Crowded Silence

16 | Yes, I Really Do!

"I'm home," I said as I entered.

"Is it already past 4?" Daddy asked from inside the kitchen.

"No daddy, it's only 1 pm now." I laughed and added, "Where's mummy?"

"In our room,"

"Then you follow too, I bring news!" I cheered and ran to their room.

Mummy was folding clothes and I threw myself at her.

"What's it?" She laughed.

"Ready?" I looked at my parents, they nodded. "I WON THE CONTEST!" I yelled and punched my fists into the air over my head.

"Whoa! I knew you'd be the winner!" Daddy said.

"Congratulations, dear!" Mummy cheered.

"And now I need to head to the writer's place to get it done with the formalities, so I was sent home early by the principal herself."

"At?" Mummy asked.

"2 pm,"

"Then go get ready." She was excited, more than I was. "Did you tell Anna?"

"Yep, went straight to her after leaving the college."

"Good. Now go," She practically shooed me away. I laughed, of course she was happy.

My mother was truly an extraordinary being, curse her family for treating her like nothing for years.

Even though I haven't seen, or met them, my blood boiled when I heard about them.

With this on my head I went upstairs to my room and entered the shower. I let my mind linger on that flashback.

It's my 7th birthday today. The night had fallen and we were put to sleep. Half an hour later they'd put me and Ryan to sleep, I woke up and was not able to fall asleep again, so I went down towards their room to ask if I could sleep with them, but stopped in the middle of the stairs on hearing someone cry.

It was mummy, she was sobbing and daddy was holding her tight against his chest.

"It's been 7 years since that accident Micheal, if she were to be alive, she'd have been eight years old,"

Who was she talking about?

"It's okay honey, calm down, I know it's not easy to forget and I don't ask you to forget about it either, I want you to remember it, remember her, that's why we gave our daughter her sister's name, didn't we?"

Accident? My sister? Had she died in an accident?

"Half sister, she'd have been our Hanna's half sister," Mummy corrected.

What was going on here?

"That doesn't matter, all I know is that, she'd have been our Hanna's elder."

"Sometimes I really think it's my fault that they died, if only I'd not married him, if only she wasn't born," More sobs.

"You couldn't have known, besides that's what your family made you think, that you carry some kinda bad luck with you. That's not why they died, that's not why your mother died." Daddy comforted.

"She died giving birth to me!"

"That's not true, she died because her journey was meant to be only till then, it's not your fault. If you really think you carry that bad luck with you, you and I wouldn't be here today, parenting two awesome and beautiful beings in the world, right?"