Confronting the Past

“The cancer disappeared,” he replied, looking at her with concern.

She sat up sharply.

“What? I was told I had only 6 months to live. Was that a wrong diagnosis?” she asked, her heart was bench pressing.

He nodded slowly, “the coma seemed to have eaten it away. It's no longer there,” he said.

She could live now……..she had every reason to fight for everything Alfred and her family had taken from her.

She felt her body feel light and almost weightless…..she hadn't felt this liberated in years.

As she stood, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror, she understood why the doctor had called her a fighter.

Well, she was.

The night was cold and thick when she stepped into the dark.

There weren't any cars in sight.

If they wanted her dead, she may as well come in the night as a ghost.

Her heart rammed into her ribs as the thought of what she was going to do ran through her mind.

She was going to come face to face with her parents one last time…….what would their reaction be like?

Would they feel a slight guilt or pity?

Would they leave her no choice but to finally accept that she was all alone and disown them officially?

One part of her sincerely wished they would be nicer, repentant.

When she told them the news of the disappearing cancer, would they be happy for her…..for once?

But she knew nothing of that sort would happen but she wanted to try.

Back at the hospital, the doctor had looked at her like it was the last time he would ever see her.

She understood his fears but she had to do what she had to do.

Their house was slightly lit up when she got there.

Her legs were shaky with fatigue and her wounds bled slightly.

The clothes she had worn on the day she had the accident were torn and almost unwearable, so the doctor had given her a spare hospital gown that looked ridiculous under the moonlight.

She stood on the doorstep and stared at it for a while……asking herself for the last time if this was what she wanted.

Then she rapped……two long shots and two short shots.

She waited!

No answer!

She could hear voices coming from the room.

Her brother's music blasted loudly in the air, her stepmother's singing was as horrible as ever.

So she knocked again……..and someone heard her.

Her father.

He stood, white, frozen, scared, staring at her like she was the walking dead.

“Hello dad?” she called out uncertain.

His voice seemed to be lost, his eyes were unmoving.

Was he going to have a heart attack because of her?

She stepped back in guilt…..blaming herself for her reckless decision.

Maybe, she shouldn't have come.

How didn't she think properly what the effect of her appearance would do to them?

“Dearie, you have been too long, what's keeping you? Still burning her last pictures?” she heard her stepmother call out.

Last pictures??? Her own pictures??

They were holding a death celebration for her??

That was when she noticed them, some of her clothes she had worn as a kid in her father's hands.

They were indeed erasing all her memories.

“Dearie?” she called again, appearing at the doorway.

Mary braced up.

There, her stepmother froze as well……but she recovered fast.

“How…..no….it can't be?” she stammered.

“Shocked?” Mary asked, trying to keep the venom away from her voice.

“You are supposed to be dead. You are dead,” Karen shouted, her voice hysterical.

“I survived,” Mary said silently, pain spreading through her chest as she noted the look of horror instead of relief in her family's eyes.

Her brother came out, drawn by his mother's scream.

He looked rather……unsurprised.

Mary was surprised at his reaction.

Did he know she had survived?

“You came,” he said casually then walked back to his music.

That was strange.

“Can I come in?” asked the tired Mary.

She didn't think they willingly wanted to let her in.

“Of course not. You are no longer welcome here. Dearie, shut the door and come to the back. We will pretend this never happened,” Karen snapped and walked back too.

Her father stood at the doorstep, his mouth still heavy to say anything to his daughter, the only thing that his beloved late wife had left for him.

His gaze slowly turned from shock to uncertainty.

His eyes shifted in their sockets as he tried to avoid her gaze.

His little girl had grown so tiny….even died.

If only he knew half of what she had passed through.

For a split second, he felt he could pull her in for a hug……his princess.

He could call her in and they have a long laugh at the fireplace and talk about boys.

Just like they used to before he got married but Karen had told him that children weren't always the same innocent lambs when they grew up.

“They become normal people and change……change so bad they could even harm you if they want,” she had said.

“Why dad? Why did you let Alfred win? Why did you let Karen come between us and tear us apart?” Mary asked, tears making her face shiny under the moonlight.

He stood, confused.

They had told him she was a cheating wife……he believed them.

Then they had said she was dead……he had believed that as well.

“You provoked him……you cheated. And don't go about pointing fingers Mary, you weren't a proper daughter to Karen,” he said though his voice didn't sound angry.

“A proper daughter? Would you stand there and lie about me not being a proper daughter, you lot never were a proper family to me,” she cried out.

“Now you hush there child. Stay dead and stay away. We finally have the peace you never wanted us to have and we want it to stay that way,” he cautioned quietly.

All Mary heard was a threat.

Mary looked at him and nodded.

He held the door awkwardly and said..

“You should go back to where you came from. We don't want you around anymore,” he said and closed the door slowly.

Mary stared on, taking in the room through the small crack he had left for the last time.

Slowly she began to make her way to the driveway when someone called out to her.

It was Karen.

“You will stay away from all of us and don't even think of disrupting Alfred's life again, accidents always happen,” she said, her eyes twitching.

Mary's mouth flew open.

The accident had not been an accident??

“You did this to me?” she squealed in shock.

“I wonder how you survived but trust me, miracles don't happen twice,” she looked at Mary……long…..deep.

There was something in her voice, in her eyes that scared her.

She stepped backwards slowly until the house was a dark shadow to her.

She walked back to the hospital.