CHAPTER FIFTY THREE: GREGORY HARLEY

It didn't take me too long to adapt to Miranda's environment, as it was friendly enough. Mom agreed that I could stay the whole summer at her place. I was able to meet her handsome brother, Peter, and lovely Mrs Harley. Peter became a breadwinner for his family after their father died. He was a civil engineer, and Mrs Harley knitted and sowed dresses for sale. Her house was not an exquisite one, like ours, but it was beautiful and neat. The furniture was of medium standard, I could tell that only one or two of my dresses could buy the whole furniture. Miranda told me Peter built the house after their father's death, they didn't want to rent a house. Besides, they had no car. Miranda also told me her brother sold their father's car to meet some needs. He also bought another one, which was parked outside their garage. It wasn't so new. That didn't exactly matter. What mattered was how comfortable a house felt for you, whether a home or hell. It felt like home. In her house, it felt like the world was a little safer to be in. She actually did treat me like her own daughter. Miranda was the most excited, and she was very understanding. I guess that's because her mom had informed them earlier on, what my case was, so she didn't look too shocked when she realized I couldn't talk. The other three girls-- the new friends she made, came over the day after I arrived there. They were so much fun to be with, and for the second time, I found three people to liken Elaine, Prisca and Jido with. They reminded me of those castle maids, because they had long hair and alluring smiles. Having fun with them made me forget about Robinson for a while. I forgot about Joe too. I still missed Robin, I still called his name tirelessly in secret, and I still hoped for his response, but I had to put that behind me for a while or I would be really sad. Three days after my stay with them, I didn't realize my tongue had come loose, until Miranda's mom called my attention to it. It was in the morning and I was checking out the refrigerator for some milk but I couldn't find any, so I asked, "Ma, do we have any milk left?" She was stupefied. She moved closer to me and asked carefully, "Did you just ask if we had any milk left?" I nodded, wondering why she was trying to be sure. "Yes ma" I said clearly and that was when it occured to me what had just happened. I covered my mouth in total amazement and jumped around the house. "Mommy! I can talk now! Mommy!" Mrs Harley followed me into the verandah where mom was seated. My mom upon hearing me speak, scooped my heavy self up from the floor and placed me on her chest. Then, she did a spin around the room, crying and shouting, "Thanks be you, Oh Lord!" Miranda's mom joined her, but she added weird dancing steps. Soon, the other girls heard the cry and came out of Miranda's room to hug me. It was a big relief. I didn't realize it would ever happen. I mean, when I got dumb, I thought I'd never be able to speak ever again. And I must say, that thought was scary. The day after I found my voice, mom travelled back home, not without handing a fat envelope to the woman of the house anyway. I'm sure it was full of dollars. She asked me if it was okay for her to leave, and I said yes, giving her a huge hug. She needed to take care of my sisters, so I let her go. She was the one who first said, "I really have to go, though I don't want to leave you yet". As soon as she left, Miranda and I set to prepare our girls' days out, and nights out. With the other girls of course. Their names were, Jennifer, Phoebe and Michelle. Michelle and Phoebe were twins, unidentical twelve year old twins. Phoebe was only nine. So, obviously I was the youngest but it didn't feel like it because I was wiser and smarter. We drafted our plan for the rest of the summer out on the wall and circled the days on the calendar. Miranda said she was leaving Scotland immediately after the holidays to start a new life. She said she was going to live with her brother in the States. She said she didn't know if her mother would come with. I wondered why they were leaving. Why did people leave their soil behind? The life they've been so used to? Why do they just wake up one day and leave it, forever? Anyways, here's our draft for the holidays: __Cycle round town __Hamburgers' day out __Grab a Cup of Coffee __Midnight Games At Home- Bloody Mary, Video games, Scrabble, Riddle, Discussion time __A night at the pool __The Troublemakers (This one, Miranda wanted us to look for trouble randomly of course making sure it's something that can be handled, and would not land anyone in the hospital or cause their doom. We were going to start from her neighborhood. It also included sneaking in on people to inspect whatever they were doing, or playing pranks. I thought it was dumb , in fact dumber than it was risky, but she insisted we did it, claiming it'd be a lot of fun) __Icecream morning __Movie Night __Helping Mrs Harley at the knitting shop __Making flyers for her __A visit to a random place This was what we planned. Miranda had added, "Trying booze" but I had forced her to cancel it. I told her she was really silly for wanting to try alcohol at eleven. Besides, I didn't know how much of all the list Mrs Harley would be ready to approve of, or sponsor. It was going to be one for each day. And then, if summer still tarried, we'd shuffle them for the rest of the days. It was the first time I ever had fun with friends, so I was determined to enjoy myself maximally, without intrusive thoughts or distractions. At that point, Robin was a distraction. If I didn't get anything to occupy my mind, I'd be moping around, worrying about how he might likely be forever stuck in Supernatural Land, and he'd never be able to see me, or me him, ever again. I was grateful that Gregory's spirit stopped coming. I actually believed he was gone for good. Mrs Harley made sure I used my medications, and she was very strict with it. The night terrors only came once, and it was really bad that night, the night of the same day mom travelled back home, as Miranda and I were curled up on top of each other. I