Sister, Sister.

II. Change

II. Change

THREE MONTHS, ONE WEEK AFTER

Karlie

People think it was suicide but I know it was murder. Suicide was not Kat's way. 

She had once attempted suicide. It landed her in the hospital and she pinky swore that she would never do it again. 

Besides, Kat could not have drowned herself because her body was found on the shore, but nobody else thought that, nobody seemed to notice how odd her death was. Everyone accepted the fact that she had died, no questions asked. 

Her death changed everything; Mum cut her hair, Dad became distant, Krystal stopped being the vibrant chatterbox he once was and I avoided everyone. 

I became withdrawn and stopped talking to people, even severed the small connections I had. Everyone wanted to know how. They would ask me for details I did not want to give. People that did not know Kat would cry as if she was their best friend. Neighbours came over to offer their condolences and wept like they knew her. It was sad that someone would die so young. I got hundreds of emails, but deleted most of them without reading.  People who could not reach me because I lost my phone would call my Mum. Some psychos even called Kat's phone.

Whenever I left the house, I would get weird looks from people so I stopped leaving the house and when I did, I pulled my hoodie up with my head down.

When Mum got the call from Nikky telling her that Kat had drowned, she screamed and pulled at her hair then she drove herself to the barber's and got her long corkscrew locks shaved off. The first person to know of Kat's death was me, I told everyone else and Jared asked his Mum to call my Mum and tell her the bad news. 

I regret the day Kat chose to celebrate my birthday at the beach rather than at home.

Dad had just arrived from Kano where he was at for a sabbatical when Kat died. He did not say much when he learnt the bad news but he cried at her funeral. That was the first time I saw Dad cry. He cried more often after that and during the many quarrels he had with my Mum before he moved out and rented his own apartment. 

After a gravestone was erected for Kat at our home back in the village (Dad said a cemetary was too impersonal), Mum and Dad began drifting apart. They barely spoke a word to each other. 

I hated it and prayed they would go back to quarrelling again, it was better than them completely ignoring each other. 

A month later, Dad rented a two-bedroom apartment very far from our house. He told me it was temporary and they were still a couple. He would ask me to visit him during the weekend. I declined. I was not ready yet. Going to visit him in his apartment would make me feel like I had accepted their separation. What if they never lived under the same roof again?

I skip down the steps and walk-run to the yellow Mercedes Benz. Its coat gleams under the sunlight, an evidence of its good condition though it is a very old model. 

The sunlight is too bright for ten o'clock. 

The six feet two male leans against the gleaming car with his hands tucked into his pockets and sunglasses riding his hairline. His narrow eyes don't leave my face as I approach him.

"Hello." The corner of his lips lift forming a slight curve and his hazel eyes crinkle. He stands straighter, removes the sunglasses from his head and hangs it from the breast pocket of his long sleeve buttoned shirt. He shuffles his feet and runs his eyes from the top of my head to the slides at my feet.

"You used your brother's phone to call me," I say. I don't sound as angry as I should; Jesse still has an effect on me. I feel relieved to see him again. I had missed him during the three months I spent ignoring him even though I was expecting to see Jared.