Today being Saturday, a work free day for me, I decided to pay Shirley a visit. Although I had never been to her house before, she sent me her address and I quickly booked a cab.
While on my way there, I kept thinking about what happened between me and Jessica. She couldn't say a word to me during breakfast today, and I didn't say anything to her either.
We were more like strangers living in the same roof, she wasn't the kind of person I thought she was. She had totally changed and I was beginning to mind my business too, as I wasn't ready to die or be killed by her craziness.
"You don't look good, is everything okay?" Said the cabman from the driver's seat, he was staring at me through the rearview mirror, kind of concerned about my expression and how quiet I was.
"Yeah, everything is fine" I lied, not willing to share my ordeal with him. He was a stranger after all, sharing your predicaments with strangers will make you look like a weak somebody. Although sometimes, you get to meet people that will help you.
"No, you don't look like someone that is fine. You can share whatever your problem is with me, and I assure you I will try to give you the best advice ever" he smiled at me through the rearview mirror.
"Hmm," I heaved a sigh not evening knowing what exactly to do, should I share some parts with him or just tell him the whole thing? Or should I just ignore him? I thought to myself.
"Trust me, young lady" he said, sounding more matured than the rest of the cabmen I had met before. He didn't call me Mam or Miss, but young lady which sounded more decent to me.
"Okay," I cleared my throat and started, "I just relocated to the County and I am not enjoying my stay in my Aunt's house because her daughter is so annoying, she does things like a little girl"
"Is she the only child?" he asked.
"Yes, she is. And her dad was a Sheriff deputy, he died when she was a little kid. Her mother raised her all alone, her mother is my maternal Aunt" I responded.
"Where are your parents?" he asked, making me to heave a sigh. I didn't expect him to ask about them actually, we weren't talking about them.
"They are... dead" I gulped, "They died in a ghastly car accident, and I was the only child they had. My aunt then invited me to live with her, and now I am working in a company at the far end of Mainland" I uttered.
"Sorry about your parents" he sympathized.
"Thank you" I huffed.
"So, since you are already working, why not relocate to the Mainland? Besides, you are old enough to take care of yourself. You can as well invite someone to live with you there, a boyfriend maybe. Someone responsible, not just anyhow guy, you get what I am saying?" he made a U-Turn.
"Yes but, I don't want to be far from my Aunt, she's a very good woman. And I don't know how she's going to feel about it if I tell her I am relocating, she was the reason why I am here in the first place and I haven't even been with them for a year yet" I said, totally concerned about what aunt Vicky will say about relocation. She once talked about it but I read her expression and my mind told me she was just saying, not as if she wanted it for real.
"It doesn't matter, you can still relocate if you want to. I am sure she will understand. Talk to her about the distances, and how you can't cope with transportation. I am sure she will understand" he said as he took a photo of a young girl from his dashboard and showed it to me, "This is my daughter, Maria. She's currently living in Mainland, with her boyfriend. She's working as a salesgirl in one of the convenience stores here" he explained.
"Wow, nice. That's good. And her mom?" I asked out of curiosity.
"She died a decade ago after battling for few months from stroke" he said with a sad look worn on his face, "She never get the chance to relocate to this state with us, she was buried in our hometown, Vinewood"
"Hard luck, sorry about that. I know the pain of losing a beloved is excruciating, I can relate" I said and handed back his daughter's picture to him.
"Yes, and everlasting. A day won't pass without thinking about my lovely Sarah" he said, now wearing a fainted smile on his face.
"Nice name, she had a nice name" I commented.
"Yes she did, and I would be glad if Maria name her newborn after her" he uttered with a glimpse of hope written on his face, it was obvious his daughter didn't like the idea of naming her child after her mother. But why? I would be very glad if I was to be in her shoes.
"Did you talk to her about it?" I asked to be sure of my hunch.
"Yes but, her boyfriend isn't willing to do that. Maria loves her boyfriend a lot, she hates going against him. I bet he's going to name my grandchild after his mother, that's still fine by me though" he said in what seemed like a whisper, now wearing a very sad face.
"I thought her boyfriend respects you, he should at least grant you your wish. After all, it's not as if they can't name their future children after whoever they wish" I said hoping to hear a comforting response from him.
"That young man is something else," he heaved a sigh and continued, "he used to respect me but things later changed when I found out he lied to me about his job. He told me he's working in a factory as a chief engineer only to find out he's conman. I did all I could to separate Maria from him but all efforts to no avail. He has strong influence on her, you know, and there is nothing I could do. Now, they live like family" he said as he blinked away the tears that had gathered in his eyes.
That was a sad story really, I could feel his pain. The pain of losing the person you love to someone else. Maria was his daughter, he raised her and took good care of her only for her to chose a conman over him. I would definitely feel the same if I were him, and would mostly likely keep trying all my best to get my daughter back even if it means getting myself into a huge police case.
"I know it's painful, but sometimes the best thing is to let things be. Sooner or later, she will realize her mistake and will definitely turn back to you. Right now she's under the strong influence of the love she has for her boyfriend, but when she's back to her senses she will understand" I consoled.
"Thank you so much" he said. "Here," he handed me a card, " it's my card, and if you ever had the chance to pass by 36th Main Street, say hi to Maria in apartment building 18th, room number 22nd" he added, smiling.
"Sure, I will" I collected the card from him and smiled back at him through the rearview mirror.
