DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 13
By: Faith Lucky.
Rodney’s Pov:
I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and after that, decided to spend some time in the garden.
I dallied as I walked on the pas-sage, feeling so weak and just as I entered into the sitting room, I heard voices that screamed:
“SURPRISE!”
That was when I lifted my eyes and saw mum, Leo and Megan over there, all smiling at me.
Mum was sitting on the couch, while Megan and Leo remained standing with a cake on a round glas-s table.
Leo who held a balloon suddenly bur-st it and Megan skrie-ked at the sound it had made.
Then he took out flowers from a bowl and sprinkled it on me.
“Happy birthday Bro. Many more years” Leo said to me as he gave me a side hvg.
“Happy birthday Rodney” Megan also said and embr@ced me.
I kept staring at them and managed a smile.
“Thanks guys” I said with a perfunctory smile.
“Hey; hurry up so we can cut the cake. Make a wish” Megan said as she held my hand and took me close to the cake which was decorated with my name on it.
“Try ma-king a different wish this year” Megan whispered into my ear.
I sh0t her a stare and bent my head to the level of the cake. For the past eighteen years, I’ve been ma-king the same wish. But how can I make a different wish?
“I wish for Jocelyn to return” I said with a doleful smile and blew out the birthday candles.
Mum and Leo started cl@pping, then Megan joined later.
“Okay. So, let’s cut the cake” Megan announced and I held the knife in the cake.
“Okay. So, let’s cut the cake after… After the spelling of happiness. Let’s go.
“HAPPINESS! Yay!” They chorused and I cut the cake.
“Now, it’s time to feed the couples” Megan said and laughed.
“Mum, were you serious when you said Rodney forgot today was his birthday?” Leo asked as Megan cut the cake into a round plate.
“Of course. Isn’t it obvious?” Mum replied.
She’s been quiet the whole time, probably because of my attitude. I guess she misses her happy lively son.
It’s a good thing I actually p@rticipated in the little house p@rty. For the pas-s eighteen years since Jocelyn left, I’ve never agreed to celebr@te my birthday. I’ve warned them not to bring up birthday p@rties again.
On my 13th birthday, my parents had f0rç£fully hosted a birthday p@rty for me and guess what I did? I walked out of it.
I walked out of it – ran away from home and had even gone missing but was luckily found two days after.
My life has never been the same since Jocelyn left and mum was dying silently because of that.
Well, I just can’t help it.
“Megan was alre-ady throu-gh cutting the cake and she fed some of it to me.
“This isn’t a wedding p@rty, Megan” Leo said and Megan rolled her eyes at him.
“Oh,.my God! Megna!” Leo called aloud and tapped her.
“We forgot to sing the birthday song!”
“Oh, my God! Are you kidding me? Oh, my God! How did this even happen? I think this is all your fault.
“My fault? And how’s it my fault? You were supposed to start the song the moment he steps in remember?” Leo defended.
“Well, you were supposed to bur-st the balloon after the song. So bur-sting it before the song had gotten me confuse”
“Yet, you say it’s my fault?”
“Of course, it is!’
And I laughed.
Hm. Finally, I was able to laugh.
“I’ll deal with you later” Megan mumbled to Leo and f!ngered him.
“Okay . fine; let’s do it now. It’s not too late” she added and cleared her throat with Leo and they started singing:
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Rodney
Happy birthday to you
How old are you now?
How old are you now?
Does he even remember?
How old are you now?
I cracked and laughed again and this time around, they all joined me in laughing
“Yeah. We decided to edit the song this year, Rodney” Leo said.
“So, Rodney, how old are you?” Megan asked and I replied:
“Fifty two”.
And we all laughed again.
Megan reached for her handbag and returned with a wra-pped gift.
“Happy birthday Rodney” she said as she gave the prezzie to me and hvgged me again.
“Thanks” I replied and k!$$£d her forehead.
She blu-shed.
“Mmm – Mmm. So, what’re we having today? I was thinking we should go to city glamour” Leo said.
“Yes. We could go out today after lunch. I’ll make lunch with mum. What would you like to eat, Rodney?” Megan asked.
“I…”
“I think he would want to go for cheese fries. What do you think?”
I stared at them and wished Jocelyn were around. I imagined her doing the things megan was doing – embr@cing me, feeding the cake to me, preparing lunch for me; how happy I’d be.
Oh, Jocelyn; where are you?
“Thanks for the little surprise, guys” I looked at them and said.
“I really appreciate all of it. Um…guess we’ll have lunch later”.
“Hey, hey; don’t tell me you’re leaving. We haven’t even opened the wine yet”.
“Sorry. I…I nee-d to go”.
I took a piece of cake from the plate and walked over to mum.
I fed the cake to her and gave her a pe-ck.
“I love you mum” I whispered into her ears and left.
Megan’s Pov:
“Be careful with that, okay?” I said to one of the maids who arranged the food on the dining.
With the as-sistance of Mrs Houston and the rest of maids, I had prepared lot of food for Rodney’s birthday lunch.
“Leo, tell Rodney to get re-ady. Lunch has been served” I said to Leo who just c@m£ out of his room.
“Rodney’s not at home” Leo replied and I flin-ched.
Huh?
“Not at home? Then where’s he? I thought he was in his room the whole time?” I asked.
