If my mind was only but a universal escapade of nature, then I had nothing to lose. More like a wanderer, unnecessary ambulation was my thing. For sure I had several places I would love to be in, like college, home, and most importantly the library. I couldn't help but watch my mind take over my being.
Despite being inopportune to be at such places, there was one place my whole heart connected to, and that place is no other than the home of the seventy year old Mrs. Karrie. Her house wasn't as big as a mansion, but it was of a fair height. The inner structures and decor was mind blowing. The door of her house was made out of well furnished wood with metallic handles and right after the entrance, you can spot the fire place after walking down three steps below which had a large plasma TV above it's stand. Another thing that was breathtaking was the sofas which had their edges a little bit distant from each other in a rectangular pattern with the smell of roses rising from every corner. Behind the living room was the dinning table made of glass which had four glass chairs arrayed beneath its glassy top.
Ever since her catastrophic car experience with Mr. Karrie, she survived the tragic accident of which she lost her husband and had her legs amputated. She had been on a wheelchair till date. On the walls of her living room were beautiful pictures of her adorable family, some of which were individually taken.
"Davis", she called out on her wheelchair from behind the glass doors in the living room which led to a swimming pool with its sides filled with sporobolus pioretti, best know as carpet grass, rolling her wheels towards my direction as she continued in her weak, old and soft voice.
"I was expecting you to come at this moment"
"I always come her once it's midday" I retorted.
"I know that, and I'm always pleased to see you. Have you seen Jamie?" she asked. Jamie was her care taker/ house maid. She had been there for her ever since her accident.
"No, I thought she was always with you, I'm surprised you're rolling the wheels by yourself, seems you're stronger than I thought". I teased.
" You'd be surprised what this old lady can do". She said smiling at me.
What seemed to be a smile turned to be something different, she gave me a look which made me feel insecure and uncomfortable. I had a feeling she had a huge problem and she didn't know how to solve it.
Mrs. Karrie was a devoted Catholic, she knew everything about the Catholic doctrines and it's history. When she had a problem with anyone or anything, she knew the best way to solve it. Mostly, all she does is to lock herself in a room for about an hour or two and when she's out, she shrugs off everything like it never happened. As crazy this might seem, it worked, but something about her disruptive look at me made my heart feel much sombre, and curious to know that which was of much tumult to her.
"What's wrong?". I asked
She spoke after the eighth second had passed, but I wasn't satisfied with her response.
"Sometimes, the best things in life can't satisfy you unless you satisfy yourself with things that are unceasing".
Was it just me, or she sounded a lot like Howard?
"I know something bothers you Mrs. Karrie, and the Mrs. Karrie I know never let's her trouble weigh her down. Please, if you don't mind, I'd like to know what's wrong".
Before she replied, I stepped down the three stair cases which was high up and walked towards her as she moved towards the dinning room.
"My life has been a blessing, but one thing remains uncertain, how most blessings could be a great source of pain. I was married for 30 years before I met my adversity facet. It was unplanned and very uneasy for me to overcome, but I couldn't help it. I moved on".
I watched her roll her wheelchair to a room on the right side of the dinning and it let to a wide area filled with framed pictures at its sides. The pictures were that of a young lady probably at her early teen age. She looked so happy and excited, her smile was captivating and enchanting that I soon lost interest in what she said for a moment.
"Who is this lady?" I asked.
She giggled at my question before going into the deep detail.
"That's my daughter, my only child, my only jewel, and my princess. I had her a long time ago, but along the line, the fate of others are different from what the human mind thinks".
I couldn't tell where this was going to, but I knew that whatever that made her feel so sad and look so pale, it was because of her daughter and how she missed having a family.
"My daughter got tired of me, to her I was the worst person in the universe. We always argued on what was right and what was wrong, but neither of us were right. Usually, whenever we had our unnecessary arguments, her father, my darling husband would be the mediator in order for peace to reign but it got worse when we were alone. She turned eighteen and we had the worst quarell of our lives, this time her father wasn't there to settle things nor pet her like always and she was fed up. Fed up with me, and fed up with life, so she left."
In my mind, I could only but imagine how much she passed through with her daughter, but I lost my parents at a very young age. My whole mind was blanketed with pain and distress. Though I had lots of emotions towards things, I never reveal them facially, that made me look tough and I had to live with my nature.
I was right behind her wheelchair placing my right hand over her shoulder, and as soon as the first finger of her hand touched mine, my heart beat increased more than the normal and my head ached with severe pain for a moment. I heard whispers, not from one person but from different people but the only thing I could grab as I held onto my head almost immediately with both hands having a sour expression on my face was the voice of a lady shouting at the peak of her voice
"I hate you and there's nothing you can do about it. My fate is to live, live a life without such awkward pain of unending arguments, a life without you".
"Are you alright?" she asked. At the sound of her voice, I snapped out of whatever that crawled into my thoughts and the ache ceased.
"Yeah, I guess" saying in response returning my hands back in the pocket of my hoodie.
I thought the day couldn't get any much weirder, not knowing things were going to get worse than it already was. She gave me a strong and sever look as she uttered feeling concerned but scared.
"A war is coming, and I'm not speaking about the armageddon, this would be the first ever to be witnessed in such a harsh way. The fallen are going to rise again and when they do, nothing will stop them from causing the harm they've planned for long".
"What are you talking about?" I asked trying to act dump, but the dumper I tried to act, the smarter she was.
"What you saw was just the first batch. There is a second and third. Doom is your name, but you aren't what you think you are. Your destiny is to... "
"Don't finish the sentence" I protested thinking she was going to say my destiny was to face the doom, but I had a different perception on hearing what she said next looking into my eyes having a disquieted effusion as she continued
"You're wrong, your path isn't decided because you haven't faceed your greatest opponent. There's a competition ahead of you, and there are others who are willing to battle you in order to get that which has been chosen as your fate".
Without seeing my reflection, I could tell how awkward and confused I was by the perplexity shown on my face. She looked at me for a moment and held onto a drawer of which she opened and held onto a necklace with her right hand. It had the carving of a dragon below, sealed in what looked like a blue diamond. I watched it glitter as she handed it over to me.
"Even if I don't get to see my daughter to my day of death, I will be pleased to have lived this life with her being my daughter. I love her so much and this is the only thing I can give to her. Inside the blue sealing is a dragon carved out neatly with a diamond. "It's very special and hold lots of memories, she continued, "It's time for history to have a new record".
Still confused as I watched her stare at the necklace for some time, series of thoughts enwrapped my brain. Was she part of the chosen, or did she have a connection to the house of omens? Just when my thoughts moved on, she expectorated and continued.
"That which is uncertain to you shall be made clear in time, but for the mean time, keep this safe and do ensure to give this to my daughter".
I nodded my head and sooner enough, I found myself walking out of her house, not so far from her home, I headed towards an unknown path which led me straight to a hotel. My whole life, I had thought that I and Howard were the only ones who knew about this, but now it became clear to me that there are others who have lots of stories to tell, mine wasn't the beginning, It was just the prologue of that which I was yet to experience.
As I ambled through the pavement of the road, I had my mind on the image of the her daughter. Though she looked much younger, she had a familiarity with someone I knew, someone I had seen before. Nevertheless, I couldn't jump into conclusions without having the truth figured out. To me I was normal, tough and hard, but deep inside, I was perplexed and petrified with my soul clustered with lots of ambiguity due to the one thing that caused my uncertainty.
"The chosen".