CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT: NORA'S SAGA

"Jack, listen to me" "What are you talking about? Are you leaving me now?" "Look Jack, the whole process was never right. I mean, I.." "You mean, meeting me was a mistake?" He bellowed. I could see he was fuming or maybe he was just a little upset about the new development "There are different reasons for meeting different people. I don't and will never regret meeting you, Jack, but I'm afraid, I'd have to call it quits with you" mom said. She was a bit loud but I was certain Cameron would not hear, because he was so engrossed in his games. He even had headphones on. "Are you breaking up with me because he said he didn't want to lose you?" He sounded like he couldn't believe his ears. "Do you remember how many times he's stopped you from leaving, with this same tactics?" "Jack..." "I don't know, Ruby. I thought you should be wiser by now. I'm not saying this because of the relationship between us, but for real? Come on, you deserve way better than that motherf-" "Don't, Jack. You know that all I wanted was a peaceful marriage, not a second marriage, not even a divorce. I'm making this the last chance for him, and I swear if he messes it up, I'm coming for you" Mom said carefully . "He will make sure he keeps pretending like this until you can't have me anymore. I tell you" he said and sighed. "Let's see. I gave him three months. Let's put all our plans on hold for now, and one more thing, don't tell Nora yet please. " "Okay" "So, I'm not breaking up with you. We are only taking a break for three months" "We are not going to see each other too?" He asked. "I'll let you know. Please Jack. I love you. I am just really confused. My head is throbbing, I don't know what I've got myself into. I wish I never agreed to marry him. I wish you came first" she sobbed. "It's okay, cherry. I'll buy you lunch tomorrow, if you are free. We'll talk things over. You'll be fine, we got this!" And then, mom bumped into me. She was too fast to come out, I didn't even realize she had ended the call already so I couldn't hide or run away on time. She caught me red-handed. I actually startled her. "Ariana! What are you doing?" "Sorry mom" I said and walked back to my room. She didn't call me back. And I didn't come out of the room for the rest of the day. And surprisingly, none of them asked if I had eaten dinner. I waited for them to at least knock, but I didn't hear a thing. Or perhaps I was asleep when they came. I'll never know. That night, I went to bed without dinner. It wasn't as if I was hungry anyways. That night too, I had a dream. I saw Joe. His coffin cracked open on its own accord, and out came him who had been dead many months. He came out and walked up to me, held my shoulders and embraced me tightly. He didn't stink. His face still shone. Like a child's. He smelt of roses and coconut oil. He embraced me for a long time and then, he disappeared. And when I woke up in the morning, mom was gone. Including 'dad'. My sisters were gone too. I was alone in the whole house. Again. This time around, I was so angry because they did not inform me they were leaving. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and washed. Then, in my bathrobe, I walked to the kitchen to find pasta with cheese and cauliflower breadsticks simmering on the cooker. ,I went outside the house, and there was mom, talking to Mike and laughing loudly like a happy teenager. Oh they're still around, I thought. I wanted to join them in the chatter but I also wanted to show my anger. I was angry because none of them(mom and Cameron) came to kiss me good morning, or run a bath for me and it was already 8.00am. Mom almost bumped into me when she returned indoors. "Hey darling you're up" she smiled. I backed away and walked into the house murmuring. "Are you upset about something?" "Mom, you did not prepare my bathing water. You did not wake me up" "You are eight, Ariana!" She retorted, laughing and that shocked me. Because she always did them for me even when I was still eight. Wouldn't forgiving her husband mean more harm than good to me? I thought. She came to my room some minutes later, asking me to come to breakfast. Over breakfast, she said, "Your dad went to a meeting with his friends. Men stuff. So, I'll be going out too, with Nora later today. Women stuff." She was giggling and I wanted to tell her to stop. "Mom, I didn't eat supper yesterday" "You weren't hungry" she said, poking my cheeks. Really? "I'll be taking you with me when I'm going out, but you'll stay inside Nora's house, while I have a talk with her. I am doing this because she wanted you to come with" she said. It was exciting. I wanted to see Nora again I had not seen her in weeks. That afternoon, mom drove us to Nora's place. It was far but she didn't mind at all. Nora had been a good nurse to her while she was bedridden, during those times she suffered injuries from her husband's violent outbursts. I still didn't really understand what happened the other day with Nora. How she mandated her boyfriend to take a flight down