When we arrived at my destination, I alighted from the vehicle and waved at him as he drove away. It was nice conversing with him, and hopefully we would be meeting again. But first, I would like to know more about his daughter. Perhaps I could get to meet and talk to her, she would return back to her senses.
It's so unfortunate how some people don't even regard their parents as anything, when orphans are willing to practically do anything in order to get their parents back to life. People like me. Yes, if there is a way I could bring my parents back to life I would gladly do that because I miss them. I miss them so much.
Talking about missing my parents, I also missed Shirley. It had been days since we last met, and right now I just couldn't wait to see. She was also under house arrest, just like Jessica. And I heard she had been interrogated twice by the police, she told me her parents were trying their best to make sure she doesn't go to jail. They believed in her and they believed she would never steal anything from anyone, let alone from a store.
As soon as I walked closer to the house, I pressed the door alarm and a teenage boy came out and asked who I was. He looked just like Shirley, and that made me concluded that they were related by blood. He was probably her sibling or cousin.
"I am Laura, and I am looking for Shirley" I responded to him, "Is she around?" I asked even though I knew she was going nowhere the fact that she was under house arrest.
"Yes, but she's sleeping. Can you come back later?" he said about closing the door when an elderly woman surfaced and told him to go back inside. "Okay, mom" he said and sluggishly left.
"Who are you, Shirley's friend? What are you here for?" she bespoke. She looked somehow, obviously not happy seeing me. Anyways, it wasn't as if we had met before hence I was a total stranger to her.
"I am here to see Shirley, she's my friend and I told her I was coming" I said, hoping she doesn't shut the door at me. If she does that, then I would be returning back home without being able to meet her daughter.
"Right," she looked around to probably see if I was with someone, "did you come with someone?" she curiously asked. She was kindof insecure, was she expecting something?
"No Mam, I am alone" I responded, "The cab I borded drove away, any problem?"
"Oh, okay... fine, come in!" she said, gesturing to me to walk into the door. And just as I was inside the house, she shut and locked the door. Then she called on the boy that was at the door with me earlier, his name was Tony. She warned him to never open the door for strangers, "If you heard the bell again, call me. Otherwise, I am going to deal with you. Remember what I did to you few days ago, huh?" she asked and the boy answered positive, wearing a sad look. "Good, that's exactly what I will do to you again next time!" she groaned and then headed upstairs.
She didn't even care to tell me to find a seat and sit, that was how I kept standing while waiting for Shirley to show up. But Shirley didn't, her mother didn't too. Thus, I asked Tony who was busy playing video games in the sitting room if Shirley would be coming down anytime soon.
"I already told you, she's sleeping" he muttered,
"Okay" I gulped and remained standing until later on he asked if I wasn't tired of standing. Of course I was, but why sit when I wasn't told to? I answered him in my mind.
Seeing how silent I was, he muttered a curse and glanced at me, "You should have a seat please" he gestured towards one of the armchairs in the sitting room.
"Okay, thank you" I plastered a smile on my face and sat on the chair, waiting patiently for Shirley to come down. She shouldn't be sleeping when she knew I was coming, we spoke not long ago on phone for God's Sake. Or was she on the verge of sleeping when I called? Well, she probably was.
While waiting for her, Tony kept playing his game. It was a captivating "open world" game where a player would navigate around, undergo certain missions on land or on air, while maintaining their health which was indicated in a red bar at one side of the screen on top.
He was good at the game and I was already enjoying the fact that it looked so good. The environment was nice, the cars were fancy, and the pedestrians were funny. They insult the player when he tries to ram them or when he aims at them with any of his weapons.
I wasn't really a fan of video games but this particular one made me thought for a second about giving video game a try somebody. When I was a little kid, our neighbors would buy portable or handheld game consoles but my parents would buy me toys instead. And sometimes, lego games to play with.
I never had the chance to own an electronic game before or a console, and I never really cared because I believed it was meant for the boys, and girls that mingle with boys. And when I grew up, the only game I had ever played on my phone was Cookies Crush Saga. Naomi made me installed it that life isn't always about studying, sometimes we ought to play some games, go on a tour or catch fun with friends on the beech.
However, seeing how Tony was playing this particular game made me feel the name to give it a try. "What's the name of this game?" I curiously asked.
"ThirdGenAuto" he responded while concentrating on the game.
"Wow, nice. Is there mobile phone version?" I asked so that I could go to the application store and install it in order to give it a try. I loved how fun it was.
"Mobile version?" he burst into laughter.
"What's funny?" I asked, surprised.
"Nothing, just that there is no mobile version of this game. And not all game consoles are compatible, it's a very powerful game and you need at least two hundred gigabyte worth of space in your storage in order to install it and at least sixteen gigabyte of random access memory. Let's not talk about graphics card and processor" he uttered, making me to drop a jaw in bewilderment. What sort of game was that? I thought onr could play video games on their mobile phones too?
"Ohh," I muttered, "so that means if I want to play the game, I would have to buy a home console like that one over there sitting comfortably close to the TV?" I pointed at it.
"Exactly, or others like the Game Station 5 and SBOS Series 3. They are the powerful game consoles in the market today by different manufacturers, or you could just get a gaming personal computer or laptop computer" he said, rendering me speechless. "All those are costly though," he continued, "by the way why do you want to game?" he asked.
"Because I like this particular game you are playing" I smiled at him.
