Father's secret

"People are sad. That's why they smile to make you look into their lips and not into their eyes."

-Haji Rigel Schiller

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*Please leave a message after the tone. Tooot!*

"Dad, mama is missing. *toot!*"

*Message will be received after 30 days*

Dialing... *Beep!*

*Please leave a message after the tone.*

"Dad, please come home...*toot!*"

*Message will be received after 30 days.*

"Can't you come over here right now?" Jhay whispered in the air hopelessly.

"Art is a way of expressing one's self. Every individual has their own definition of art."

Jhay stared at the scenery outside the window.

"Creativity and passion, skills and imagination, ideas and feelings. A person itself is an art...Jhay?" someone was calling Jhay. She thought, "Was it mom?"

"Ms. Ayara, are you not feeling well?" Jhay snapped out of her thoughts as her art teacher asked her, all her block mates's eyes were fixed on her.

Jhay thought, "That's right. I'm inside a classroom filled with passionate people. I don't belong here anymore."

"Yes... 'm fine" Jhay said and looked at her art pad. Her drawing was a mess and meaningless. Jhay saw a drop of red ink on it and a lot of it followed. Her drawing became even worse.

"Jhay! your nose is bleeding! Joshua, assist her to the clinic, ASAP" the teacher said and the boy sitting next to Jhay offered her a hand. They were walking in the hallway when suddenly Haji appeared in front of them.

"Jhay, are you okay?!" Haji asked with worried eyes, his breathing was rapid. Jhay could tell that Haji ran all the way there.

"Just a nosebleed, stressed out maybe?" Jhay said. Haji held Jhay's hand and told Joshua that he will bring Jhay to the clinic.

"Hey! take care of yourself, idiot!" Haji growled as he grabbed her wrist and started walking towards the clinic.

"I miss her" Jhay said in between sobs. It has been two weeks and Jhay still didn't know her mother's whereabouts.

"I'm here. We'll find her soon. I'm here" Haji said as he embraced Jhay.

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NOT long ago, Jhay's Christmas was tragic. Pherein went missing and Mr. Ayara was still not home.

"Jhay! I've got a good news for you!" Haji exclaimed happily as he entered directly into Jhay's room.

"Where's your twin brother?" Jhay meant for Damian. Jhay always assumed that wherever Haji is, Damian never leaves him.

"He went ahead of us! Hurry up and get dressed, we're going somewhere" Haji said. Jhay frowned and didn't move.

"Where?" Jhay asked while crossing her arms on her chest.

"To Pherein. Damian found her" Haji said. Haji made a proud smile, he thought that Damian was really good at finding people. Jhay hurriedly fixed herself, changed her clothes and tied her hair into a ponytail. She grabbed Haji by the wrist and dragged him towards their carport. Jhay opened the rusty door as she showed Haji one of her father's car, John's car.

"I know you can drive, Ji" Jhay said. Haji was hesitant to get inside the black semi old fashioned car but never took time to decide. They hurriedly got inside the car. The engine started working ang Jhay's heart began to pound loudly. Jhay was absolutely blank spaced the whole time until they arrived. The place was far from Jhay's house and they had to walk from the gate to the main house. The rusty iron doors clanked as the guard opened it for them. Haji smiled and nodded towards the man.

"This is the home for the aged. Who would have thought that auntie was here all this time." Haji said.

They saw Damian talking to someone, they were sitting on a bench in the middle of the garden. Damian smiled at Jhay from afar and walked towards them, leaving the woman alone.

"Go. She was waiting for you." Damian said to Jhay as he tried to shuffle her fixed ponytail. Haji pushed Jhay's back lightly and gave her an encouraging smile before he walked away with Damian. Jhay took one step at a time and her footsteps were getting heavier. The closer she got, the bigger her tears ran down her face. Her throat hurt suddenly and her knees weakened. Before the woman could raise her head to see who was standing in front of her, Jhay fell down on her knees. Her tears watered the green grass as she bowed her head and bit her trembling lips. Jhay's heart froze and her senses failed to work.

Repentance, Regret and Guilt.

"Hey Jhay, are you okay... honey?" the woman asked with a sweet and comforting voice. Jhay started sobbing and hiccuping as she dared to speak the word she thought she didn't deserve to say.

