DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 19
By: Faith Lucky.
Audrey’s Pov:
The drive wasn’t really silent as we kept bringing up little chats along the way.
We had gone to the place where his car was parked on the night I found him and luckily for us, the car was still there. So, we made use of it.
Rodney dressed a little casual and wore a face cap; hoping he wouldn’t be too easy to recognise. He prayed he wouldn’t run into any of his relatives.
Soon, we got to the not – so – clas-sic eatery and ordered for something delectable to eat.
“I’m sorry about the brunswick stew, Mr Rodney. I’m sorry it had to go to a waste” I said as I ate from my meal.
I was facing him.
“Oh, that’s okay. But I still think it’d have been better if you had just admitted you weren’t a good cook.” He replied with a little jest.
“But Mr Rodney; you know it wasn’t entirely my fault; right? Fine, the burnt taste was there. But the excess salt you added also affected it. If not for the excess salt, I know it’d have been eatable.”
“And there you’re totally wrong. Without the burnt taste, it’d have been manageable. You ruined it”
I heaved a heavy sigh. It was completely pointless arguing with someone like him.
“By the way, Audrey” he continued after a short silence.
“What’s going on between you and my brother? I’ve noticed he gets so excited over you. He even told me there was a day you almost strangled him because you treated him for dinner.”
Immediately, I coughed and almost poured out food from my mouth.
I lifted my eyes to look at him.
“He…He did?” I asked with a little cringe.
“Well, yes. And the way he had spoken up for you in the contest, I was like…wow’. He said and I smiled shyly.
“Um…Leo and I are just friends. He’s a very nice fellow”. I remarked.
“Hm. So are you trying to say I’m grumpy?”
“Oh, no; Mr Rodney. Don’t get it twisted. Of course you’re a very nice person. Your mother is so lucky”.
he chuckled and almost laughed.
Hm. When will he ever get to laugh?
“Um…Mr Rodney, is Megan your best friend?” I asked and he shrugged.
“Well, she’s a close friend from childhood. Why asking?” He replied and asked.
“Well, nothing. It seems she really likes you a lot” I said.
“Hm. What makes you say so?”
“You wouldn’t believe what happened. She confronted me the other day in school because I was given a third chance in the contest. She was angry and felt I had an ulterior motif and with the way she had sounded, I think she was re-ady for a fight”.
He shook his head and smiled.
“Well, that’s just Megan for you. She’s always been so troublesome” he said and I laughed.
“By the way, Mr Rodney; will Miss Vanessa really be coming for the next contest?” I asked.
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“No. It’s just that I really can’t wait. She’s one of my biggest inspirations and it’s going to be an honor getting to meet her”.
“What if she doesn’t like you?”
“Huh? Come on Mr Rodney. St©p wishing me badluck”.
And without realising, I used my spoon to hit his hand and he stared at me with surprise.
I g@sped when I realised what I just did. I had been too jovial and had forgotten he was Rodney.
“Oh, my God! Um…I’m so sorry Mr Rodney I’m sorry” I stuttered and didn’t know what to do.
He stared at me and let out a light smile and also used his spoon to hit my hand.
We both laughed.
Wow!
That was the first time I was seeing him laugh. And it was so…cute.
Oh, God! I wish I can see him laugh again. He was so charming when he laughed, but unfortunately he doesn’t do it often. Jocelyn was really doing something to this guy’s life.
“Are you still eating?”:he asked after a while.
He was alre-ady throu-gh with his own meal.
“Oh, no. I’m filled up” I replied and t©uçhed my tummy
He brou-ght out his credit card and gave it to me.
“Pay for the food. I’ll be waiting in the car” he told me as he stood up and left.
I took the card and went to the reception, using their Pos for payment.
When I was done, I went outside to the car but couldn’t find Rodney there. Where was he?
I looked around and found him nearby, just standing. But his attention seemed to be concentrated on something else as he kept staring in a p@rticular direction.
