ChrisannaHe pants, clenching his jaw as I watch him trying to stiffen his muscles."These are pretty easy questions to answer, Samuel", I tell him. "Trust me if you say you are truly happy when you meet him, I'm never gonna stop you"He takes a few steps back and turns around. "You should sleep", he grunts. "Won't you answer?" I ask."I have been wanting to meet my father ever since I was young. That should be enough for you to know that I feel happy when I meet him""Why don't you just say that on my face, Samuel?" I husk, knowing that he's straight lying. He's not lying actually. He's in denial. He has forced himself to believe that he is happy when he meets his father. He turns around, and moves closer to me again, looking straight into my eyes. "You're trying to break the promise and change the dynamics, firefly", he tells me."I just wanna make sure if that makes you happy""You make me happy", he says. "That should be enough""This is not a solution, Samuel", I snap. "What
Chrisanna"He doesn't plan on rescuing you", I bluntly say on Damien's face as disbelief washes over him. However, the look he gives me says that he's trying not to make it look like it surprises him. "Is it so? You're sure?""One hundred per cent", I say. He's silent, looking away and now his face is shaking, maybe in frustration and wrath which he's not showing. "But you're gonna be on parole after twelve years if I'm right", I scoff. He raises his eyebrows as a groan escapes him. "Twelve more years? Do you understand how long it is?""If I count your crimes in the underworld like killing people and smuggling—" pausing, I throw him a dreadful glare. "Raping an innocent woman, making her life hell—" The colours of his face drain as I continue. "Taking her child away from him. And never treating your child like a father should have— making his childhood a den of horror— traumatising him for his entire life— then 30 years of imprisonment is way less than you deserve"Silence eru
Chrisanna We reached the central jail in an hour. The whole time Samuel didn't utter a single word. It was evident that he was completely stunned. I asked him several times if he was fine and he only hummed each time. We didn't inform anyone in the family when we left and I had a bunch of thoughts roaming inside of my head. Did Damien really think of escaping after I told him he can't get out? I know I shouldn't take the blame because he tries to escape all the time as the officers told me.But he was never killed by the cops whenever he broke the prison. It's really such a weird feeling because I met him just hours ago and now—We stand by the ambulance as Damien's body is carried over there. An officer moves the cover from his face to show Samuel once. I keep holding his hand tightly, even though I know it's not gonna affect him that way. However, his silence just scares me. When the body is out of our sight, I squeeze his hand tightly. "Samuel!" I whisper."I'm fine", he lets
Samuel "Am I not enough for you, Samuel?" "No, you're not. I want dad too", the seven-year-old I screamed for the first time at my mom after spending months with her. I still needed Dad.I remember the pain in her eyes as she was taken aback but said nothing to me. She just apologized and walked out. I indeed felt bad and regretted saying that because I loved her— a lot. I loved my mom even before meeting her, even though I had every possible reason to hate her. My father did everything so I could hate her. But I couldn't. The moment I saw her I knew how much I needed her in my life. But at the same time, I felt worse for feeling that way. The seven-year-old me was taught to be grateful to that father who had raised me and love him. And the moment I realized I could live without him but not without my mom whom I just met, I felt like an ungrateful child. The anger myself for being ungrateful was taking a toll on me. All those years— I never really missed my father but it felt lik
Author's POVChrisanna having a cancer relapse was indeed the most shocking and terrifying for everyone. According to the doctors, she had been suffering from this for months, but as the symptoms were too light at first and drastically changed into something worse in weeks, the reason no one could know. Besides, her detouring health merged with the departure of Samuel made it hard for everyone to realise why she had been keeping so low. "We have delivered Chrisanna's case to the team. And we won't delay starting her treatment as soon as we form a strong team of doctors and nurses for her case", Michael says after attending a meeting about Chrisanna's case. As soon as the news breaks, everyone rushes to the hospital, still in shock and denial which is clearly visible in their silence. As Emily keeps her arms around Ivanna, expecting she would break down anytime, Christian silently listens to Michael."It hasn't been late. And Chrisanna is a born fighter", Michael says with a smile.
SamuelMeanwhile, I realize Mom is standing a few yards away, next to the entrance, smiling at us. I look down. As though a lump is stuck inside of my throat, I find it hard to swallow. Mom comes towards us and sits next to me. She says nothing, just spending the next few minutes caressing my hair and cheeks. And throughout the moment, I can't make myself look at her. "I couldn't even ask you how you have been doing. It didn't seem right that moment", she says as I nod."You did right", I mutter. "Where have you been?" she exclaims, still caressing my hair. "Not anywhere to be specific", I stutter, clasping my hands together. "We had been trying to locate you for the last three weeks", Dad says. "I didn't want to be anywhere you all could find me. I was travelling in subways", my voice is stern."For three weeks?" Mom blurts out in disbelief. I nod. "A few days ago, I landed in Boston. Then I had to use my card in the lodge. Eric tried to find it out""We stopped tracking your c
Chrisanna"You can walk by yourself after a week", Samuel says as he settles me on the mattress and begins to take my sandals off. My lips widen into a light smile as I wonder if I made the right decision by keeping him with me. He's gonna give ten times extra effort than it needs. I fear I'm gonna drain him. Why didn't it click my head when Paa was refusing to let me go with Samuel? However, either way, it would hurt Samuel. We're now at my parents' place. Obviously, Paa didn't want to give my entire responsibility to Samuel. It hurts so much to see how drastically things have changed. My father trusted Samuel the most in this whole world with me and now he doesn't even want to leave me completely alone with him. He fears Samuel is gonna leave me alone again. I was completely under Pa's concern but at the same time, I was adamant.There was a mini-war in the hospital when I told this to him. For the first time in my life, I fought with Paa. For the first time, I didn't blindly acce
ChrisannaI'm officially in the most painful stage of my life where every second of breathing is painful. As days keep passing, I feel the pain taking over all other emotions. I'm on medicines— 3 times daily— weekly check, therapy, and draining energy. It's so painful sometimes that I can't even react in front of others. I feel embarrassed — some days, I feel like shit. Samuel left his position in the company to give his entire focus to me. But he still works sometimes from home as Uncle Kane is handling all his projects and needs his help most of the time. Paa is around most of the time— checking on me and taking me for checkups once in a while. Mama has taken a break too and gradually I'm starting to feel awful.It seems like they all have changed their lives completely because of me. It stings to see my parents go through the same pain again. If Samuel wasn't there, I know both of them would be stuck to me like they were years back. And Samuel— I don't even know when was the la