❞𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧❞
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𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝐎𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭
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The early morning came as a promise kept, but as everybody kept on dwelling in their sleep someone was up cleaning the house.
Of course as always, the girl was in the kitchen, ready to start cooking when all of a sudden the creaking of a door got her attention. It was unsual for them to wake up early, so who was moving around the house at this time?
She didn't know if anybody was coming in or exiting the house and out of curiosity she decided she to quickly check.
So she picked up a rolling pin with her free hand and quietly creeped towards the entrance of the house. Hoping that no thief had entered the house. And since the sun had not risen up fully, it made inspecting the house difficult as she blindly crept towards her destination. But when she had finally reached the entrance nobody was there.
There was just a realtively large suitcase. Which made her wonder: who was the owner?
Nobody was travelling. Plus who could have positioned it here in such small amount of time if everybody else was sleeping?
She looked around a little bit more and then turned around to head back. But as she turned around the devil itself stood two feet way from her. Looking at her, with a bored expression.
Her grandma.
Her presence had suprised Zarene so much that the rolling pin she held fell as she jumped up, completely startled by her sudden appearance.
"Oh come on. You not happy to see me?"
She said as her hand opened up as an invite. Was she really inviting the person she hated the most, into a hug?
At that moment fear took over Zarene's body, not only immobilizing her but also silencing her. And Instead of replying she just remained quiet. Mentally cursing herself for even entertaining this, since she had previously promised herself to stand up.
If this was the first time he had seen her since the incident and all she could do was freeze up and obey her, was really ever going to break free?
"Pick that up and get my bag, sweetie. Lets go the living room, we need to talk."
And just like a dummy, without hesitation everything was picked up as she followed her grandmother to the living room.
Her grandmother sat down and made her self comfortable, looking as Zarene struggled with the big suitcase all by herself.
"Why you up so early?" She asked when she had finally noticed her things were in the correct place.
"Because of you" she thought, wanting to speak up so badly. The morning routine she had forced herself into was to please her, to avoid the problems she managed to create when things weren't done in time.
"Sit down. Chile. I know for a fact you not scared of me..."
'Wow, did she really said that?' She asked herself.
Deep down both of them knew exactly that Zarene was scared of her, but she had challenged Zarene anyways since it was funny to play with her mind. And of course as predicted the girl did as she was told, sitting as far as possible from her.
"I was looking forward to talking to you after. But since you're here, you might as well listen. So... as you know I've not been here lately. And went away because I decided to seek help."
Ever since the incident, she did indeed go to "seek help", but it wasn't truly the type of help Zarene was thinking of.
How could Zerene trust her if her face lacked emotions. No comapssion, no sadness, no regret. Just a dull bored expression. Was thisj ust another trap, she would of course fall into because she never learnt from the past.
"Girl, I know you might not believe me and all. But since I went to clear my mind. I just been having this guilty feeling about you and the things I done. Dont get me wrong, I was doing right, I always do, but you clearly dont understand. Anyways ever since I've been gone I've been seeing him again, hes been telling me about you and about what I need to do to give you the best life and so on. So I just kinda wanna apologise for what happened on Saturday"
"Just for what happened on Saturday... Should have known" Zarene quietly muttered getting disappointed.
How could she not apologise for everything she had done?
"Whatchu say?"
"N..nothing. Who are you talking about?"
"Don't worry you wouldn't get it, Its grown folks business"
Of course she would never let Zarene know that the person who had returned and brought her 'peace' was some kind of distorted version of her father.
"And to make you believe I'm a changed person. From now on: you don't have got no curfew, you can buy yourself a phone and everything you want. Im personally gonna give you the money and for the gran finale... Here's ya house keys. Baby" she said, while stretching to drop a pair of keys on the coffe table.
"Ma'am I..I'm sorry b..but are you feeling ok?" Her head tilted as she tried to get around this ridiculous moment.
'Who was this woman?' Zarene even asked herself
"Zaze, I'm foreal. Take the keys. I'm apologising, you betta mf accept it. I can tell you that" she said as a smile formed on her lips. Was Zarene even seeing this clearly at this point?
"Ok"
'There must be something behind all of this, cause this is impossible' Zarene thought. She was in a state of denial because all of those years of mistreatment could not be reversed just with these. Just like that. It was impossible.
Pushing that aside Zarene picked up the keys and thanked her. She didnt really believe her, but those keys we're going to come in handy.
"Girl come and hug me. Why you scared?"
"Im not scared my clothes j..just umm d..dirty" she replied
"I understand if you don't want to."
"Umm. I think I should just go to work now. Umm good bye."
She said before running upstairs to get her jacket. Running back downstairs was even worse as her grandma was being more weird.
Zarene even heard her grandma say
"Bye sweetie, have a nice day. Be good". Which left her speechless.
