Condemned Daughter

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 5

I had to leave work early that day because I couldn’t do anything with my head anymore.

I told Mirabel that I was sick so I headed straight into my car which was parked at Sparkles parking lot.

She rushed towards my car and looked softly at me. “Rosa, I know that you didn’t kill my sister. I didn’t come to Sparkles for you, I came to catch the person here in Sparkles”.

I gasped. “The person is here in Sparkles?”.

“Yes. Why? Surprised?”.

“Yes”.

I got out of my car.

She placed a arm around me. “Since you don’t have a sister, you can have me. Though, I and Dominic are very close. She tells me everything. She even told me that you both liked the same man”.

Tears filled my eyes. “Is it because of Ryan that she is doing this to me? Is it because of a man that she is doing this to her sister!!!”. I cried out with all the strength left in me.

“Are you going to give up on Ryan because of your sister?”.

“I don’t even know anymore!”.

“Why don’t you bite her the way she bit you?”.

“How do you mean?”.

She shrugged. “If she can do this to you because of Ryan, make her more miserable by showing her that you have Ryan’s heart. The heart that she couldn’t get for ten years”.

I just couldn’t do that to my sister.

Mirabel searched my trembling eyes. “Your sister wants to put you behind bars and you are still considering her love life? Shame on you!!!”. She slipped into my hand, Ryan’s business card. “If you like, burn it again”.

I was shocked.

Did my sister really find out that I burn’t the business card and told Mirabel about it too?

As I sat in my car, my heart was hurting.

I needed someone…

Ryan…

His soft words that made me feel loved for the first time.

I picked up my phone and dialled the number.

He connected it immediately. “Rosa Harrison Hannah”.

“You used true caller to get that information right?”.

“Yes. Your contact information is right here. How are you? Where are you?”

“Ryan, my sister is the prosecutor of the murder case”. I sobbed heartily. “Everyone believes that i am the killer, and now, my sister is the prosecutor? You have to help me stop her, Ryan. Only you can”.

“You are not the killer, so you have nothing to worry about”.

“…but, a case that I am the suspect? How can my sister be the prosecutor of such case?”.

“You don’t have to be sentimental about it. Your sister is the one that people will look at as a bad person, and if eventually there is a strong proof that you are not the killer, it will ruin her reputation more”.

“…but that is not what I want. I don’t want to ruin my sister’s reputation”.

“Where are you?”.

I started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. “I just left the company”.

“I will meet you at the other end”. He disconnected the line.

Before I knew it, his car was driving towards me from the other end.

I stopped my car and got out.

He rushed out of his car and hugged me. “I am sorry you had to bear all this, Rosa”.

I sobbed. “Can you just always be there for me? I just need someone. Sometimes, I feel lonely”.

He kissed me on my forehead. “I will never leave your side, Rosa. I came to your life to wipe away your tears”.

“Ryan, can you just take me out of that house?”.

“Very soon, I will”. His phone rang. He connected it. “Hello Dad? Hello Dad, that will be later.Dad, deal with it please, later please! Dad I said later”.

I knew that there was an emergency. “You can go now, Ryan. Just seeing you, I am already fine”.

He disconnected the line and stared at me. “I can’t leave you, Rosa”.

“Sincerely, I am fine”. I tried to convince him even though I was not fine but I didn’t want him to not attend to his company emergency because of me. I forced a smile.

He hugged me again and hurried to his car and drove off.

It broke my heart to feel the loneliness again.

I rushed to my car and drove to the bar.

Gretta Anderson’s mother had sexually abused her when she was little and because of that, Mirabel had reported her to the police.

Gretta Anderson’s mother, Juliana had died in prison of cancer.

Gretta Anderson was the one that her father had made the heir to all his inheritance despite the fact that she was the last child in the family.

Because of this, her brothers had persecuted her, including her elder sister, Mirabel.

Mirabel was Raymond Maxson’s ex-girlfriend.

After reading in Gretta’s secret book how Mirabel had maltreated her, he regretted the fact that he was once in love with Mirabel Anderson.

He needed to cool his head.

Gretta’s family were suspects of the case.

…the children of Alexander Anderson will benefit the most from Gretta’s death because now that she was dead, everyone will be fighting for Alexander Anderson’s inheritance.

He had more questioning to do.

He had to visit the Andersons.

Before that, he needed to cool his head at Swanta’s coffee shop.

Swanta made the best coffee in the area.

She was his course mate in the university and they had graduated together.

He took a stroll out of his house and walked to the coffee shop to get Swanta’s coffee.

“How far with that case?”. Swanta said softly as she brought the coffee to his table.

He sighed as he sipped the steamingp coffee. “Still on it actually”.

“Is Rosa Harrison still the suspect?”.

“I have more suspects on my mind”.

“Everyone is talking about her. Ever since she entered the bar over there this evening, people have been watching her”.

