A Soul For A Soul

Chapter 23

"What? Why should I apologize, I didn't offend anyone", Eliza argued.

"You might not have offended anyone but you did tarnish your image and you need to make it right", I advised her.

"Why...?" She drawled.
"Cause it's the right thing to do" I pointed out the obvious.
Finally budging grudgingly, she agreed.

I set up her live video on Instagram and and asked her to kick it off.

She cleared her throat "uhh, hey everyone, a few days back a disturbing video of me surfaced online and I'm here to apologize for it. I was going through a rough patch as that day, my parents filed for a divorce and I had just lost my best friend Rebi, God rest her soul.", She took a deep breath, sighed and continued "now, I'm not saying this to gain pity or trying to make excuses to justify my behavior but all I'm saying is, I'm sorry. We all mess up at some point in our lives but I was just unfortunate to be caught on camera.
I'm apologizing because my actions were inappropriate and I deeply regret it. To those that took pleasure in my dilemma and rushed to conclusions about me, you need Jesus but to those who were neutral and were oh so gracious to pass and not comment hateful things, I deeply appreciate.
I am sorry and I have learnt from my actions and I have grown. I'm self reflecting now, yay! So thank you all for bearing with me. Thank you once again and bye".

She ended her live video and turned to look at me. "Well, how did I do?" She asked.

"Perfect" I replied simply, no other words could describe it.

"Thank you Rebi" she said "I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders".

"I'm here for you Eliza" I literally was.
Now let's go get icecream cause later, we have some sneaking off to do to a party.

We headed downstairs and on reaching the last step, we saw Eliza's mom in the kitchen putting the groceries she had just bought.

Eliza was obviously surprised to see her and she didn't hide it. "Hey mom, you're here..." she said.

Mrs Kaliman gave a little laugh without bringing her head up to look at her as she spoke "oh honey, last I checked, I lived here. Why are you so shocked to see me?".

Eliza shrugged, " well, it's just that I haven't seen you in a while, you haven't been around lately". She said sulkily.

Mrs Kaliman turned and immediately she turned she looked petrified. She had a scared look on her face as she looked in my direction where I stood. I was shocked also. Did she see me?

When I tried to ponder on the possibility of her seeing me, she immediately switched back to normal.

Eliza being concerned, asked "mom are you okay?" She turned to where I stood.
"Yeah yeah, honey, I'm fine" she went back to putting away the groceries.
"Just been very busy at work with the grant coming in, and the divorce proceedings it's just too much for me". She finished and closed the fridge.

"Okay ma, well I'm off to get ice cream I'll see you later". She said.

"Ok baby, be home before dinner" she said.

Eliza replied 'sure' from outside the house. I followed after her.
"Uhh hey Eli, you go get the ice-cream, I just remembered that I had something to take care of I'll see you when I'm through or we'll just meet here".
Eliza regarded me skeptically "okay... see ya later".

I watched her leave. When she was out of plain sight, I headed back inside to confirm my suspicions.

On entering inside, I walked to where she sat on the stool in the kitchen.
"Have a sit Rebi" she offered.

Okay my eyes bulged. I was shocked. She could see me; but how's that even possible.? I thought only people who I was assigned to could see me.
"Shocked huh? Same here. I don't understand why you're here either Rebi but it's good to see you. I'm sorry about the way you died you were a good kid" she said.

"Thank you Mrs Kaliman" I took the sit she offered.

"First off Rebi, why are you here I trust you have no ill intentions towards my daughter". She asked with a warning look on her face.

"No ma'am I don't" I assured her "I'm just here to help Eliza she's been going through a lot." I admitted.

"Yeah, I know if you can help my baby, please do" she requested. "I know she's been depressed about the divorce" she said.

"I will ma'am, and I know it's not my place but for Eliza's sake, is there really nothing you both you and Mr Kaliman have tried that hasn't worked in trying to save your relationship?" I asked, "at this point in Eliza's life, she needs stability. She just lost her only friend and in a way a sister" I said.

"Rebi this matter, is too complex for you to understand but we have tried everything", She answered.

"Even praying?" I asked.

"No, but I'm sure God is too busy to hear us even if we do" she replied.

"No he isn't, he said to ask and he will give you, seek and you will find. If you ask him to help you he will and if you seek for mending in your marriage then he will mend it", I explained to her.

She nodded, "I haven't thought about it that way Rebi, thank you very much", she appreciated.

"It's my pleasure, I'm here to help Eliza but you're my second family and I would hate to see it fall apart", I confessed.

"It was nice seeing you sweetie, I will talk to God and I pray he answers cause that's what I need. Thank you for being Eliza's friend".

"No need to thank me ma'am, Eliza's family", I said. With that, I disappeared. Time to meet Eli.

I met her at the ice cream parlor and we made small talk as she finished her ice cream payed, and we took a little detour to go skinny dipping near the mountain spring before heading back home.

We got home, Eliza and I both freshened up and we lay on her bed checking the time hoping Heather and Avery had taken down the video.

It was 6:59pm and we were still paranoid, "they're not gonna do it" Eliza sighed, looking defeated.

"Don't give up just yet we still have a minute left" I reminded her.

As the clock struck 7:00pm, like Cinderella, the video was taken down and a new video was uploaded. Yeah I know you don't understand the Cinderella concept but oh well!

Eliza turned to look at me knowing why she wanted to ask, I pushed her to click on the video and as we did, we saw Heather and Avery seated together. They started talking "hey lovelies, it's Heather and Avery here. We are here today for a different agenda. We decided to try something new today and since we felt generous enough, we decided to apologize to everyone that we might have hurt in our past videos. It was all for pure entertainment and no hard feelings. If you know we've hurt you by one of our posts then we're deeply sorry. This is the end of our post , we're Heather and Avery and we approve this message".

Eliza and I turned to look at each other and screamed jumping up and down all giddy and excited.

Eliza began "it worked, I can't believe our plan actually worked" she shouted.

"Neither can i" I replied.

"I owe this all to you Rebi" she said

"No you don't, you did this on you own. Your self-esteem is back" I said with pride swirling in my eyes.

"I couldn't have done it without you still, you've helped me a lot in just a span of a day. Wow Rebs, you really are amazing!" She exclaimed.

"I know" I replied and we both laughed. "This calls for a celebration" I said.

"Yes it does.." she drawled with enthusiasm.

"I say we kick off the last item on our bucket list and sneak off to that party" I smirked.

"Party, here we come!" We both shouted and ran upstairs.