Feels like a millennium since i last set foot home. Can't blame me, who would want to be in mother's house after all that went down there some ugly and dreadful years back.
I was just 18 years old and the so dreaded place was still a home then. Our mother God bless her soul was graced and poised. She was crafted and moulded by the goddess of beauty and what made it even more remarkable was her ability to transfer said beauty to her precious children. "My precious jewels" she had called us then. The fantastic three, who needed no cape nor super powers but could warm the most icy heart with their beauty.
Who knew beauty could ever be weaponized. Ours made it so. Every where we went, favour seemed to always shine on us and we got what we wanted even before we had to ask. Just a little wincing effort and some eyelash batting was needed and the strongest will succumbed to our needs. This charm was our blessing, little did we know it would also be our doom.
Mother had passed on in my early 20's. I had just started my nursing program when mother was gone. Being the eldest, i had to assume her role and keep her legacy going on for myself and my two siblings, Rose and Damon. We were able to hold the pieces of our family together until piece after piece and shard after shard started to fall apart. It began with Rose!
Rose was the youngest amongst my siblings and by far the prettiest and she definitely knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted. It worked for her for long until her wants became greedy and she became something else. She was no longer the sister i adored, loved and cared for, that little baby that was always mine to protect.
"I am not a baby anymore" she had screamed in my face. All because i reprimanded her for engaging in a relationship with MrJones. I had found out through Mrs Jones who didn't fail to embarrass me in front of everyone on campus.
Rose was adamant and strong willed. I had thought truly it was love until Mrs Ann and Mrs Janet came storming in as well. There was no more peace in mother's house. The ambience of peace had been replaced with raised voices and curses every now and then. Mother's houses was tainted regularly with the windows bashed and the walls scratched by angry families, all because of Rose.
Rose was still not shaken with all that happenedand was happening. Her seeming fetish for married men got the best of her and she would not listen to reason. Not even the hospitalization of Damon after he was hit by the angry son of Rose's mysterious lover changed her mind.
At that point, i knew she was a lost cause. The rush of adrenaline, the trips, lounges, shopping and spending spree her illicit affairs brought her were worth more than Gold and silver to her, they were worth more than her family!
Damon laid there on life support and not once did Rose visit. I nursed him back to his feet in our home and not once did she send a letter, a messenger bird, a chariot, a text, a phine call, not even a mail.
"She is dead to me!" I said to Damon angrily. There was no forgiving her, not now, not ever.
The fantastic three had been reduced to 2. If only mother could see us now.
As if the universe had not had enough drama, a car drove into the driveway one Tuesday morning. I had just woken up and was heading downstairs for a glass of water. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was in a blue satin nighdress with a black bonnet that was laced with blue on my head. I was barefoot and careful enough to make it down safely from the stairs with the grogginess still around my eyes when the car's headlights beamed right into my eyes.
The door bell rang and i answered and the news that came with that answer i definitely wasn't expecting nor was i ready for it. Rose had been confirmed dead, with traces of poison found in her blood. She had been poisoned to death. I had said she was dead to me, and now she was really dead. Lifeless!
The police officer handed over a note that was addressed to me which they recovered from amongst her things.
The note read
I wish i could take back the hands of time to that moment where i could be held in your arms once again.
I wish i could be your baby girl, your responsibility.
I feel like i let go of life's most precious gift to me in pursuit of vanity.
Look what it offered me. Hopes crushed, dreams burnt and a tainted image.
I have wronged you and I'm sorry.
I love you, now and always
__your Rose
I couldn't help the mass of of tears that streamed down my face. My only sister was gone, she had ended her own life. What a wasted life. All that beauty taken to the grave.
The days that followed got darker and darker and darker until mother's house became consumed with an aura of darkness. I turned my back against it and never returned and so did Damon.
Now I was 60 and on my way to mother's house. All of those beautiful memories have been washed away and all that was left was sadnesse. I sure was leaving immediately after mother and Rose's memorial. I couldn't bear to stay and relive those dark moments all over again.