I walked over to him and noticed he was staring at two kids pla-ying at a distance. It was a girl and a boy and they ran around, giggling and laughing, so happily.
He was so engrossed in them and his countenance had alre-ady changed. His face had become pale and saddened.
I stood beside him and joined him in staring at the kids. I could feel the pains he was going throu-gh.
“TodayToday was the day she went missing” he started soberly.
“I was eight; she was seven.
“The place you had found me the other night was where it happened. We were just spending some time together,then some armed men c@m£ after us. We started running but she sli-pped and fell off the cliff. I tried to be of help, but couldn’t. My Jocelyn was in front of me, pleading for help, and I couldn’t do anything to save her. Right in front of my very eyes, she fell off. Right in front of my very eyes, I watched her go down the cliff. I lost her.
“I jumped off the cliff as well, not knowing what to do. I thought I could catch her. But that was the last time I got to see her.
“She was so adorable, the most beautiful girl I knew back then. She always called me Romeo and I called her Juliet.
“We had so many plans. As little as we were back then, we had crazy ideas. She always said she wanted our kids to look like me because I was too cute. We also planned on spending our honeymoon in Spain. She was so much fun to be with and I was re-ady to burn down a house just to spend as little as a minute with her.”
He paused and sighed, re-leasing a little sniffle.
“She means the world to me” he continued more ruefully.
“And I see everyday as a miracle that I get to live with her. But I don’t know how much longer that miracle can last. I don’t know how much longer I’d be able to endure the pains.
“You know, there’s just one thing I’m holding onto. The only thing that’s keeping me alive is the fact that her b©dy is still missing. If her b©dy had been found at that time and she was confirmed really dead, I’d have died at the sp©t
“The only thing that’s keeping me alive till this very time Is her missing b©dy. But I’m not so sure how long I can hold on anymore because it’s killing me slowly.”
There was so much agony in his voice and a tear rolled down my cheek. I quic-kly wiped it off, hoping he didn’t see it.
I didn’t even know what to say. I was out of words.
I made a silent cough, trying not to sound tearful.
“Im so sorry Mr Rodney”:I said fraily.
“But…I still think you shouldn’t give up easily. I’m pretty sure if you were destined to be with Jocelyn, you two will get reunited”.
“That’s what I keep saying to myself” he resumed talking.
“For the past nineteen years, those are the same words I keep saying to myself repeatedly. But where’s she? What happened to her?
“It’s been nineteen years alre-ady, but there’s been no word from her. If she were still alive, then where could she be? How’s she doing? Who…Who’s she with? How does she even look like? And how come she hasn’t returned to me? Doesn’t she remember me? Or doesn’t she love me anymore? Or is she in any form of danger?”
He paused and sighed again.
“Sometimes, I feel it’s Impossible she’s alive. And I feel like falling off the cliff again without being saved because I don’t want to live without her.”
Just then, two young women c@m£ upto where the kids were and the children jumped into their hands, still laughing.
“Here you are. We’ve been looking all over for you” one of the women who held the girl said as she tickled her on her tummy.
“Mummy, I defeated Bryan in a game and he wanted to beat me because of it” the little girl said, still in her mother’s arms.
“It’s a lie. You cheated” the little boy said and they continued that way as their parents took them away.
Rodney kept staring at them until they walked into a corner and couldn’t be seen any more. The pains flashed in with a double f0rç£.
“Watching Jocelyn fall off that cliff in front of my very eyes, is the biggest pain I’ve ever had to feel. And that’s the pain that’s been stabbing me slowly till this very moment. It’s killing me and…I don’t know how much longer I can endure it” he said conclusively and started walking away; headed for the car.
I hesitated a little so I could st©p the tears that filled my eyes.
After that, I followed him behind and we got into the car.
This time around, the drive was very silent and it was a brooding one.
Rodney was even smoking and didn’t mind the fact that I was coughing because of it.
