34/35
-TELL ME LIES
Chapter 34
‘’Can I see him? I asked the doctor after a couple of minutes.
Because I just couldn’t believe that my Gabriel was gone, I was more than sure there was a mistake somewhere. George held my hand as the doctor led us to the room where my brother was being kept, he had not yet been taken to the morgue.
‘’Gabriel!’’ I whispered, trying to hold it in.
He looked so peaceful, it was as if he was just slee-ping. When I t©uçhed his cold b©dy, realization hit me- my brother was truly gone. Gabriel was everything to me, for the last couple of years it was always just me and him against the world. What would I do without him? How do I even face tomorrow without my day one?
‘’Gabriel noooo!’’ I cry out. ‘’My brother plea-se get up, let’s go home,’’ I yelled, holding his hand but he didn’t budge, leaning my head on his che-st. I continued to cry until George decided it was time for us to leave.
*
Four days later- my brother will finally be put to rest today and I still haven’t come to terms with his death, the last couple of days have been the ha-rd est days of my life. I never for once thought Gabriel could die like that and you know what I feel so guilty because he met Gabriel throu-gh a friend of mine and because she was so rich I told him to go after her, for Gabriel and I it was always about the money. He never loved the woman he d@t£d, he might have liked Iris a little more than he should have but she messed up by finding out the truth and dumping him without giving him time to explain himself.
The only comforting thing about this whole issue is that Linda is behind bars, for as long as I will have breath I will make sure she stays just where she is- I will get justice from my brother even if it’s the last thing I do on earth.
‘’Are you done?’’ George asks, we are supposed to be heading to the graveyard. Gabriel and I had no permanent church hence his funeral won’t go throu-gh any church but I have a pastor friend who agreed to conduct a mini service at the graveyard.
‘’Yes I am,’’ I shake my head. George has really been supportive throu-ghout this process, I didn’t have to do much- he organized the entire funeral. I don’t know what I would have done without him.
‘’We should get going then,’’ he holds out his hand to mine, helping me up.
We walk out of the house hand in hand and I can feel the eyes of people on me, we have a few family members and friends over here and most of them know how much my brother and I loved each other, they are obviously feeling pity for me. There have also been talks and speculations in the media about my brother’s death and why Linda killed him. I have gone throu-gh some comments and I don’t know if I want to go throu-gh some more, people are mean, some of the women my brother had an encounter with are even celebr@ting his death- like who does that?
‘’Are you okay?’’ asks George on the way to the graveyard.
‘’I will never be okay, this is the greatest loss that life has sl@pped me with.’’
‘’I don’t know what to tell you but I am here if you nee-d a shoulder to lean on.’’
‘’Thank you so much.’’
When we finally get to the graveyard, the funeral procession starts with a prayer, then the pastor preaches, then the pastor preaches over the b©dy.
‘’Fellow mourners, no matter how ha-rd this is, we have to accept that our brother is in a better place. The lord gives and the lord takes, blessed be his holy name for from Dust we c@m£ and to dust we shall return,’’ he says.
When the pallbearers eventually lower the coffin in the coffin in the grave, I wail from the de-epest fiber of my b©dy, ‘’Gabriel! My brother it wasn’t supposed to end like this, plea-se Gabriel come back.’’
‘’Dust to dust and ashes to ashes,’’ the pastor begins while ‘’it is well with my soul is pla-yed in the background. ‘’We are all just cl@yin the potter’s hands waiting to be made perfect, when Gabriel pas-sed over in glory, he was changed and made perfect.’’
As the coffin disappears into the earth, I sink to the ground.
‘’You should have taken me along my brother.’’
‘’He is with the lord now,’’ George whispers but that doesn’t make me feel better. When all is said and done, we put flowers on t©p of the grave and the mourners begin to walk away. Wiping my face with the palm of my hand, I rise to my feet and stare at the grave, unable to believe that my brother is gone. It still feels like a dream, I feel like he will walk up to me and tell me this was all a joke and that he is still alive.
Iris and Rissa walk up to me, they are with Godfrey. They are with Godfrey, the man that Iris is apparently getting married to. She posted their engagement ph0tos a couple of days ago. I don’t even know why she brou-ght this man here. What is she trying to prove? She is obviously here to laugh at me and Gabriel. They feel like they have won because they had the last laugh.
‘’I am sorry for your loss,’’ Iris says.
I let out a sobbing sound and Rissa put a hand on my shoulder and squee-zed, ‘’just hang in there,’’ she says. Hang in there? Does she un-derstand what it means to lose a brother? Does she know what I am going throu-gh?
‘’Thank you for coming,’’ George responds. And they walk away.
I cli-ck my ton-gue before we walk back to the car and get in. I just want to sleep and forget about the last couple of days, I don’t know how I will get over Gabriel.
-TELL ME LIES-
Chapter 35
A year & a half later,
Saturday night, I try George’s phone for the umpteenth time but as usual it takes me straight to voicemail. Frustrated, I change into my pajamas and slid un-der the covers. He is obviously out drinking with his friends and won’t be back home tonight.
