DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 1
By: Faith Lucky
8 years old Rodney stood at the facade of the house with the piece of cookie in his hand as he awaited his Jocelyn to come out.
He kept stretching his n£¢k and disappointed, the first person that c@m£ out was Megan – Jocelyn’s younger sister.
“Rodney!” She called in excitement and ran to him.
“What’re you doing here? Why didn’t you come in?”
“I’m…I’m just waiting for Jocelyn” he replied, a little pissed off.
“Jocelyn? Okay. You have a cookie with you. Can I have a bite?”
“No no Megan. You can’t. It’s actually for Jocelyn.”
A frown suddenly crept into Megan’s face as she folded her hands.
“Why does it always have to be Jocelyn? Do you ever think about me? You’re so unfair Rodney” she sued angrily and ran back into the house.
Rodney shook his head at her awkward behavior and decided to draw closer into the house to see if he could get a glimpse of Jocelyn.
He really wanted to see her.
He ti-ptoed into the balcony and peeped throu-gh the door and there he found her at the dining, together with her mom and Megan.
Oh, that pretty face of hers.
She was fair in complexion, had sparkling bulgy eyes, pointed nose and tiny pinkl-ips.
She was just too perfect; too perfect that Rodney always thought her a goddess.
“Jocelyn” Mrs James called as they had lunch together.
“I think you’ve been too close to that Rodney of a guy. Don’t you think you should keep a little distance for now?”
“Mum, but why? Why should I distance myself from Rodney?” She asked with a little cringe.
“Well, I think he’s been having a bad impact on you. He makes you pl@ya lot and…and…okay; imagine this; just yearsterday, your dad had caught you roaming around the streets with him. What if a vehicle had knocked you down? Or you yad run into bad companies? You’re still a kid Jocelyn and…”
Every other thing Mrs James had said fell on deaf ears as Jocelyn had gotten a sight of Rodney at the door, ma-king funny gestures at her. And they had started communicating non verbally.
“Jocelyn, have you been listening to me?” Mrs James asked, amused at the way Jocelyn had been laughing the whole time.
“Jocelyn!”
“Oh! I love you too, mum”
Mrs James flin-ched and looked behind and that was when she saw Rodney at the door
“Excuse me mum. I’ll be back” Jocelyn said in a giffy and left the dining even before her mother cons£nted.
She ran to him with her tiny legs and took him outside.
“Rodney, what’re you doing here?” She asked.
“Just c@m£ to give this to you” he replied and gave the piece of cookie to her and she took a bite.
“Hmm. It’s delicious. Was it prepared by you?” She asked with relishment.
“No it was nanny Maria, but… I as-sisted her in l!çk!ng the bowl” he replied and she laughed.
“I’m afraid I don’t have enough time Jocelyn. Leo, my dad and I are on our way to the mall and I actually punched my dad’s tyre from home so we could have a flat tyre on our way there. And fortunately, it happened around your residence and that was why I rushed over here to give you this…”
“Oh, my God, Rodney! Tell me you’re joking. You mean you punched your dad’s tyre just to give me a cookie you didn’t prepare?” She asked in amusement and he shrugged.
“Rodney!”
They heard a tiny masculine voice and saw Leo- Rodney’s younger brother- scuttling towards them.
“Hi Jocelyn” he greeted with a wave.
“Hey Leo, wats up?” She replied and asked.
“I’m okay. I got you a flower, Jocelyn…
“Hey, hey, I’m the only one who gets to give her flowers okay?” Rodney ch!pped in and collected the flowers from him and they all laughed.
“By the way, Rodney; daddy’s done fixing the tyre. so let’s go’ Leo said and Rodney turned to Jocelyn.
“Okay. We’ll talk later. Bye”
“Bye Romeo” She replied.
“Bye Juliet”
And they ended up laughing again.
He gave her a pe-ck and left with Leo.
***
Jocelyn was searching for her toy phone all over the house.
She couldn’t recall where she had last seen it.
She paced around the house and met Megan in the sitting room.
“Megan, would you happen to know where my toy phone is?” She asked.
“And why will I know where it is? Why don’t you ask Rodney about it?” Megan replied repugnantly and Jocelyn flin-ched.
That was strange.
She decided to ignore her and go upstairs to her room and there she found the toy beneath her pillow.
“it was here after all” she said with a sigh.
She changed into a towel and went into the bathroom for a shower and when she c@m£ out if the bathroom, she noticed something different in the room.
Her windows were open, whereas she could remember closing them before going into the bathroom.
