Manipulated

‘Please don’t do it! Please Antara. Are you out of your mind? Aunt Molly will destroy the world if she found out that you rid her of her favourite cat!’

‘She will never find out.’ Antara looked at Reena with an evil smile.

‘It’s Aunt Molly. She knew everything that happened in this neighbourhood, and she would find out!’

Reena looked at the Brown tabby Persian cat that lay by the couch. It licked its paws and paused to look at the two girls from time to time.

‘It looks like it knows what we are up to. Just look at it! It’s possessed by some evil spirit. Do not fret Reena. It is sly just like Aunt Molly and that is why I am getting rid of it!’ Antara glared back at the cat. ‘I think it has taken after the soul of grandma! That evil old lady. She tortured me when she was alive, and she comes back as a cat to torture me even more. Just look at all these scratch marks. A nightmare! It is a conspiracy. Both mother and daughter have planned something against me!’

‘You are exaggerating! Grandma was nothing like that and Aunt Molly would not harm you.’

‘No, I am not exaggerating. Do you know what happened two days ago?’ Antara whispered while her eyes continued to look at the cat that ignored their existence and cleaned its fur and paws.

‘I left my iPad on and went to shower. The iPad would usually auto-lock after a few minutes. I came out of the shower 20 minutes later and found that my bank account was accessed by someone. There was no one else in the house! It was at the time when you had gone out for a walk. Aunt Molly and Laura were at the school play.’

‘Oh, come on! Are you saying that the cat…? Antara, the whole world is online these days. It could have been a scammer trying to access and get into your bank account. The cat probably just happened to be there.'

‘You do not believe me, do you? Fine! Before Grandma passed on, she manipulated my mother to give her all the bank account details and insisted that Aunt Molly be made my administrator just in case something would happen to my mother or parents. Thank goodness for my dad, he changed them all back, but sadly I had to lose them both. I was so broken-hearted that I was tempted to give my inheritance to Aunt Molly. I just wanted my parents back.’ Said Antara as tears welled in her eyes.

‘I know I was away for a long time, but my mother knew everything that was happening because Aunt Molly and she spoke often. So maybe you are right and yet you could be mistaken about anyone wanting your inheritance. My mother would have told me if something was wrong.’

‘I would not react this way if they had treated me well Reena. They really pushed me to the edge. The last two years were the darkest. I turned into a heartless person with so much hatred and bitterness. Not only did I lose the people I loved the most, but I was betrayed and humiliated over and over by none other than my own Aunt and cousin, and grandma.’

‘Antara don’t think too much. I am surprised that grandma was like that. I am surprised that my mother's family was that mean. I only saw the good in them.'

‘I never said these to anyone, but I know that I can trust you. Grandma had picked at me all the time and kept nagging that I had caused the accident and that it was my fault that my mother was gone too soon.’

Reena looked at Antara, concerned.

‘You think I am mad do you not?’

‘No, I do not think that you are mad. I am just worried that you may be overthinking all this. Maybe you miss your parents. It has just been two years. Maybe you are just showing all your anger on that cat.’

‘No Reena. I am telling you the truth. Grandma never loved me! It was always Aunt Molly and Laura, the favourite grandchild.’

‘No, Laura was not the favourite grandchild. Grandma was wise and fair when deciding on such things.’ Reena intervened.

‘No, she was close to Laura!’

Reena looked at Antara.

‘What?’

‘She called me every day when I was in the university, until the day she died. She would check on me and speak of you, Laura, and Aunt Molly all the time and said so many good things. She never once said anything bad about you but only asked me to take care of you.’

‘No Reena, you have no idea. Aunty Molly was a young widow when we invited her to stay with us as she needed a home to go to. She was family and my parents welcomed her openly. But that woman colluded with grandma to outcast me. Grandma would make Laura fancy breakfast and let her watch television while I swept and hoovered the house. They were so biased and cruel. Sadly, my parents never noticed, and I would never complain.’