had startled her by screaming. She in fact didn't take it lightly with me. She shouted at me and warned me not to ever scare her like that. I never blamed her because it was new to her. My scream could wake the dead. Even Mrs Harley and Peter were scared to death as they came rushing down to our room, with their hearts in their mouth. Mrs Harley claimed she had thought it was a burglar. But the thing was, If Miranda Harley had been with me in my own cabin at camp, she'd have gotten used to it. I remember I had it about three times at camp. But I had only really screamed the first time. I remember it annoyed Vicky so much she fired back at me that day. The day after this incident at the Harley's, I waited for Mrs Harley to decide my fate. I infact held back coming out of the room even when I heard breakfast was ready. I thought she'd call mom immediately and ask her to come for me. Or yell at me. But she did neither. Maybe mom had told her about that too, because how could anyone be so understanding? Her daughter had said at camp, "I hate that woman so much", what exactly was in her to hate? Maybe Miranda saw what I couldn't see. Afterall, it was her own mother. When her mom asked that we show her our plan for the rest of the summer, Miranda quickly went into the room, shut the door behind her, of course after me, then she brought out another sheet of paper and wrote down : __Cycle round town __Hamburgers' day out __Grab a Cup of Coffee __Movie Night __Helping Mrs Harley at the knitting shop __Making flyers for her, ruling out the rest. She claimed that we didn't need to get her along with the other plans. Her mom liked what she saw, especially knowing that we planned to help her at the shop for a whole day, and then she promised to sponser everything. We both hugged her excitedly. "What movie are you seeing, girls?" She asked "Err mom, we are going to know what movie is showing on the fourteenth. Right now, we are just waiting" Miranda answered. "All right. I'll take you there myself. What time is it starting?" "Normally, the movies begin at 6pm every night" she said, chewing some gum. She looked like she didn't want to be asked any more questions. "Okay, not bad. I'll join you girls to see the movie, then we come home together, how about that?" She was all smiles. But, Miranda was not having it. "Noooooo!!" She yelled, running into her bathroom, with a pack of gum in her hands. It was kind of hilarious to me, but she looked dead serious. "It's a girl's night out, mom, you're not a girl!" "Okay fine! I'll come fetch you guys at 8pm sharp. Darkness is not good for kids." her mom yelled after her strictly. After a while, she added, "I'm still young, whether you like it or not. I'm barely 36, what do you call that? Old?" "Grrrrrrrrrrrrr" Miranda grumbled from the bathroom, and I couldn't help the laughter that escaped my mouth. I laughed so much my throat hurt. "You too?" She said, facing me. "You think I'm old too?" She looked hurt. I stopped immediately. "No ma. I do not think you're old" I quickly said and looked away. I didn't understand if they were teasing each other or mad at each other. "You do not have to take us there, mom! Peter will drive us there!" Her voice came again, louder than ever. Mrs Harley immediately picked up a key holder on the table, and walked to the bathroom to hit her daughter but she quickly slammed the door in her face. She was fuming. "You rotten dog" she blurted out, and it surprised me because she never was that mad at anyone, at least with what I've made of her since my visit there. When I asked my friend why she was so rude to her mother, she said, "You won't understand" and tried to leave, but I held her shirt and begged her to explain. She looked into my eyes, shut the door and said, "Mom makes a living out of my disease. She also kills dad multiple times, like over and over with her words. She sees that it hurts me, but she keeps doing it." "What do you mean?" "She uses me. She makes sure she repeats everything that's happened to me the previous years, then she tells people about me, hoping the newscompanies will come for me, and make us famous because of my déjà Vu, she believes it'll bring us a lot of money, but when one of them came here, I refused to come out, and she's been keeping malice with me over that, ever since. To make me feel pained in return, she reminds me of dad indirectly all the time. She even said once that I probably killed him, and I would kill him over and over with my 'disease'. She thought I wasn't listening. That's why I hate her. I don't want to see her everyday. Maybe once every month, but not everyday." I told her to shut up just then, but she told me I wouldn't shut up if it were me, and I started to wonder how serious her situation could be. I didn't quite understand the weight of her words but I understood that she was sad about her 'disease' being monetized by her mother, and was still grieving her father. It was so clear that she had been a 'daddy's girl'. And she had planned the girls' time out in order to avoid her mother. She went to her drawer and fetched an old picture from there. "Look at it. That's the only picture I have of him" she said. I stared at the picture. It was old but still very clear. I noticed she looked more like her father, especially the curls on her hair and their smiles. Besides, he was very tall. Miranda was tall too. I turned the picture face down and saw his name there, and the year the picture was taken "Gregory, 1991". Fear gripped me immediately I saw the name, and I dropped the picture. She didn't notice thankfully. Not that I thought it was him, but that name reminded me of him- the ghost that visited me, and wanted to suffocate me. Could it be him? Coincidences did happen, yeah? So it could just be a coincidence. "It's a coincidence" I kept telling myself but my mind did not believe it. "Look how tall and handsome he was. He was a tailor, he used to sew my dresses but now, mom does. Although I was really young, I still remember him. Especially his smile and hugs" she said. She looked like she was going to cry. I hugged her tightly and assured her it was going to be okay.