and cruthes if I had just shown up a minute later.

Guaranteed, the first encounter which was with moyo was totally moyo's fault. But after that experience, it was either she said something disrespectful, or did something disrespectful, without even realising it. She was so unfiltered and unhinged. The result? Near death experiences.

I gave a wide, fake smile, pushing in my next line of action to save my sisters butt, as usual.
"Guys...". I said, collecting the Hanger from the girls hands gently.
"We can resolve this much more peacefully, let me talk to my sister". I said, and dragged Dara to a corner.

"What did you do this time?"
"Nothing". She said, folding her arms and looking away.
I bit my lips and sighed.
"Look at me". I said pulling her face forward to face me.
"When last did I come to your hostel?" I asked her.
"The day before yesterday". She replied nonchalantly and looked away.
"What did I come here to do?". I asked her.
"To visit me". She said, still looking away.
"And what did I end up doing?". I asked her, looking her straight in the eye this time.
"Well-". She began to say, guilt beginning to show on her face, you could tell that she felt bad.
  
         The day before, I came to check up on her as usual and I ended up saving her butt, as usual aslo. What did she do? She told a girl that she looked poor and ragged. And guess what? The girl was TWO classes above her. Imagine how badly that went. Many things may be pushed aside, but one thing that is taken very seriously in any boarding house is RESPECT. My sister definitely had NONE of that.
            Another time, she told a girl that the church she attended was trash. The girl was Catholic. We attended a pentecostal church back home and anything different from that was probably registered in Dara's mind as trash. Thankfully, the girl was her classmate. But unfortunately, she had an elder sister who was in my class. I don't even need to explain how terrible that went.

   "Okay okay, I know I've been really rude and I know I've been a burden to you". She said.
"Hmm...you don't say". I said, folding my arms. "Im sorry about that, I really am, but this time I'm actually being accused wrongly". She said.
"Dara, you say that every single time!".
"I know, but this time I'm not lying!". She said, her eyes already watering.

         Somehow, that whole scenario gave me a rush of Deja vu. This was me, six months ago, begging to be believed. I paused as a tear dropped from my left eye unknowingly and settled on my cheek. I didn't know when I had been caught up in the nostalgic feeling.

       "Are you okay?". My sister asked, noticing the tear on my face and becoming worried.
"I'm alright". I said, quickly dabbing the tear away from my face with my index finger and coming back to my senses.

"Are you sure? You were crying just now. Is it because of me?" She said looking more and more worried.
"Of course not". I said, looking serous again.
"Now tell me, what did you do?".

       ***************************************

"My sister didn't do it". I said, boldly staring at all the impatient eyes that had been waiting for me and my sister to finish our little chitchat.
"What makes you so sure?". The girl who was holding the hanger previously asked. Her ruffled hair, strong and prominent calf muscles (commonly referred to as 'yam leg' over here), and stout figure made it evident that she meant no joke. Omu Promise, I knew her well, she was one of the very rugged girls in my class that you couldn't try nonsense with. Once you spot her playing football, you will understand what I'm talking about.

  "Well, my sister can be rude, arrogant, lazy, sharp mouthed and obnoxious, but there's one thing she is not....a coward". I said, shading my sister but successfully standing up for her. What she was accused of doing was writing a d**th note to a girl.

The girl had found it a while ago under her pillow and quickly concluded it was my sister because they recently had a fight. Funny of her to think that way, my sister literally had fights with at least three people per day. And even with that, she had a more stable social life than mine. Sigh.
The whole matter got into the hands of promise because she was the captain of that room.

" The person who wrote the letter is obviously a coward, who is afraid of expressing her feelings and discontent to face to face and would prefer writing a violent letter from a safe spot where she won't be seen. We all know that is the exact opposite of how my sister works". I continued.

Promise nodded.
"You do have a point there, I would have completely agreed with you if the handwriting on the note didn't look so much like your sister's". She said, giving me the d**th note and one of my sister's notebook.
   I took a close look at both of them to compare and contrast.
The d**th note saying,
'I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WERE DEAD!' and some other violent and offensive languages, sure didn't sound like my sister at all.
But why was the resemblance in handwriting so uncanny?