She drew closer to the window and found a cl!pon the floor. She smiled and picked it up, knowing fully well whom it belonged to.
“You dropped your cli-p, Rodney” she said and Rodney cams out from where he’s been hiding, un-der her curtains.
“Yes, can I have it back, plea-se?” He asked and collected the cl!pfrom her.
“Rodney how the hell did you get in here? Haven’t I warned you to st©p sneaking into my room?”
“Uhm…I’m sorry, Jocelyn, but the door wouldn’t open”
“Anyway, you should leave. I nee-d to dress up”.
“And why should I leave just for you to dress up?”
“You…”
“I could simply face the wall”.
“Promise you won’t stare?”
“I promise”
She watched him as he faced the wall and after that, she took her clothes from the be-d and wore it on.
“Okay. You can turn around. I’m done” she said to him and he turned around.
“Okay. I…was hoping we could go for a stroll” he said after turning around.
“I’m sorry, Rodney. But mummy wouldn’t approve of it.”
“Well, who said she has to?”
“But…”
“Don’t you trust me, Jocelyn?”
“Of course, do”
“Then, give me your hand.”
***
You know, Jocelyn, when we get married, I’d want us to live in a house that’d be close to the beach” Rodney said to Jocelyn as they walked along the lonely street.
“I’ve told you Rodney to st©p bringing up such t©pics. My nanny told me it’s inappropriate for a kid to discuss such issues” Jocelyn replied enthusiastically.
“But what makes it inappropriate?
“Anyway, why don’t you sing me a song?” He asked as he rested on a tree while Jocelyn remained standing in front of him.
“Uhm sure.” Jocelyn replied and cleared her throat and began singing her favorite- love story by Taylor Swift:
We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts
I’m standing there
On a balcony in summer air.
See the lights,
See the p@rty, the ball go-wns,
See you make your way throu-gh the crowd and say hello
Little did I know
That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said
Stay away from Juliet.
But you were everything to me I was begging you plea-se don’t go.
And I said.
Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone.
I’ll be waiting
All there’s left to do is run.
You’ll be the prince and
I’ll be the princess
It’s a love story
Baby just say yes.
She went on singing until she had gotten to the end of the song and that was when she st©pped.
It has always been her favourite, but Rodney didn’t really like it. He always felt the lyrics didn’t entirely match.
“I wonder why you like that song a lot” he said immediately she was done singing.
“It’s our love story, Rodney, don’t you get it? You’re my Romeo and I’m your Juliet” Jocelyn replied.
“Okay. Whatever”.
He looked left and saw a familiar house.
“Hey, Jocelyn. Look over there. That’s pa Peters house. He has a mango tree in it. Let’s get some”
“I don’t think that’d be possible Rodney. I heard he doesn’t let anyone into his building”
“Well, whoever said he had to let us in? We don’t nee-d his permission, do we?”
“What’re you trying to say? Are you crazy? Are you trying to break into his building?”
“Come with me, Jocelyn.”
He took her hand and led her towards the building and she couldn’t be resistant for long.
He climbe-d the low fence and urged her to do same and in the next moment, they were standing in pa Peters compound.
“Rodney, I think this is a bad idea. What if we get caught?” Jocelyn asked, a little worried.
Rodney was always ma-king her do crazy things.
“Trust me Jocelyn. This is gonna be fun” he replied and started climbing up the tree.
Pa Peter didn’t seem to be around.
Jocelyn kept looking at Rodney as he climbe-d the tree and plucked down some of the mangoes.
But just as he was about climbing down, the gate opened and pa Peter walked in. His eyes dilated at the sight of Rodney on the tree.
“Hey, you two! What’re you doing here? How did you get in? Thieves!”
Jocelyn was alre-ady hyperventilating as Rodney quic-kly got off the tree.
Pa Peter tried to gr-ab him, but Rodney took Jocelyn’s hand and escaped him, running out the gate.
They kept running with the old fella behind them and were almost knocked down by a police car that was luckily not on a high speed.
And as a result of that, Jocelyn had fell and hurt her ankles.
“Jocelyn, are you alright?” Rodney asked in fear as he helped her from the floor.
But they couldn’t run anymore as they had alre-ady been caught up by pa Peter and the police men.
“Seize them officers. They’re thieves. They broke into my house” pa Peter said.
The policemen c@m£ out of the car and were started at the awkward attitude of the two kids.
They had almost knocked down one of them and it could have resulted in her death.
“Rodney? Jocelyn?” One of the officers called in surprise.
