Chapter Four

The gate man was suprised to see the woman who he refused to open the gate for was coming out of the house. He kept looking at her strangely.

He opened the gates for them with his hands shaking. When they left, he closed it and locked it immediately.

They walked towards their building. It was already so late and Roderick hugged his aunt tightly. He was crying joyfully that his aunt rescued him. He was close to giving up on anyone finding him, before the old woman came in.

She comforted him and told him not to tell his parents. She did not her brother and his family to be so worried mostly her pregnant sister in law and most importantly disappointed in her.

So she begged Roderick to not say a word about anything that happened this evening. "Instead tell them that we found your ball near the fence and later with went strolling, okay?" Please, she begged.

He nodded his head in agreement. His aunt, hugged him and thanked him.

They got to their compound, opened the gates and entered after which they locked the gate. When they got in, they saw her brother waiting for them.

On sighting him, she unconsciously swallowed. Her brother looked so pissed and she knew he had a bad temper.

She did not want his children to see how bad their father's temper is mostly when he was so angry. She immediately greeted her brother but the look on his face told her to just shut up which she did.

Her brother did not say a word for awhile but kept on staring straight into her eyes. She saw and felt his anger and she knew it was justified.

After awhile, his eyes landed on his son who looked so scared. Roderick could feel his father's anger and did not want to be noticed so that he would not be hurt.

He kept praying for his dad not to see him and aunt Maria did a good job by hiding him behind her. David saw a head peeping at him and then he noticed Roderick.

Seeing how scared the boy was, his anger reduced, he felt like a bad father and was disappointed at himself. He was suprised to see how scared his son was towards him, his son was literally shaking and holding on to Maria.

Aunt Maria noticed how both of them felt and decided it was time to act. When her brother moved away from the door because he felt bad, she quickly made it for the children's room.

When they got there, she bathed Roderick, comfortingly pat his back so that he could relax. She felt all his joints tighten and knew that everything today was something the boy would never forget.

She tried easing his joints, then read him bed time stories. After awhile, he slept off.

Aunt Maria looked around and did not see Rachael, so she tiptoed to the guest room. Before she could get there, she was stopped at the Palour when she heard her brother's voice call her name.

She knew she could not hide from him any longer and said "yes brother, I'm coming". With that she ran towards the guest room and found the little girl on her bed.

She was happy the girl was okay but on a closer observation, she noticed her neice was shaking. She walked closer to the bed and saw her crying while sleeping.

She tapped the girl so that she wakes up. After awhile, she kept staring at her aunt. When she woke up fully, she hugged her aunt and started crying profusely.

They stayed that way for awhile, then Maria pulled her apart, she cleaned her tears, and said "hey stop crying, okay?. Your brother is here, he is in the room. Stop crying my dear, he is not hurt, okay?", She said to comfort Racheal.

They both hugged and stayed that way for awhile. Gradually, she stopped crying and slowly fell asleep.

She kissed her head and took her back to their room.

She knew she had to face her brother. He had been sitting down, waiting for her to explain.

She walked to the Palour, tapped her brother who had fallen asleep while waiting. He woke up, cleaned his eyes and waited for awhile to be fully awake.

Maria sat down and waited for her brother. After awhile, he began speaking saying "tell me the truth, what happened this afternoon".

She stayed quiet for awhile but her brother was getting impatient. "Say something now", he commanded.

She breathed in and out and said

"I'm sorry David". Immediately, her brother's face turned, he was confused. What had happened, he thought worriedly.

"What happened, say something", he inquired hurriedly.

"Actually, today something happened…"

"Yes?", He said

"Well, we played for awhile at the garden, then I went to sit down to rest at the door step while I kept an eye on them", she replied

"Okay?" He said

"After … after awhile I began day dreaming about how my family would be and how happy they would be just like yours but I was woken up from that dream by Racheal who came crying and pointing her hand".

I asked her why she was crying and where her brother was, after calming down for awhile, she said he went to the next compound to get his ball which fell there mistakenly. Hearing that, I went to knock on the gate but was not allowed in.

I looked for a way to get in, I jumped the fence. And..

"You what? How? Are you okay?", He asked

Yes, I'm fine but in pains

"Sorry, first thing tomorrow, I would take you for a check up" he said.

"Do not worry, I'm fine", she replied

"Okay, if you insist", he said.

After narrating everything, although he was angry she didn't inform him, he was glad they were okay. They bade each other goodnight.

She hoped he would be less angry by morning.