[SENSITIVE TOPIC AHEAD]
17th May, 1967
"Mother! Mother! Dad! Where are you!?" The excited, young butterfly of a princess Ms.Jena Williams burst open through the door on a bright Monday afternoon, holding the papers of her degree close to her as she ran around the house in search of her dear parents.
At last, the couple were eventually woken up from their afternoon nap, smiling at their daughter's excitement and feeling proud for having raised such a diligent and confident young lady.
"Dada! Mother! Look! I've cleared in all of these! With a distinction certificate too!" By the end of her words, she squealed in a high pitched tone, the couple's sensitive ears blaring for just having been awake.
"You're being too loud now, Jena. Your mother needs some rest, she caught a cold last night." The father explained. The mother turned over to face her husband and smacked his arm for dulling the moment.
The moment of a lifetime.
"Oh, honey, don't be such a killjoy. Jena, come here dear." The women spread her arms wide for her to lay down on her chest. Jena neatly placed the papers and her graduation coat aside, her pastel pink gown creased beneath the tension of her coat.
The mother's comfortable silence spoke a million words in the room, though the family was warm and cuddled up in the bed on a hazy afternoon of June.
"Oh my, what am I doing? You'll catch my sickness!" Jena chuckled but respected her mother's height of worry as she stood up straight by the side of her parent's bed.
"Mother, you know I'm your strong girl right? I won't catch the cold you have. I'll fight it for you, against you. Go away, cold! Stop bothering my dear mother!" She talked inanimately to the virus residing her mother's host body.
They shared a good chuckle until Jena remembered something.
"Groceries!" She yelled all of a sudden, cutting through the silence of the warm room. Clicking her fingers deliberately, the young woman gathered her belongings and rushed to her room, the wooden door squeaking at the hinges at the action.
"Grease for the hinges. Alright." She noted in her mind. Pushing away the half knit embroidery work of her dress sleeve aside, Jena arranged her graduation robe, her certificate and her maiden shoes neatly by their places, the shoes defined to be placed below the table by its leg.
Her rosy cheeks and golden hair glowed with happiness as she felt the feeling course through her veins.
1967, the age where women were looked as just the breeders and care takers of offspring for the society. Jena remembered the times when her mother was practically shoved out of the college unit because the college of hers did not allow peasant women to study. Only the royals and the nobles had the prosperity to attend colleges or schools.
If it weren't for her father working for the noble blood, she wouldn't be going to any of the above and she would never have carried herself as a peasant woman who graduated like she did herself as now.
The wooden basket and a tied up scarf hung from her left hand as she skimmed through the materials in her small arm purse.
She was putting on her floral sandals when her father called for her name.
"Jena?"
"Yes father?" She looked back at the man who slowly walked towards her from the kitchenette.
"Be careful, sweetheart."
His eyes held unexplainable and wordless emotions, care and concern sinking in deep which made her confused and worried.
"Papa, are you alright? Do you want me to take care of you too? Oh my, you might have caught mother'sā"
"Shush, silly girl. I'm completely fine. Iā I do not know how to explain this feeling dear." He confessed.
Mr. Williams was a hardworking and dedicated man. He knew life through hardships and sailorboat successes. Never once did he get the feeling in his lifetime that he is unable to express it to his dear daughter as of now.
The peculiar feeling of detachment. As if something was being snatched away from someone.
"I don't quite understand, father. You can tell me anything, you know that." She held his shoulder to give him assurance. But how could he possibly tell it out loud to her?
'Hey Jena, I feel like I'm going to lose you.'
He wasn't supposed to say those things even when he is out of his conscious state.
"Just, be safe Jena. I haven't been reading or listening to news lately, and I'm worried that there would be another firing rampage similar to last year." He explained. Jena scoffed and looked at the door, signaling.
"I'm going to go now, father. Watch me be right back, safe and sound. You don't need to worry about me. I'm your strong girl, remember?"
"Whatever you say, my princess." He said, waving her off as she closed the door behind her with a soft thud.
The smile on his face rapidly started fading away and tears build up to the brim. He mouths to himself.
"I do not know, Jena."