CHAPTER EIGHTEEN A GIRL FROM EHOMBA MOUNTAIN WHO WANTS TO ACHIEVE SOMETHING

 

A GIRL FROM EHOMBA MOUNTAIN WHO WANTS TO ACHIEVE SOMETHING

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A GIRL FROM EHOMBA MOUNTAIN WHO WANTS TO ACHIEVE SOMETHING

From the Mountain to the City Lights

After reading the note, my lips began to tremble. I felt as if I wanted to call out the Lord’s name, but no words could come out properly. I cried so hard that it felt like my soul was bleeding. My stomach burned inside me as if I had swallowed a whole bottle of acid. I felt sick. I felt like vomiting.

Oh God, why did this have to happen to Tjipaa?

She was such an innocent soul. She did not deserve this.

Tjipaa had not chosen this life with her stepfather. She had been pushed into it. And now, on top of everything, she had used up his money. I still did not fully understand how all that money was spent, but one thing was clear, she was carrying a burden that was too heavy for her.

I lay down and put my head on the pillow. I called my cousin, but her phone was still off. I sent her a message telling her to call me back as soon as she got it.

That night, I was completely broken. I do not even know what time I fell asleep or how I managed to sleep at all. The next thing I knew, it was morning, and my aunt was standing over me, looking at me with pity in her eyes.

She opened the curtains to let more light into the room.

I needed that light.

My soul felt as if it had been covered by darkness.

My aunt told me to get ready for school. She also told me not to let what had happened to Tjipaa destroy me.

“Life goes on, Muuaa,” she said. “You must be strong and hope that your friend gets better soon.”

Only if she knew what was really troubling me.

My aunt was always early, and she seemed to have made it her habit to drop me off at school before going to work, even though my first class did not start until 10:30. So I told her I wanted to go to the hospital first and see Tjipaa before going to school.

“Okay,” she said. “But do not forget to buy her flowers. Flowers always help bring life back into a person lying in a hospital bed.”

Then she left for work.

I tried calling Ndjona-Top again, but her number was still unreachable.

Never mind Ndjona-Top, I thought. She was probably having the best time of her life.

So I took Tjipaa’s note, went into town, bought flowers, and went to the hospital.

When I arrived, I found Tjipaa’s mother in the room. She was leaning over the bed where Tjipaa was sleeping.

“Good morning, ma’am,” I said. “I hope Tjipaa is feeling better today. I brought her some flowers.”

Now that I knew what was really hurting Tjipaa, I tried not to talk too much to her mother. Her heart was too soft, and the way she looked straight into my eyes made me feel like she would eventually pull the truth out of me.

Still, I wanted to show her the note, even if Tjipaa might hate me for it afterwards. All I knew was that Tjipaa needed help, and more than anything, she needed her mother to know the truth so she could stand by her.

Just as I was reaching into my handbag for the note, Tjipaa woke up.

Her mother held her hand and asked gently how she was feeling.

“I’m fine, Mommy,” Tjipaa said. “I feel much better this morning. You look like you have not slept at all. I want you to go and rest.”

Then Tjipaa started crying.

“And I’m sorry for what I put you through. I just wish I had been a better person. I know I have not made you proud, Mommy. I failed my classes, and I was close to giving up on life. I am so sorry.”

Her mother hugged her and said, “It’s okay, my child. Get some rest now. You have not disappointed me. I am just happy you are still here with me. Soon I will be able to take you home.”

At that very moment, my phone rang.

It was Ndjona-Top.

I quickly stepped outside to answer.

“Og couzy hapo, what is going on? What emergency were you talking about?” she asked.

“Vemuu, Tjipaa is in hospital,” I said. “She was admitted last night. I tried reaching you all night, but your phone was off.”

My cousin sounded shocked.

“Text me the hospital, the floor, and the room number. Meya nambano,” she said.
(Meya nambano means “I am coming now.”)

After we ended the call, I went back inside.

Soon after that, the doctor came in.

“Mrs Tjaa,” he said, “your daughter has responded well to the treatment. You will be able to take her home today. Please pass by my office later. There are a few things I want to discuss with you.”

Then he left.

Tjipaa’s mother was so relieved. She hugged her daughter and said she was going to sign some papers and would be back soon.

That gave Tjipaa and me a little time alone.

“So, did you find it?” she asked quickly. “Do you have it?”

I gave her the note.

But I think she could already tell that something was wrong with me. My face had changed, and I could not hide my guilt.

“Muuaa, you are acting strange,” she said. “What is wrong? You have been so quiet.”

I tried to say I was fine, but tears began rolling down my face.

Then she looked at the note in her hands and asked, “Did you read it?”

I told her the truth.

“The maid said something serious was going on with you,” I said. “She found the note, and she told me to read it. She said I should help you and your mother come closer. She said you needed help.”

Tjipaa did not take it well.

She burst out at me.

