Sing Of A Tree In The Wild

The Calm

Dedicated to @DaikporAnthonia @Ennymama and @scentedmemoirs

18th of May

10:42

Elfrida

“Don’t say that, come on! You’ve been like a sister to me.”

“Just like the saying goes, ‘Betrayal comes from within’.”

“Her betrayal surprised us too-”

“I did it. I framed Kofo. I forged her handwriting and I retrieved the video from my laptop. I planned everything. I’m a diabolical monster.”

Betrayal comes from within.

Friday’s experience can’t stop replaying in my head. This experience in question rendered me sleepless on Friday night and made my weekend seem like a decade; it was filled with silence and sober reflection. The only person I have ever called a sister just had to stab me in the back in such an unbelievable manner.

She was planning this all along. And she kept on playing the sister to me when she truly wasn’t.

Why did she do it?

She knew that Dennis never told me about his ‘perfect moment’ with Kofo. The subtle codename coupled with the video and the further description made Kofo look irrefutably culpable.

You’re probably wondering who did this, but I’m sure as hell that it’s pretty obvious.

He hates you now; you saw that today with me and Najite.

Inasmuch as the note failed in its bid to make me hate Dennis, the question, ‘Why have you refused to accept that he will never accept you?’ got to me very deeply. Funny enough, the second thing Dennis did after everyone left was to tell me he finally accepted me; this happened after he read the same note. While I have every reason not to doubt him, a sceptical part of me keeps telling me he was trying to save face.

I just have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The crux of the matter is that Najite wanted to break me and Dennis up while making another person appear as the glaring culprit.

Another innocent person.

Kofo.

“When did you start avoiding classes?”

I turn back to view a concerned-looking Dennis, equally weighed down by the events of late. “Last time I checked, it didn’t form part of your M.O.”

I force a weak, tired smile. “Don’t you have History now?”

Dennis closes the gulf between ourselves and sits down comfortably beside me. “I waited for him. He didn’t come.”

“What if he arrived after you left?”

“What difference does it make?”

All I can do is sigh. “Why are you here, Dennis?”

“I think we both know the answer to that question.” He says in reply, before giving me an irresistible piercing look I can’t handle for long. “I slapped Kofo. And she isn’t even the schemer.”

“The fact that you hit an innocent person, a girl for that matter, is haunting you.”

Dennis sighs. “You can say that. Now, I owe her an apology for not believing her, which was actually hard for any of us to do. And another apology for hitting her.” He pauses to allow the words sink in.

“Have you ever hit a girl before, Dennis?”

Dennis bows his head, smiling. “If I’m not to count my trivial nursery or primary school fights, no.”