Betty

She had waited twenty solid minutes before recalling that her father wouldn't be coming to pick her up.

"Why would I waste petrol and drive over for one kid? Olopa's children walk home everyday!" He had said.

She stared at the long dusty path ahead, took a deep breath and began the long trek. The hot November sun hung up in the sky. Cars drove by in tandem picking kids up. Students flocked the sidewalk in masses, talking, laughing, playing as they walked home in groups. Feeling alone, She steeled herself and stared staright ahead, marching homeward with a set jaw.

"Oof!" She stumbled into a girl who had bent to pick something off the floor.

"Watch it! Oh hey... It's you Betty. You're just leaving." Tokunbo's forehead glistened in the sun.

"Yeah." Betty murmured and looked around. "Where's your brother?"

The thin girl hissed and pointed a long finger behind them.
"The idiot ditched me to follow his friends. I am so telling Papa."

"You call your dad Papa?" Betty asked as they walked together.

"Sometimes." Tokunbo muttered bashfully. "It was what I called him when I was younger. It kind of stuck."

Betty nodded. "Was he... Like that when you were younger too?"

"My brother? He's always-"

"I was talking about your Dad." Betty smiled shaking her head lightly.

"Ohhhhhhhhh. My Dad's quite intense isn't he? He's being like that since he beat up his father when he was twelve." Tokunbo stated shrugging her shoulders then winced.

"What?!!!" Betty hadn't expected such a reply. She remembered how Tokunbo's face had looked after her father had slapped her that Saturday. A chill ran up her spine at the memory.

At least my own dad doesn't touch me.

"He's not a bad person I swear. I know how that sounds but he really isn't. My grandmother, his mother was known for her anger. They say she killed her first husband before marrying my grandpa. My dad was the only son and child of their union. Everyone expected the worst from my father. Aggression, hatred, anger. They expected that he would inherit his mother's maniacal anger. When my dad turned twelve, he proved them right by beating up his father for violating grandmother. Papa hated himself afterwards. So he shipped himself off to military school to learn discipline and control. That's why he's that way." Tokunbo finished breathlessly.

Betty wondered when she would be able to defend her father in the same manner. "Wow. I don't even know my father's history."

"Maybe there's a reason he's that way to you and your mom too."

Betty shook her head. "Whatever. So your dad hasn't gotten angry ever since?"

Tokunbo laughed lightly. "That would be impossible. He has. But we try to make sure he doesn't get too angry or in a fit of rage. God forbid he...kills someone. So we try not to irk him. I usually try. But if Demi succeeds with whatever fish balls she's cooking up, My dad will definitely go mad. We moved here for a fresh start. I owe my parents that much."

Betty felt rotten within. She couldn't recall the last time she'd ever thought of what she owed her mom. And even if her father could be a pig headed sexist, he still paid the bills and provided food for them. That counted as something.

But it is nothing compared to the pain. Nothing!

She cleared her throat. "Soo, I'll bet your brother's the one that inherited the anger issues."

Tokunbo froze visibly. Her shoes stayed rooted to the ground for a second before she caught up with Betty. "No. It was me."

"Y-You?" Betty spluttered. Her eyes raked up and down Tokunbo's body. "You?"

The latter nodded. "Yeah. It's why we had to move here. I... I killed someone."

A pregnant silence hung in the air. The two girls stood, staring at each other. Betty felt her ears grow heavy.
"Jesus Christ." She muttered in disbelief.

"Y-You won't tell anyone r-right?"

"I ... I won't. What happened?" Betty whispered looking around to see if anyone was listening in.

"I was six when it first reared its head. Papa had just come back from work and by mistake stepped on my doll's head. I must've really liked the doll then. He angrily tossed the plastic away and picked me up into his arms telling me something I can't remember. No one knew where I had picked the iron nail from, but it was in my hand and the next thing my dad knew was my hand across his face, blood running out and me watching in satisfaction as he screamed in pain."

Betty's head spun at the information. "You gave your dad that nasty scar?!!!"

Tokunbo chuckled bitterly. "I know. Sometimes I don't know what I am capable of. And that terrifies me. That's why my dad's rigid with me. He knows what anger can do. How anger can turn you into your very own demon. And he was right Betty. I didn't get close to people in school because too much association with people will definitely affect my emotions. But in eighth grade, I had a friend. She... She really understood me you know. She stuck like a leech even when I pushed her away. Kind of like you." Tokunbo grinned.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't indirectly call me a leech." Betty laughed and they resumed walking again. "What happened then? She's not the one you... You know?"

"She was bullied. A lot. She was an early bloomer. Puberty hit her quite early so the girls were jealous. They would tease her, push her, do terrible things to her. Terrible bastards!" Tokunbo fumed. " I hated them. But I didn't do anything. I was bullied as well. Couldn't do anything to stop it. Not even my dad could stop it... In ninth grade, the school organized a picnic at the pool. I hadn't even wanted to go. But mom was not going to let her only daughter become completely antisocial. Those- those immature fools, stole her swimsuit when she was in the changing room, took naked pictures of her and began sending it to everyone's phones. I don't know how they did it. I can't even remember how I had seen it. All I remember was white hot rage boiling through me. I wanted to ruin the person who started it all over. I wanted to break her. I stalked towards the girl that began the whole fiasco, I remember her pointing to me with a sneer on her face. I can't even recall what she said. I remember nothing after that. They say I grabbed her fingers and snapped it before shoving her to the ground. She hit her head against a stone. Sometimes when I'm alone I see flashes. Flashes of her on the ground. So much blood. People screaming. The sirens are usually so loud. They say I just kept staring. Staring as they picked her unconscious body off the ground, as they wheeled her into the ambulance. I... I just stared Betty. Inhumanely." Tears slipped out of her eyes. "My dad cried so hard that day. He failed. He failed. He knew it. I knew it. The girl's parents sued us, but I was too young to even go to Juvie and the people even thought it was a play gone wrong. So the court ordered us out of the city. Dad got transferred here immediately and here we are."

"Oh my God. Vicky was right." Betty groaned after a long bout of uncomfortable silence. "I am so selfish! People do have bigger problems than I do."

"She's not totally right either" Tokunbo remarked, cleaning her wet face.

"You think?"

"Your problem is still a problem Betty. Because you're so focused on living for a man who thinks you'll always be Nothing. Why not live it all Betty? Why not live for yourself?"

*********

Finally! Another update my loves.
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