The Beloved Enemy- Part 2

“ What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” asked Sarah. She was at work and had just received a call from Angelo. “ Nickie beat me up and asked me to get out of the house.” “ This is too much. What does he think of himself? Ok, why don’t you go to your friend’s home and come back in the evening when I get home. I can’t leave work now.” This was so upsetting. Nickie had been acting up, throwing tantrums and finding an excuse to harass them at home.


Last week when Sarah reached home, she found everything was dark. All the light bulbs had been removed. Nickie was at home and when she asked him what happened, he calmly said “I bought them with my money so I took them out. You do not care about me.”

Then heating up the food she discovered it had been laced with too much salt and was not fit to eat. This time Nickie’s reason was that she did not cook well. It was things like these that were driving her crazy. And now beating up his own little brother. She was furious and upset, dreading going home but she braced herself for it.

She found Angelo at the gate waiting for her. He was distraught and she felt that sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach. They lived in a large house. The ground floor was rented out and Sarah’s family lived on the first floor. The locks had been changed so she could not use her keys. She rang the door bell but there was no answer. She kept on ringing and Nickie finally appeared in the balcony yelling at her to leave his home. “ This is our home too. What’s got into you? Open up.” But Nickie just made an angry face and went back inside. It was so embarrassing standing like this in front of your own home.

It was pathetic. Both sister and brother were forced to sit outside as the evening got darker. Then a neighbour came by. He was an elderly person and had been witnessing Nickie’s moods for some time. He told Sarah she should call the police as her brother was acting in an insane manner. A few more people gathered and there was some commotion outside. On hearing this ruckus, Nickie came out and put up an apologetic face in front of the neighbour.” I am angry with them because they have stolen my papers.” Sarah and Angelo had no clue  what he was talking about.

But at least the door was open and they went it. The neighbour followed in. Mr. Gray had known the family for many years. He was a good friend of their father too, hence he was almost like family. He scolded Nickie on his behaviour and told him not to be so harsh. Nickie kept blaming his siblings for stealing his documents. He was referring to his degrees and passport. Sarah knew this was just another one of his tricks. He changed his attitude only after hearing about the police.

Mr. Gray soon left. She and Angelo went straight to her room and locked themselves in. They had started doing this lately as they did not feel safe at home. Angelo told her the same, that Nickie could not find some papers and he beat him up and told him to leave home. They just sat together in grief, upset not knowing what to do.



It was useless calling other family members, no one could talk any sense into Nickie. He was too volatile and had his own logic. The only thing they could do was stay out of his way.

A few days later there was a wedding in the family. After a long time, Sarah got an opportunity to relax and decided to stay over at her cousin’s place. Angelo was with her too and Nickie didn’t attend. On returning home, she was feeling a little refreshed from the change. It was Sunday and she opened her wardrobe to take out clothes for next day. And out tumbled her cheque book. It’s leaves were burnt...Sarah just broke down in tears. She had tried to be patient with Nickie but still her brother kept tormenting her like this.

One thing was clear that he detested her role in the family. Nickie didn’t like the fact that she was working and was also running the house. The rent money was used for basic home expenses and Nickie kept asking her to give an account of each penny that was spent. Sarah did that to maintain peace. She was also using her own money to meet expenses but Nickie didn’t appreciate anything. He hated her for exposing his weakness in front of others.

The issue that Sarah understood was that he felt he was the man of the house and should have a say in everything that happens. But due to his own attitude, he could not get the same place so he hated Sarah for managing things. Sarah would have been happy to handover the responsibilities to Nickie, but he was not interested in that. He resented her for being the elder person whom everyone came to after their parent’s death. She tried her best to pacify him by encouraging him in his job, and letting him manage the home budget but that was not enough for Nickie. And now he had started being critical of her friends, her work ..infact anything she did.

Nickie had actually developed a double personality. He would be hateful at home but very sweet with others. To hide his own weaknesses he would badmouth his siblings in front of other relatives. Since he had the free time he would often visit them and share his woes. As a result, people had a very different view of him and always felt sorry for him and believed it. Sarah and Angelo were busy in their work and studies. Angelo helped with home chores while his elder brother just created a fiasco whenever he got a chance.

Anytime Sarah would seek assistance from the extended family, they would just question her about the false stories that Nickie was feeding them. Nickie had become a pain to his own family but remained a well behaved, young man in front of others..

To be continued