“I don’t want to talk about it” I said, looking down. He was shocked. “It doesn’t stop my punishment. So, I don’t want to talk about it” I repeated, looking out the window. After a while of unpredictable silence, he cleared his throat and said, “You’re not going to be suspended, I am going to give you a different punishment”
I stared at him angrily but didn’t say a word. Actually it took me a lot of self control to not fire back at him, and that was because it wasn’t cool to make a monster angry on purpose; the consequences are grave. So I just listened despite that I was very upset.
“The Annual Camp begins on the fifth of next month. It lasts seven days, and for the whole of the week, you’re going to be collecting seashells for our experiment every night, and you’re also going to be doing most of the work, alongside the counsellors. The aim is to not let you enjoy the camping this time” Like I’ve ever enjoyed it?
“Why don’t you ask me not to come to the camp at all? I think that’d be a better, sweeter punishment” I said, trying not to show so much disgust.
“Are you trying to deliberately put me in danger, Mr Robinson?” I asked, staring into his now bloodshot eyes. I was obviously starting to get on his nerves.
“What audacity! The camping is compulsory for everyone, especially you, because you’re going to be representing us at the first day competition with Marigold College. You dare not refuse coming or you’ll get a greater punishment”
“But how can I represent you well if I’ll be under some strenuous punishment for the whole week?” I stood up, moved back to ask this question.
“I have given the verdict. Now leave my office!” He said, and I could swear I saw the reflection of a wolf’s face on his.
I hurriedly walked out, crying and fuming. I went straight to the bathroom which was thankfully empty at the time. I wasn’t suspended because of the Annual Camp. Why didn’t I think of that before? I was so sad I didn’t get the suspension letter. I was even sadder because I couldn’t even hide from all these. The way Mr Robinson had said, “You dare not refuse coming or you’ll get a greater punishment” had sounded like, “If you refuse to come, I’m gonna haunt you down and make sure I kill you” in my eardrums. Maybe he didn’t mean that, but what else could “a greater punishment” mean, coming from a sadist murderer and a first-class monster? I cried and shivered. I started to regret returning to school in the first place. It started to seem like Mr Robinson was having me under him, gradually.
That must have been the way he started with Anita.
I was in for it–i had to be at the camp. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all . Maybe getting involved in many activities would get my mind off Joe, off the troubles at home.
Home was only cooler because of the presence of the twins. Cameron bought many baby items, but mom didn’t take any of them at first, until later she realized that they were his kids too, so he took them only for the fact that he was also responsible for their birth. Cameron did all these to gain mom’s favour, so that she’d reconsider the divorce, obviously. He played with the kids most times, although it didn’t look natural. He also renamed them Bianca and Benita, but mom insisted that they were Jamie Dawn and Pamela Amy. So the twins had different names given by their parents. They grew fast, and healthy too. But they slept most times. I think that’s peculiar to most children.
Mom and Cameron still fought but he always ended up pleading with her, not without adding, “I won’t be doing this for long. If you still don’t feel convinced that I still want you, then you’d have to make me force you to stay back, because over my dead body will I see you with that guy” See that? That’s coming from a man’s mouth to his wife. He was jealous and wanted mom to stay with him but he’d not even stop maltreating her and making her sad. What kind of a situation was this?
Well, I liked the fact that mom always said, “He’d never change. If at all it looks like he’s changing, it’s a facade. I’ve known Cameron long enough to be sure that he’ll never change. His attitude has stuck. She knew
“Even if God wants to change him, he has to surrender but that’s far from what Cameron will ever do. Maybe he’ll change when he’s with some other woman, but with me, he’ll always stay the same. The best thing to do to protect my sanity is to leave” She’d tell Nora whenever they talked on phone.
“Then leave, Ruby” she would urge. “Please do. You need yourself” I heard them on phone twice or thrice
“I have to leave clean. I mean, it has to be formal or Cameron won’t take my leaving seriously. He’d still hunt me down no matter where I run to, and if I let this happen, he’d try to make my life more miserable and try every means to get me back. He’s done this before.
Besides, it’s not just me i fear for. I fear that he’d try to harm my boyfriend, Jack and maybe the kids. Trust me, I know this man so well. That’s why I have to formally leave him, and the only means is getting him to agree to divorce me” she’d say
“Why not try? I could do anything to help you. Is anything holding you back, apart from his stubbornness? And hey, I hope he doesn’t know about Jack?”
