Falsely Accused

Two

Falsely Accused Chapter Two

I feel disturbed and not happy. Rue sleeps with me on this small bed and most of the time we sit and talk in hushed tones throughout the night when we cannot sleep.

‘’What’s on your mind darling?’’

I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

‘’Please don’t call me that,’’ I say in a near whisper.

‘’Why not?’’

‘’It reminds me of him. Of Neal, the best person I ever knew. He was always there for me, he brought so much peace love and joy to my heart.’’ I say sadly and let the warm tears fall on my cheeks.

Then I remember a very long quote by Suzy Kassem.

“Never judge someone's character based on the words of another. Instead, study the motives behind the words of the person casting the bad judgment. An honest woman can sell tangerines all day and remain a good person until she dies, but there will always be naysayers who will try to convince you otherwise. Perhaps this woman did not give them something for free, or at a discount. Perhaps too, that she refused to stand with them when they were wrong — or just stood up for something she felt was right. And also, it could be that some bitter women are envious of her, or that she rejected the advances of some very proud men. Always trust your heart. If the Creator stood before a million men with the light of a million lamps, only a few would truly see him because truth is already alive in their hearts. Truth can only be seen by those with truth in them. He who does not have Truth in his heart, will always be blind to her.”

My sister’s word brought me here. It led me to this place. I know or maybe I have always heard about blood being thicker than water but in our case it didn’t work.

One thing though, was she interested in Neal?

How comes she was so determined to take me to jail?

Well, there is only one way to discover the truth. Serve my jail term and then get out toughened. Then do my investigations privately and quietly.

I am happy that God may have revealed to me what kind of a person she is.

‘’Young girl!’’ Rue calls startling me. ‘’Please go to sleep. Don’t overthink, I need you to stop overthinking or you will go insane.’’

‘’Never! I must stay sane to unravel the truth behind Neal’s death.’’ I say authoritatively and Rue laughs heartily.

‘’That’s the woman I want to deal with.’’

Rue is about thirty years of age so she isn’t that old either. We rhyme  nicely and by that I know even though her crime was pickpocketing which she never denied, she is a good woman and good people still exist.

‘’Thanks Rue and by the way, you were about to tell me something before we went to eat, what were you talking about?’’

‘’Um… which, can you please remind me what we were talking about?’’

‘’Yes, when you said that my sister will not be frustrating me for so long.’’

‘’Oh yes!’’ she says excitedly then looks around as if wanting to make sure that no one is listening. Then in a lowered tone, she says; ‘’My dad came visiting the other day you rem?’’

‘’Yes, you told me about it.’’

‘’Well, he said after interacting a lot with you, he believed in your innocence.’’

‘’And?’’

‘’He wants to take up your case. He wants your file to be reopened.  He feels something is not adding up. Okay, those are his words, not mine.’’

‘’Really Rue?’’ I ask with torrents of tears already flowing from my eyes.’’

I never thought anything like that would ever happen. I have been lost inside here with no one to contact, the only person who ever believed in my innocence is my best friend who couldn’t do anything after being threatened by my sister.

‘’Yes, and guess what!’’

‘’What?’’

‘’He is already hiring a private detective to follow your sister and your best friend. He is going to look into it.’’

‘’Thank you, Lord Jesus,’’ I say absently.

She puts her finger on her lips and hushes me.

‘’You need to be as discrete as you can about it. No one should know about it.’’

‘’I will sweet friend, I will.’’

‘’We need to sleep girl, remember it is you and I forever. You cannot leave me and I cannot leave you.’’

‘’I will never forget that.’’

‘’If and when I get out of here, I will be visiting as much as I can. Even if it means bribing them to just see you. I will.’’

I nod forgetting it is dark and she can’t see me.

‘’Thank you, Rue.’’

‘’Any time and remember my father and I believe in your innocence.’’

She says then hugs me tightly and when she hears me sniffing, she reaches for my face and wipes away my tears gently.

‘’Do not cry baby girl.’’ She whispers. ‘’it gives your haters an edge over you.’’

‘’Like what?’’

‘’Like how weak and a cry-baby you are.’’

I frown in the dark. ‘’silly girl, I am not one.’’

‘’Then don’t let anyone ever see your tears ever. Goodnight sweet girl.’’

‘’I will always remember that. Good night.’’

My nights are always filled with people trying to kill me. Nightmares and lack of sleep.

Rue skips to the upper bed and drifts to sleep almost immediately.

I know because she is one of those people who snore lightly.

I cuddle myself and starts toasting in bed.

