THE OTHER HALF OF ME

"Eva! Eva!," came the somehow angry voice from outside the door. Eva could hear her mother calling her for the last full minute, but she was so lost in her thoughts to answer. It was not until she heard the agitation in her mothers voice that she knew all hell could break loose anytime that she actually opened her mouth to answer. By then, the old lady was already halfway across the room to check on her only daughter who had been seating on her bed for the last three hours. "I have been calling all morning," her mother said. "I am sorry mum, I just feel soo burdened lately..," her mother reached out to her and held her hand. "Hey, the way I see it, you shouldn't find it hard to decide. All you need is to pack up your clothes, promise to call whenever you can and head towards your dreams. You have worked so hard for this day, why have second thoughts when it finally comes," the old lady didn't have much knowledge with computers or why her daughter loved them so much, but she knew Eva was good at them and IT was her dream from the word go. "Mum, I am not having second thoughts, I just don't feel okay about leaving you all alone with all these crazy people around you. You know all too well it has been me and you, fighting teeth and nails to keep our place here, if they turn on you while I am gone, how will you fight back?" she asked with a concerned look on her face. "Don't worry dear, I have the chief on my side, I hope he will be sufficient. Now get up, your plane leaves in six hours and you don't want to be late. Those things aren't like the busses here you know?" She smiled, knowing all too well that Eva was by then convinced enough. The old lady was scared for her daughter more than she was for herself. She was her only hope since the death of her husband sixteen years back when Eva was only ten. She had fought off her husbands family ever since then as they wanted to throw her out of her house. The had taken everything else belonging to their son and brother leaving only the tiny plot where the young family had leaved before Dennis died. Eva prepared herself and in one hour she was all done and ready to head out. She still wasn't sure that leaving was the best thing yet but she left anyway. At the airport, she said he farewell and left her mother still waving with tears on her eyes, it made Eva's heart shake a little but she took the brave walk anyway. The journey was long and boring but she had her books to keep her entertained throughout the long journey. Two hours into the flight, she lost her interest in the books and closed her eyes in and attempt to sleep. She tried for a few minutes and when she couldn't get herself to drift off, she found herself going through her memories. Her life had been like a badly written novel for as long as she could remember. It was however not always like that. Things were better when his father Dennis Mbatia was alive. She was only ten but she remembered him as well as the sweet life she and her parents lived back then. Her old man was a police officer and that meant she and her mother had everything they needed and a little bit more. She was a happy little girl with a normal little life and she loved it. Things changed when her father got ill, the doctors looked for whatever was ailing him but didn't find anything wrong. Dennis died four months later and his family concluded that Eva's mother had bewitched him. Rumours of how she killed her husband spread like wild fire and soon she had more haters than friends. The family then took everything that belonged to Dennis and left the wife and child with only the house they lived in. Things took a turn for the worst when Eva's mum fell ill as well and instead of people helping her, they said it was karma for what she had done. Little had they known that the poor lady had contacted the HIV virus from her late husband. She was however lucky that the country had knowledge of the disease by then and she was diagnosed early enough. Her life changed and she hated herself at first. She knew all too well that she had never been unfaithful to her husband which meant that he was the one who had brought the disease to her and yet everyone blamed her for his death. She even at some point refused to take her meds and Eva had to play the role of her mother for a while. Between school and looking after her, she felt alone and hopeless. She lost all her friends and no one wanted to be close to her anymore. She was however a strong girl and she would put a brave face and walk on. Soon the mother realized that all she was doing was hurting her little girl and she had to put on a brave face as well. The two held hands and declared a war. It was just the two of them against all odds and they were not going to give up. Eva grew up to know what had happened to her mother and that was how she came to hate men and all that came with them. She was never interested in romantic crap and she swore to live her life without ever letting a man into it. She buried her life into books and gained names like the nerd and the holy Mary throughout time. She wanted to grow up and have a well paying job so that she and her mother could free themselves from the nasty jaws of her fathers family, but that was before she met the computers. Back then, electronics were hard to come by especially for people like her who were having a hard time to even fed for themselves. She first saw a computer when they were introduced to her school. She was in form three then and she couldn't recall a time in her life when she was that excited. She dedicated her life to learn and master as much as she could and even went back there after lessons to learn some more. Three months later she hacked into the schools newly made website and changed a few things even though she had no idea how she managed to pull that through. She was later scolded by the teachers and had to slow down for a bit. She had however known what she wanted in her life and just like everything else in her life, she knew all too well that achieving it was going to be one hell of a struggle. She had then made known her ambitions to her mother who just as she expected showed nothing but support even though she knew all too well it was easier said than done. One year had passed by so fast and Eva was done with her highschool studies. She had managed to score a perfect B+ and that could have opened all the doors there were to any career path of her choice but she chose IT, a course that most people feared more than anything as they said it was too hard. Raising the school fee for the huge Brightstech University was the toughest part. The poor girl had to divide her time between working at a hotel during the day and take evening classes. By the end of the month she would have raised some money and her mother would have raised some from her tiny grocery store located just about three kilometers from the school. The two were lucky to have lived so close to the university. If the dog like city life had taught Eva something, it was how to survive, by then every hard work felt super normal to her. Her hands were hard enough to do almost everything and her peer back at school thought she was an overkill. She watched the others have fun and live their lives like there was no tomorrow and she pitied them.The four years just saw to her getting even more names but she couldn't care less. Finally the schooling was over and it was time to get in some rubber shoes and go out for a job hunt. That proved harder than she expected and a whole year later she had not found a job yet. She had almost given up when she met a group of young ambitious web designers and she had to settle with that for a while. They were hunting for jobs as they worked small gigs. It was not much but it was a start for the young, beautiful and