“Muuaa, you promised not to read it. You lied to me. How am I supposed to trust you if you cannot even keep a simple promise? So now you know. Is this how you find out private things about your friends, by going behind their backs?”

I stood there crying.

I had wanted to be a hero, someone trying to help her. But now, in Tjipaa’s eyes, I was the villain.

“I only wanted to help you,” I said. “And I think you need to talk to your mother about it.”

That made her even more angry.

“Stop trying to run my life for me,” she shouted. “Stop telling me what I should do, what I should not do, what I need, and what I do not need. I already have a mother doing that. I do not expect it from you.”

She was crying and shouting, and the more I tried to calm her, the worse it became.

Then the door opened.

Ndjona-Top walked in.

She looked surprised to find both of us crying.

“Hey, I came as soon as I heard. Tjipaa, are you okay? Why are you both crying? Tjipaa will be fine,” she said.

There was silence.

Tjipaa and I could not even look at each other.

Ndjona-Top immediately knew something was wrong.

“Tjipaa… Muuaa… you are scaring me. What is going on? Please, tell me.”

I was not in a position to explain anything. It was Tjipaa’s story, not mine.

So after pulling herself together, Tjipaa told Ndjona-Top everything, from the suicide attempt, to the reason behind it, to what was written in the note.

For more than five minutes, none of us said a word.

It felt like we were three strangers sitting on a bus, each one lost in thoughts about a terrible life.

Then Ndjona-Top asked her, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Tjipaa answered sharply.

“Vemuu, you are never available when a person really needs you. You are too busy chasing men. Where were you last night when I needed you? You were nowhere. Besides, Muuaa knew. She was the one helping me through all this. When I found out I was in serious trouble, she was the one talking to me. I did not tell her not to say it to you, but she understood it was personal. I thought of telling you, but you are never emotionally available, Vemuu.”

Then she pulled her hand away from Ndjona-Top.

That hurt my cousin deeply.

She stood up and walked outside.

I could see that she was broken, and I understood why. She had lost touch with her friend a long time ago. She had been too busy with her own life, her own men, and her own troubles to notice what Tjipaa was going through.

I turned back to Tjipaa and apologised again.

“It was not my intention to read the note,” I said. “The maid made me do it. She said you were going through something no one knew about, and that is why I became so worried and curious.”

Tjipaa looked away.

“Of course the maid knows about my affair with my stepfather,” she said. “The first time she found out, Papa Kille threatened to fire her. And because I did not want my mother to know, I begged her not to say anything. But Muuaa, you betrayed my trust. There is nothing I can do about it now, so please just leave me alone.”

Then I asked, “And your mother? Is she okay? How do you know this is not affecting her too? Shouldn’t she know the truth?”

Tjipaa answered quietly, still facing away from me.

“I was the one sleeping with her husband. My mother has not been close to my stepfather for years because of the way he treated her. Besides, she is no longer interested in him, and she is already on treatment for high blood pressure because of him.”

Her message was clear.

She wanted nothing more from me.

Just as I was about to leave, Ndjona-Top came back into the room and sat down where I had been sitting.

She was crying badly.

At first, I thought she was simply hurt by what Tjipaa had said. But there was something more.

I asked her, “What is wrong?”

She told me to close the door.

Then she turned to Tjipaa and said, “I have a confession to make.”

“Oh my God,” she cried. “Maybe this is God punishing me. I deserve everything happening to me. Sometimes I think I am bewitched, because I cannot control myself.”

She took a tissue and continued.

“I am so sorry, Tjipaa. Please forgive me.”

Tjipaa looked at her in shock.

“Forgive you for what?”

Ndjona-Top struggled to explain.

She went in circles, almost unable to say it clearly.

Finally, Tjipaa snapped, “Muuaa, just get to the point. What happened?”

Then Ndjona-Top said it.

“Remember your 21st birthday, when Papa Kille bought you the Mercedes-Benz? I was so drunk that I passed out in one of the guest rooms. You and Kenaa went to test-drive the car and later went to sleep. I was still there. That night Papa Kille came into the room. Before I knew it, he gave me a lot of money so that I would keep quiet and not tell your mother that you were involved with him.”

The room went silent.

Then she added another painful truth.

“That money… I gave it to someone who promised to trade it for me. I thought I could grow it. I wanted to use it to buy a house in Dubai and leave this country without him knowing. But I got scammed. I lost all of it.”

Muuaa and I both stared at her.

Ndjona-Top wiped her tears and said in a trembling voice,

“He also once gave me N$150,000 to keep for him. I lost that too.”

We were all frozen.

Then the thought hit me like a rock:

Did this mean all of us now owed Papa Kille money?

How much more could life become like this?

I thought.

And I cried.

The End of Chapter Eighteen

Watch out for Part Nineteen as A Girl from Ehomba Mountain Who Wants to Achieve Something continues…