I have never had a single night of peace since Neal died. I don’t know what the time is but the quietness can tell me it’s in the middle of the night.

I close my eyes and my mind drifts to how I met Neal.

Three years ago,

I was in university studying for a degree in communication, Neal was in a different class doing marketing. He found me stressed up at the field one day and he approached me.

‘’Good afternoon beautiful?’’ he said and I sneered at him.

I had never had a serious relationship then.

I never wanted to commit to anyone because I knew what I wanted, my education to be my priority. I stood up to walk away but he held me strongly.

I tried pulling my hand away but his grip was quite strong.

‘’You are hurting me…..’’

‘’Neal, Neal is the name.’’

‘’Neal or whatever you call yourself you are hurting my wrist,’’ I shouted but he never relented his grip.

I turned and faced him in the eye.

‘’You have something in your eye,’’ he stated quietly attracting my attention.

‘’What is it?’’ I asked him impatiently.

‘’Look at me, I will remove it for you.’’

I looked at him straight in the eye. He wasn’t removing something but smiling beautifully. He was very handsome and outstanding. He was tall and lean, with a chocolate complexion. He looked humble and no arrogance at all.

‘’You are ogling beautiful.’’ He said and I blinked randomly shaking my head just to get back to my senses.

‘’I am sorry, I thought you wanted to remove something from my eyes,’’ I asked him politely and he smiled again.

‘’I wanted to see through your heart.’’ He said with a smile.

‘’So you can see through hearts?’’

‘’Not exactly but with this, forgive me but I really had to try.’’

‘’Did you see anything?’’

‘’Of course!’’

‘’What specifically?’’

That someone just broke your heart and you need consolation. I have also seen that you are not happy but you are putting up a semblance of a smile and a mask to hide it.

‘’Wow! Are you a magician or something?’’

‘’Something.’’

‘’Meaning?’’

‘’What is eating up the beautiful heart?’’

‘’None of your business.’’ I knew I was being rude but I gave no damn care, I never wanted to speak to anyone. I had caught Jude cheating on me with miss University.

They were having a beautiful moment when I walked in on them without their knowledge. He ran after me when I ran out without a word.

He had no explanation about what he did so I walked away and promised never to look back.

He was handsome and all that but he couldn’t have broken my heart any worse. I left him and asked him to go back to his mistress and never to look for me.

‘’Are you listening miss beautiful?’’ Neal asked and I shook my head. ‘’Miss!’’

‘’Yes, what were you saying?’’

‘’My name is Neal, Neal Justus and what is your beautiful name?’’

I will just tell him my name, I guess it will not harm me and maybe he will let go of me to enjoy my solitude. 

‘’I am Nada,’’ I said quickly before changing my mind.

‘’Wow! Such a beautiful name. I like it.’’

‘’Sorry, but I wasn’t asking your opinion about it.’’

‘’At least say thank you beautiful. It isn’t too much to ask for.’’

‘’Thank you, Neal,’’ I said throwing all caution to the wind then turned on my heels to walk away.

‘’Hey please can I see you again?’’

I heard him asking but I ignored him and walked away.

I had called Naomi and I was glad to find her waiting for me at the gate. I told her about Jude and she advised me that I don’t bother with him and that I don’t let him derail my being.

‘’Thank you sister,’’ I told her with a tight hug.

‘’Any time little sis.’’

I gravitate very slowly to sleep and I am sure there will be no sleep but turns of nightmares.

‘’Wake up girl, we need to go get the porridge or you will go hungry again.’’ I hear Rue’s sweet voice and I force my eyes open.

I have slept for very few hours but trust me I had a peaceful one.

Is it because of the news I heard yesterday from Rue? Maybe but I am so much grateful to whoever brought her into this world.

The stay here would have not been any better if I didn’t meet her.

She is about to be released going and I don’t know how I will survive.

‘’Didn’t you hear me, Nada? Do you want to miss breakfast?’’

‘’Sorry girl, let us go.’’

I wake up and we walk towards the place where the breakfast is set up.

There is no luxury here and besides, we need to make sure we get there before the strong inmates.

Two inmates are fighting and I gasp in disbelief when one of them takes the hot porridge and spills on the other and she gets burnt so bad.

She is rushed to the prison hospital and the other one moved to “the room". The private room.

The room is the worst place to be! All who needs taming or are in bad books with the prison warders are taken there for panel beating.

 Most prison deaths occur from there.

We take our porridge and move hastily but without saying a word to each other.

Prison life keeps getting scary.

I never chose this and can never wish it on my worst enemy.