PAINFUL REVELATION

EPISODE 2

Karl could hardly breathe as he stepped back from his father’s body, his eyes searching frantically for the light switch which he turned on. He noticed something beside his father’s head like he had been trying to write something, he immediately recognized the letters R and U but the last one was so smeared Karl had no idea what it was.

“RU… what does that mean? I have to call the police.”

Karl dialed 911, gave out his house address and sat down looking away from his father’s body to wait for the police. He tried hard not to cry, he wanted to be strong for his father so when the police arrived, Karl with clear eyes and a strong voice told them all that happened up until the time he discovered the body.

“You said he was supposed to go with you for your late mother’s family gathering?” The policeman who introduced himself as Dan only asked.

“Yes he was but a call came in, apparently my step mother had gotten into an accident and his attention was required so I went alone.”

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen”

“Do you want to contact your mother’s family, maybe go stay with them till we can determine what to do with you.”

“No, please. I would like to stay here and help pack up my father’s things and mine”

“This is an active crime scene, we need to out as soon as possible. We have no problem with you wanting to pack up some of your father’s things but you still have to contact your family to come pick you up, I am so sorry for your loss” Dan the policeman said.

“Can I at least go up to his room? For the final time”

“You can, right before that. Did you move the body?” he asked flipping his notepad.

“No I did not”

“That will be all”

“Thank you” Karl responded, tears threatening to spill from his dry eyes.

Karl walked wearily up to his father’s room and entered, he could hardly believe his father was dead. It was just yesterday they talked and laughed and even ate together and now it would never happen again.

Karl did not know how to feel about the whole situation, he could only blame himself because he had dreamt about this and had immediately prayer against it like they had been taught to. He should have told his father, should have warned him to be careful and maybe this would not have happened.

Karl walked over to where his father kept his books and began going through them, weeping silently. His father was an avid reader and a peaceful man, who could have wanted him dead? His father taught him never to fight, never to give in to anger, never to be involved in anything shady and to always keep his cool, not only did he teach him these things but he also followed each rules. Karl felt so angry and took out his anger on the book shelf as books came tumbling down. A very loud chunk stopped Karl midway as he looked over to where the sound came from, a box had fallen while he was raving and it’s contents spilled. Curious, Karl bent and picked up the box and it’s contents carrying it over to the bed and setting it down.

He saw pictures of his father and his father’s family, black men and women like them. He also saw pictures of his father as a baby, the next picture he picked up left him in shock, it was a picture of an eagle carefully tattooed on his father’s back. Karl had never seen the tattoo before, he touched the one on his arm absently, the one that had appeared when he was taking his bath the previous day, it was still sore but not as painful as it was when he noticed it. Karl turned the picture over and saw writings in another language, it was something he recognized, their language, the one they called Yoruba. He suddenly wanted to know what exactly was written in block letters at the back of the picture so he immediately took out his phone and began browsing each word. It took minutes but when he was done, it read

“Son of the Alpha and heir to the throne”

“Son of the Alpha?” Karl muttered turning the picture back to look at his father. He finally decided maybe someone was playing a huge prank on his father when that was written and proceeded to continue packing. In between his father’s clothes he saw a very old journal, one that held names of people he did not know but assumed were his ancestors as he found his father’s name then his after that.

“KAYODE” Karl tried to pronounce, apparently that had been their surname before his father had it changed to Matthew probably to cut off any remaining link to his people. Karl continued going through the jottings in the journal, they were mainly in the other Language but the last entry was in English, probably written by his father. It read

“To my dear son,

If this journal is getting to you, it means I am dead and you have to know the truth about your heritage. I have been trying to keep you from this part of yourself but now I cannot. You are under the wolf curse, it has been in our family for centuries and it is something I swore from the days of my youth never to activate, that is why I gave you those rules. The wolf’s curse is activated when you kill someone after you must have turned sixteen or even passed the age of sixteen. When I was born it was prophesied that someone in my lineage will be the one to break the curse, hence the eagle tattoo which you should have once you turn sixteen. Everyone thought it was I, I was put under so much pressure it was unbearable so I ran away and came here hoping to outrun whatever prophesy looming. You have to go home, and yes I mean my country, our country, you have to find our family, they will explain it all if I am not able to and on no account must you kill anyone, accidentally or otherwise. I love you my son and I hope you live a better, peaceful life like I have lived.”

