Ziya Anderson was attending her gen ed class at the University of Toronto for her final semester when her homeroom teacher Mr. Fredd came in and asked her to follow her to the teacher's office.
It was a rainy day and rain was one of Ziya's favorites as she loves mother nature during rain. She excused herself from the class and followed Mr. Fredd in the teacher's office.
While on their way, Ziya was thinking of the reason for suddenly summoning her in between the classes. What was so urgent that it could not wait until the end of the class.
Reaching the teacher's office, Mr. Fredd sat in his usual teacher's chair and asked her to sit across from him.
Mr. Fredd then continued by telling Ziya the dreadful news about her parents' accident and they were unable to make it to the hospital.
Listening to Mr. Fredd about her parents' news, Ziya felt that the ground was shaking hard beneath her and could not accept the fact.
She was stunned and deeply shocked that words didn't come out of her mouth. After the words started to sink in, Ziya could not hold her tears in any longer and started sobbing hardly where at one point it was even hard to continue her breathing.
After letting out all the tears, she calmed down and started to speak in a trembling voice and asked the question she had wanted to ask for a long time to Mr. Fredd. "How did this happen?" Ziya asked in her low shaky voice.
Mr. Fredd explained that a few minutes before coming to her class, he received a call regarding her parents' accident from the paramedics.
According to the paramedics, their car had a terrible accident due to the rainy weather and slippery road leading their car across the divider and into the coming truck from the opposite side. The truck driver tried to avoid it but it ended up with the collision and by the time an ambulance arrived on-site, your parents were badly wounded.
The paramedics tried to take your parents to the nearby hospital, where on their way they took their last breath and couldn't make it to the hospital for treatment.
They said before your parents took their last breath, they asked them to inform you about it and to tell you that they love you dearly and will always be with you even if they couldn't make it.
Their last statement before their death was to give you the key and the mobile phone and to tell you to hear the voice recording in it. I know it's a lot of information to take in at a moment and you are badly shaken up by the news.
If you do not mind, is it okay for me to retrieve your parents' belongings which they left for you?? Till then, you can try to calm yourself down and put all the pieces together for the sudden drastic news presented to you. And after the belongings are here, you can have the rest of the day off, if you want.
Just like Mr. Fredd suggested, Ziya tried to piece all the information together and waited for the belongings mentioned by the professor.
Mr. Fredd really pitied the child, he knew she was an excellent student but all she had was her parents in the name of her family, as they did not have any connection with the relatives whatsoever due to the feud.
After retrieving the belongings from the paramedics, the professor came back and handed it over to Ziya and informed her that they were still transferred to the hospital for the paperwork and procedures of post mortem to make a report.
They will send the bodies to your home; don't worry I did all the paperwork needed on your behalf for the hospital. She then took the key and her father's mobile phone which he left for her.
Ziya went to the quiet place in the university garden corner near the chairs beside the blooming cherry blossoms tree, took out the tissues and cleaned the chair then took out her headphones and connected it to her father's mobile phone and played the recording which her father left for her.
This was the last time she could hear her father's voice. She was trying really hard to control her emotions and not to cry thinking about it. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and started the voice recording on her father's phone.
The recording started with her father's shaky voice saying:
"Ziya my princess, we are sorry to leave you alone in the world and say goodbye to you so early. Your mom couldn't even make it till the ambulance arrived and probably I wouldn't make it till the hospital. You need to live your life and keep moving forward. Ziya daddy loves you and will be by your side always in the form of nature."
"Don't hate the rain and live your life freely just like before Dad knows how much Ziya likes rain and would hate it if you came to hate the rain just because of the accident. Dad will hate to see you upset and cooped up in the home. You need to move on and live your life."
"After all, you are my princess and remember those movies where all the Disney princesses have to struggle before their path leads to their own happy ending; similarly, my dear child, you are a princess, you might have to suffer for a bit but Dad believes that my angel will get her own happy ending like those Disney princesses."
"My only inheritance to you is our home which will now belong to you and the key you have here is left by your mother as it's her way of giving inheritance to you. You need to take that key and go to my and your mother's room, near the bedside you will notice a painting, pull the painting down and you will see a safe locker you will know the code and when the door opens, there is another lock the key to that locker is now in your hand's princess."
"Sorry my angel for not being with you and to leave you alone in the world, don't resent us for leaving you. We didn't want to leave you but God has its own way for all the people in the world."
"Birth and death are decided by the almighty and I strongly believe he has some plans for your life, for a happy ending. Ziya, make sure to eat well and live your life the way you want. Mom and dad love you dearly and will always love you. Death wouldn't separate the love between us".
With this, the recording ended leaving Ziya in a pool of tears and the fading of her father's voice as he took his last breath. Ziya didn't bother to finish the rest of her classes, she simply went home and started organizing the house, preparing for the funeral, and mentally preparing herself for what was to come next.
She went home, wore her black dress, and waited for her parent's so she could see them and savor their faces and embedded them in her memories forever. She held the funeral in the church and was buried with their names embedded on their tombstone with a message "A loving mom and dad to Ziya".
After the funeral, Ziya went to her home and made a tape of her father's recording so she could hear it whenever she misses him. She also made a copy of the recording on her laptop, iCloud, and even on her iPad in case she loses the saved recording in any of the devices as a backup for it.
She then went to go for her inheritance from her mother, she grabbed the key left for her and as she was instructed, went to her parent's bedroom, where she found her mother's diary in the bedside drawer.
She started to read her mother's diary and touched her beautiful and elegant handwriting. The diary stated how she was precious to her mother and father and always kept her belongings safe as a precious memory together with them.
After reminiscing about the diary by her mother there was a note stating the password about the safe locker which was nothing but her own birthdate. She started weeping after reading those memories and statements in the diary by her mother.
She teared up thinking that she at least has her father's voice as a recording but she didn't have any recording of her mother's voice where she could hear it like her father's. Ziya was really heartbroken and it was hard for her to comply with the situation and sudden demise of her parents together.
Never in her dream, she has dreamt about losing both her parents together at such a young age and that too while she is still studying in university. All she could hope was to be with her parents and say goodbye for the last time.
After calming herself down, she mustered up the courage and opened the safe door by entering the password and bracing herself for whatever is in there. The door opened slowly and she was ready to see what was in there for her, left by her parents.
What she saw inside was a file folder with some documents in it. She slowly opened the file and found the deeds of the house which belonged to her now. The house was under her parent's name and she was the one who will receive it now as she is the sole survivor of the family.
Along with those papers, she found some of her mother's jewelry which her mother inherited from her mother, and some from my father's mother.
Ziya teared up once again when she saw those pieces of jewelry as her memories came rushing back to her, where her mother is wearing that jewelry at functions and how beautiful she looked in it.