“Rosa Harrison?”.

“Yes, she is at that bar over there”.

He got up and moved to the bar.

She had drank seven bottles of Trophy already.

She was pouring another glass when he stopped her. “Get up”. He said sternly.

She laughed wildly. “Whoa! The handsome detective!!!”.

“Get up”. He said again and just immediately as she rose to her feet, she fell back to the chair.

“You are feeling tipsy already”. He whispered.

A young man on dreadlocks approached the table. “…are you the boyfriend of this killer?”

Raymond glared at him. “What is the proof that she is a killer?”.

“Are you now blinded by love?”. The man chuckled.

Raymond brought out his ID card from his jeans pocket. “if you spread false rumour, I will arrest you this instant”.

The man stepped back.

The bar attendant approached them. “Her bill is four thousand. The Benson and Trophy that she had ordered”.

He gave the attendant his ATM card and carried the tipsy Rosa Harrison on his back.

He collected his ATM card back from the attendant after she had deducted the bill and he then headed straight to where her car was parked at the front.

She sobbed. “I have drank so much and I can’t even get drunk! Why is everything so frustrating?”

“Is this about the case?”. He started the engine.

“I just need someone that will listen to me”.

He silently drove her to Mount Verbe bridge and helped her out of the car.

She was surprised at him. “Why? Why are we here?”.

“You said that you wanted to talk to someone”.

“I only talked to Ryan about things like this”.

“Talk to Raymond Maxson and see if it helps”.

She burst into an uncontrollable sob. “I feel so suffocated in my heart. I kept the trauma for so long but still, I get scared of situations that overwhelms me”.

“What trauma?”.

“The general overseer of Christ the life ministry. He was a just a pastor of the growing branch as at then. He raped me”.

He gasped but he didn’t say a word.

She continued. “I was too young to explain what exactly he had done to me but I told my parents that I didn’t want to go to church again but they told me that I was possessed by an evil spirit and made me visit him over and over again. He raped me over and over again. It was brutal. So painful. He made me get used to pain. No one cared to understand what I was going through so I decided to get my mind off my past but now, it feels as if because of the means I had used in getting my mind off my past, it had put me in trouble, but now, everyone condemns me. My sister wants to take up this case. She is the prosecutor of the case. I have no one at all except Ryan”.

He felt so angry at himself that he had condemned someone that had suffered so much.

How could he add to her pains when she had been trying to get over it?

Tears filled his eyes as he could feel her pains. “I am sorry for adding to the so much pains that you have been feeling, Rosa. I am so sorry. So sorry”.

She met his eyes. “It is not your fault at all, you were only doing your job”.

“I was over-doing my job. I am sorry that my sentiments had affected you”.

“It is fine”.

“…and I am sorry about the trauma you had faced when you were so little. Don’t you want justice concerning that general overseer?”.

“Justice? Will justice change the damage?”.

He reached for my hand. “Look here Rosa, I think now is the time for you to come out of your past. I know it will take you enough strength to do so, but I promise to be your backbone. I will do everything to make you forget”.

“How do you intend to do that?”.

He smiled and hugged me. “Firstly, you need a hug. Hugging is a language that says that you are accepted. Can we do this game? Why don’t you surprise everyone?”.

“Surprise them? How?”.

“Start doing what geniunely makes you happy! If you feel like screaming, do it! Be free like a bird! You can call me anytime you need me too. You have two people that believe in you”.

“Two?”.

“Ryan and Raymond Maxson”. He chuckled.

She chuckled. “Thank you”.

He pointed towards my face. “You just laughed. That is a good start. You don’t have to be bothered about how your family think of you, just do only what makes you feel responsible”.

“Like what?”.

“Start from going home now”.

“It is too early. It is just seven o’clock”.

“Yes, that is a good start. Go home early, watch romantic movies, comedy, laugh! Eat real food and drink water, not alcohol or benson, join them at the table anytime they are about to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. It bonds a family more. Be part of the family but do what makes you feel responsible. If you do all these, it will show that you have not condemned yourself. For people to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself first. For people to stop condemning you, you have to stop condemning yourself first”.

Ryan called Dominic to his company.

She drove to his company and met him in his office.

He glared at her. “I will agree to date you only if you agree to take your hands off the case”.

“What case?”.

“…the case that condemns your sister”.

“My sister is not condemned. There is no proof yet”.

“You believe that she is condemned, that is why you took up the case”.

“Stop acting like you know me. You don’t know anything. And why will you want to date me when you are in love with my sister?”.

“I know you love me, Dominic”.

“You know what you don’t know? My sister looks strong on the outside but I am stronger than she is. I can take care of my heart more than she can”.

“You are wrong”.

“Look here Ryan, an older sister will always be an older sister. And as for the case you want me to turn down, I never turn down cases I have already agreed to. To hell with having a relationship with you, Ryan. To hell with your feelings”. She walked out of his office.