جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

Suzan went to bury them with her family. She didn't let the city do it. She didn't let strangers do it. That morning, she refused to leave Maria behind. Maria was Angela's young daughter. In one day, she had lost her mother, her daddy Kris, and her grandma Jude. She had become a complete orphan. She had been sitting alone in the servants' quarters, quiet and terrified, with no one to tell her what would happen to her next. "Maria is coming with us," Suzan told her mother Eva as they got ready. Eva nodded. "She should." So they all went together. Suzan, her mother Eva, her father Paul, Jonah, Fred on Suzan's lap, and Maria holding Nanny Sara's hand in the back seat of Joseph's car. Joseph drove them in silence to the city cemetery. The car was full, but heavy with silence. It was a grey, quiet afternoon. The kind of afternoon where even the birds don't sing. Three plain coffins were already waiting under a jacaranda tree, three graves dug side by side. When the priest finished

"THERE! He was there!"Suzan's finger was shaking so hard she could not point straight. Her whole body was ice. The water jar was shattered at her feet, water spreading on the cold floor like blood.Jonah didn't ask questions. He was already at the window, half-naked, chest heaving."Where! Which side did he go to!" he shouted, jumping outside into the dark compound, looking left, right, behind the water tank. “Dad! Come with a torch!"Paul and Eva came running downstairs, Eva tying her wrapper with shaking hands."What is it? Suzan? What happened? Who was here?" Eva grabbed her daughter's face. "Talk to us!"Suzan could not talk. Her teeth were knocking."There was... a man. Black mask. Tall. He had a paper. Red... red writing. He said "I KNOW YOUR FATHER'S SECRET." Her voice was a whisper. "He was sitting on that chair."Everyone looked.The chair was empty.The living room was dark and quiet, only the curtains moving small-small from the night wind. The window was open. The same wi

Suzan didn't call her father. She didn't call security about the broken window. She didn't even pick up the glass from the floor.She ran.She held the old photo so tight in her bleeding hand that her sweat was making the colors bleed. The brown envelope was crumpled and wet in her other hand. Her bag was open, her heels clicking loudly on the office tiles. Everyone was staring - her blouse had a small cut with blood on it, her hair was a mess, her eyes were red."Madam Suzan! You are bleeding!" the receptionist screamed.She didn't answer. She pushed the glass doors open and ran into the hot city sun.Outside, the cab drivers shouted, "Boss! Where are you going?" but she didn't hear them. All she could hear were those five words burning in her brain._ASK YOUR FATHER WHO IS HE?_She stopped a cab in the middle of the road."My home. It's just a few meters from here. Fast. Very fast!"The wind hit her face as the cab moved fast through traffic, but it didn't cool her fear. The photo w

Maria was quiet too. She was sitting in the corner of the living room, not eating, not playing. She knew Nanny Sara was watching her.Suzan left both of them with Sara and walked to her parents' compound. Her father Paul was sitting alone under the mango tree, on his old plastic chair. He was not reading his newspaper today. He was just staring at the old photo - him, Eva, and Samuel.He looked 10 years older overnight.Suzan knelt beside him. She took his cold, shaking hands in hers."Dad," she whispered. "I am going to fix everything, don't worry. No more secrets. No more running."Paul looked at her with red eyes. "Suzan, my daughter, you don't understand. This secret... It has eaten me for 28 years.""Then we will end it today," Suzan said. "Make sure you tell Jonah the truth. All of it. Jonah is my young brother, he needs to know why you ran from the village. He is now 26, he is a man, he deserves to know about our family."Her father was quiet for a long time. Then he said a sent

Later that night, Suzan was in her room, folding her clothes for the company tour. Her heart was still heavy from what Paul had told her. A soft knock. It was Joseph. He stood at the door, his head down, holding his cap in his hands like a small boy caught stealing sugar. "Madam Suzan... can I talk to you?" he whispered. Suzan looked up, tired. "Joseph, what is it? Is it about Fred?" Joseph walked in slowly and knelt down. His voice was shaking. "Madam... I'm the one who put those gold earrings under Fred's bed. It wasn't Fred who stole them." Suzan froze. The dress she was folding fell to the floor. "What?" she whispered. "What did you say, Joseph?" Joseph didn't look up. He kept his head down. "I'm sorry, Madam. It was me. Fred is innocent. Fred did not steal anything." Suzan's mouth opened. She was very shocked to hear that. Her hands started shaking. She asked him, "Why did you do it, Joseph? Why would you put my earrings under my own son's pillow? Do you