29 SECRETS ARE OUT

I knocked on Tunde's gate for the fourth time and no one was yet to answer. I was about to call him on the phone when I heard footsteps on the other side of the gate and soon, it swung open revealing an older version of Tunde.

Tunde never mentioned having a twin brother. In fact, I knew for sure that Tunde was an only child so I couldn't wrap my head around the familiar figure looking at me.

"Can I help you?" he sounded a lot like Tunde too.

"Tunde..." was all I'd managed to say. The man standing in front of me looked exactly like Tunde; thick and well outlined eyebrows, light skin, chiseled jaw, pink lips. But this version looked a little older.

"Oh, you're his friend from school." he said like he had been expecting me. "Come in."

I followed him into the compound and into the house which was quiet. From the living room, I could hear footsteps and sounds coming from the kitchen. I remembered the first time I'd been here and my very unpleasant first impression of Mrs. Rotimi.

"Tunde! Tunde!!" the man called, "Your visitor is here." he added but we heard nothing from upstairs.

Mrs. Rotimi walked out of the kitchen with a rag in her hand. She gave me that threatening look I knew so well while I greeted her. "Rachael, is it?"

"Yes, ma."

"Long time. Welcome." she said without any sign of a smile before going back into the kitchen.

We heard slow footsteps coming down the stairs making us turn our heads to a zombie-like Tunde.

"You kept your visitor waiting." the man said.

"Thanks, dad." Tunde said as he approached us. I couldn't believe Tunde's dad was standing in front of me. Now I knew the reason behind the striking resemblance. "We just want to study for tomorrow's exam."

"Okay, you can go up to your room then." Mr. Rotimi said. "But leave the door open."

"Let's go." Tunde whispered and I followed him.

"Are you okay?" I asked as soon as we were inside his room. "You look like a real life zombie."

"Thanks." he said. "And no, I'm not fine." he added.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't sleep, I have no appetite and I feel so depressed." he replied with so much ease.

"But your dad is here. At least that should make you feel a little happy." I said.

"My dad is only here because my mom called him and said I was dying. They're divorced, they really don't want anything to do with each other." Tunde explained. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. No wonder he never mentioned his father.

I couldn't help but wonder if he got along with his dad before his parents' divorce.

"I want you to stay." he said all of a sudden making me confused as to what he was referring to. "I wish you won't go. I feel like I'm in hell."

"God. Tunde, I don't know what to say."

"This place is driving me crazy," Tunde rested his head on his palms while I sat across the room feeling uncomfortable.

"Emm... I need to use the toilet. I'll be right back." I said before rushing out the door like I even knew where the toilet was.

I stood in the hallway and took in a deep breath before a crazy idea popped into my head. Before I realized it, I was on Google searching for "Abuse of cocaine".

As I feared, the abuse of cocaine could lead to the effects mentioned earlier by Tunde and other effects which included chronic anxiety, increased alertness, insomnia, hallucinations, convulsion, heart attack, depression, loss of appetite.

"What do I do now?" I found myself asking. I took in another deep breath and went back into Tunde's room to meet the surprise of my life.

The floor was covered in white crystalline power and in a corner, Tunde was tearing up more bags of the white substance as he sobbed uncontrollably with his entire body shaking.

"I don't want them anymore, Rachael. Please take them away." he went down on his knees and held my legs.

Looking around the room, I couldn't help but cry too. I went down on my knees too and held my friend closely. It was only then that the reality of Tunde's addiction had dawned on me. As he buried his head in my shoulder and cried, I could feel his hot tears.

"Please, help me." he begged.

"It's going to be fine." and as soon as I'd said that, I felt Tunde begin to shake uncontrollably and when I looked at him, he was foaming.

My heart was pounding on my chest as I called for help. Tunde's parents rushed through the door to find their son at what felt like the verge of death. Mrs. Rotimi's scream was deafening and Mr. Rotimi tried to suppress the tears in his eyes as he tried to carry his son in his shaky hands.