While walking towards the bakery the constant thought bothered her. Was her grandmother being genuine was this another lie? This might have been a lie, but why would she even grant her such freedom if this was a lie.
That had even caused her to get to the bakery slightly later than usual, which nobody really noticed. Although that didnt really matter, she had apologised and hurried to change into the uniform.
However all throughout the day it was noticeable that something was on her mind. So while nobody was around, Cierra approached while she was wiped down a counter, wanting to know what was heavy on her mind.
"I've been tryna talk to you, like the whole day. Z, Is there something wrong? Cause something definitely happened" Cierra asked,looking at her friend who had been stuck on repeat for about 5 minutes cleaning the same spot.
"What?"
Zarene asked realizing that someone had been talking to her.
"You been wiping that same damn spot for like 5 minutes. Z I think its clean. Tell me whats on your mind"
"Ummmm. Something crazy happened. And im just thinking how can i you tell if this person is genuine? Is there like some set rules?" She stopped wiping and looked up at her, hoping that whatever came from her will actually be helpful.
"Genuine people dont make it about them. Try them and see how they move. Straight up. You cant trust anybody out here."
"How should I do that?"
"Depends on the situation,but if they really genuine they will support you and treat you with respect. Or if they been trying to earn your trust their actions will match their word. Who you talking about tho?"
"My grandmother. She's been gone ever since I got injured. Then today as I was preparing to come here. She appears out of nowhere and we talk"
"Talk about what? C'mon, keep on telling me"
"She saying that shes sorry, that she went to "seek help". Then she asked me to forgive and to try and convince me about it she even gave me the house keys and from now on I'm free to do whatever I want. Isn't that crazy?"
Cierra scrunched up face was clear indication to Zarene that she didnt believe a word.
"Word?"
Zarene nodded.
"You believe her? Cuz i don't. Don't fall into the trap. Cause that stupid that she seek help now, wasn't she thinking when all that shit happened. Weird as hell"
She said giving her that look.
"And she only apologised for the hand incident. And she said that she had right intentions and was doing right. Then she talked about some man,but I dont know who. Even if this was fake why would she give me keys?"
"Test her. See what she does. Since she controlling; find something small, but significant and see if she bugs out."
"I dont kn-"
Zarene was just about to speak up again as Cierra's phone started ringing
"Take it, dont worry" Zarene reassured
"Sorry. Gonna take less that a minute, promise." She said before accepting the call and walking away
But as soon as Cierra was gone, Trell came in running away from Imani, who had been chasing him while holding a piping cone like gun. She herself had icing all over her brown face, from her long lashes to her chin, it was evident that he had done it to her.
"Ahhhhhhhh. Yo dont come close nah" Trell shouted as he got behind her and used her as a shield
"No bitch. C'mere" she shouted at him
"I aint no bitch. It ain't my fault you was in the way. Get to work"
"Nah c'mon, boi. You started it and imma finish it"
After that she squeezed the cone trying to get it on Trell, but since he hid behind Zarene, the icing got on her. Which didn't really bother her since she knew it wasn't intentional, plus it wasnt really on her clothes, since it was mainly on her hand.
"Sorry Z"
"Yall play to much. Yall should have been helping me finish this instead of chasing each other like kids" Sandra came out from the back, holding a piping cone too.
"Look at my face. This hoe here did it. Im just tryna retaliate" Imani said
"It wasnt on purpose, you doing to much I swear" he argued back
"Trell apologise" Sandra told him
"No the fuck. I already said it wasnt on purpose she shouldn't have been there"
"Nah. You need to apologise, Trell you know wrong." Sandra said
"Sorry,not sorry cuh" he said
At that moment, Sandra pointed her piping cone towards him as well. Making him to raise up his hands, in defeat.
"Ok ok ok. Bro, I'm sorry" he said
"Yeah hoe, thats what I thought. Stop playing with me Rufus" Imani said, waiting for him to come closer to her only for for her to then do at him in the face
"You git each otha. Now both of you, c'mon" Sandra said
"But" They both said at the same time
"C'mon lets go, twins" Sandra added
And just as they left Cierra came back.
"What happened?" Cierra asked as she looked at Zarene
"Just Mani and Trell arguing ."
"Oh.Anyways you going to give it a try?"
She shook her head
"Im too scared. I cant" she confessed
"Whatchu scared of? She aint gonna kill you"
"You never know" she mumbled while looking down at her injured hand.
Could her grandmother be capable of killing someone? No, but she could still cover it up? Yes.
"She will probably change her mind by the time I come back to that house" she said
"If you say so. Go on, but I need to get back to what i was doing. Think about it again tho"
Cierra said before leaving and going to the back.
As soon as she was gone, Zarene bit her lips and leaned her head back. Getting frustrated that this could all be a lie, but soon turned into fear that perhaps she was planning something big against her. She stared into the space nevously biting her lips overthinking the whole situation until a customer came in and finally got her mind off her troubles and onto work.
