The investigation wasn't going anywhere. I decided to go home. I knew I would never be allowed to leave so I decided to run. I got on the first bus I saw and was set on the journey to my house.
Home had never been a sweet place for me. With all the troubles that came with my father's death, my home was a constant reminder of what I had to go through. Even though my mother tried her best, she never loved us the same. My father was a healthy man, always loving and caring towards his family. He never let us go to sleep sad. He never let our pillows be the graveyards of our tears. One night, my sisters and I had snuck out to play with our friends. Dad asked us to stay home that day but we really wanted to go. A great storm broke out that night. Dad came to know of our doings and ran to the car to help us out of the storm. He drove resiliently, worried sick of our whereabouts. The signals were weak. We were at our friend Ralph's place. Dad assumed we went to the playground near school and raced towards the destination. He met with a terrible accident that night. He was put into a coma for a year. He later passed away at the hospital. My sisters and I have never forgiven ourselves.
The doors and windows in our house still creak from that storm. The car still remembers the storm like it was yesterday. We could never afford to fix any of it, so we continued to live with it, day after day, torturing ourselves because of our misdeeds. Mother never said anything. She never got angry and never blamed us. In my heart I knew that she held us responsible. If we hadn't left that night, dad would still be here. I wouldn't have to go to medical school for earning money and all of this mess could have been avoided. People try to offer us comfort by saying that it was his destiny. I knew it wasn't what God planned for him. We changed his destiny. Karma is probably the reason I am in this mess right now.
The only benefit of going away to college was the distraction it offered from my mother's tears. The sound of rain pattering against the house haunted me. Not having to see the car that killed my dad was a form of relief. Not having to look at the dreams I destroyed for myself was comforting. The posters I talked about would be dusty and old by now, forgotten in the midst of all the chaos. I wanted to see my mother's face. I wanted to see Jane and tell her how much I missed her.
When I reached my destination, I had the weirdest sense of déjà vu. It was the same feeling as that night in the rain, when I reached home to the sound of an ambulance. The flowers from the funeral flashed before my eyes as I wiped away a tear and walked towards the front door. The lock on the door astonished me. Ever since that day, my mother vowed to never leave the house when it was raining. The drenched lock mocked me, refusing my welcome in the house. "Mom? Does any one know where my mother is? Hello?" I screamed. The rain grew louder, as if it were competing against me. I jumped through the barricade behind our house and tried the back door. Luckily, I was inside my house. The silent walls wished they could talk to me. The floor creaked to tell me the story of what had happened here. Everything was tidy, as if cleaned hours ago. I wondered if my absence at the institute triggered them to hurt my family.
Attached to the fridge, there was the letter of excellence they had fooled my family with. With pride, my mother must have stuck it up to remind herself that her son was going to be successful. Little did she know, she was hanging up my sister's death note. The tiny drawings from our childhood surrounded the note, reminding it of the strength my family had held throughout life. The miniature paintings my sisters and I worked on to surprise our parents were our first achievements. On the dining table, a stray envelope was waiting for me. It was addressed to my mother.
"Mrs. Suzie, we are overjoyed to inform you that you have been chosen for the secret parent teacher meeting this year. Every year, a few parents are allowed to come to the institute and watch their ward in action. All expenses for your trip will be paid. A car will wait outside your house within two hours of you receiving this letter. We look forward to meeting you and discussing the future of your son Neil and daughter Emilia. We request you to bring little Jane along. Maybe, all three of them should have been instilled into our institution. Regards."
My heart sank. I knew they had conned my family into believing that this institute was a kind and generous one. They were going to be here soon to clear out the evidence they had left behind, the letter. My first instinct was to take the letter and run to the police. Henry's words flashed before me; the police had already been bought. No one could ever help me. I had to do this alone. I decided to keep the letter back where I found it. I had to wait to see who would come to collect their evidence.
While I waited for the culprits to show up, I ran up the stairs to my room. It was exactly how I left it. The memories I had made here came rushing back to me. All the fun times I had had with my sisters, playing video games with my dad and yoga sessions with my mother, they all surrounded me, mocking me from the beyond.
I heard the sound of tires outside the door and found a place to hide. They were here and I was about to catch them red-handed.