determined Eva. She had met Jacob during one of her gigs and the two clicked. They were so much alike, from the hard background, to their struggle, to their love of computers. Soon the two became friends. It was even cool to learn that poor Jacob lived with his mother and his story though not identical, was close to that of Eva. The two worked together for a while. Holding on to their dreams for a better tomorrow and a world where they will be known for their unique abilities. Time flew by and along with it came new friends with it the new friends would leave and new ones would come. Jacob joined other friends and slowly began to go evolve with time. Soon he went down the hackers road and somewhere along the way he branched from the right path. He and his friends started stealing from people through hacking. At first, it was just tiny thefts that would often go unnoticed. Then the group of four couldn't get enough and they kept on going higher and higher until they turned to cyber thieves. Eva saw all of this happen and she tried to talk to him but he never listened. He was too needy to quite and he kept promising her that he would quite after the next job, then he would say the next until Eva grew tired of trying to help and decided to let him learn with his own mistakes. One day, the group found a one time huge money deal. They were to steal of the account of a super rich crime boss. It felt justifiable as they believed they were stealing from a thief who had probably stolen the money himself. They went down to typing a couple of hours later their accounts were loaded with cash. Jacob first thoughts were to find Eva and let her know that he was no longer poor and he could get her anything she ever dreamed of. He also thought it was the best time to confess his feelings for her. He called her to let her know that he would be dropping by her house later and promised her while still on the call that he was not going to steal again. He however thought that it was better to tell her just how much he loved her in person so that he could see her reaction so he never hinted that over the phone. Eva waited for him all afternoon and all evening but he was no show. She thought maybe he had changed his mind though she still could not shake the feeling that something didn't sound right earlier when the two spoke on the phone. She grew tired of waiting and went to sleep after leaving a few angry texts. She hoped he would have replied by the time she woke up. Morning came and the first thing she did was check on her phone which was just as she had left it earlier. There were no calls nor texts from Jacob. Her first instinct was to call him but the she decided against it. She was always the one who reached out first and it was beginning to feel like the whole keeping in touch thing was one sided. She got out of bed and went to the living room where her mother was already taking breakfast. It was on a sunday and Eva usually slept a little bit longer as it was the only day she didn't have to go to work. Things were a little better now that she had a salary and there was no more school fees hunt. As she joined her mother, she noticed the news headline that talked of the deaths of four believed to be cyber thieves. Names were listed and to he shock, Jacob's name was amongst them. She tried to hide her shock from her mother but the old lady knew her all too well. She had to explain herself and it took a minute for her mother to believe that she was not one of them. She was lucky no one followed up the dead guys friends but she knew she had to stay away from the likes of Jacob. Ever since then, she kept on working the low paying gigs as she hoped for better until luck finally knocked on her door. She didn't really believe in luck, but she could not explain how she landed such a lucrative spot. The royal family of the Albas kingdoms was looking for an IT experts and she and her friends applied. They all knew it was next to impossible to secure the position but they tried anyway. Her application went through and it had taken her a whole hour to process the Email that invited her for the interview which was to be conducted online. Three days later she had taken the interview and passed so the next Email had a report date and a plane ticket. She was way too excited that she could not find the right words to tell the good news to her friends. The hard part however was the part where she had to tell her mother that she was leaving and the part where she actually had to leave her. Her friends back at the work place were happy for her even though deep down they wished it were them in her position. Gibson, being one of them joked about Eva finding her prince charming there and becoming a princess. Eva laughed awkwardly at that for a whole minute as she knew that was even more impossible than finding a silver horse, a bet the two had made earlier regarding the royal horses in the kingdom where Eva was headed. Eva believed strongly that she was never cut out for love. She had never been attracted to any man for wat long as she could remember. Though she had a special liking for Jacob, she was not sure he liked her back and so she never let her feelings for him grow. Her career was her first and only love and she had made peace that. After all, men around her seemed to be more and more impossible to like and she didn't expect anything different from the men she was to find over there. The kingdoms were on a continent a little bit far from hers and the flight was both long and disrupted as they had to make two stops along the way. The second stop was what brought her back from her memories. It was almost morning and she hoped to God they were there, imagine her disappointment when she learned she was to be on the plane for a couple more hours. As the journey progressed, she kept thinking of how far she was from home and how much she would miss her mother. She kept wondering how her days would be like without her and the more she thought about it, the more she felt like the whole thing was a bad idea. If she could, she would probably turn back and go home but then calculating the distance, she knew it was way too late to change her mind. She tried to put on a brave face but all that she managed was a less worried face. She closed her eyes one more time hoping to remember good times but this time round she fell asleep. The flight attendants voice was what woke her up two hours later. She was there, and she had no idea whether to be happy or worried. Outside a cab was waiting. The journey to the palace was both exciting and scary at the same time. The thought of working inside a castle was one that had never even crossed her mind. She never believed in fairy tales and the situation she was in about then felt like a fairy tale. She had no idea what to expect and she had made about a thousand curtsys in her mind. With every passing minute, the nervousness she felt increased until she couldn't help but talk to the drive. "Hey, you know the royal family?" she asked not even sure that was the right question to ask. "Yes, I have worked there for five years now," he answered taking time to notice that Eva was nervous. "How is it like?...I mean to work there," she went on. "Well, it is just like working anywhere else really. Provided you do what is expected of you, the stay will be more than just fine...Are you one of the IT guys expected this week?" he went on. "Yes and I am scared to death right about now," Eva said. The driver smiled for a bit and assured her everything was going to be fine and she was convinced until he made a joke she had heard before. "Don't worry, it is going to be just fine and for someone as pretty as you, maybe you will find your prince charming as well," that statement made her mind reset back to her worried state in seconds.