He seemed to know them.
***
“When did you start sneaking into people’s houses, Jocelyn?” Mr James asked angrily ad they all walked into the sitting room.
They were just returning from the station.
“I’ve told you to stay away from that Rodney of a boy. He’s ma-king you jump fences, who knows what he might do in the future?”
“Baby plea-se take it easy on her” Mrs James said with pleading eyes.
“Don’t tell me that, Rosie. She nee-ds to learn how to respect my words. How could she think of breaking into some b©dy’s house and…”
“We didn’t break anything dad. We just wanted to take some mangoes” Jocelyn interrupted.
“Will you shut that mouth of yours?” Mr James snarled at her.
“You’re just seven years old, Jocelyn yet, you’re alre-ady ma-king me leave my office just to pick you up from the station. What the hell is that?
“Stay away from Rodney. He’s a br@t and I wouldn’t want you to have anything to do with him.”
“He isn’t a br@t. So st©p calling him one!” Jocelyn said with anger and Mr James sl@pped her.
“James!” Mrs James called in fright and watched Jocelyn as she ran away in tears.
Jocelyn ran into her room and threw herself on the be-d. She hated everything.
She couldn’t think of being away from Rodney. He meant the world to her.
It didn’t take long before the door went open again and her mother c@m£ in, looking perturbe-d.
“Jocelyn baby” she called in an unfeigned voice and sat on the be-d with her.
“Why did you have to behave that way towards your father?” She asked.
“But he was calling Rodney a br@t mum”.
“Well, Rodney shouldn’t be the reason you raise your voice on him”.
She sighed and held her hands.
“Jocelyn, I nee-d you to apologize to him okay?”
She remained silent.
“Okay?”
“Okay mum”.
“Good. Now that’s my baby. I’ll be right back” she said to her, planted a k!sson her forehead and left.
Immediately she left, Megan c@m£ in with a glas-s of milk.
She walked over to Jocelyn on the be-d and proffered the milk out to her.
“I made you some milk Jocelyn” she said and Jocelyn collected the milk from her.
“Thanks” she replied and sipped from it.
“Sorry about what happened, but you shouldn’t had ris£n your voice on dad”.
“I know Megan but…Rodney didn’t really nothing anything wrong. We were just pla-ying”.
Megan smiled and sighed.
“Anyway, sorry for being rude to you earlier. I ws just upset over something” Megan added.
“Sure Megan. I don’t hold any grudges against you” replied Jocelyn and Megan giggled.
“Okay. How about I leave you for sometime to rest then I’d return later and so we could pl@yvideo games together?” She asked.
“I think that’d be a great idea. I’ll be waiting”.
“Okay. Bye” Megan replied and left the room after giving her a p@rting hvg.
Jocelyn remained on the be-d for sometime and after a while, left and stood at the balcony outside her room.
As she did, she thought of Rodney. She really wanted to see him.
Most times they wanted to be alone, they’d spend time in their garden since they fancied it a lot.
And at that time, Jocelyn wished Rodney would meet her there.
Using the tactics she had learnt from him, she began sneaking out of the house.
She left the house unnoticed and got to the garden and after a while, Rodney also arrived.
Romeo save me
They try to tell me how to feel
This love Is difficult
But it’s real
Don’t be afraid
We’ll make out of this mess
It’s a love story
Baby just say yes.
She sang the lyrics of her song immediately she showed up.
“finally, I think your song makes s-en-se” he said with a scoff and held her hands.
“I’m sorry Jocelyn for ma-king you go throu-gh such troubles. plea-se forgive me” he added morosely.
“St©p apologising Rodney, you’re not at fault, okay? Our parents are just the ones misun-derstanding everything.” She replied and he smiled.
They walked over to a sp©t and sat on the floor.
“Pa Peter is so selfish. I hope he takes the mango tree with him to his grave.” Jocelyn said with a frown and Rodney laughed.
” That’s funny” he replied. “By the way, hope you didn’t get more than a scold from your parents?”
“Uhm…no”.
They were still talking blissfully when Rodney heard some footsteps behind them and turned around to take a look.
There he saw some armed men ti-ptoeing towards them.
“Get them!” One of the men said to the others since their surprise attack had been busted.
Rodney sprang on his feet with Jocelyn and started running in fright.
It was dark and being muddled at the armed men who were probably kidnappers, they lost focus.
And as a result, Jocelyn missed her step and fell off a cliff.
“Jocelyn!!!” Rodney skrie-ked and knelt in front of the cliff.
