1 They can't be gone!

The engine of the car came to a stop as it parked in the lot of a duplex house. The duplex comprised two separate homes - one belonging to Liliana and the other to her parents.

Liliana was a twenty-three-year-old lady whose dream was to become a nun and devote her life to God but couldn't fulfill or follow her dreams because her parents were against it.

Therefore, she was sent to the best university to study medicine and become a professional doctor. Well, their dreams for her had come true because recently, she was a doctor and had progressed well in her profession.

Her foot landed on the ground gently to support her coming out of the car, Liliana grabbed her bag and walked in the direction of her part of the duplex but her gaze fell on her parent's house. She could tell that they weren't home. But why weren't they at home?

With that, she decided to call, so Liliana took her phone and dialed their phone number. It was already late at night, why weren't they home yet? This troubled her but then, it struck her mind about their anniversary. She recalled that they were having a date. 

Liliana unlocked the door and went into her house, switched on the light and landed on a couch with a sigh escaping her mouth. 

It was a very long day for her, every day was always long to her as she was a doctor and her job was to save lives at all costs. 

Liliana eventually stood up from the couch and went to get herself a glass of water. She had dinner and went to her room to watch a surgical operation on a certain tumor, and from that moment she fell asleep without knowing.

Her dream or maybe nightmare woke her from sleep in the morning, her face was streaming cold sweat and her heart was pounding. Tears streamed from her eyes. She was crying.

Liliana had a dream that her parents died. 

No! That can never be true, it can never happen, she stood up from her bed and knelt with her hands on the bed. She took her medallion and prayed against her dream. Afterwards, she took her phone and called her parents, but she received no reply. She trusted in God, nothing was wrong. Her parents were fine.

Liliana wore her slippers and ran to her parent's house, but no one was in. It couldn't be what she was thinking.

She went back to her apartment and dialed her father's number again but still no answer. Then she heard knocks at the door.

Liliana went to open the door to find some policemen outside and the news they gave to her was shocking, disheartened and expected because she had seen it coming.

"No!" She cried. "No, my parents can't be gone! Yesterday was their anniversary… I knew that having that dream was something else. Why? Why my parents?!" Liliana sat on the floor in pain as she cried non-stop to no content. 

She was eventually taken to the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital, she was led to the morgue. When she was in, they led her to two stretchers and with fear and hope that it might not be her parents, she slowly took the clothes off their faces only to lose hope completely, she saw it was her parents, and placed her hands over her mouth. 

Liliana couldn't believe her eyes as she cried silently. Her parents were gone… That means she wouldn't see them, play with them, fight with them, get teased by them, be cared for by them, and have no one to tell her secret to because they were gone for good!

"They can't be gone!" She turned to a man with a mask on who was wearing a nurse's uniform. "I saw them yesterday, I gave them an anniversary gift, I even kissed their cheeks and saw their smile. I talked to them yesterday. They can't be gone," she said as she fell to her knees slowly, holding onto her mouth to stop herself from screaming. 

The thought of her parents gone killed her. "My Mom and Dad can't be gone. No!" She shook her head and soon the men took her outside the morgue slowly until she sat on the chair outside. 

She was still in tears as she couldn't believe something like that could happen, the more she thought of it, the more her heart expanded in pain and sorrow. 

Her face turned red because her hands were stopping her from screaming and expressing her distress, she couldn't even imagine starting life without her parents. Just then, the policemen from earlier came to stand in front of her. She knew why they were there.

"We are sorry for your loss ma'am but please we have some questions for you," the man in the middle spoke with notes and pens in most of their hands. They began with the questions, and she answered with tears in her eyes.

All the information she gave to them wasn't really helpful, but the information they got for her was mind-blowing and shocking. Her parents were both shot dead and to the police, it was murder in the process of robbery. She was still in pain about her parents, but the police telling her that they were shot made her wonder who could have done that to them.

"Why do you think someone would want my parents dead? We don't have any enemies, we just live a normal life," her face was flooded with confusion and misery.

"As I said, Miss, this might be robbery but because your parents were fighting back, the robbers shot them," one of them tried to make sense. "Their belongings were missing when we were called, and we investigated the area but got no clues, no security cameras and no fingerprints. But we'll investigate further and inform you of any information we get," she was assured, so Liliana nodded before sitting back down to sob her sudden loss.

Suddenly, Liliana heard noises, she looked up to see her relatives. They must have heard about her parents, she sat there without greeting anyone because they didn't turn to her. Her parents had been away from their families for years now. They were never approving of their marriage, so they disowned themselves, but now that her parents were dead they came running. So pathetic!

That really didn't stop her from mourning her parent's death, she still couldn't believe they were gone and were gunshot. Why? Why them? Who could have done that to her parents? 

Her family had no enemies or so. She wanted to blame God but couldn't and shouldn't because she believed that it wasn't his fault. There should be a reason, or it might be fate, but what type of fate was that?

Her relatives came out with fake tears. Some came to question her, and she replied to them while some consoled her. What else could they do? That was the least they could do anyway.

They had the wake for her parents and many shed tears, especially Liliana. She'd missed her parents so much, her eyes were already puffy because of her crying. If she didn't stop soon, she might run out of tears and cry blood.

In her house, the day before the funeral, their lawyer came and told her how her dad's property would be shared. She had no problem with how it was shared as long as the house was hers. Thank goodness she wasn't a minor, so she took all that was hers.

The funeral arrived, and they were all in black, her colleagues, friends, relatives, neighbors, and schoolmates were present and some dropped flowers while some came to console her. The program and prayers ended, and she buried her parents in tears.

Liliana went back home with their pictures in her hands. She was accompanied by Rachel, her cousin who wasn't at all nice, she acted the way her parents told her to but Liliana took her in just for a while as she mourned her parents' death.

At night Liliana couldn't sleep knowing that the next day, her parents wouldn't be found or seen. So, she goes to their grave and speaks to them before dropping her flowers and leaves.

…

Two months passed, Liliana's mourning reduced, and she was advised to move on, she had to make it up to her parents even if they were gone. The police were unable to find any information, so they closed the case about her parents, which hurt her but someday she believed that she'd find Justice for them.