"Mama." Jhay called her. Jhay looked at her with her most horrible and guilty face.

"What I did was wrong. Forgive me mother. *hiccups* I've been a horrible person. Everything I did was wrong. I'm sorry. Thank you and... And I love you. Please..." Jhay drowned herself in tears "...please come back home" she pleaded.

Jhay felt a soft pat on her head.

"Honey, don't be sorry. I was being careless and thoughtless. Jealousy overpowered me." Pherein said with a smile as she cupped Jhay's face and wiped her daughter's tears away using her thumbs.

"I thought maybe you didn't need me at all. We've been living under the same roof for twelve years and I never made you smile because of me. Only John can do that to you. And now you have Haji and Damian and you seemed to be happier. I thought maybe I can never make you happy with me beside you." Pherein said with a warm smile. Jhay shook her head as if saying Pherein was wrong.

"Mama... Will you come home with me?" Jhay dared to ask but unsure of what Pherein might answer. Pherein nodded silently and smiled at Jhay. Love overpowered Jhay and she finally hugged her mother tightly. Haji and Damian came as they continued to tease Jhay.

Jhay finally got her family back.

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HAJI was happy because Jhay looked happier. She talked a lot and she treated Pherein sweetly than before. They hang out often during weekends and everyone seemed to be enjoying. Jhay braided her mother's hair while Damian was playing with his guitar. Haji looked at them as he waved goodbye.

"I've got something to do! See you tomorrow!" Haji yelled at them. The three of them smiled at Haji as he started walking backwards.

"See you tomorrow, Ji!" Jhay and Damian shouted in unison. Haji walked away and headed to a different direction, away from home. He decided that he must find his father. Everything was crystal clear. The events and the purposely made accident, he remembered everything that happened nine years ago.

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Flashback...

"Eos my child remember this, we are the slaves of our own hearts." Eos's father's smile gave him comfort. His mother died after she gave birth to him. His father was a researcher, he loved discovering new things related to nature. Eos believed that his father was his idol, his hero.

"When we were younger, Rania really loves to stare at the stars. You're mother really gets excited when it comes to stars." Eos's father said. Eos usually asked him things about his mom, because hearing his father tell stories about his mother made Eos felt like he already met her. According to Eos's father, his mother was a videographer and an explorer. She was clumsy and a daredevil. One day, she said something very confidential to Eos's father. 'To live in Aeonria is to die first on Earth.'

Eos's father stopped researching and chose to live normally with his mother. But that just made the situation even worse. One night, Eos's mother was gone. The next day his father went mad. He never allowed Eos to enter his room. Eos was only allowed to bring him food in front of his door. Eos could hear loud thuds and noises coming from his father's room and all he could do was to wait for his father to come out from that room, and come back to him. It went for two months since Eos last saw his father went outside from that room. Eos stopped going to school and slept outside that room. Eos even made a small tent on the hallway, waiting for his father to come out. Eos sat on the floor and listened to the cold wall.

"I'm coming for you Rania"

Eos couldn't hear anything. He touched the wall as the coldness penetrated within his palms. This wall, there was someone longing for the only girl he loved behind it. And Eos believed that he was just the fruit of their love. Eos believed that his father loved his mother more than he loved his own son. Tears started running down Eos's face.

He thought, "What will happen to me now?"

Eos heard a loud scream, his father's scream. Eos knocked the door several times, his knocks were heavy and his heart went crazy. Was his father safe? Did his father found his mother?

Ten seconds later, a group of armed men raided their house. They were kicking the doors and any closed rooms out. Two guys went forcefully inside Eos's father's room. Eos didn't flinched nor moved. He couldn't speak as he walked towards his parents' room. They found nothing. His father's room had no signs of any researches nor experiments. No laboratory equipments and papers. The room looked like a common master's bedroom. The only difference was that the walls were full of codes, letters and unidentified writing systems. Eos's father was gone too. He left no traces nor signs of his whereabouts. Eos was left behind.

"I am all alone now." Eos whispered to himself.

"This kid must not remember that he was Rob's son. The world will question about the couple's disappearance if this kid continues to existsm." the big guy with a rifle on his hands said and looked at Eos with a hunter's eyes. He grabbed Eos's hair and dragged him outside their house. Eos saw some people wearing lab gowns and the flashing cameras towards him. The daylight was warm and the wind was cool. But all of it faded as the poor child's eyes met their terror gazes. The big guy threw Eos inside a car and drove him somewhere faraway. Eos remained silent and calm.