And fortunately at that time, she hadn’t fallen off completely but was holding onto tiny cracks on the cliff.
“Rodney! Help me” she cried out.
There was a big b©dy of water just below the cliff that flowed in every direction with a heavy current.
Rodney stretched his hand towards her but she was too far away.
“Rodney, I can’t hold on much longer” .
“No Jocelyn, you have to. I’ll…I’ll get some help”.
He was muddled and tried thinking of a way to help her.
He looked behind and saw the kidnappers fast approaching and the next time he turned back to the cliff, he saw Jocelyn falling off.
“Rodney!!!” She screamed as she finally let go, going de-ep down.
“No!!! Jocelyn!!!” Rodney also screamed and without a second thought, jumped off the cliff as well.
DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 2
By: Faith Lucky
“plea-se doctor, tell me my son will be fine” Mrs Houston – Rodney’s mother- whimpered with weeping eyes as she stood in front of the doctor, together with her husband and Leo.
“I can’t really promise you anything ma’am, but we’ll do our best. He’s badly injured and he’s in a terrible state..right now, he’s in comma. It’s…it’s actually a miracle he’s still alive.” The doctor replied pathetically, also a bit scared at Rodney’s condition.
He had luckily been rescued by some fishermen who recognised him and brou-ght him to the hospital, badly injured.
And as for Jocelyn, her b©dy was yet to be found.
“plea-se doctor, just do everything you can to save him. plea-se, nothing must happen to him” Mrs Houston cried again and buried her we-t face in her husband’s che-st.
“Doctor plea-se.” Leo also added tearfully.
“He’s the only brother I have. Help him”.
“I’ll…I’ll do my best” replied the doctor.
Immediately, Mrs James walked in angrily with heavy steps together with Megan.
“Where’s that son of yours? Bring him out! Tell him to provide my daughter this moment” She said angrily and tearfully as she stood in front of them.
“plea-se calm down…” Mr Houston tried speaking.
“Don’t tell me to calm down. This is all his fault! He was warned to stay away from my daughter, but he never listened. He’s been nothing but a bad luck.”
After saying that; Mrs Houston landed a sl@p on her cheek.
“Have you gone sane?” She yelled.
“How dare you come in her and l@yaccusations on my son who’s struggling for his life? Do you really think he planned any of this? Why would he want to harm Jocelyn? Huh? Tell me!”
Mrs James t©uçhed her cheek for a while and stared angrily at her.
“You just pray nothing bad happens to my daughter. You just pray she’s found, else, I’ll make you pay for it” she faciled angrily and walked away.
Megan, with a crying face, also turned around to follow her.
“Megan!” Leo called and caught up with her.
“I’m sorry” he said penitently and she sniffled.
“How’s Rodney?” She asked with a whimper but Leo couldn’t think of a reply and slowly, she turned around and walked away.
It’s been 18 years later.
26 years old Rodney stood by the window, staring at the old picture in his hand.
His eyes drooped and his heart was tearing ap@rt. That was the pain he had to feel each time he thought about her.
He’s never been the same since Jocelyn went missing. Her b©dy was not found despite the thorou-gh search that had taken place and it ws believed she had drowned and was dead.
But for Rodney, he never wanted to believe any of it. He still had a string of hope somewhere and always consoled himself that since her b©dy was never found, she might be alive somewhere.
He never wanted to believe his Jocelyn was gone – gone forever.
“Sir, it’s time” his secretary opened the door slightly and said in a serene voice and left.
Rodney glanced at her as she left and took his eyes to the window, in-serting the little picture in his trou-ser pocket.
He took in a de-ep breath and got re-ady to leave. He was doing this for Jocelyn.
As he walked out throu-gh the sitting room, his mother c@m£ rushing to him.
“Rodney, you didn’t t©uçh your meal” she groused.
“I’m not hungry mum” he replied ignorantly and walked away.
He got outside and walked into the car which had alre-ady been opened for him by his guards.
They also got into theirs and with his in the middle, they started driving away.
A text message c@m£ into his phone almost immediately from Megan:
“Call me when you’re throu-gh”.
He sighed and turned off the screen.
Megan has been a good friend to him, always there for him from the time Jocelyn had gone missing. But too bad he couldn’t appreciate it as the only thing that mattered to him was being with Jocelyn again.
He was living a secluded life and it was evident enough that Jocelyn’s abs£nce had made him heart hearted – to his family and everyone around him.
He hated and blamed himself for what happened. He always felt he was the reason Jocelyn had fallen off the cliff.
