Certain words bring discomfort. Certain words destroy mood. Certain words strain relationships. I wish to have passed whatever I said through the "three filters," as proposed by one of the famous Philosophers of all times: Socrates.
My uncle became extremely uncomfortable in his seat. He felt sad and no longer looked at me. We were still sitting in the living room, everyone digesting the weight of the words that had come out of my mouth uncontrollably. The television was switched off, and a moment of silence prevailed.
"So that's what you thought?" My uncle asked. He still couldn't believe what I had told him.
"Yes I meant every word I said," I replied.
"And what makes you think so?" He asked, perplexed.
"I have every evidence to say that," I replied confidently. All fears were gone out of me. Jean, who had been sitting, stood up wondering about my confidence. Occasionally, he glanced at Uncle Jack suspiciously. Maybe he had believed what I was saying.
"Jean, do you agree with me?" I asked him. He looked at Uncle Jack shyly, who returned the look curious to hear his point of view. He was quiet for some time, which made me wonder.
"Why are you quiet? Are you on his side or not?" My uncle asked him. We both looked at him, making him feel intimidated.
"I… I am…" Jean began.
"What!" Uncle Jack shouted in shock. "You too?"
"No… Sir!" Jean replied immediately. He then returned the glance to me who never cared about anything, anymore. I was determined to uncover everything that I had seen and heard.
"You want me to send you away from this house. Seems you can't stay here anymore." Uncle Jack said.
"We're not going anywhere!" I shouted at him. "Remember you promised me that you won't do anything after I speak what I've spoken."
"And so…"
"As you have heard. Nobody is leaving this house." I interrupted him. The level of confidence that I heard at the moment could allow me to speak to the president of the country. I stood, my eyes glaring at him with the agility that could nearly kill a small baby. I did not fear whether the managers of his dark occult could attack me during that night. Uncle Jack became angry.
"No Sir, don't send us away." Jean pleaded, " At least for him, he will go to his parents. But for me!" He stressed. He even went down on his knees but Uncle Jack did not respond.
"Don't worry." I assured him, "Nobody is leaving this house."
"Can you hear yourself?" My uncle asked and paused for a second or two. "You have become rude since you came to this house. This was not the you that your parents told me about when they were sending you to me. I wonder why they 'dumped' you here in the first place." He raised his two hands to mimic the quotes. He then picked up his phone and went upstairs.
"Do you see what you have caused?" Jean asked worriedly, "Your uncle is angry with the two of us."
"I told you not to worry. What part of not worrying don't you understand?" I said annoyed, "You're annoying me now."
"If I get fired…"
"You know what," I said, eyeing him sharply, "I'm off to bed. So…"
"So what…."
"It's up to you!" Having said that, I ran upstairs raging with fury. Fury that was caused by my uncle and fueled by Jean's stubbornness. I banged open the door to my room and jumped onto the bed. My mood did not change even when I looked at my phone which lay on the small table beside the bed. Neither did it when I saw the two novels, still in the closet. I decided to free myself on the bed. I had to forget all things and wait for the next day. I slept soundly.
Dawn came sooner than expected. The events of the previous day still lingered in my mind even when I tried to forget. I still lay on the bed, with my eyes wide open. "What will happen when my uncle sends me away? How will I begin to explain it to my parents?" My conscience began pricking me. "I think I should ask for forgiveness!" I muttered silently within myself. However, the pride with which I had addressed my uncle did not allow me to do so. It did not even allow me to feel guilty about it. It assured me that I had done my part in exposing what I thought was true. It assured me comfort, strength, and hope in the fact that my uncle would have to leave the occult. It brought me immense joy, especially when I assured myself that my uncle might thank me in the future for exposing him and the occult. All these, however, were my own perspectives about the matter. How sure was I that my uncle was a member of the occult? This question gnawed at me but I ignored it. I assured myself that all that I had said was true and the evidence that I gave my uncle was enough to make the conclusions I made. Once more. I recalled how it happened.
I had sat on the same seat that I usually sat on every day. Uncle Jack and Jean also sat on their usual seats looking at me curiously. I had felt as if their gazes were oppressing me, to tell the truth. So I spoke what I thought was the truth.
"Tell us now," my uncle had begun.
"Well," I had said, "from what I'm going to say, I hope you remember the promise you have made, that you won't do anything to me." I had paused to create the tension within them, such that I saw them shifting uncontrollably on their seats.
"Yes, I remember." Uncle Jack had replied, "Jean here is a witness, aren't you?" He had then pointed at him.
"Yes, exactly." Jean had agreed.
"Well, I came to this house just the other day and I've stayed here for barely a week. The first day I came here, something happened in this house that made me wonder." I paused and looked at each one of them and keenly observed their reaction before going on. "It happened in that room that you never wanted us to get in." I pointed at my uncle who was now becoming uneasy.
"What was that?" Uncle Jack had asked.
"I heard a bang which was not so loud, but what happened after left me with questions. You know, at home, I had heard different stories about you, your work, and all these riches that you own." I paused again, "By now, you should be getting what I mean. There came a smell of something being burned from the room which I had heard a bang. I tried opening it in vain, yet the door was left ajar. That gave me a lot of questions mostly arising from what I had heard from people who knew very little about you. From that day, I decided to observe you closely and confirm what I had heard."
"What did you observe?" Jean had asked curiously.
"When you came, you got into the same room and later pleaded with me asking whether I had intruded into that room. You had to buy me a phone for me to tell you the truth. Whatever happened, happened, until I told you the truth. That raised questions in my mind and I was still yet to confirm whether what I had always heard about you was true." At that moment, I went to the fridge and served myself a glass of juice. I drank it in one gulp and went back to my seat to continue with the story.
"Today," I emphasized, "is the day when my worst fears were confirmed. I heard someone else's voice speaking when you got into your secret room but sadly I couldn't see him. You came out so quickly, I couldn't see you when you were getting inside the car to confirm whether you were with someone. That left me with questions also. Why would you rush out of the house so quickly?" I paused as if waiting for an answer. "You will answer that one for yourself."
As I thought about this, I heard the door being knocked. I then heard my uncle's voice urging me to go downstairs and have breakfast. I became afraid of eating anything from the house. So I put the phone inside the closet, wore the clothes that I had come with when I came to my uncle's house then went downstairs. When I arrived in the living room, my uncle looked at me and asked.
"Where are you going? Are you not going to eat breakfast?"
"I'm not eating anything in this house. Furthermore, I'm not staying here anymore. Unless you tell me that you are now clean without the matters we talked about yesterday." I walked towards the door and immediately stopped, "And don't try to fire Jean, because when I hear about it, I'm going to tell my parents and the whole family about the secrets that you have been keeping for all this while." I then banged the door behind me, proceeded to the parking area, and picked up my bike. I rode towards the gate, and the look on my face was enough to tell Jean to open the gate. So he did it. Without saying anything to him, I left.