And hours later when it was finally time to close up, she waited for Cierra and both of them headed to the McDonald's Zarene worked at.
Ever since Cierra had got to know about the situation she'd been so helpful to Zarene she even wondered if this was truly happening. It was her first friendship in which she wasnt slaving to please the other party. This was all new to her.
After the short car ride with her friend Zarene had been dropped off at the front of the building and as soon as she sat down to wait, his car pulled up, making her jolt up to speed walk to his car.
"Wassup." He said to her as he watched her struggle with the seat belt for a second.
When she had finally succeeded in putting the seat belt on she spoke up.
"Hey" she said quietly before decing to speak up again.
"Vonte....Can you me a favour ?"
"Tell me whatchu want" he said as he tapped his phone
"Can you get me a phone please? I really want one"
He turned to look at her, raising a skeptical brow confused at her sudden need of it.
"Holdon I been trying to get you to take one and now all of sudden you want one...No disrespect but you straight?"
"Yes im okay. I just want to change a little bit. But can you still get me one pleaseee"
"Which one do you want in particular?"
"Anyone, I dont really care, as long as I can text or call you is fine. Thank you."
She said while latching herself onto his arm, making him smile.
"C'mon.You hungry? You ate today?
"Im not really hungry, dont worry" She said looking out of the window. Observing as everything passed by with a lively spark, whilst the cold refreshing flow of air conditioner put her to sleep. But as she slept, D'avonte took it upon himself to get something to eat for the both. So after a few turns they pulled up to the Chick-fil-A and he ordered for the both of them. And after collecting and paying for the food he parked the car. He tapped her arm waking her up in no time.
"I got you a chicken sandwich, waffle fries and nuggets, since you never hungry"
"I told you I wasnt hungry. You shouldnt habe and why didn't you get something for yourself?" She looked at him
"Nah. Ion wanna hear it. You betta eat"
"You should take some of this" She offered while holding out the entire bag
"Nah you should know. Only Popeyes deserves my money. But I got me a drink tho, matter of fact I got you a lemonade too"
She giggled at his comment since he indded only ate Popeyes, before starting to eat.
"Next time imma make you order whatchu want. All alone" he stated wanting to see her reaction.
But as she heard what he said, the nugget she had been holding in her hand fell back inside the bag. She looked terrified as she stopped and turned to look at him.
The expression on her face made it impossible for him not to laugh. He had only said that to see her reaction, since he knew she didnt like talking.
"Yoooo. I'm playing." He managed to get out between his laughs.
She picked her nugget and kept on eating, mugging him as his oud laugher filled the car.
"Its not even that funny" she added
"Yes it is. You should have seen your face." He said
"If you say so. Anyways,Im done eating,we should go"
"You didnt even eat the chicken sandwich and the waffle fries"
" Im just gonna eat it tomorrow before going to work. Plus i told you i wasnt really hungry" she mumbled
"You lying. Cause I know for a fact you aint eat all day, I know you hungry." He said before taking a sip of his lemonade.
"Im gonna throw this in the trash" she said trying to escape the conversation.
"Nah. Sit down and eat"
"But-I dont want to" she whined
"Why? You scared of eating? Or you scared of gaining weight? Which one "
"No. You know I'm a picky eater. Im just tired of eating. Lets talk about something else" She said while leaning her head back, simply frustrated with him forcing her to eat.
"No. Cuz you barely talk in general and then when you do talk its never about you. Be selfish for once"
"Thats not true. Plus theres nothing to talk about, nothing new nothing old. Same old me" she mentally rolled her eyes. Knowing that what he said was indeed true
"Yes theres is." He insisted
She rested her head on the cold glass window and exhaled. Thinking.
"Vonte?"
"Hmmm"
"Would you believe the lady, if she told you she was sorry? She apologised should I believe her?" She blurted out
"No the fuck. Fuck her and and her weak ass apology. When did it happen?" He said
"Today. But she only said she was sorry for what happened on Saturday. And she said I can do whaterver I want from now on."
"You fr?"
"Yes. She said she found help and shes a better person now and to make me forgive her she even gave me the house keys. Look" she said, pulling out the keys from her jacket to show him
"Then its still fuck her apology. She didnt apologise for everything, so you dont have to think about forgiving."
"But that would be rude" she mumbled
"Good."
"But-"
"-Theres no but. Since she said it herself from now do whaterver pleases you. We both now that apology isnt genuine, but now that she's faking you might aswell take advantage of it and fake too. You heard me!?" He said
She nodded and picked up her lemonade to drink
"Can we go now?"
"No,finish the food. Then we go" he said while looking at her with a serious face.
She huffed and immidiately picked up the food finishing it quickly.
"Im done lets go"
And after checking himself that she had finished her food, he started the car heading to the house.
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Sorry for the long wait
Hope you guys like it