I felt so much pity for him and felt sad at the way he had also become sad. I knew he was going throu-gh pains and I wanted to be of help. I wish I could relieve him of his pains even If it was just a bit.
Still driving, the car suddenly screeched to a halt; having a breakdown.
Rodney tried restarting the ignition but couldn’t. He tried again with more f0rç£ this time around, but it remained the same and he hit his two hands on the sterling in anger.
I was startled.
“Um…Mr Rodney, maybe we should check the engines” I told him as I opened my own side of the door to step out.
The litted cigarette in his hand was almost burnt out. So he lit another and stuck it in his mouth before following me out of the car.
He opened the engines and a light smoke c@m£ out of it.
He brou-ght out water from the car and poured a little quantity in and started tou-ching some wires.
I watched him as he did everything with impatience. He was so bittered.
He closed the engine and went back into the car and tried turning it on but it didn’t.
He c@m£ out of the car again and kicked the tyres. He itched his hair and smoked de-eply from his cigarette.
I suddenly bec@m£ so scared. I’ve never seen this p@rt of him before.
DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 20
By: Faith Lucky.
Audrey’s Pov:
“Mr Rodney…”
I tried saying something but the noise from a bar nearby interrupted me and made me confused.
I looked at the transparent bar and noticed the people were cheering a lady who was climbing up the stage.
She took a mic and started singing but her voice was kind of husky.
Oh! It was a singing bar.
I looked back at Rodney and he still looked restless. He leaned on the car and placed his right hand on his head.
I moved closer to him and slowly, placed my hand on his shoulders.
“I…I think you nee-d to calm down Mr Rodney” I said.
He didn’t say anything and didn’t even turn to look at me. He just continued smoking from his cigarette.
I looked back at the bar and looked back at him.
“Um…Mr Rodney’ I called.
“I…I think you’re heating up. Why don’t we have a cold drink in there?”
He still remained silent and looked away.
I felt hopeless and thought of holding his hand but felt scared to. What if he hits me?
“Mr Rodney…”
“I don’t want to” he cut me off and looked away again.
I carefully reached for his hand and luckily he didn’t resist.
“Come on Mr Rodney. Maybe it’ll be of help” I said in a serene tone and took a step towards the bar, still holding his hand.
He followed sluggishly.
The bar was a little crowded but wasn’t too noisy.
The lady on stage had rounded up her song and the people cl@pped for her as she c@m£ down.
I took Rodney to an empty table and there we sat, facing the stage.
A man climbe-d up the stage with a mic and the place bec@m£ calm.
“Who’s next?” He asked and about 12 people raised up their hands.
He smiled and pointed to a boy and the noise resumed as they all cheered him while he climbe-d the stage.
He collected the mic and began singing and I kind of prefer his voice to the previous lady.
He sang a lively danceable song and some of the people in the bar stood up and started dancing.
I smiled and looked at Rodney. If only he was in a good mood.
Soon, a waiter c@m£ and I ordered for cold alcoholic drinks.
I looked around and noticed a man was staring keenly at us. He kept staring at us until our eyes ran into each other’s and that was when he looked away.
I looked at Rodney and noticed the cigarette in his hand was out. I sighed with relive.
Finally.
“Mr Rodney, would you love to dance?” I asked with a nervous smile but he didn’t reply.
Really?
The waiter returned with the drinks and opened them on the table and after which, he left.
“You take alcohol?” Rodney asked and I couldn’t believe I just heard him speak.
At that moment; it sounded like the voice of an angel.
“Um…just a little” I replied happily.
We drank from our glas-ses and I enjoyed the song going on, although I didn’t know of Rodney. He still looked pale.
Soon, the boy singing on stage rounded up his song and the people cl@pped and cheered for him.
“Mr Rodney, why don’t we sing next?” I asked and he scoffed.
The boy climbe-d down the stage and the man who acted like the emcee climbe-d up again.
