'How are you still protecting him?' I could not help myself. I had to shout. I did not understand why Mauve was always trying to cover Nate's tracks or bring up excuses for him.
'I'm not. I just don't want to believe it.' She was crying.
It was a lot for anybody to take in. I was too shocked to even think straight. Nate to me was no different to a murderer.
We stayed at the parking lot of the ice cream shop for a while before Alicia decided we needed to cool off.
She drove us to an open space that had a body of water and the air there was really cool. I felt the tears in my eyes go really cold and it tickled a little.
'Do you think I was late?' Mauve's voice made me aware of my surroundings again. I had been deep in my thoughts.
'What do you mean?' Alicia asked.
'I could have reported Nate the very first time he raped me, but I did not.' Her voice was cracked. She was crying.
She was shouldering Lauren's death and it was very understandable.
'Don't blame yourself Mauve. It is not any fault of yours.' Alicia said and hugged Mauve.
Lauren's twin sister never reported to the police about the rape. She probably never even knew until her sister died.
I never understood the feeling that came with being raped but if it drove someone to kill themselves, then it must be intense and unbearable.
'I think we should see Lauren's twin sister again. I have a feeling her sister made her see us. Maybe as a last wish or something.' I said.
'How would Lauren have known we would call? I don't think it's a very good idea to talk to her anymore. She seemed very upset. She lost someone really really close to her.' Alicia said.
Alicia was crying. I was too and so was Mauve. It was really unfortunate that Nate was responsible for someone's death.
'I think we should report it.' Alicia blurted out.
'Report what?' Mauve asked.
'Lauren's death. I mean, maybe no one reported it.'
'Are you insane?' My voice was raised. I hated my brother so much but I did not want him dead. A part of me was still fond of him.
He was my big brother. He was the closest person to me in my family. I could not stand losing him. Even if we were never to speak again, the assurance that he was alive was all I needed.
'What do you mean? It should be reported.' Alicia was looking right at me.
'Alicia, if Nate is found guilty, he might be put on death row or life imprisonment. You don't want that for your brother, do you?' Mauve did not look at Alicia once as she spoke. She only looked on at the vast body of water before us.
'What does it matter what I want for Nate? Lauren's twin did not want that for Lauren but it happened anyway. Nate deserves to be the next person the government kills. He is a killer. He pushed someone to her death. He is insane!' Alicia was shouting.
No one had ever actually suggested taking Nate to a psychiatrist or anything. He was probably not doing everything he did with his senses. He probably lost his mind.
'He's our brother. No matter how much hatred we have for him, we don't want him to die.'
'Think about what that would do to mum. It would destroy her.' I could not stand the thought of Nate dying. I loved him too much for that.
'Lauren sure had a mother and her death certainly destroyed the old woman. Mum will be fine.'
'Nate should be punished for every crime he has ever committed. Every single one of them including pick pocketing.' Alicia was angry already and I did not want to make her even angrier so I said nothing.
'Alicia, you're angry now. Let's talk about this later. A lot later.' Mauve said.
I understood Alicia perfectly. Nate had caused harm to a lot of people and his jail term was just fifteen years. It was not enough to pay for everything he had done but I did not want my brother dying or spending all his life in jail.
My phone rang. It was mum.
'Who is it?' Alicia asked when she saw me declining the call.
'Mum, she probably wants us back home.' I said.
'You know she gets really worked up when you don't take her calls. If she calls again, find out what she wants.' She said and I nodded.
Alicia's phone rang and I knew it was mum.
After a few minutes, Alicia dropped the call and said mum needed us home immediately so we left for home.
There was a nice white Mercedes parked in our house. It looked so expensive, I could not even touch it because it scared me.
When we got in, we saw a man talking with mum. His head was full of gray hair and his glasses were very thick. He looked very young and old at the same time. He also looked very familiar but I could not remember where I had seen him.
Mauve had told us she had some things to take care of so immediately we got home, she took her car and left.
'Come and sit with us.' Mum said.
She did not introduce her visitor to us but Alicia seemed like she knew exactly who he was.
'Why are you here?' Alicia said when she saw mum's visitor.
'Be nice Al. Come on.' He stood up and opened his arms like he wanted a hug.
I walked to mum and asked her who he was. She looked at me with a confused look on her face and then smiled.
'He's your dad.' She said,
My heart stopped beating for a second and then started beating very fast.
My head was very light and I staggered a little. I had not seen him in nine years and I had considered meeting him but there he was in my living room, calling my sister Al like he had a right to.
'You don't get to call me that. What are you doing here?' Alicia walked to him.
When they were only a few inches apart, I could see that they looked so much alike. They were both small and their skin had a warm tone in it.