Enduring Mr McGregor

chapter 33

Trigger warning...

•••

Nia sat quietly as Sally blow-dried her hair. Pulling her legs up to her chest, she asked, "So where do you live exactly?"

"Kensington, with mom and dad. But most times I'm in school which is awful cause I miss mommy's cooking."

Nia laughed and ended up coughing.

"Sorry," Sally said handing her the thermos. "I'm sorry Nia," she said after she had taken a sip.

"Don't be Sally," Nia said in a hoarse voice. "It's not your fault."

"I don't know how you can be so calm about it. I mean, if I were the one pushed into the water, I'd have sued Lisa for attempted murder. And let me tell you, that would have gone viral. And then I would have persuaded dad to leave her in a rowboat without oars in the middle of the sea."

Nia laughed till she was weeping. "You have a bizarre imagination. But, I don't care about Lisa, she doesn't bother me."

Sally chuckled. She had no idea how Nia could be so forgiving and kind while she was so hateful and malicious. She grinned and shook her head and then asked in a small voice. "Nia, can I ask a question?"

Nia winced when Sally pulled the hair accidentally. "I can't say no. You're gonna ask anyway."

"Robert told me about... Well, you know, about... "

"Spit it out Sally."

"About what Lisa called you when you were... When... What she called you," she finished lamely.

Nia blinked. "Robert tells you everything?" She asked flatly.

"Not everything. I have to force most things out of him. But he told me cause he was ranting and raving about murdering Lisa when I called him."

Nia stared surprised. "He was?"

"Yeah. It was so hard to calm him down that day. Anyway, I was, and I am still curious about your reaction. If you don't mind me asking, who is Daniel?"

Nia looked down and swallowed thickly.

"You don't have to answer!" She said quickly.

Nia shook her head. "He was my best friend."

Sally blinked. "Oh... "

"We were so close you could mistake us for siblings. We attended the same high school, lived on the same street. At school, he was bullied because he was colored. Kids at that school really had a thing against colored people. I'm black too, but no one really noticed me because I was quite fair as a child and I was friends with the popular clique. No one wanted to mess with me because of them."

She inhaled deeply.

"But Daniel, he... he got the brunt of everything. At first it was just bumping into him in the hallways, leaving nasty notes in his locker, tearing his notebooks, but that was it. I thought it was the normal bullying."

She gulped and continued. "He was fourteen when he started receiving threatening notes. I dismissed them as the childish antics of the guys, but it wasn't. Daniel told me he was being followed but I didn't believe him. And then they started cornering him after school until he gradually gave in to depression. I still didn't believe, until I saw his bruises. I told them severally, a bunch of white dudes, I told them to stay away but they never did. They threatened to rape me if I didn't keep shut."

Tears were coursing down her face.

"I was... He got beat up in my presence, and I couldn't do anything about it. And then one day, I... "