Age nineteen

Chapter eight

My father and I strolled down the bustling street. We could see people headed to the beach, which was a few feet away from our house. "You know, Kay, I'm beginning to wish we had gone to the beach instead." my father gasped in exhaustion. We had been walking for twenty minutes, and we still needed to walk for another twenty minutes before getting to the park. Hawkers roamed on the walkway, and cars zoomed past us, it was a busy Thursday afternoon, and everyone was busy going about their daily affairs. "yeah daddy," I added. "I'm already tired of walking. We should have used your car, especially because this sun is scorching hot and painful." 

We arrived at the park by noon, and I helped my father set up the little picnic. The main aim of the picnic was for us to hang out and talk. We came with a cooler containing cold drinks, plastic plates, spoons, some crackers, and lunch that I had packed.

I spread the sky-blue material that I had come with, under a natural shed provided by a mango tree, and sat down. My father sat opposite me. "I have missed you Kerah." he looked at me with so much passion in his eyes, and love in his voice.

"I missed you too daddy." I didn't plan that the picnic was going to get emotional, but it ended up that way.

"What did you mean by this was going to be our last picnic?" I had to get straight to business, I didn't have forever to myself.

"Baby," his voice shook so much, and balls of tears dropped down his face. "I'm sorry..." It was hard pretending like I didn't know what was going on, especially because I knew about it, probably better than he did. I used my left hand to clean the tears from his face. I was going to ask him to stop crying, and not to worry too much, I was going to tell him that I would figure a way out. I wanted to promise him that I wasn't going to die, but I couldn't find my voice. He continued. "Kerah, you have a few weeks on earth." Two weeks, I corrected him in my head. "What do you mean by that, do I have any sickness that I know nothing about?" I tried acting surprised, I had always been a terrible actress. He gazed at me for a few seconds, then he nodded in pain and disappointment. I knew he felt helpless. "Kay-kay, your whole life has been a lie." he went on to tell me that I wasn't the first child, and he also told me about my sisters. "kerah, they all died at age nineteen." I knew all that he had said to me, but I feigned surprise and disappointment. He was weeping profusely, onlookers passed us staring, but he didn't care. "You will be nineteen in four weeks." He laid his head on my lap. "Actually, in two weeks plus." I corrected him. I didn't want him building his castle in the air. He had very limited time with me if I didn't succeed in breaking the curse, and there was nothing any of us could do about it. "right, two weeks." He smiled in pain.

It took a lot of time for him to gain his composure, and we were buried in a hug that lasted for minutes. He felt better afterward.

"Daddy, what killed the other ladies?" I wanted to know how each of them died, I didn't know if I would need it, but I was also very curious. 

He smiled, his face had swollen, and his brown beards were moist with tears, although his face had dried. "Anabel did not wake up on the morning of her birthday." I recoiled in shock, I could only imagine the pain he had been through. He continued. "Anabel is your oldest sister." I nodded, I had forgotten that I was supposed to pretend like I knew nothing about them. "Charlotte fainted in the middle of her birthday party, and was confirmed dead at the hospital." He gnashed his teeth, he was trying not to break down again. "Sandra made it to the evening after her birthday, but didn't wake up from her nap." he looked at me with pity and love. "I'm hoping yours would be different. I'm making research on what's going on and how to stop it." I smiled faintly.

"Daddy, did you bury them in this city?" I was curious, and I knew that it would help me along the line. We hadn't touched any of the junk, nor food we had come with, and neither I nor he cared. He responded,

"No, dear. We used to live in the capital, but after Annabel and Charlotte had passed on, your mother and I moved down here and settled down. Sandra was eighteen back then, and we had not imagined that we would lose her too. Barely a year after we had settled down, she had passed on too." 

"Okay, in that case, it wouldn't be possible for me to see where they were buried?"

"We could travel down there during this summer break. If you are going to join the rest of your sisters, we might as well make the most out of the little time we have left together."

"Can I see their pictures?" I needed him to provide me with every piece of information that he had.

"yes, baby. I will show you something when we get home."

I paused thoughtfully and bit my lips. I was thinking of other things to ask him. The topic was an uncomfortable one, and I didn't want to bring it back anytime soon.

"Kerah, can I ask?" my father had asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that lingered.

"yh, ask me, anything daddy."

"You seem surprisingly calm, what is the secret? Aren't you scared of death?"