‘I am surprised to hear you say that. I never saw this side of them Antara. Laura was 3 years old when she came to live with you. You could not possibly expect her to hoover the house! You were 12 then! There was no harm in helping around with chores.’

‘They were always nice to you, perhaps because you and your mother stayed away from family matters and……

‘And?’

‘My dad said that your family was not financially sound, so you were off target. Aunt Molly, Laura and grandma were too greedy! Aunt Molly and Laura probably hated me because we lived well and perhaps because my mother had it easier than her. My parents worked very hard to get to where they were. This was their sweat! What grandma, Aunt Molly and Laura failed to understand over and over was that we were very simple people, with very simple needs. Envy is such a dangerous thing! It turns you into a different person.’

‘What did your dad mean by we were not financially sound?’ Reena looked at Antara confused.

‘Well, you and Aunt Ray were living an average life after your dad left. My dad said that he helped to pay for your university fees because Aunt Ray would run out of funds and ask for his help. He said that you and your mother had nothing left. But I am sure things are much better now that you are earning.’

‘We were never poor Antara. That is the truth.’ Said Reena firmly. ‘We had a good life just like you did. In fact, just as comfortable as you were. Did you know that I had the same pink bed and barbie house that you had? The same. I even had disco lights in my room. My mother had the same fancy kitchen tiles as your mother’s and our house was decent with all white and posh-looking furniture just like yours. We even wanted to buy a home around this neighbourhood, but my dad wanted to live in a simpler neighbourhood. Otherwise, we would have been neighbours.’ Spoke to Reena calmly.

‘Well….’ Antara pondered for a moment.

‘I meant no offence, Reena. I just …. I did not know you had the same things that we did. Well, we never visited your home much and that is probably why I thought so. And most holidays were spent here at ours because grandma kept saying that this was the family home.’ 

‘Yes, this was the family home. Grandma paid for this.’

‘No, she did not. My dad bought this!’

‘She did invest some of her savings into this house, otherwise, do you think your dad could afford something like this in such a lavish neighbourhood?’

‘Of course, he could. He was a lawyer, and his family was rich too!’

‘Oh well, it’s a pity that you thought so.’ Said Reena as she shrugged her shoulders. ‘He was not a lawyer, and neither was he rich! His family disowned him because he was irresponsible. He abused your mother and made sure grandma stayed here and he made sure that all of grandma’s savings were transferred to your mother’s name and eventually you. You were his bait to getting everything that he wanted.’

Antara looked at Reena suspiciously. 

‘No, it is not true. How dare you speak of my dad that way. How would you know? You were too busy building your life and career. You are heartless like those computers that you work with Reena!'

'So it's my fault now?'

Antara stared at Reena angrily.

‘I did not want to tell you all these but unfortunately, you had been misled to think that all these are your parents' hard work, when in fact it was grandma who worked her magic to make sure that you had the best because she loved you very much. She never mistreated any of her grandchildren. Never! Your dad was not a good man.’

‘What?’

‘It was grandma who paid for all our school fees as well. She managed all the online transactions. She would call and ask me about how to manage all the finances. She was an amazing lady! She kept ahead of time, she planned our future for us and you think she was mean?'

'Reena.'

'By the way, your dad paid nothing of mine Antara and your parents did not die in an accident. It was planned by the debtors. It’s a pity that your mother happened to be with him that day. They were on their way to fetch you from university because you would not take the train home when your car broke down. You were a spoilt brat!’

‘Is that why grandma kept saying that it was my fault?’

‘Yes! She was heartbroken when your mother died. Your mother had to endure so much pain because of your dad and finally, she had to die because of him. And that pain caused granma her own life!'

'No, I find that hard to believe.'

‘Antara, you were misled and manipulated to believe otherwise.’

‘I… ‘Antara went silent.

‘I must take this call.’ Reena stepped out of the living room into the yard.

The cat got up, looked at Antara and walked out into the yard.