I found out by accident.
I wasn’t supposed to know, never.
My mom had died because of my stepmother. My father and I were devastated when we first found out my mother had leukemia. We hired a home nurse to take care of her; to give her treatment and just to be there for her daily. The nurse was nice and would always bring candy for me, she was young, out-going, and very beautiful. But there was something fishy about her, when it was time to give my mother her medicine, she would lock the door and pull the curtains closed. The first time was when I was in the pool, hanging out with my friends. I saw her closing the curtains, she was smiling – not a happy one, more of a sinister smile like she was planning something evil – and I saw she was holding a droplet bottle. Thankfully she didn’t spot me looking at her, she thought she could get away with this. It happened every day, so I decided to ask her.
“Why do you always close the door?” She looked scared for a milli-second – so little, I almost didn’t see her – but then she smiled and just said,
“That’s what the hospital wants me to do.”
I smile a fake smile and reply, “Well, where do you work?”
She blinked and calmly said, “Winston Goods Hospital.” I nod and head to my room. I quietly lock the door behind me and go on my laptop. I search up “Winston Goods hospital,” but I find a dead end. There is no hospital with that name. I tried a few times using other spellings but no. I close my laptop and casually go downstairs as if nothing happened. But what I didn’t know was that she was watching me the whole time.
The “curtain-closing” happened more often and my mom’s health deteriorated. Little did I know that my mother would die within a span of the next few days. On her last day, I sat next to her, alone in her room. She looked at me, her face so pale that it was white, bags forming under her eyes, wrinkles covering her once beautiful face. She smiles at me and says, “You’ve got a great, long life in front of you, my Noel. Just promise me something.”
I nod holding back the tears on the verge of flowing. “Take care of your father, make sure he..” She hesitates here, like she knows a secret but doesn’t feel like telling me.
“Make sure he ends up with a good person.” I’m about to ask her what she means but she quickly kisses me on my forehead. I finally let my tears out as my mom took her last breath. Then she’s gone.
It’s my birthday today but I don’t feel like being happy. With my mom gone and my dad already engaged, it’s hard to think about my own birthday. Every birthday I would wake up to balloons in my room and a trail of small presents to the kitchen, where my parents would shout, “Happy birthday!” But all of that is gone.
“Dad?” I call out a couple times but silence answers me. I walk down the hallway but stop when I hear a voice.
“The daughter is so pathetic and too dumb to ever figure it out, and such a loser.. And don’t even get me started with Darren..” There’s silence here so I guess that the person on the other end is talking.
“I just need to figure out a way to get her cut… Ah, what a splendid idea… yeah … no that won’t work, will it? ……… Oh yes! And act like Noel did it, we can frame her.. Yes, then the money will all be ours, my love.” My heart leaps, but not in a good way, in a way that makes shivers run down my spine. I freeze, not daring to take another step but I quickly but carefully go, innocently, like nothing happened. She sees me and quickly acts like she’s talking to her friends.
“Yeah, yeah. We can definitely hang out.” She looks at me the whole time, trying to see if I’ll give any hints away that I heard her conversation.
But I simply smile and say, “It’s my birthday today.” She looks surprised and tells the person on the other end that she needs to go.
“Oh my god, happy birthday sweety!” She gives a warm smile – the smile my dad fell for – she comes in for a hug and I reluctantly hug her back. I say that I need to go to my room and she nods and waits – more like watching – to see me go, which is odd. I go to my room and just sit on my bed. Rethinking about the conversation that I eavesdropped on. I look at my closed door, just knowing that she’s outside, waiting. I’m scared. My mom. Then my dad. Then me.
I don’t even bother, not anymore.
I carefully find my suitcase in my closet and start packing everything inside. I can hear a voice murmuring something outside but I don’t dare go outside to check who it is, I just continue packing. By the time I finish packing I’m hungry and it’s noon. I slip the suitcase and my backpack under the bed and quietly slip outside. I go downstairs and almost faint at what I see. My dad was lifeless on the floor, blood spattered everywhere. A knife penetrated into his chest. A wine glass shattered all around him. But I didn’t hear anything. And my stepmom, nowhere to be seen.
Then, nothing.