“No. I saw him driving out a while ago”.
What the heck?
We all agreed to have lunch together.
“So where’s he?” I asked, perturbe-d.
“I don’t know” he replied with a shrug.
“Well; have you tried calling him?”
“Yes. He’s not picking his calls.
Oh, my God! What?
Where the hell could he be?
DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 14
By: Faith Lucky.
Megan’s Pov:
I placed my hands on my w@!st and sighed. Where could he be?
I decided to dress up and await him.
I changed into a long black go-wn that had an opening from the edge up to my knee length. It was armless and had some sparkles on it.
Then I wore black heels and loaded my wrists with br@celets.
I was looking charming and hoped Rodney would find me that way as well.
6 PM.
Rodney didn’t return home and I was beginning to get worried. I’ve been trying to call him for a long time now but he isn’t picking his calls.
“I think he’s ran off to be alone” Leo said as we sat in the sitting room.
“How can he be alone on his birthday? We had plans for God’s sake!” I said bitterley and tried his line again.
It was switched off.
9 PM.
His line was still switched off and there was no news on him.
I paced tho and fro in the sitting room while Mrs Houston and Leo sat, soberly.
“Wh…What if something bad has happened to him? What if he’s In some sort of danger?” I asked, still restless.
“I don’t even know what to think anymore. Rodney has been unpredictable for years now. I don’t un-derstand him anymore’ Mrs Houston said
“It’s possible he wants to be alone” Leo also said.
“You know he’s always moody on his birthday. Have you forgotten your happened last two years? He had actually travelled for two months a day to his birthday”.
“But this isn’t fair!” I cried out.
“He should be here with us. We’re his family!”
Nob©dy said anything for a while.
“If we don’t hear from him by morning, I think we’ll involve the police” Leo finally broke the silence.
I p@n-ted heavily as I re-moved the br@celets from my wrist and threw them on the floor.
Rodney’s Pov:
I sat in front of the cliff, holding almost an empty bottle of alcohol in my hand.
I was alre-ady drun!kand my head felt so heavy.
This was the cliff Jocelyn had fallen off and this was the best place I could think of going on my birthday. I just wanted Jocelyn around – in every possible way.
I drank more from the bottle and pout some from my mouth to the floor. I ran my f!ngersinto my hair and placed them on my forehead. It felt so h0t.
“Jocelyn’ I called fraily.
A tear streamed down my cheeks.
“I’ve been sitting here for hours, but not a word from you”
I sighed and shook my head, turning more drink into my mouth.
“I made the same birthday wish today; the same I’ve been ma-king for the past eighteen years – wishing for your return. I thought birthday wishes always c@m£ true. I don’t know why mine is different.
“I love you Jocelyn; and your abs£nce is driving me crazy. Remember all the plans we had for each other. I still want them to happen. I nee-d you here, Jocelyn.
“So plea-se, just this once, plea-se; grant my birthday wish. Come out”.
I kept quiet and stared at the cliff. It remains as calm as it was.
I scoffed with more tears and tried drinking from the bottle again and that was when I noticed it was empty.
I stood up and threw the bottle on the floor; breaking it to pieces.
“Jocelyn, plea-se!” I shouted angrily and bur-sted into more tears.
I was frustrated.
I turned around and started walking away, but tr!pp£dand fell. The whole place seemed to be going round in circles.
I got on my feet and continued tottering.
I tried and tried until I got to my car parked by the side of the road. The whole street was quiet and empty.
I leaned on the car and felt like throwing up. How will I get home? There was no way I could drive in that condition.
I di-pped my hand into my trou-ser pocket and brou-ght out my phone. I had switched it off.
So, I tried turning it on but my shaky hands wouldn’t let me as it fell to the floor.
I turned around to pick it and that was when I saw someone walking towards me. It was a female figure.
My blur vision wouldn’t let me know whom it was. But somehow, for an unknown reason, I called faintly:
“Jocelyn?”
And that was when I pas-sed out.
Audrey’s Pov:
I was returning from aunt Tessy’s house where I had gone to run some errands for her . She had traveled for a friend’s wedding and nee-ded me to do some things for her.
The street was quiet and only pri-vate cars were driving by. I couldn’t find a cab.
Not long from aunt Tessy’s house, I finally saw a parked car on the road. Great!
Maybe I could plead with the driver to give me a ride.
Then, I saw someone struggling to get to the car. It seemed he was drun!k.
But hold on; isn’t that Mr Rodney me
What’s he doing out here all alone?
I increa-sed my pace and got to where he was. He was now holding his phone. But it fell from his hands and when he turned to pick it up, he saw me.
Surprisingly, he called Jocelyn and fell on the floor.
I looked around in shock. We seemed to be the only ones on the road. Was this a coincidence or what?
I dropped to a crouch beside him and noticed he was now fast asleep. But somehow, he still looked restless.
What was he doing here anyway? And what am I going to do with him?
He felt cold and nee-ded some warmth. His phone was off and there was no way I could reach his family.
I looked behind and aunt Tessy’s house wasn’t far away.
Should I take him there? Maybe, just for the night?
But I feel scared about it. What if I get misun-derstood?
And leaving him here in this condition; I couldn’t do it.
What if he runs into bad companies?
Oh, my!
What do I do?
TBC