SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Hello girls? So I was thinking about something good actually it is something great I know you will like it” I said to my two sisters who were now seated in their respective beds, it was just a few hours after mom’s burial, aunty had left immediately to go book our flights to England, I didn’t know what to tell my sisters at the moment but there I was gathering enough courage to break the news to them, I did not want to tell them about the letter until the time was right, I just wanted to help them pack a few of their belongings because we were to leave early the following day, Dan had just left for his house and had promised to come back and spent the night with us

“Hello Dylan? You look distracted, is something wrong? And where is Aunty Sue?” Melissa asked and I inhaled sharply, you know Melissa was a thirteen year old girl but she was very mature, she could sense when something was wrong and she would tell me bluntly, I knew she was going to know in one way or another, she always knew when something was wrong and she would be pretty mad if I didn’t tell her the truth, Alicia on the other hand was way too young to understand what was going on, she was still five and very young to even handle the truth so I made up my mind to talk to Melissa about it, I knew she would understand and probably forgive mom for the decisions  she made on our behalf , I just had to unveil the truth to her, at least she could handle it unlike Alicia who was way too younger

“Actually there is something I would like to talk to you two about, I know mom is gone and we will never see her again maybe in heaven when we want to, so Aunty Sue asked us to go stay with her in England so she could take good care of us, we can’t live on our own here, I have school to attend to and my boss just fired me, I can’t multitask and take care of you two together with myself, we just have to go stay with her and once I graduate, we can now stay on our own, is that okay?” I asked and Alicia just looked at me, she was wondering what I was talking about

“Dylan, you want to mean that we will go with Aunty Sue to Birmingham in England? And the way I was always begging mom to let me go stay with her and she always said I was too young. I’m I now mature enough to go stay with her?” Alicia asked and I smiled

“No honey, we just have to go stay with Aunty Sue now that we don’t have anyone to take care of us, we can’t stay on our own, so we are all going to stay with her, I know you are overexcited about it but first you should pack your clothes before anything else, Melissa will help you go about it” I said and the smile on her face widened

“Melissa I would like to you about something, Alicia you can go watch cartoons for now, I will help you pack afterwards” I said and she looked at me confused 

“But you said you prohibited me from watching cartoons, can I now watch?” she asked innocently 

“Of course yes, for now , I want to talk to Melissa so you can watch just for now because I permitted you to, now go before I change my mind” I said and she stood up from her bed and headed towards the living room looking happy, it was always my happiness to see my kid sisters happy

“So Melissa I know you are old enough to know and understand what is going on, mom has been diabetic since long ago and she also had brain cancer that was eating her up for long, she stopped going for chemo therapies since it was draining, she had solved literally everything to cater for medical bills and she had nothing else to sell that would help her continue going for the chemo therapies, she had cancer stage four so she could not survive, I know you have been taught about these cancer awareness in school so you know what I am talking about unlike your younger sister Alicia, she can’t understand anything so I decided to talk to you about this, we will be moving with Aunty Sue to England where she stays tomorrow, I can’t pay for our bills and at the same time our school fees, the work I was doing was only able to cater for my small house back in school and  a little pocket money to help mom not to struggle too much, my boss fired me the other day and there is no way I can chip in from where mom left so we just have to go stay with aunty, once I am done with school and secured myself a job, w can always stay together as a family again but right now I can’t do that since I am still at school, you get it?” I asked and she nodded I response, one thing with Melissa was that she was a bright kid at school and she was good at grasping things so I knew she would understand 

“I understand Dylan, it is just it is too much to handle at the moment, I still get it in my mind that mom is gone and we will never see her again and where did dad go to? He can’t even come for mom’s burial, what is wrong with some people though, they say they love each other but the only thing they can do is hate whom they say they love, what really happened to dad, I mean he can’t be so cruel that he can’t come to lay mom at rest, it is the least he can do but who knows maybe he died, who knows? This world is so unfair sometimes” she said and placed her head in her hands, I knew she was thinking deep about it but it was time to let go and accept fate that dad was not our biological dad and it was not his fault that he left, mom betrayed him, but then I asked myself what if mom didn’t do what she did, we wouldn’t even have existed, so I thanked her too for making sure she didn’t abort us, she brought us safely in this world, that was one thing I was always proud of, she loved us so much that she went through all that, all the abuses, all the hurling and abuses, the beatings just to see us grow to whom we were, she was my heroine no matter what

“Have you ever thought about having another dad somewhere, I mean your biological dad or just another dad apart from the dad we have grown and learnt to know as our dad?” I asked and she narrowed her eyes at me

“Of course not, this was our dad, it is just he was too wild and angry every time, he was always beating up mom and I wonder why mom just didn’t leave with us, it hurt to see her cry every time dad beat her” she said and wiped the lone tear that was threatening to escape from her eyes

“I was also thinking the same Mel, but she was staying for us, she always wanted the best for us and that is why she always stayed so she could see us happy, that was always what keep her going, us growing and living happily and the moment dad walked out on us, it was a heave to her, she had escaped her early death, for sure dad was going to kill her, it was always his intentions” I said and she narrowed her eyes at me 

“And how the hell do you know all that Dylan, you always watched as mom was beaten and there was nothing we could do about it, could it be possible that dad hated us and mom was just staying for us, so we could grow?” she asked and I nodded in agreement 

“Yes Melissa, I know what I am going to tell you will come as a shock to you, but I also learnt about it the previous day, the dad we grew to know as our dad was not our real dad, our dad was Dr. Walker Peterson and he died in  a plane crash years ago, and that is one of the reasons I want to go England to look for him, maybe he is still alive or something and if he is not maybe there is something he left for us” I said and she looked at me with her forehead creased

“And how do you know about all that?” she asked and I reached in my pocket, took out the letter and gave it to her, I knew she was going to understand and she was going to help me unveil the truth, she was going to help look for our real dad, something in me told me that our dad was alive somewhere and I had to look for him