35

” You are my Christen. ”
“My child ”
“My Christen.”
She kept on shaking me violently even after slapping me.
“Stop it, Mom.”
“Mom” Mneso yelled at the top of her voice. She pulled her away from me and dragged her to her room. While being pulled away, She still called out the name “Christen” staring at me helplessly.
“Come back, my child. ”
“Come back to me.”
Mentioned locked her up in her room and came back to me.
She kept banging on the door for freedom.
“I’m sorry… Did she hurt you?”
“No… I ehn. I’m fine. ”
” Will she be okay ?”
“She will.”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s just go. ”
I’m sure she will be fine.” She suggested.
“I will be back.”
She again left me and went to her room.
What could have happened to her? Why was she going on and on about me being Christian even after I denied it? I knew she was sick yet my curiosity was stabbing my throat.
Mneso was taking longer than I expected. The room her mother was locked in was just a few steps away from mine.
For a minute, the whole house was quiet. The banging of the door had stopped and Mneso too was nowhere in sight.
I started to feel uncomfortable standing there all alone after what happened. I reluctantly and curiously took two steps forward. I was uncomfortable yet scared for Mneso’s mother. The silence was alarming at least to me.
Did she hurt herself? Why was she so quiet? I questioned.
I took another step towards the door. The brown panel wooden door. So quiet.
I took another step forward and now I was in front of the door. My heart was racing faster.
The door was designed with colored pencils all over. They didn’t have a kid, did they? No, they didn’t.
“CHRISTEN ”
“MY CHILD ”
“WHY?”
“DEATH ”
“KILL ME”
All these words were written boldly on the door except for one. It was written in italics. I was unable to see what was written except I went closer which I did.
I buried my head in the door trying to strain my eyes to figure out what was written when I heard a loud thud on the door.
I was jolted back to reality in terror. The sudden thud on the door got my heart racing.
“Come back to me,” She yelled.
I gasped for breath and immediately stepped back.
“Isabelle?”
Mneso stood across the room.
“Let’s go.”
I hurriedly went over to her and we both made our way out of the house leaving her mother screaming out the name Christen.
“Are you hungry?”
” Cause I’m famished”
“Go out for brunch first.” She told me.
I still wasn’t able to shake off all the weird stuff I had seen in her house. I was curious and lost my n thoughts. Was I overthinking everything? or was there more to this?
We got to a restaurant, the waiter came with the menu and we placed our orders. Mneso ordered steak and salad while I just had Cobb salad. We were already munching on that quietly when I broke the silence.
“Who is Christen?”
“I mean…your mother was going on about Christen”
“Who is she?”
“Well… ”
Christen is my….
“I will only tell you about that if you agree to tell me about you. ”
“Why are you so sober?”
“Only then will I answer your questions? ”
I was reluctant to speak about my problems but the only way for me to let Mneso speak was to agree to her condition.
“Okay ”
I’m going through a rough patch. I lost my friend recently. My ex-boyfriend actually. He took a bullet for me and I can’t help but blame myself for whatever had happened to him.
Plus, I took a break from Justin. My ex-husband. We got back together recently and then
Mneso was confused listening to all I has to say. Who wouldn’t? My love life and personal life were complicated.
She was lost in my words. Her face said it all.
I giggled trying to sugarcoat my words and make the atmosphere slightly less awkward.
“It’s complicated, I know,” I told her
“It is.”
“But I guess it would be okay.”
“Maybe not.”
She replied to me. Mneso wasn’t the sympathetic kind now I could tell. Over the years, I had listened to people telling me Everything was going to be okay. People told me it was all a phase but Here I was, still hoping for everything to fall into place.
Life was indeed unfair. Ignoring my pleas and dishing out pain.
“Now will you tell me about Christen?”
“My mother wasn’t always like that. ”
“She was perfect. ”
“A wonderful mother anyone could ask for ”
“I had a complete family. ”
“My mom, my dad, and my sister and I. ”
“We were perfect. ”
“The perfect family till one evening when everything just disappeared into thin air. ”
“I was only 5. ”
“While my sister was 7 ”
“I can still hear those screams. My screams, my mom’s, and my sister’s.”
