True Love's Bite

28 // Roots

It was shameful to regard someone as family only when you needed something, but I had no other option, nor did I have a choice or say when growing up.

As far as the world was concerned, my mother did not have any family left after losing her entire family to the grim reaper.

What she never told anyone was that she had a sister who resided less than an hour's drive away from home.

My mother's older sister, Meiki, was a traditional healer, but a witch according to my mother.

As soon as the car pulled up outside her home, she was at the gate in seconds and assisted Karabo in helping me out of the car, and then she led me into the house while Karabo followed close behind with my bags.

"Thank you for bringing her home," Aunt Meiki said as she led my saviour out the door.

Watching her was like watching my mother in an alternate world. They looked exactly alike, they had the same big round bodies, with my aunt being slightly taller and bigger compared to my mother, and she was also light in complexion. While they looked alike, they were polar opposites, and that's exactly why for the first time in a long time, I got the feel of what it was like to have motherly love.

All I wanted that night was someone to hold me tight and tell me that everything was going to be okay, and my aunt proved to be more than that. I burnt out from crying and ended up sleeping in her arms, and when I woke up during the night, she was laying on my side on the bed. Her warm presence alone was enough to comfort me, and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

The first thing I saw when I peeled my eyes open in the morning were her dark eyes gazing at me. She was laying on her side with her head rested on her arm. "Did you sleep well?"

"Is it a bad thing that this is the most peaceful I've slept in a while?" I asked in despair. "I don't understand why everything is happening like this. Why now, why me? Why do I always get the sharp end of the knife?"

"Sometimes when we are hurting or in pain, even when we are happy, it's so easy for us to not recognise the pain and suffering of those around us. You may feel like the world is against you right now and you are the only person who is hurting, but the truth is everyone around you is suffering. I know my sister, and while we don't always see eye-to-eye or agree on everything, I'll tell you something; my sister was not always like this, she was the most free-spirited and kind-hearted woman I ever knew, she was loving and brought laughter to everyone around her."

I couldn't bring myself to imagine the woman she was talking about, it sounded nothing like my mother. If anything, my mother was quite the opposite; she was condescending, bitter, controlling, and full of explosive anger. She was the one person in this entire world who broke something in me that I could never get back no matter what.

I looked up when she added grimly, "Even your father, he wasn't always like that. I know people believe your mother has always worn the pants from the start, but your mother is lashing out while your father is silenced by his guilt."

After the encounter with my father and Zamani earlier, there was no doubt that this had to do with my supposedly dead brother. And I'm saying "supposedly" because I was not aware of his existence until not more than twenty-four hours ago. "Papa spoke about having a son before the three of us."

She nodded. "He was a bright young man... your brother that is. He had a great future ahead. You know, I've always firmly believed that my sister was the happiest person ever before she married your father." To say I was taken aback by her bold statement would be sugarcoating it. "They were in love long before their parents arranged their marriage, and when they finally got married, your father grew to hate my sister because she struggled to bare him children. Vuyo was Cynthia's miracle baby, that's why his death took such a toll on her."