Episode 29
By: Faith Lucky.
Rodney’s Pov:
I was getting ready to go for the evening contest when a maid came in and told me
Megan was requesting to.see me.
Megan, Megan, Megan.
I kind of felt disturbed but decided to let her in.
I was going through my system when she came in and I stared at her, un-resistably. She was putting on a long white long sleeve, tucked in with a very short skirt and a blue hand bag that was flecked with pink. Then with a pair of blue sneakers. She kept her bag on the table and remained standing.
I gave a final stare at her and took my eyes back to the laptop.
“Rodney we need to talk” she said with her hand folded across her chest.
“I’m listening” I replied blankly without looking at her.
She scoffed.
“Rodney what’s the meaning of this? What’s the meaning of this awkward attitude you’ve been pulling towards me?” She asked.
“if you came here to yell at me, Megan, I’d suggest you use the door” I said.
“Really?” She asked and scoffed again.
“Are you trying to be mad at me? I mean, if anyone should be mad here, it should be me”
“Oh! You think so? You think I don’t have the right to be mad at you? I told you I wanted to be alone and you disrespected me by going ahead to look for me”. “Seriously Rodney? You call my act of caring disrespectful? I was worried about you for God’s sake and I wanted to be sure you’re okay. Yet, you call it disrespectful?
“What did I ever do to you Rodney? For how long will you keep treating me this way? For years, I’ve tried all I could do to be a perfect friend, but you’ve always detested me. You can’t even confide in me.
“Nobody caused the death of Jocelyn, Rodney. So why do you keep punishing others for it, huh?”
She was already in tears.
I just looked down at the table and the next thing I heard were her running steps.
She took her bag from the table and ran away in tears.
*
*
I Was so not myself at the contest. I was trying so hard to make sure I didn’t slump. The contest had started and miss Vanessa Hudgens sat next to me on the table of judges. She was a pretty young lady.
My head was aching a lot and all the songs the contestants were singing only worsened the situation.
“Mr Rodney, are you okay?” Miss Vanessa asked and touched my hand, noticing how depressed I was.
“Yes I’m fine” I replied perfunctorily and lit a cigarette.
Megan’Megan’s words flashed into my head:
/Nobody caused the death of Jocelyn, Rodney. So why do you keep punishing others for it?/
It played repeatedly in my head and I felt like screaming out loud.
Then I heard a familiar voice and I lifted my head to see Audrey standing on stage.
She had been called upon and somehow, I felt relieved.
She was looking so pale and I couldn’t afford to look into her eyes. I felt guilty.
She didn’t say much but just went on singing:
Why did I let myself believe
Miracles could happen?
Cause now, I have
To pretend
That I don’t really care
That was the only voice that could calm me down and I think miss Vanessa noticed it.
I enjoyed the song but the lyrics kept niggling at me. I knew it was all about me. her voice was so sad, but it gave the song the perfect countenance it needed, making it so real. Her voice was so enchanting.
When she rounded up the song, I noticed miss Vanessa was smiling.
Just then, my phone rang and I moved away to receive it. It was from Leo.
“Hello?” I said on the phone.
“Rodney? Megan’s at the hospital. She just had a fatal accident”.
*
*
I hurried into the hospital and asked the nurses at the reception for Megan’s room.
They directed me to it and when I got there, I found her in a terrible state.
I was still standing outside the room but I could see everything from the large transparent window.
she was still sleeping and Mrs James was sitting on the bed weeping profusely. She had bandages on her head and her legs were also heavily bandaged. But her right leg was kept on a stretcher. About three dips were running through her. She was in such a bad condition that I didn’t know what to do. Just then, Leo came out of the room and joined me outside.
“what happened between you two, Rodney?” Leo asked, trying not to sound angry. “Edith said she was coming from your place when the accident happened. She’s In a very bad state and the doctor said she’ll not be able to make use of her legs for sometime.
“What the hell happened between you two?”
I was gobsmacked.
Megan was crippled?
He walked out and not long after, Edith came up and joined me by the window.
She was also crying.
“Megan has been more like a sister to me” she said tearfully as we looked into the room through the window.
“She was crying on the phone when she called me and told me she was driving from your place. She told me you snubbed her again told her she was being disrespectful by looking out for you. She was devastated and the next thing I heard was a loud crash. Now I can’t believe my best friend is crippled.” She paused and cried deeply.
“All she’s ever wanted was to be a close friend Mr Rodney. She just wanted to be there for you, but you kept pushing her out. She’s always been dying slowly because of that; but you didn’t even notice. Yet, she kept trying.
“Mr Rodney, I know you love Jocelyn a lot, but that doesn’t mean you should shut others out of your life.
Haven’t you ever given a thought to it? That by giving people the cold treatment, you’re also hurting their feelings?”
She continued crying and didn’t say anything to me again.
Then she walked away into the room.
I could feel my lungs drying up. I didn’t even know when tears came up my eyes.
I looked at Megan again and the tears finally rushed down.
That was when I got to realise what I’ve been doing.
I recalled everything she’s done for me – trying to be a perfect friend, but I’ve been shutting her out.
I remembered all the times I made her cry:
/What did I do to you, Rodney? For how long will you keep treating me this way?/ /For years, I’ve tried all I could to be a perfect friend. But you’ve always detested me/
/Nobody caused the death of Jocelyn. So why do you keep punishing others for it?/ I felt so much guilt and remorse. What have I been doing?
I’ve been hurting others a lot without even realising and now, my close friend is
crippled because of me.
TBC.
DEAR
JOCELYN