Kalia.
Flashback to parents death.
I stood by the window for a while until I saw his car pull out of the parking, some part of my heart was hurt. I was feeling guilty, he was not wrong. I had used his emotions and vulnerability.
But if he was in my shoes he would have done the same exact thing. He had been doing this to so many women over the years, just breaking hearts.
I slowly sat back down in my chair and poured a glass of scotch, I needed it.
I never imagined this is what my wedding day would look like.
I took a few sips of the scotch, sitting back. The glass in my hand as I stated atot aimlessly.
I had imagined how this was supposed to play out, but I never thought I would actually be sad about it.
"I wish you were still here." i whispered holding back the tears as my mind drifted to a place I had buried for a very long time. A place I had avoided for so long and the reason I alwyas worked so hard just so I would not have to think about it.
I remember waking up, it was crispy cold and the weather was gloomy that morning.
Normally on weekends, I would be woken up by the smell of my mother's vanilla pancakes, but today everything seemed cold.
I remember standing by the window for a few seconds, before my father walked into my room.
He sat on my bed, his face gloomy. I instantly knew something was wrong.
My mother was still in the hospital, and her condition over the past one week had even goten worse. So when I saw my father's face, I knew it.
"She is gone, isn't she?" I asked him as I sat next to him.
"She is." he said as the tears fell down his face freely.
My mother and father met when they were in high school, they had been friends and when they went to the same college they started dating, they had known each other their whole lives.
My mother was my father's best friend, and since the accident he had not been taking the news too well.
He was drinking way too much and gambling. He had not gone to the hospital to visit her even once.
I couldn't blame him though, seeing my mother in that hospital bed had broken me.
I knew this was a possibility when I last saw her, but no one really prepares you for such news.
Those words felt like I had been punched in my chest, knocking the wind out of me, but my father needed me more than I needed him.
I hugged him and for a moment we stayed there, sitted in my room in silence. And I let him sob, the days that followed were a blur.
Being an only child I really had no one to talk to about my feelings, so instead I buried myself in helping out with the funeral arrangements.
We laid her to rest on a Sunday morning, the ceremony had been beautiful, she would have loved it.
Life went back to normal, but my father became cold, distant, always working. And I figured that was his way of dealing with grief.
But then a few weeks later, I was in the storage packing up my mother's things that I was donating, when my phone rang.
My father had not come home for a few days, which was normal of him since my mom's death. But this time he had been gone for over three days and his phone had been off.
I had that same feeling I had the morning I found out my mother was gone.
"Kalia, your father was found murdered thrown in a river." my god father said and I lost all feeling and my knees went numb.
"No, no that can't be." i said in shock. "I just saw him, he was okay." i said in tears.
"I am so sorry for your loss baby I am almost there. You are going to stay with us for a few days."
"Why? I asked confused."
"Because you are not safe honey I will explain everything when I get there, pack a few personal items." and with that he had hang up.
My phone fell in the floor as I crumbled. It was like someone was punching me, it all came back, all the feelings I had hidden came flushing back as I screamed.
In a span of three weeks I had lost both my parents, I was an orphan.
"I don't want to be an orphan." i yelled throwing things around.
I didn't even see him come in. Vince Kiari was my father's best friend any my god father.
"You are not going to be an orphan baby." he said taking me into his arms. "I will take care of you, i will adopt you okay."
He let me cry for a few more minutes, before he held my arms.
"I have to get you out of here, it's not safe."
"What do you mean?"
"Your father had enemies, they are the ones that killed your mother and now they have killed him too, you are going to be the next target."
I opened my tear filled eyes at the sound of some voices. I looked around my office, as I quickly got up.
I had to get out of here.