“That was an awesome performance” he said into the mic and the people calmed down a bit.
“So, who’s next?”
I looked around and noticed much hands were up this time around. I also raised mine and the man pointed to me.
“Oh! That pretty lady over there with a blue shi-t. Why don’t we give you a try?” He said and the people resumed cheering as I stood up.
“What are you doing?” Rodney asked, surprised.
“‘Singing” I replied and shrugged.
I ran upto the stage and took the mic and waited for the ovation to calm down a bit.
“Um…good evening lovelies” I started ecstatically.
Rodney kept watching in amusement.
“My name is Audrey and I love singing a lot. The title of my song is Smile and it was sung by a Nigerian artiste named Simi. So some of the lyrics of the song might be in the Nigerian local language.
“I um…I hope this song is helpful to someone”.
I cleared my throat and smiled and started singing and the instrumentalists picked up immediately.
Smile for me
Even if you’re sad…
Be good to me
Even if you’re bad
Stay with me
Even if you got some place to be…
Rodney’s Pov:
A smile t©uçhed myl-ips as I watched her sing and dance so perfectly.
The whole place was calm and just her tiny magical voice ran throu-gh the room. And everyb©dy was so engrossed listening to her.
She danced steadily to the song and it fitted her so perfectly. I kept staring at her the whole time and wished she never had to st©p.
*
When she was finally done singing, the ovation was more than the others as not some, but all the people in the bar stood up and started cl@pping and cheering – including me.
I just cl@pped while smiling.
Audrey dropped the mic and rushed back to me, beaming with smiles.
“How was It, Mr Rodney?”she asked excitedly.
“You were awesome” I replied with a smile and she giggled.
“isn’t that extra ordinary?” The emcee as he climbe-d the stage and the cheering increa-sed.
“Isnt that extra ordinary? That was beautiful miss.”
Audrey giggled and smiled wi-dely, re-leasing all her teeth.
I Could notice she was blu-shing.
She emptied the drink in her bottle and coughed a little. I looked at her in surprise. She just raised down a full bottle of alcohol.
She called a waiter and ordered for another drink.
Then, someb©dy walked up to our table and tapped her.
“Im sorry miss, but you were awesome. Would you mind sparing us another song?” The average woman asked with pleading eyes.
“No ma’am. I’m sorry” she replied and laughed.
Why was she laughing?
She opened her new drink and started gulping it down immediately.
Another singer was called up on stage and the song turned the bar in to a disco hall as almost everyb©dy started dancing crazily to it.
Audrey giggled as she tapped her feet and nodded her head.
“Come on Mr Rodney. Let’s have a dance” she said excitedly as she stood up and tried dragging me along.
“I’m not dancing Audrey…”
“Come on”
she finally succeeded in lifting my up, but I fred my hands from hers.
“I’m not dancing” I said.
“You’re not dancing? Fine; watch me then” she replied and started dancing.
She twirled and turned her b©dy, laughing all the time.
Oh, no! She’s drun!k.
She kept giggling and ma-king funny dance steps and although they were funny, they were interesting as well.
She continued that way and I found myself laughing. Does she even know what she’s doing?
Soon, she almost sli-pped but I caught her by the w@!st and our faces almost hit each other’s.
She laughed and pu-ll-ed my nose and my eyes wi-de-ned.
She was damn so drun!k.
“Come on Audrey; let’s go home” I told her as I made her. Stand.
“Huh?” She skrie-ked.
“But the fun’s just getting started”.
“You’re drun!k, Audrey” I told her and she g@sped.
“How can you say that to me? How can you say I’m drun!k? Of course I’m not. It’s you who’s drun!k. Look, you didn’t even finish your drink” she said and tried taking my drink from the table, but I st©pped her.
“Come on; it’s late alre-ady” I said and started taking her away, f0rç£fully.
“Come on Mr Rodney; don’t do this to me. I’m not drun!k”.