Eos thought, "Was there anything scarier than facing reality and death? If there was, should I feel safer?"

"You're not scared, kiddo?" the big guy asked Eos, his eyes were fixed on the road. The kid never said a word ever since he rode the car. They arrived in the middle of the forest where Eos could clearly hear the growls of the wild lives. The big guy brought Eos in front of a lake and smirked at him.

"Any last words before you go under the water?" the armed guy asked as he pointed his gun at Eos. Eos took one step back as he smiled at the man. His tears fell but he still smiled at him and said, "Thank you".

Eos let himself fell on the water as his sight traveled the forest up to the leaves of the trees, to the birds flying up the sky. Eos felt the back of his head touched the water as the small waves climbed up to his ears, then to his eyes and mouth, and lastly to his nose. He could still see the waving sunlight under the water as he held his hand up high. How he wished his father took him away with him, that would be a happier reunion. Eos was completely drowned, he could almost hear the rapid beating of his own heart and the water entering inside his mouth. The last thing he remembered was that his body sank under the water peacefully.

"From this day forward you will be erased from the outside world."

Haji heard a voice. He opened his eyes but he only saw the animals and the peaceful pond. Which later on became his family and home.

He thought, "That man, acting like the bad one. Yet he still saved me in the end."

End of flashback...

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HAJI stared at the old place.

Their house was still standing but the structures and the color represented the old memories. The house was located in the middle of the forest without neighbors. The plants crawled on the walls, it almost covered the whole house. Haji went inside and covered his nose as the rotten smell of decayed animals and plants welcomed him. The floor was nourished with dusts and dirts. The furniture were barely recognizable and the old white piano turned to black. He sat on the bench as his eyes explored the whole place.

"It used to be my home" Haji said with a smile. His long fingers touched the keys as it created a broken and lonely sound. He continued playing the keys as his heart sank. He remembered a song which his father used to play when his mom sits next to his father on that bench.

"Starry, starry night

Paint your palette blue and gray

Look out on a summer's day

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills

Sketch the trees and the daffodils

Catch the breeze and the winter chills

In colors on the snowy linen land"

Haji sang, almost whispering in the wind, being afraid his voice might torn the house down if he would sing louder.

"Now I understand what you tried to say to me

And how you suffered for your sanity

How you tried to set them free

They would not listen, they did not know how

Perhaps they'll listen now"

Haji sighed as he continued playing the piece without singing.

"I miss you father." Haji whispered.

As soon as he finished the piece, the ground started shaking and the bench broke. Haji's butt hit the floor hard as he covered his head with his arms. The ceiling was shaking and the debris showered above him. Haji was about to stand when the floor cracked and he fell under the ground. The ground was hollowed and there his eyes saw everything he has been longing for to see. The underground his father created appeared in front of him. He saw books, compasses, navigation systems, machines, a mini solar system, maps, a telescope and a door. Haji's eyes were fascinated by the old rusty door as his feet brought him in front of it. He stared at it for a long time as he decided to open it. It created a hissing sound, like a fridge being closed for almost a century but was still working.

"Woah" Haji whispered. He stepped inside the narrow spaced room. There was only a single sit and a control panel. Buttons and switches. Haji thought if was it a capsule? Hibernation pod? Or a very small spaceship? Nevertheless, Haji was not brave enough to fly that thing without full knowledge and risks awareness. Haji was about to walk outside when the door suddenly closed.

"Oh shit!" Haji cursed as his heart thumped loudly and his breathing became heavy. The thing started shaking and he grabbed anything he could hold on to as he sat on the chair.

"Keep calm Haji. This is nothing. You're awesome! You've been through this kind of things! Nothing bad is going to happen!" Haji said to himself rapidly as the thing began shaking horribly.

"PREPARING TO LAUNCH, CAPTAIN" the system awakened and the controllers started to function on their own.

"COORDINATES -22° 06' 13""

"No! No! No! No!" Haji cursed as the thing started floating above two feet or less. Haji pushed the red button which he thought meant 'STOP'.

"AUTO PILOT ACTIVATED" the system said. The next thing happened, Haji fainted.