to her place the day after the incident. What could have made her act so violent? I hoped I'd find out, and I also hoped I'd meet her boyfriend since we were going to her house, and who knows, he might be visiting too. What's her boyfriend's name again? Two things happened that afternoon. Jack and mom and Nora had a little disagreement at the table where they were talking in the bar behind Nora's apartment. Yeah, Jack was with them. It took me a while to figure out what they were arguing over. The second thing that happened was, I found out a 'possible' reason why Nora might have been like that, on that day she was driving me home. That day I had called Mom a dummy. I still remembered that incident. And I still remembered that I called Mom a dummy that day. Now that I think of it, wasn't she actually a dummy for sticking with Cameron despite everything he'd done to her? I was stuck in between eavesdropping on their conversation by hiding, like I usually did, and checking for answers in Nora's bedroom. It was a bad habit of mine--intruding on people's privacy, but maybe I'd not know how to hide and eavesdrop or check other people's stuff without their consent, if there was no issue with my family. Don't blame me. I finally decided to stay back and find answers to Nora's display of violence, weeks back. I couldn't hear their conversation anyway. I could only see them through the window, giggling and sipping wine. There were three tall glasses of red wine before each of them. Mom infact looked a bit drunk. And I was surprised to see that Jack had been invited too. Mom didn't say anything about him coming to table, with her her and Nora. I didn't bother to bolt the door from inside, because I was sure those grownups would not leave the table for anything in the world. They seemed to be really engrossed in their chatter. They might as well have forgotten that I was inside the house. It took me a while before I found some clue. In one of Nora's pile of notes. Inside a big brown hospital card. It was a report of her diagnosis. Name: Nora Henry Age: 23 Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder(BD) and Dissociative Affective Disorder(DID) I didn't exactly know what the other disorder meant, but I knew bipolar. Who would have thought Nora had bipolar? I mean, she was always normal to me, except that incident where she was violent. That day, I saw her claws. I saw blood in her mouth. I saw the fear and intensity in her eyes. Was that bipolar too? That in actual sense, was in fact a display of a supernatural personality. Nora's claws were that of a wolf. Her eyes too, when that incident happened, and it had been really hard to curb, for her. We almost got into an accident that day. The doctor who gave her that report sure didn't know that the supernatural world existed. The world that defied science and rules of gravity. I was sure that, Nora was a wolf, because I had seen not one, not two wolves, and I know what they looked like. Maybe she should have gone to Meteors Contention Camp with us. Maybe she'd have realized she had superpowers and that her wolf didn't want to be tamed anymore. I was still searching for more clues when I heard noise from outside. It wasn't exactly a disturbing noise, but their voices were raised above usual. So, I went to the window to see what was going on. "You think your daughter is crazy but you might be the crazy one, Ruby. How could you let him have another chance? Remember what he did to you when you left the first time? I don't think you have the scar anymore? You think such a person would change?" "Nora, please don't be hard on her. I understand her situation. Let's just advise her and emphatize, not criticize. It's very hard to get out of an abusive relationship" Jack said, trying to create peace. "And let's not yell at one another, we are grownups" he said. Mom was there, silent and sipping at her wine. "Yeah it's very hard to get out of an abusive relationship, but I did it! Why can't she? Why should she suffer? Don't you love yourself, Ruby? Is it the money or..." "Nora, stop please" Mom said. Quietly. Nora, who had been standing since, finally sat, quietening down. "My boyfriend did worse things to me, believe it or not. I was a shadow of myself. The only times I enjoyed him was when he was far away. I was addicted to him strangely, despite that he abused me every time we met, he beat me in public, gave me a bad eye that I covered with make-up, he set me up and turned against me, even killed my therapy dog! My dear, you have no idea what he did to me!" She was fuming. Was it the same guy she spoke with over the phone the other day? The one who sounded so masculine and sweet? The one I had made a prayer point on behalf of mom. They did say, "Be careful what you wish for". Indeed. "It's okay, Nora. I can understand you want the best for Ruby. Let's do things right. So, what do we do now? We can't afford to cause a fuss, he's a celebrity, and she's a celebrity too" he said quietly. Finally everything died down and I stopped eavesdropping. I had heard almost all I needed to hear.