The Story of My Life – Episode 23

So Halima was actually here for Roland. Trust me, with the few minutes I had spent with her, I knew he was no match for Halima.
Roland really has to prepare. He won’t have it easy with this one.
Amina asked for a moment to talk to her sister alone, so I had to excuse them. I didn’t know what they talked about but I had the feeling there were talking about the property and what Roland intended to do. As far as I was concerned, that was their family issue. I was not interested in the property in any way. All I wanted was for Amina to be happy during her last days. I had my own worries now, the death of my father.I went for a walk around the hospital, not knowing exactly what to do. I should have been there for my sister. I wondered how she was holding up. My father needed that little and I wasn’t there for him. I’m sure Sheila will think that I did this on purpose. She may think that because my father wasn’t there for me when I was growing up, I decided to pay him back in kind.
But now that he was gone, what good would my revenge be? How do I even confront Sheila when I see her? I was seriously considering staying away for a while. That really was the best I could do. I can’t stand her wrath over my not being there for our father.
I heard someone call out to me as I wandered around, it was Halima. She came towards me looking very cheerful and relieved. Well, that was the first time I was seeing her that way.
“I have been looking all over for you.” She said.
“Sorry about that, I just decided to take a stroll, how is she by the way?” I asked.
“She is ok, improving too; the doctor said she needed some more rest, so I had to leave her. She was actually sleeping already when I left” Halima answered.
I couldn’t talk to Amina one-on-one as I expected. I wanted to hear her tell me that she’s ok so I could also comfort her some more.
Even though I miss her very much, the good thing is she’s ok, at least for now.
“Are you ok Ben?” Halima asked.
Apparently my worry was showing on my face. It was easy for anyone to tell that I was not myself just by looking at my face.
I nodded my head, giving her the impression that I was ok. But she knew I was lying about something. She knew exactly what was wrong. I mean, she was there when they broke news about my father’s death to me.
“It’s about your father, right?” Halima asked.
“Yeah, he really needed me but I wasn’t there for him” I said.
“Ben,  I know how it feels like. Our father died about 4 years ago in a plane crash. “ She said.
“Plane crash? You don’t mean it. I’m really sorry” I said.
“He was based in the States where I live now, I actually still blame myself for his death.” She said.
“Oh, why?” I asked.
I saw the look on face, she was depressed. Who would have thought that I would be getting along this well with Halima, after all that had happened. She was actually confiding in me… That was a good sign.
“Amina and I had miss him so much, he wasn’t always around. We desperately needed him to sit down with us as  a family and spend some quality time together. So I actually forced him to come down. As if that was enough, I wasn’t talking to him for one whole month, until he finally decided to come to the country. A few hours after he took off from the US, we heard the plane had gone missing. That was is it. We didn’t even find is body to bury him. I blamed myself for his death. He would have been alive by now, if…..” She began sobbing.
I could tell how sorry she felt. “I believe that if it’s our time to leave this world, nothing can stop that. You shouldn’t blame yourself. I mean, it’s wrong for you to miss your dad anyway.” I said.
She laughed about what I said “You are really interesting you know, you manage find something good in every situation. Why are you still here by the way? I didn’t get the chance to go see my father’s body and see goodbye to him when he died, you don’t have to go through the same thing. You have the opportunity to at least say goodbye before he is buried.” she said.
“I can’t go back Halima, I can’t even stand the way my sister will treat me.” I answered.
“Are you that dumb Ben?” She said.
She gave me a wakeup call with that.  She was really something. I can’t even describe her. She is the kind of person who’s not afraid to say what she thinks even if it hurts you.
“Your father is dead, not your sister. Be a man and stop acting a coward and go there.” She said.
“Erm erm, I don’t know where they are or even the name of the hospital where he was taken. I …” She interrupted me.
“Didn’t you call your sister on my phone, call her back and ask her.” She said. She then took the phone out of her pocket and gave to me to call.
“Go on, Call her” She continued.
And so I did. I dialed Sheila’s number. I was actually expecting Roland to pick up again but my guess was wrong. It was Sheila who picked.
“Hello” She said.
“Sheila, it’s me Ben, where are you now?” I asked.
“Ben, where have you been?! Dad has been wanting to speak with you and you are nowhere to found… We are still at the Military Hospital.” She said
“Huh, Dad wants to talk to me? But…. but.. I thought…” I said.
“You thought what? Get here now, your father needs you!” Sheila said and hung up.
I didn’t know what to think. Did this actually mean that my dad was alive all this while and Roland decided to lie to me?

watch out for episode 24