“My dad came back from work that evening, we were all having a great time chatting and playing games. ”
“My sister and I were my father’s favorite. ”
” He was ours too.”
“We were all having a fun time till unknown masked men walked into our house with guns and weapons.”
“I don’t know, with. Word, they shot my father right in the head in front of our eyes ”
“I was so little but those memories haunted me. ”
“My father dropped dead on the ground With a bullet hole in his head staring at me.”
“The men left, leaving my sister Christen, my mother and I traumatized. ”
“That night was the last of my father.”
“My mother was devastated, we all were.”
As Mneso spoke, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes but she tried her best to hold back.
“That night, my dad was killed by assassins hired by his business rival. ”
“I will never forget that ”
She sniffled in her tears.
” A week later, Christen went missing.”
” We didn’t know where she went to or how she left the house, we just knew she could find her.”
“We did everything to find her.”
“Mother went the extra mile just to get her back but all our efforts were to no avail. ”
“Along with my father, Christen left.”
“Ever since that day, my mother’s mental health took a drastic toll ”
“Her health kept deteriorating and all she had was me .”
I took on the responsibilities at such a young age. ”
“We lost everything. Our house, our money, everything was taken away by the bank.”
“Before he died, he took a Loan to fund his business and ….
” I dropped out of the school to take full responsibility and after a few years, we moved here. ”
“I was able to raise enough money to rent an apartment and that was how I started my life again.”
“I changed my name from Maddison to Mneson.”
She chuckled close to tears.
“I thought it was cool.’
“My bar has been my only source of livelihood. ”
“We never found Christen and up till today, my mother has never stopped blaming herself for her ill fate. ”
That’s it. She steamed her tears with a weak smile.
Time Froze, I Froze.
No, it can’t be.
No, Mneso can’t be my sister.
No, my family and I, we … we.
The blood in my veins turned cold, I struggled to swallow down a beating heart.
18 years ago, I lost my father the Same way Mneso explained. I had a sister and a mother. Everything she said added up and made up my exact story. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it, no way.
When my father died, I was unable to accept the truth of his death even after seeing his body lying lifeless in a pool of blood. I was unable to accept it. For days, I lived in denial. I lost my voice due to the shock too. I didn’t speak a word to anyone for days.
That morning, I walked out of the house in search of him.
So naive and innocent. I left the house without the knowledge of anybody and I got hit by a car only to wake up in a hospital with a young woman by my bed. She ran me over accidentally and still took me to the hospital.
When I was okay, she tried to get information from me but got nothing. She then decided to take me in.
Mrs. Ellen took me in as her daughter. Her husband never liked me but he had to put up with me because of his wife.
We moved to New York. As a child, I was naive. I watched everything, I watched the drama unfold Without saying a word. The trauma stayed with me for years and when I thought I was slowly coming out of it, Ellen died in a ghastly accident with her husband. Yet again I was all alone and I lived all my life alone. Feeding from hand to mouth till Dean found me.
The discovery shook me to the bones. I was seated in front of my own sister after 18 years of separation. I was seated with her and I saw my mother too.
“Why didn’t I recognize her? ”
“Why ?”
I began to breathe shakingly and my hands trembled Nervously on the table. My lips struggled to move and my mouth struggled to find words.
I always wished to find my family one day and today, I did.
“Disson? I said With a shaking voice.
I always called my sister disson. Just like yesterday, I remembered telling her how unique I wanted her name to sound and today I had the opportunity to call her that again.
Her mouth dropped and her hands fell to her side. Calling her that was enough to clear all doubts between us.
“Chr… Christen?”
We both allowed our tears to drop profusely. It all felt like a dream. If it was a Dream then I never wanted it to end.
“Christen….”
“Disson…”
“Christen…. You… you…”
I… I…
We both struggled to find words.