“He knows, Nora. I wish I had succeeded in keeping my relationship with Jack completely secret. Now he knows that Jack and I are dating each other. That makes it worse” then Nora would sigh and continue mumbling some words of advice, ideas and encouragement. The call would end with mom saying “Amen” to whatever prayers she uttered on phone to her, and then her suggesting a date they could meet to talk face-to-face.
What could be harder than you feeling miserable but you can’t even leave the person or place making you feel this way because you’re tied in some kind of way? I wished I could help mom. I wished I could help myself, more. If I couldn’t help myself, how could I help any other person?
After I got home that day after school, (of course it was Mike who fetched me as usual), the day after my encounter in Mr Robinson’s office, I went straight to my room and lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I was sleepy but I wanted to be awake, so I forced my eyes open. Neither mom nor Cameron was around yet. After staring at the ceiling doing nothing for almost an hour, I went to my window and changed my curtains, from the transparent ones to opaque ones because I didn’t want to see that figure anymore. It was only then I could nap peacefully.
When I woke up from my siesta, I heard mom slamming the door of her car shut in the parking lot. I jumped out of bed and ran outside immediately. She was dressed in something different from what she wore out of the house in the morning, I think this was because of Cameron. Or maybe she had a party to attend?
Both of them left the house at about the same time to their separate workplaces. I mean, Cameron already knew mom’s had a change in dress sense, and although it unnerved him, he still knew. So, why would mom hide a spare dress in her bag and then change into it later at work so Cameron would not see it? I didn’t know why. Maybe she was just being careful.
The dress was not slutty but it was really tight on her curvy build. I helped her let the babies down from the car, and then I took her bag, while she pushed the two baby carriers up the staircase, towards my room.
Immediately we got to my room, mom fetched the babies out of the carrier and into their cots. One of them was asleep. The other was crying. Mom sat on my bed, flung her shoes away tiredly and then started to breastfeed the crying baby. While she did that, she asked me to get her some water, claiming she hadn’t had any all day. I went to the kitchen straight to bring a jug of water and a empty mug. But when I returned to my room, mom was already dozing. Her baby’s lips still hung onto her nipple as she suckled but mom was already groggy. I didn’t know what to do. I tapped her twice and she opened her eyes and yawned
“Ariana, I’m sorry, I slept off” she said and took the water, then she carried the baby on her chest, stood up and patted her back gently, singing her a lullaby. The baby soon slept off but she still laid on her chest
“Baby, how was school today?” Mom asked me out of the blues. I hadn’t prepared an answer for this question. Should I tell Mom about what happened in school? I thought. No, I probably shouldn’t bother her seeing that she’s so tired already. So I said,
“School was okay” Afterwards I told her about the camp which was slated for the fifth of October, the next month and it was only 15th of September as at that time. She seemed happy for me. After we talked for a while, she asked me if I had invited my friends from school for the birthday party that’d be holding soon. Actually she had returned home earlier than usual, because of this. I told her that I didn’t invite anyone. She didn’t ask me why. She merely replied, “That’s okay, the kids from here will grace the occasion” Cameron would be back late in the night, so we still had many hours of freedom to use his house for the party.
Before I knew it, mom had prepared two different delicacies and baked some cupcakes, about fifteen and then a bigger cake where she designed a “happy eighth birthday to you, baby” on. She went to the guest room and returned to my room with a present. When I tore it open, it was a dress. A red birthday dress.
My birthday was beautiful. Mike and the other kids in the neighborhood attended my party and rejoiced with me. There was some singing and dancing but it was mostly full of eating and drinking. It was like the most beautiful birthday party ever. Mike Tony was the MC of the ceremony. He danced for so long and thus, He made all the children, including me happy. He also did pray for me, and with everyone. He also took pictures.
After everything ended around 7:30pm, mom cleaned the whole house, Mike assisted her too. I tried to, but she asked me to go upstairs and have some sleep. I was already feeling sleepy, you know that satisfactory feeling you have that you just want to lay down and sleep, so you can dream of good things. Yeah that’s the one.
I slept earlier than usual that night and didn’t even know when Cameron returned. And I sure had a dream that night. No, not one dream, but two.