George and I are now husband and wife, we have been married for a year now and I am beginning to think that our marriage is alre-ady on the rocks. The first few months of our marriage were amazing and then his behavior started changing. He started coming home late, acting irritable and wasn’t interested in spending time with me. When I try to question him about his attitude, he becomes even more short tempered.
After losing Gabriel, George was my sanity and when he asked me to be his wife, I didn’t hesitate in saying yes because I loved him and I thought he would treat me right but now I have doubts about this whole arrangement, maybe we rushed into this. Anyway, I really miss my brother, life hasn’t been easy without him, I had to sell my bigger phone to help pay some of the bills at home, George works but he doesn’t make a lot of money. And now that I am expecting, I don’t know how we will survive. I have been looking for a job for the last couple of months but to no avail, I didn’t manage to graduate from university because I failed most of my courses.
I just hate Linda so much for taking my brother away, things wouldn’t be this ha-rd for me if Gabriel was alive and speaking of Linda, she was s£ntenced to life imprisonment with ha-rd labour for murdering my brother in cold blood- at least Justice prevailed.
In the midst of my thoughts, I manage to fall asleep only to suddenly awake to a loud knocking on the front door, walking out of my room, I head towards the door just as another knock comes from the other side. pu-lling the door open, I get the shock of my life. George is standing on the doorstep holding hands with a woman and they look drun!k.
‘’George! Babe!’’
‘’Excuse us,’’ he says, pushing me aside.
They walk into the house and I am left at the door wondering what’s happening. Closing the door, I follow them into the be-droom only to find them ma-king out on my be-d.
‘’George! What is this? You bring a woman in my own house?’’
‘’plea-se leave us alone Gina, mind your business, you can sleep in the living room.’’
‘’What the fv¢k? Get out of my be-d,’’ I yell.
‘’This is my house, Gina and I have the right to do whatever I want to do.’’
‘’I am your wife, what sort of disrespect is this?’’
He pu-lls away from her and says, ‘give me a minute babe, let me sort out this situation.’’ Then he gets out of the be-d, gr-abs my hand and leads me out of the room.
‘’You can sleep here tonight and plea-se don’t disturb us.’’
Tears begin to stream down my face, ‘’I thought you loved me George.’’
‘’Sometimes love alone is not enough, get your $h!t together and st©p shedding those crocodile tears, when your brother was out there cheating on several woman you were supporting him, what’s so ha-rd about supporting me if I want to be different women as well?’’
‘’Why would you even bring my brother in all this?’’
‘’Because he was the worst of them all, that fool messed with my cousin’s heart, I will never forgive him, thank your lucky stars that I even married you because no one else would have. Excuse me,’’ and with that he heads back to the be-droom.
*
Iris and I are sitting on the couch next to each other, cu-ps of h0t coffee in our hands. We are just trying to relax and prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow Iris and George are finally tying the knot, we have waited for this moment for a long time now and as a maid of honour, I am excited to stand by my sister as she says her ‘’I do’s.’’
‘’How do you feel about getting married tomorrow?’’ I ask.
She takes a sip of her coffee then sets her mug on the table, with a giant smile plastered on her face, she says, ‘’I am so happy! Godfrey makes me so happy, he is an amazing man. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Mbewe.’’
I take a sip of my coffee and smile along, it’s the glow on her face tomorrow for me, ‘’How did you know he was the one?’’
‘’I can’t say there was a specific moment when I realized he was the one. It’s been a whole lot of stuff, from the time we bec@m£ friends and started d@t!ng. But what moved me the most was his ability to want to make me better. You know Godfrey speaks into my life, he pushes me to great heights and just being around him makes me a better version of myself.’’
‘’Wow! I am just so happy that you are finally living your fairytale.’’
‘’It’s not just about the fairytale but it’s so much more.’’
‘’I am internally happy for you sister.’’
‘’Thank you for being with me throu-ghout this hectic process. You made sure I was sand throu-gh this whole process.’’
‘’A sane bride is a happy bride,’’ I smile.
‘’Rissa Hadebe, sister of mine, I love you so much.’’
‘’And I love you more my big sister, Iris Hadebe.’’
‘’Sisters for life, we lift our cu-ps and clank them together before taking a sip of our coffee. Iris and I continue talking and laughing until a knock at the door disturbs us.
‘’I will check who is at the door,’’ I say, rising to my feet.
‘’Okay.’’
I walk to the door and when I open it, I am surprised to find Cedrick. Cedrick and I haven’t seen each other since the incident at his house, I have actually moved on and forgotten about what he did to me, I deleted and blocked his lines.
‘’What do you want here?’’
‘’We nee-d to talk.’’
‘’About?’’
‘’Can I at least come in?’’
‘’You and I have nothing to talk about plea-se leave.’’
‘’plea-se,’’ he pleads.
‘’Five minutes, I will give you five minutes,’’ I say, opening the door wi-der.
When he walks into the house, I stare at him and for a moment there I wonder what’s been happening to him, he looks so pale and he has lost weight.
‘’Come throu-gh.’’
‘’Thank you.’’
*
Tbc