Rats, Roses And Paper Bones

Chapter 33: Hurting people hurt people

"I'm trying..."

The voice shuddered.

"I'm trying my best". The voice said again.

I peeped into the room to see who it was and was shocked. Moyo held the housemistress's phone closely to her ear, her eyes getting wet and ready to pour out an ocean. Why did I always have to keep walking in on her being like this?

The last week had been chaotic with the whole moyo and seminar drama and my sister's emergency. She had been taken to a nearby general hospital for treatment. Fortunately, the crisis was not so severe. My mum and Dad finally felt the need to visit her now, but at the hospital.

I had made up my mind that I would reach out to my mum to ask how Dara was faring. This was the first time I would be calling them since the emergency.

As I got closer to the house mistresses room, I could hear a familiar voice.
Moyo was pacing around in the room, on the phone with either her dad or mom. She sounded like they were having a heated argument, which she was losing, but wasn't so fazed by it again. Though, I couldn't quite place my finger on what exactly they were arguing about.

"No Mom, please don't!". She yelled abruptly over the phone.
"I promise I'll do better". She said and released the poor phone from her ear. Her mom had hung up.

She sighed sorrowfully and handed the phone over to the house mistress.
"Thank you ma". She said and headed towards the door.

I tried to hide as quick as I could to avoid her seeing me as she was coming out, but it was too late. She spotted me behind the door and gave me a long glare before walking away without uttering a word.

That sent shivers down my spine.
Another thing it did was make me grow even more curious about her. I didn't know why I suddenly had this burning desire to know what went through her mind. There seemed to be a lot more to her than i saw everyday. If I had my way, I would sit with her and we would talk for hours, one on one, heart to heart, if only she would let me.
But she hated me.
"You want to make a call?". The house mistress said when she spotted me.

"Yes ma".

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

"You should have at least come to visit once, maybe this wouldnt have happened". I said, with bitterness in my voice.

My mom let out a huge sigh from the other end.

"Doyin"

"I don't understand what's going on, don't you care about us? Did you just dump us here so you wouldn't have to worry about us anymore?"

"Doyin, stop that right now! You know that's not true". She said, her voice shaking.

"I failed to protect her, we all failed to protect her mum". I said, sobbing quietly.

"No, Doyin, you did the best you could, I just failed to realise that a boarding house wasn't the best place for her".

"I just wish I didn't leave her, not at that moment".

"Doyin, I said stop it, besides, she's doing just fine right now, she just got discharged today".

I heaved a sigh of relief.
"That's great". I said. "How about dad?".

"Your dad is alright".

"He blames me right?". I asked, knowing what the answer would be.

She sighed.

"I knew it, Mum, I know im just a self righteous hypocrite who pretends to be who she's not but still can't do anything right, I'm a dissappointment, mum". I said, tears already streaming down my eyes.