He spent most of his free time in their special garden and by the cliff and each time he was by the cliff, he’d keep staring below, wishing Jocelyn would climb out.
Nob©dy had expected he’d come out of the coma after the incidence and when he finally did, he remained unconscious for a long time when he got to know Jocelyn was missing.
For years, he was in dilemma and couldn’t get over the shock.
He couldn’t believe his Jocelyn might probably be dead.
And as for Jocelyn’s mother, she hated him for it and couldn’t think of getting over it.
The cars c@m£ to a st©p inside the mas-sive building and Rodney was led in throu-gh a secret pas-sage in order to avoid being crowded by the contestants at the facade of the building.
He ws holding a music contest and what seemed to be like over half of Cambridge university was there.
He had made the qualifications strictly on membersh!pof the college and because of that, that very year, the college had gotten the highest number of admission application in the school.
If he had made the qualification for all and sundry, then they’d have to spend a month going throu-gh just the first stage of the competition.
His parents had made some connections and p@rtnersh!ps and set it up, putting him in charge, just to make him happy. Well, it had been his request.
Since Jocelyn was a lover of music, he had decided to do this in her honor and so, the contest was tagged in her name.
To him, Jocelyn was the best and he wanted someone who could be similar.
Out to the contestants side, they all lined up with their role numbers pinned to their clothes, ecstatically.
They couldn’t st©p talking.
Oh my God! I can’t wait to sing in front of Mr Rodney…
I heard he’s so cute and can make a lady deny her parents just for him…
The winner’s going to gain a lot. She’ll he signed in to the music industry, awarded a hvge sum of money and becomes a famed singer…
it’s also included she might go on a three months tour with Mr Rodney. Or is that a rumour…
but there’s a lady called Edith. She’s Megan’s best friend and she’s one of the contestants…
Megan? Isn’t Megan Mr Rodney’s girlfriend?
so I heard, but I think it’s a rumour…
I really can’t wait…
Different discussion kept going on and after some time, the competition finally commenced.
Rodney sat in front of a large table with some dignitaries as he awaited the first contestant.
There was alre-ady a litted cigarette in his hand and he smoked from it.
“Contestant no 1” one of the as-sistants said with a microphone and a lady rushed in.
“Hi. I’m Tasha and I hope you find my song interesting” she said in a genial voice.
She kept smiling the whole time and sand her song but Rodney found her voice a little croaky.
“Jocelyn wouldn’t sing that way” he thought.
Many more contestants c@m£ up and most of them did very well.
A p@rticular contestant had come up and instead of singing, she had began crying and had to be esc-rted outside by the securities.
“Contestant 102” an as-sistant announced but nob©dy c@m£ in.
He called two more times and decided to move on to the next number.
“Contestant 103”
“Sorry, I’m here” a dowdy looking lady said and ran in.
She was contestant 102.
“Sorry, I’m late” She added. “Uhm…I’m Audrey and…this is my song.”
She held the microphone ti-ghtly and tried singing but couldn’t. She felt nervous.
“Next” Rodney said to the as-sistant and the as-sistant called on the next contestant.
“Contestant 103” .
“Hi. I’m Rachel and this song is specially for Mr Rodney…”
Rodney had seen a lot of drama as ladies of different characters had displa-yed for him. Some ladies were so bad that he wandered if they had ever made use of their voices.
After a long while that seemed forever to him, the audition finally c@m£ to an end and the lucky contestants were announced.
Out of the hundreds that c@m£, they were just 64 selected. And the rest had to go home weepy and grumbling.
Rodney left the audition hall and headed for his car and just before he got in, he noticed a lady was struggling with his guards from behind.
“plea-se, it won’t take long. I nee-d to speak with him.” She pleaded.
Rodney confirmed she looked familiar and recognised her to be one of the contestants.
He signalled the guards to let her throu-gh and immediately, she ran to him like someone running from wildfire.
He looked at her role number and noticed she was contestant 102.
“Pl…plea-se Mr Rodney. I’m one of the contestants. I…I’m so sorry for being so dump earlier. I ws just a little nervous. plea-se, I really want to be a p@rt of the contest. Give me one more chance. plea-se” She pleaded, placing her Palms together.
Rodney stared at her from head to toe and felt disappointed.
He had thought she had something interesting to say. Maybe, something about Jocelyn?
“You had an opportunity young lady and you misused it. The audition is over and there’s no room for second chances.” He replied icily and walked into the car; ignoring every other thing she had to say.
TBC.