Life takes a tone on us and what we once envisioned as an amazing life suddenly becomes a mirage. There i was looking at John wondering what might be going through his head. I was scared for him, i didn't want to leave his side at all. I was scared he might hurt himself. So i stayed by him, talking to him and trying to cheer him on. He had been through a lot in a space of a year. First, he lost his dad in an auto crash, then his mother ran away with his younger sister leaving him all alone and now the only person who cared for him in all of this just died. This person was his grandmother. This woman came to pick John to her house immediately she heard that his dad had died. She was the only person he had left, and now the curel hands of death had taken her away.
I could only imagine the thoughts going on in his head. He hated life and didn't want any of it anymore. He kept saying "i want to die". His grieve was visible. We all could see it and feel it. At some point i got confused. I didnt know how to console him anymore. I mean i can't possibly understand what he was going through. So, i decided to just stay with him through it all. Offering any form of comfort i could. I just wanted to reassure him that all hope was not lost and that he had me and i wasn't going anywhere.
By the end of the weekend we were done with the burial. My parents came too. I used the opportunity to speak to them about John. I told them he needed our help, he had no where to go to and no one to help him. After speaking to my parents they agreed that he could come live with us. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to go break the goodnews to him. The smile that suddenly came on his once gloomy face filled my heart with joy. I was glad i could be of help to a dear friend in his trying times. So, we all headed home together.
John started living with my parents and i and never did we make him feel like he wasn't a member of the family. People didn't even know our difference. My mum told anyone who asked that John was my nephew. John was a vibrant child, full of life and very smart. He was in the arts class and always came first, while i was in the science class and came first as well.
At the end of high school, we both were preparing to go to the University. John wanted to read law and i wanted to read engineering. We made a promise to ourselves that we will both go to the same university. We worked so hard to get in. The university we choose was a prestigious one and we had to read all the time to be among the lucky ones that will get in.
Dad came back home one evening, with his face sad and gloomy. We were all scared, what could be the problem. He just refused to speak. He asked for his dinner and ate in silence. After we all have had dinner, he called everyone to the living room and then said to John and i thay he got our results for the intake examinations we took. Our hearts started to race fast. I knew my dad, if we had passed he would have come into the house with lots of smiles and giggles. I got even more scared. Then after some minutes of silence my dad spoke. The first thing that came out of his mouth was "i am very disappointed in both of you, yoi both could not get into the university". I felt my world crumbling, john started to weep, i could not even cry. When he saw our countenance he brought out 2 envelopes and give one to each of us. Sluggishly we opened them up and brought out the letter that read "ACCEPTANCE LETTER". we both started screaming, "we got in, we got in, we got in". My mum was so excited, everyone was happy. My dad then said he did that to show us that no parent wanted his children to fail. He urged us to study even harder in school. We promised not to let him down. Everyone was in a festive mood, he told us he had gotten us some presents for getting in to the university. We were veey excited. We danced, we sang, we jumped, we cried and finally we prayed.
