Chapter 72 That day
Clio (The day she ran from her high school after injuring her bullies)
A feeling of unease settled upon me like a heavy fog. The air seemed to be charged with an inexplicable tension, and an eerie stillness filled the space. The dim lighting only added to the unsettling atmosphere, casting elongated shadows that danced on the walls. The sky had turned dark due to the clouds but it wasn't raining.
With each step, the creaking floorboards echoed through the house. My heart was strangely calm as I made my way to the kitchen as if my emotions had gone numb. A Lot had happened that day, maybe that's why. The kitchen was dimly lit by a single overhead light, casting elongated shadows across the countertops and cabinets. The silence was almost deafening, interrupted only by the faint hum of the refrigerator, followed by a fainter sound of liquid droplets falling.
I walked to the middle and stopped when I noticed a weary figure sitting on the floor, right by the kitchen table's side. With a butcher's knife in her hands, she trembled with blood all over her front, staining mostly her apron. The knife had red thick liquid streaming down it, stopping at the edge before they jumped down to the crimson pool on the floor.
"Mom," I whispered and she froze.
Then she raised her head and looked at me.
"Clio," Her voice was trembling while my gaze traveled to the body of the man lying on the floor.
"Mom," I felt my throat get dry, "What have you done?" The fear was grasping my bones, seeping into my soul
My mother didn't answer me, she kept staring at me. At my disheveled appearance. The buttons of my shirt were hanging loose while a few had popped off. I had zipped up my pants back up but the belt button was broken so that part remained awkwardly open.
My hair was a mess but I knew that none of it was her focus.
"Clio," My mother's hands began to shake even more, "Why do you have blood on you?"
"Why is there blood on you?" I asked back and then saw the body lying on the floor, "Who is that?"
Tears streamed down her face and contempt filled her eyes, yet she was able to answer me clearly, "He killed your father,"
The announcement came so casually, it felt unreal.
But the news made the world swirl around me.
"What?" I hadn't noticed up until that point that there was another trail of blood. Left by a man who was bleeding out but couldn't make it far. From where I stood, I could see the feet of my father, just on the other side of the door frame that was between the lounge and the kitchen, "No,"
My world came crashing down and a dangerous thought crossed my mind.
Has this got anything to do with why the bullies chose to try and expose me today??
"No!!" I ran towards the lounge, "Dad," I crossed over and kneeled next to his body, "Dad!" I placed my hands on his back and shook his body, "Dad! No!" The air hung heavy with an unspoken foreboding, and a shiver traced its way down my spine. There, sprawled in an unnatural stillness, "Dad, please... Please wake up!"
Time seemed to dilate, stretching the seconds into an eternity as I grappled with the surreal scene before me. The room morphed into a nightmarish stage where tragedy unfolded without warning.
The shock gave way to a visceral wave of anguish. My breath caught in my throat, Tears brimmed in my eyes as my heartbeat just dropped.
No...
I was in denial
No
"Dad," I shook him again, "Please don't leave us!" I shook him more violently while my mother remained in her place, sitting on the cold floor with her dead-looking eyes on me. She didn't say anything. Maybe because she knew no words could mend this situation.
The room blurred, tears stinging my eyes as I confronted the brutal reality
"Dad!!!!" But I didn't want to accept it, "You can't do this!!!!!" I shook him so violently that something moved from under him.
A paper that immediately caught my attention and I stopped for a moment to snatch that out from under him.
It was a square beige color paper, kept by the landline phone in the corner of the lounge, on a thin round table if ever needed in case of writing things. The table was right by Dad's body and I noticed how blood marks were imprinted there. There was a print of a hand sliding downwards, the page box was a mess. He probably fell while trying to pick a paper.
My heart trembled and it suddenly felt cold. With trembling hands, I brought the page up to see what was written on it.
The page had two words only
'I'm sorry,'
Written in blood of his own because he couldn't find a working pen. I noticed the inkless pen next to his body, probably thrown in a fit of rage.
That was enough to break me. Those two words were all it took to destroy my soul. A guttural cry, a primal expression of grief, tore from my chest as the weight of loss crashed over me.
"Dad..." I looked at his lifeless body as I crumpled that page in my hands, "Why..."The room seemed to close in. I had only a few months left before they'd send me abroad where I could go back to being myself. Dad was doing his best to save up the money.
Just a few more months... just a few...
Anguish and disbelief intertwined, creating a tapestry of sorrow that threatened to engulf me. Questions reverberated in my mind, the 'why' echoing like a mournful refrain.
Why does everything we try to do turn out bad? Why is there no end to this all?
The abruptness of his departure left a void, aching and profound, as I grappled with the unyielding reality that life, in all its impermanence, could be extinguished in the blink of an eye.
I bent down with the papers in my hands that I brought next to my chest as I cried out. My mother didn't move, her knees had given out but seeing me bawl made the tears come out of her eyes as well.
It was a dark and gloomy day and all I could hear was wailing. I kept crying and I must have cried for about thirty minutes straight after which my brain lowered the intensity so I wouldn't faint right away.
"Hello?" The sound of a third person made me freeze and go quiet, "I heard crying," The sound of footsteps approaching made me and my mother look towards the kitchen door that led to the yard, "Are you guys okay?" It was a familiar voice but not the one either of us wanted here.
But we had no time to stop him. Or any energy or will at that and a head popped up inside the kitchen.
"Nolan," The moment I saw him, he got worried, but I'm sure the whole situation was horrifying.
"Clio?" He looked at me, then at my mother, "Auntie?" He quickly walked towards her and crouched down, "Oh God," And then let out a gasp when he saw the lifeless body beside her, "What the," He noticed the knife in her hands, "Auntie, did you?" A horrified look took over his face and his eyes went wide.
I sealed my lips shut but the tears wouldn't stop.
"My God," He grabbed Mom's shoulders, "What happened here?" Out of pure instincts, he pulled her into a hug while I remained in my place
"They came to threaten us, to tell us that if we're lying they'd kill." My mother started crying again, "My husband and the intruder got into an argument where Pane argued that he didn't lie, the intruder took out his gun to threaten us more but Pane and he ended up fighting," She lost her senses for a moment and blabbered things, "He shot Pane and then I lost it...." Her breath got caught in her throat and he hiccuped, "They're going to come after my daughter as well."
"What?" Nolan was so utterly confused, "Who's gonna come after who? Daughter?"
He looked at me with suspicious eyes, but that's when he noticed the feet visible through the frame, "Oh No...."
He was completely lost but he did grasp the situation quite fast with the limited info provided to him. He gulped then stood up along with Mom, "It's okay," He thought about the situation, "I have a friend who's a great lawyer," He helped keep my mother on her feet.
"We can get through this." He assured us.
But, words never mean much in situations like these.