CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

Previously on Avenging Angels

The truth about the past is getting clearer and Rose is happy to know she is almost at the end of the way.

FORTY-FIVE

"I can't believe that there is a person who is so evil, cruel, despicable, terrible, vicious...Iri, help me with more synonyms," Lily ranted.

"Hostile" Iris complied after rolling her eyes.

"Yes, Hostile. Like who in the world would kill your childhood friend? That's just some messed up shit!!" She gulped down her juice and pushed her blonde strands out of her face.

We are in our house and I told them everything I found out yesterday because I knew it wasn't a conversation to have on the phone.

I took the excuse of seeing my nonexistent grandmother to come out of the mansion.

"At least we are getting somewhere now. We've found out the reason she killed our mother" Iris let out.

"Yeah, Mother and Father were from wealthy families. Miss Helda said that the Bladderworts were the reason behind their bankruptcy" I ran my fingers down the cold glass of juice that was on the table.

"She is my bane of existence," Lily groaned as she slumped down the couch dramatically.

"It's weird to know that Miss Helda was the one who named me. I always knew she was a nice woman" Iris smiled.

"She hid the truth. If she had reported Avalor, maybe our father would have still been with us" I spurt out with annoyance.

"Hey, not everyone is perfect. She was scared back then and Avalor is just like her daughter, I understand why she did what she did" Iris argued and I rolled my eyes.

"This is about a person's life. Covering up won't help anyone, not even the murderer herself"

"Sometimes you do the worse things just to protect the ones you love," Iris said with a knowing tone.

"Enough with that. Come take a look at this" I brought out the picture from my bag and they leaned closer to take a look.

I moved back to take a look at each of their expressions.

Lily's eyes were filled with awe, she gasped out and used her hand to cover her mouth as tears began to fall from her eyes.

Iris had an indifferent look as usual but I have known her long enough to differentiate her expressions. The look she had was a gaze of deep understanding and respect. Deep down, I knew she was marveled at the beauty of our parents.

"This is beautiful" Lily choked out.

"They were stunning beside each other" Iris said as she held her tears back.

"Doesn't it feels weird?" I asked.

"I mean, we were used to always seeing father alone and dejected. Although he smiled like sunshine but thinking about it now, I realized that most of his smiles were just a facade for us. It was just a mask for us to not see through his loneliness. But look at him..." I pointed at the young man in the photo.

"He looked like he had the world in his hands," I said wistfully.

Lily lay on my lap and held the photo in her hand and we all stared at it in silence as though we were conveying all that couldn't be said in the short time we had together.

Dear Mother,

Although I never got to see you, I still feel your presence everywhere I go, Father made sure that I never once passed a day without thinking of you.

I know you were loving, caring, inspirational, and gentle. I know that when I fell from my first horse ride, you would have wiped off my tears and encouraged me to try again.

I know that when I started school for the first time, you would have held my hands and never let go.

I know that you were always beside father when he sang us the lullaby he made up.

I know you loved us unconditionally.

I love you too.

Dear Father,

You were the reckoning force during our hard times.

Instead of you mourning the death of your life partner for a bit longer, you took the burden of three children all by yourself.

You never once showed us weakness, you never once gave us a reason to complain. You were the best father a child could ever ask for.

You made it possible for us to grow up and be independent and proud of ourselves. You gave up on your life and instead took it upon yourself to provide for us.

Your efforts were never put to fail.

I know you must be up in heaven, watching us and without a doubt, proud of us.

Your smile still attacks my dreams every night.

Your love is still buried in my heart.

I love you.

I opened my eyes and when I looked into their eyes, I knew they were smiling at me.

*****

After greeting the receptionist, I walked down the familiar hallway and stopped before the room I was headed to.

I gripped the doorknob tighter than I should and my knuckles turned white as I deliberated whether to turn back or not.

Miss Helda said a nurse came out of Mother's room, looking frightened. That could only mean she witnessed something and the nurse said that Matilda kept on repeating my birth date.

So it could only mean one thing,

She knows something.

And I'm about to find out.

I decided and opened the door. It was just as I remembered it, simple and delicate. The only difference was that this time, there was a person on the bed.

"Matilda?" I called out and this time she looked up at me.

"Hi!" she said in a chirpy voice and I took that as an invitation.

"Hello, you seem to be in a good mood today" I sat on the chair beside her bed.

"Yes, aunt bought me lots of chocolate so Matilda is happy" she grinned like a small child.

"That's very good. Now, I will give you more chocolates if you answer my questions" I said with an amicable voice.

"Really?" she tilted her head.

"Yeah. I just have a few questions and the chocolates are yours" I grinned as she took in the bait.

"OK!!!" she nodded vigorously.

"Alright. Now, I'm going to show you some numbers and you have to tell what the numbers are, OK?" I took out my phone.

"OK"

"Now, what number is this?" I showed her a huge number.

"Twenty!!" she yelled quickly.

"Wowww!!! Matilda is so brilliant" I clapped my hands enthusiastically.

"Okay, now you're going to tell me what date it is," I said and typed out the date.

"20th May 2000!!!" she read and bounced on the bed.

"That's amazing!!! Now, do you remember what day that was?" I asked and she looked at me with confusion.

"Think. A hospital, inside a room, a lady with black hair and blue eyes" I urged.

Matilda suddenly covered her ears with her hands and shook her head as though she was denying the truth.

"No! Stop, let her go!! Don't do that... Please" she began to scream hysterically.

"Matilda, calm down. It's okay, nobody is here except me" I tried to calm her down and after a few minutes, she removed her hands from her ears and looked around the room.

"See? No one is here" I nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I mumbled.

"Matilda wants to go to bed. Read me a story" she climbed out of her bed and dropped a book on my hands.

"NOW!" she demanded and I sighed.

"Okay. Lie down" I said dejectedly.

I began to read her the storybook as quietly as I could. She lay on her bed while looking up at the ceiling.

"She took a single rose..."

"Rose" she whispered something.

"What, Matilda?" I asked.

"Rose" she repeated louder.

"You like Rose?" I smiled.

"Rose's and Avalor's babies were switched on 20th May 2000"

Just the way the book fell from my hand, my heart also fell in a deep pit and for the very first time, I was afraid it was going to be hard to revive it.