Rats, Roses And Paper Bones

chapter 40:

I never had a reason to rebel or go against rules. I wasnt one to ever find it difficult to comply.

It was probably because i hadnt found anything worth the stress of hiding from my dad's preying eyes and trying not to get caught.

But when I found a new friend, I decided it was finally worth it.

"Hi." I typed in the words on my mums WhatsApp and waited for a reply.

"Hi, Doyin." Gloria replied with a smiley emoji.

My heart jumped in excitement because that was the my first attempt at social media.

I did it because I had promised to speak to her through my mums phone when I got home for the holidays. I didn't have a phone yet, even though eighty percent of my friends had one. My parents were still hell bent on giving me my first phone after I graduated.

"What are you doing?"

"Playing with my dog"

She has a dog?! I exclaimed within me.

Over the past months, u had come to realise the reason I was so drawn to Gloria. It wasn't just because she was kind to me and didn't hate me like the rest of my classmates, but because she seemed to be living in the alternate version of my life. Like, the 'upside down' of my life, but my life seemed to be the bad version.

Everything seemed to go really well for her, everyone loved her, she was soft spoken, lovely, beautiful and had rich, caring parents who made sure they visited her every single week when my parents were still struggling with the 'once every month' visit schedule.

My fantasy monents was imagining myself living her life.

It wasn't reality, but being close to her made it close to reality.

"Is your dog a boy or a girl?"

"It's a girl, her name is mirabel"

"That's a cute name"

"Yeah, I know right? I named her myself"

"I'm sure she's as pretty as you"

"You just called me pretty, Doyin, that was weird"

"Really? Okay I'm never saying that again"

"No take backs! Tee hee!"

"By the way, do you still like Bayo?"

She paused first before replying.

"I've never liked Bayo"

"You keep talking about him, though"

"That was at school, and that's because he keeps pestering me, he's just a clown"

"I know right? And very obnoxious too"

Just then, I heard some noises from outside my mom's room where I was.

Were my parents already leaving the parlour?
That wasn't good.
My mom was going probably heading to her room to sleep now.

And that was exactly where I was!

"I'll text you later!"

I quickly hid beneath the bed as I heard their voices grow louder and louder as they neared the room.

"All your mum does is complain about everything I do!" My mom yelled, opening the door.

My dad followed right behind her. They seemed to be having a heated argument about something.

Thankfully, they didn't spot me beneath the bed.

"You can't speak to me like that"

"I don't care, but I won't watch you make me uncomfortable in this house, ever since she left Abeokuta to move to Lagos, I've never had one moment of peace"