Staring at my Biology paper, I couldn't answer any question on it not to talk more of the ones in my head. Would Tunde die? Was this my fault? Do I really have feelings for him?

"Submit your papers!" the invigilator yelled and everyone began turning in their papers when I hadn't even written my name.

"Rachael, what are you doing? You haven't written anything." I heard China's voice. Before I knew it, people had surrounded me. Of course they must've been marvelled at the thought that I'd written nothing in the two hour duration given to us for the paper.

"Is she alright?"

"What is wrong with her?"

"I think she's crying."

The people around me murmured.

"Rachael," the Biology teacher called before grabbing my hand. It was then I realized that tears had formed in eyes. The teacher pulled me away from the crowd and out of the exam hall. "I know this is a hard time for you since your brother had that accident last week." said Mrs. Okon as she tried to wipe my tears. "You can come back and write the exam whenever you're ready. You are a promising student and I know you have a great future ahead of you. So stop crying and be strong."

I nodded and she smiled at me before letting me go.

I wanted to go home but they wouldn't let anyone leave until it was closing time even if we were already through with our exam. Jay had refused to write any more exams and insisted on staying in the hospital and I would've done the same if Mrs. Jacobs didn't insist I go to school.
I tried my best to avoid China because I didn't want to talk to her. I sat alone in the classroom where some other girls were in a circle sharing gossip.

"I still can't believe Tunde is a drug addict." I heard one girl say. "My mom was on duty when they brought him to the hospital."

"Ugh, please that is not new. I mean, why do you think we broke up?" I recognized the second voice to be Yvonne's.

"You mean, you knew he was doing coke?" another girl asked.

"Yeah, that was why he was always not in the mood for sex which is common among addicts like him." said Yvonne. "Above all, the guy is just disgusting and not my type. Sometimes I even thought he had lost his mind."

"Wow, Tunde is something else." another voice added.

"You have no idea." Yvonne said. "And he was such a coward, and a liar."

"You are crazy." this time, I was the one who spoke. All heads turned to me. "How dare you call him names after everything you and your brother did to him?"

"Rachael, you're such a slut, you know that?" Yvonne fired. "I thought you liked Jay. So what's your business with anything concerning Tunde?"

"Call me a slut one more time and I will expose you right now." I fired back.

Definitely, I'd gotten Yvonne's full attention. She walked up to me, pulled me by the arm to a corner outside the classroom. I yanked my arm out of her grip and shot a death glare.

"What are you taking about?" Yvonne asked.

"I know about you and your brother, Segun. I saw you guys in the music room." I whispered with a smirk as I watched the expression on her face. It was priceless.

"You don't have proof." she blurted.

"Oh, I'm sure your father won't need proof when I tell him. Of course you know that." I maintained the devilish smirk on my face.

"You can't tell him, let me explain -"

"I don't need your explanation. What I need is for you to stay clear of anything that concerns me or Tunde and anyone close to us or else you won't like the outcome." I said before walking away.

I wanted badly to visit Tunde at the hospital but I didn't know which hospital he was taken to so I went to see Sebastian instead.

I was dumbfounded when I'd walked into the hospital room to find Sebastian on what seemed like a brand new wheelchair but what shocked me more was the fact that he was holding the letter I'd received the previous week which I'd put in the bag of clothes I brought for him. Sebastian looked angry while Jay and his mom looked confused and shocked as they waited for me to explain myself.

"Rachael, w-why didn't you tell me?" Sebastian asked when he realized I wasn't going to say anything. "How could you be so selfish?"

"It's not like that -"

"Then what is it like?" Sebastian barked. "You know I always wanted to get in touch with dad's family to see if they could help us somehow or even get dad out of prison and when grandpa finally reaches out, you decided he's not good enough for you?"

"You won't understand. It's not that simple."

"Where's the first letter?" he asked instead.

"I don't have it with me." I sighed.

"You should've at least told him. He had the right to know." Jay said.

"But she didn't because she so selfish and full of herself."