I kept dragging her until we got to the car and I pushed her in immediately.
“You’re so mean!” She cried and hit my hand as I closed the door.
I looked at her with surprise and scoffed.
Alcohol is the worst thing that can happen to Audrey.
I also got into the car and was about turning on the ignition when I remembered the car had broken down a while ago.
“Damn!” I mumbled and hit the sterling.
I just decided to give it a try and surprisingly, it turned on.
I smiled with satiaton and took off immediately.
I looked at Audrey and she started singing.
Roll roll your boat
Gently down the stream
Merily Merily Merily Merily
Life is but a dream
I stared at her and laughed dryly. Where the hell did this lady come from?
She went on singing:
Roll roll your boat
Gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile
Don’t forget to scream
And she screamed in such a way that made me screech to a halt.
“Audrey!” I called and she turned to look at me, smiling stupidly.
“Yes? Why did we st©p? Are we home alre-ady?” She asked and I continued driving.
“Mr Rodney; where are you taking me?” She asked and hit her head.
“Oh! I forgot; you’re taking me home of course”.
She started humming.
“Should I help you drive?” She asked after a short while and I shook my head in amusement.
After some time, we got home and I saw it as a dream come true. I couldn’t wait to get free of this log.
I c@m£ out of the car and went to bring her out as well.
“Oh! We’re home alre-ady. Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked as I brou-ght her out of the car.
She kept staggering. So, I carried her up in my arms and took her into the house.
The room was dark and I kept her down so I could look for the light switch on the wall.
“Have I gone blind? Why can’t I see anything?” She asked and immediately, the lights went on.
She screamed in fright and jumped on me, hvgging me ti-ght.
“Audrey, what’s wrong with you?” I asked as I placed her back on the floor.
“Oh! Sorry, I thought it was a fire outbreak’ she replied and yawned.
I took her to the be-d and she sat on it.
“I think I nee-d a shower” she said and tried taking off her shi-t.
“Audrey, what the hell is wrong with you? “:I asked gobsma-cked as I st©pped her from taking it off.
“Why-re you acting this way Mr Rodney? It seems you’re drun!k” she said and la-id on the be-d, laying upwards.
I was sitting on the edge of the be-d and she kept staring at me.
“Hey, do you have a twin brother mr Rodney? Why are you double?” She asked.
“And whys your head growing so big and small?”
I bur-sted into laughter and was almost unable to control it.
You can give the whole world to Audrey, but never give her alcohol.
“You know, Mr Rodney” she continued.
“I don’t want you to be sad anymore because of Jocelyn. It hurts me a lot when I see you in so much pains.
“So from today, you can just see me as Jocelyn. You can start calling me Jocelyn if you want to. Just st©p crying over her okay?”
I couldn’t help but smile.
She yawned and la-id sideways, sprawling her arms and legs.
“I nee-d to sleep.
By the way, I’ll be slee-ping on the be-d today. So, you’re gonna have to make use of the couch. I mean, you’re so rude. I’m the one being of help here, yet I’m the one who gets to sleep uncomfortable on the ha-rd chair while you greedily take the be-d all to yourself. But today, that nons-en-se has got to st©p. So go and make use of the chair.” She said dizzyly and I laughed.
Then she started singing.
A lion, a lion
A lion has a tail
It has a big w@!st
And a very small head…
A lion, a lion,
Small head…
And that was how she sle-pt off.
I laughed uncontrollably and almost rolled on the floor.
Where did this lady come from? This is unbelievable.
I placed my hand on her hair and smiled.
I can’t believe I was able to laugh again. She made me laugh again.
A while ago, I had been so scared and angry; but she took all the pains away and made me forget my worries. She made me smile again.
I looked into her face and smiled.
“Thank you, Audrey, for putting a smile on my face again” I said as I brushed her hair with my palm and planted a k!sson her forehead.
TBC.