Karl laughed for what seemed like a long time before it finally dawned on him that his father would never crack a joke like that.

“Prophesy? Wolf curse? This is not a fucking movie, what is all these?” Karl asked no one in particular. There was nothing else written in the book to give him a clue as to what his father was talking about.

He abandoned packing and went downstairs to contact his mother’s family, he had had enough crazy for one day. They immediately asked him to pack up a small bag and come over and that they would handle his father’s burial and clothes. Karl left the house with the clothes on his back, his father’s blood still smeared on it, he tried so hard to stop thinking about what was written in the journal but could hardly get it off his mind. It was like solving a mystery and he was fascinated by the whole prophesy thing.

He was treated like a prince as his mother’s family kept running around trying to make him forget his father was dead, killed if whatever the journal said was true. Karl wondered if they had done it then decided against that but he could tell they were happy to have him out of their lives for good.

……..

“I have to go home” Karl told his grandmother one day as they sat outside, two weeks after the burial of his father.

“What do you mean, you have to go home?”

“To where Father is from, they have to know he is dead” Karl said again.

“And you think you are the one to tell them?”

“There is no one else, grandmother”

“Why?”

“I just think they need to know and I also want to meet them”

“I won’t stop you although I don’t think this is necessary, whosoever killed your father might be from there and might be seeking to kill you.”

“I don’t think you care much, grandma. Just please book a flight for me if you don’t mind”

“I might not care about your father which I have never hidden even for a day but I care about you and how you decide to live your life as you are the only reminder I have of my daughter.”

“My father did not kill your daughter, you have to understand that my mother was sick and she died, there was nothing he could do.”

“Child, there is little to nothing you know about the situation and everything that happened, you are defending a very dangerous man but there is nothing I will say or do that would make you believe me.”

“My father is not a dangerous man and even if he did have a hand in my mother’s death, I am sure it was no fault of his just as it isn’t his fault you do not like him.” Karl said his temper rising.

“I can see I am already upsetting you talking about your recently departed father in such a manner.” His grandmother said in a low voice.

“Can we not talk about it please? I still cannot believe he is gone, he is the only parent I have ever sufficiently known.” Karl said, his voice breaking.

“I am very sorry about your loss Karl but I cannot mourn him the way you are”

“You don’t need to grand mother, nobody is demanding that of you but please do not sully his name before me.”

“I will book that flight on one condition alone, that you make sure to come back after you have relayed whatever to them and met them, it would be a two way ticket so you can return.”

“I promise to return” Karl said although deep in his mind, he knew he wouldn’t

“When do you want to leave?”

“Next tomorrow, I would like to pack some of father’s things to return to them.”

“That is fine, you must promise to return Karl, your place is here and we are your family.” His grandmother said sternly.

Karl looked at her and tried to smile, he knew what was going through her mind, that he would go and become exactly like his father, someone they would loathe. Karl had no plans of returning to them but he wasn’t about to tell them that.

His mind drifted back to the journal and it’s contents, he had plans to take it along with him so someone could properly explain to him what the gibberish meant but one thing he was sure of, his father God bless his heart had to have been delusional to think he could scare him with something such as wolves and curses.

There was no such thing and it was left to him to prove it.

………

The day Karl was supposed to leave to his father’s country was a gloomy one, It had rained the night before and the streets were soggy. Right before he left, he made sure to bid his school mates good-bye, they were all nice to him because of his father’s death and some of them even chanced to hug him and wish him, it was quite a memorable moment for him.

Karl was seen to the Airport by his mother’s sister who went over the rules his grandmother had outlined for him. Karl was half listening to her as he watched people board and exit, wondering if this was how it was going to be for him in the nearest future although he did not believe a word his father had written in the journal, he had a very funny feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was all true.