Hidden Dream – Episode 18

Hidden Dream – Episode 18

A Story By Tisa Phiri

I woke up with a start, my phone was vibrating on the table. Grabbing it I placed it on my ear without looking at the caller ID.

” hey!” I sighed as I waited for the person on the other end to respond. When I realise it was silent, I sat up.

” who is this?” I asked hoping it could be my Angela.

How stupid,I thought to myself. ” if Angela has not called me in years, why was I even thinking she would suddenly call me.

” Hello!” I answered again but this time the line cut.

I tried to call back but couldn’t go through.

I decided to ignore whoever was calling and prepare to go and meet my father. I quickly took a bath and wore some casual clothes before walking out.

” I have to get to Lusaka West ” i informed the taxi driver getting inside. I didn’t bother call someone to pick me up from home, giving my assistant a break too. I couldn’t just wait.

” oh my God! I waited for this day to come when I would see you all grown up and succeeded in achieving your dream my handsome boy!” Aunty Nelly shouted as she saw me walk to the door.

” my dear aunty Nelly, I missed you so much” I hugged her close.

” I missed you too my champion and am so proud of you. I saw the competition, you really stood out my boy. I kept of smiling like a fool as I watched you. It was so much my heart was almost failing me with joy” she whispered.

” thank you my hero, you always say the right words.” I held her

“She smiled her face now getting old but with the same motherly smile that I missed so much.” You look old and good at the same time” I teased her as she let go of my hand.

” are we going to see you already? Or you plan on just ending in the kitchen” I heard my sister Nina call out to me.

” kiddo, you are all grown up come on here! I shouted pulling her in a hug.

” you are famous now Jay, am so proud of you” she chuckled holding my hand and leading me to the living room where my parents where.

We had a family breakfast after the greetings.

My father for some reason wasn’t looking straight at me and I knew his wife had told him why I had gone there.

” so I watched the last part of the competition, I bet you just had to follow your heart huh? It was a good performance and am sure people were happy” he spoke up lifting a cup of coffee to his mouth.

” Yeah actually it was great. Am glad I followed my heart. I guess refusing to live under the wings of others pays off after all” I said sarcastically and my mother cleared her throat.

” so how long are you staying here?” She asked to distract the tension between me and my father.

” am only here for a few days. Am heading right back when am done with what I came here for. I have to be in the company of people who motivate me and besides I got lots of shows lined up for me. Some of us we earn a living by entertaining people ” I added to make sure my last words came out exactly the way my father had said them years back and I saw him look down his plate.

“Excuse me, I think I have had enough, thank you for the meal aunty Nelly.. You always have a way with food” I smiled at aunty Nelly who was putting some desert on the table.

“Thank you” she smiled as I held her shoulder and passed behind her.

I went to stand at the back facing the small garden. Remembering how many times I had to go sit out there and cry myself out whenever my father would scold and throw his threats and insults at me.

” you are a diappointment and I sometimes wonder if you really are my son. Get to your senses boy and do the right thing. This dancing thing will be your down fall.” He scolded me.

My eyes where almost spilling out with the thoughts and I pushed them back when I heard foot steps in my back.

” You have grown so much, I can’t believe you actually are taller than me now” my father let a laugh as he stood near me.

I turned to look at him. ” dad I know you saw Angela and I want to know what the hell is going on. I don’t have time with your chit chats, am sure mom told you why am here.

” i snapped not wanting to have some other talk with him.

I get it Jared, you are still upset with me for not supporting you and you are probably thinking the worst of me right now. Am sorry for not being a father you expected but I needed you to be strong and do the right things. I care about you, you are my own blood and I love you” he said and I for the first time i felt he was being sincere.

” yeah you have the best way of showing it father. You know what though? I wont buy that now. If you trully loved me you could have supported me and probably you could have travelled with mom to witness me compete. But like always, I do the most stupid things. But you know what? Am not intrested in hearing those words now. I have done fine without them for years so lets get to the point father, where is Angela and what did you do to make her stop communicating with me?” I asked looking at him.

I saw his face soften a bit and he kept his eyes down.

” dad, are you going to say anything?” I asked

” Jared, come on sit with me in the TV room” he finally uttered his words calmly.

I wanted to refuse and let him tell me what was going on right that moment. I couldn’t wait any longer. But I just had to follow him.

An hour later, I stood up and looked out the window my head now pounding heavily I felt it would fall off my neck any instant.

My father just told me the story about Angela that gave me so much pain and shock I couldn’t hold myself.

Take me to her, I finally spoke up wiping a tear that had fallen slowly down my face.

” what? Now?” He asked frowning

Didn’t you hear a word of what I said?” He responded firmly.

” I did father and I insist I need to see her right away. I have to, I told you I love her and I will not rest until I see her again. I promised her I would come back and I am going to keep my promise. let’s go now” I insisted and I saw my father reluctantly stand up and grabbed his car keys.

I looked outside the car window as my father drove me. My mind wild back to the conversation we had earlier.

” I met Angela months after you were gone, I mean, I never really went to look for her but that your friend Tracy came here and told your sister Tina something about you having an affair with your teacher. And you know how Tina is, she let it all out to me, I felt she was taking advantage of you and all that. I had to do something”

” as usual, trying to fix my life huh?” I had responded cutting him.

” okey, so I went over,” he went on ignoring my comment.

” I found her at her brother’ s house. She didn’t deny the accusation. She actually told me she was deeply in love with you and you had practically followed her around even when she tried to hide from you.

I went on telling her why she couldn’t be with you and all that staff. I didn’t like the idea of her encouraging you to go on with dancing. For me it was a shallow dream. But she told me point blank how you were a man enough to know what you wanted.

” give him a break and let him be happy living his dream” were her exact words.

I noticed she was looking sick and when I asked her she reluctantly told me she had some problems with her heart.

She’s very sick Jared, but you have to hear the rest of the story from her mouth.

Right now she’s in the hospital. She’s been through a lot and she made me promise never to tell you. According to her she wanted you to accomplish your dream without distractions. ”

The coughing of my father brought me back to the present.

” Jared, we are here. Come on, you have to go see her” he said softly as he led me to the entrance of the hospital.

We stopped by the door to the ward and I pushed it open slowly.

What I saw made me whole body grow very weak. I held on to the door to avoid loosing balance.

To be continued

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