Kalia. The drive back to Jake's house was short. I dreaded getting there.But in order for my plan to work I still needed to go back there and pretend that we were a happily married couple, atleast since it was supposed to be our honeymoon. His house was brighter than I remember seeing it during the day. Will all the lights on, it was spectacular, really fitted him and his extravagant lifestyle. I sat in my car for a few more minutes contemplating whether I should go back in.When I finally gathered the courage to walk to the front door, no one seemed interested in me. The guards went about their business like I was nonexistent, almost like they had been instructed not to give me any mind. I opened the front door and slowly went in without turning on the lights, hoping to get to the guest room with no interactions. I almost tripped on the carpet when Jake turned on the lights. "I am so sorry I thought you were already asleep, I didn't want to wake you." I said heading straight f
Kalia. "What's going on? What's all the chaos about?" I asked still in my robe as I went down stairs. It had been almost a week since I laid eyes on Jake, I had figured he was spending time with his ex.But everyone was dressed in black, murmuring among each other. " What happened to Jake? " I asked Maria the house keeper, fear rushing through my body. "Is he okay?" I repeated shaking her fear in my eyes.That's when I saw him coming down the stairs, dressed in a black suit and some shades. Why was everyone dressed like they were going to a funeral, who died?Obviously no one was going to tell me so I walked over to him."What's going on Jake? Who died?""It's really none of your business Kalia, go back to your room." he said snubbing me."I have a right to know what's going on, I thought something bad happened to you." i said honestly following him."So I am supposed to believe all of a sudden you care about me?" Jake said laughing sarcastically, "won't that make you happy? You wi
Kalia. "How is he?" I asked the nurse while waiting to see my father.Staying in the house after everyone left for the memorial felt lonely for me. I needed to do something to keep myself busy, so I went to visit my father in the hospital. "He has been asking about you alot." the nurse said opening up some sort of file, "Come on, I will take you to him. He is awake."I followed her closely, part of me dreading seeing my father. Mostly because I knew he wanted to hear about where I was with the plan, and I had not yet done anything really since the wedding. "There is my daughter." he said, his eyes lighting up as he saw me walk into his room."Hey dad.""You too good for your old man now?""Ofcourse not dad," I said cheekily as I sat beside him, I took his hands in mine, "How are you feeling?""Not as great as I would like, but she is taking good care of me." he said referring to the nurse who was now checking his vitals.My father had recently been diagnosed with stage liver cirrhos
"I feel like this is all my fault," I said tears freely falling down my eyes, "I should have kept my mouth shut like I promised. None of this would be happening. You wouldn't be in a hospital fighting for your life. Our family wouldn't be in shambles and broke." i said in tears. "I wish I could take it all back.""Hey, hey baby," my dad said touching my hand softly, "It's not your fault and it was wrong of your mom to ask you to live with that secret. You were a child.""But I tore us apart, mom left you.""Your mother had her own problems Kalia, eventually she would have left. It had nothing with you. And my drinking is not your fault at all and I don't want you to blame yourself. None of this is your fault."We sat there in silence, with us holding hands. It was my first day back in school, we went home early. I rushed home and there she was on the couch with the same man, they were naked, I wish I could erase that memory off my mind. I remember how shocked she looked, but she wasn
Jake. Naima had been a mess all day today, I really could not blame her. She was hurting just like I was hurting. Whoever says it gets better has clearly never gone through grief. It had been two years and everything was still fresh. And everyday I think about all the situations that ended up to losing my daughter. I looked over at Naima again, in tears. She was the only person in the world that understood exactly what I was going through. I walked over to her, but the moment she saw me her whole demeanor changed."Please Naima, not today. I don't have the energy to fight you." i said truthfully.I knew she needed for me to be the bad guy, today so she would atleast feel better, but I did not have it in me. I pulled her into my arms, but she was punching me, screaming at me. " It's all your fault. It's your fault my little girl is gone.""You know what Naima, i can't." i said as I started to walk away."Yes, just walk away, go." she yelled at me, still screaming.But I did not
Kalia. I sat in the quiet, sterile atmosphere of the doctor's office waiting for the nurse to finish finalizing sat in the quiet, sterile atmosphere of the doctor’s office, waiting for the nurse to finish up Jake's discharge papers. The sound of her typing was kind of therapeutic, soothing even. I had no idea what I was doing, but maybe this could work in my favor. If Jake didn't remember me or the things I did, Maybe we could cohabitate better. He had been in the hospital for a week now, he had almost fully recovered apart from the memory loss but he was going to use a wheel chair for a few more days. With his memories gone, he had been surprisingly pleasant, I had been by his side every day helping feed him, change him and even spend some time with him. I felt him move and turned to look at him, he was sleeping there so peacefully, like a baby. I took his hand in mine, feeling the warmth of his skin, in that mom grateful that things hadn't been worse than now. The nurse hand
Kalia. The ride back home was silent, we said Atlest ten words to each other the whole way home. I didn't know what to say to him and I guess he had no idea what to say to me either. I was so glad when we finally got back to the house, I could breathe again. "I will go get your room ready." i said as soon as we were both out of the car. His driver and his security were already handling his bags and bringing him back into the house."I thought you said we are married." he said randomly catching me offguard and I looked at him confused wondering what he was hintint at. "Aren't we supposed to sleep in tje same bed?" he went on."Ofcourse.""You said you were going to prepare my room, like we slept in different rooms. Were we fighting before all this?" he asked now looking at his security and driver for further clarification."Ofcourse not, we had just gotten married." i chipped in before anyone started talking, "I just didn't know if you will be okay sharing a room, I am technically a
Kalia. It had been a few hours since I ran out of the bedroom. It was now past eleven pm at night. I had made sure Jake was fed and by now I was sure he would be dead asleep.I quietly creeped back into our room, the lights completely turned off, careful not to trip on anything and wake him up.I had already taken a shower and changed into my pajamas in the bedroom that had been previously assigned to me. If it was up to me I would have slept there too, but I needed to be in the same room as him just incase anything happened. I was about to sit down on the bed when the lights suddenly turned on. "I figured at some point you were going to come back." Jake said, he was not on the bed, he was sitted on the couch across from the bed."You should not be up." i said surprised, "You scared me to death.""Well, I'm sorry I didn't really mean to scare you.""Why are you still up, I thought you would be asleep by now.""I thought I wait up for you, see how long you intended to avoid me.""I