“How wonderful! All the colours!” marvelled
Lucinda.
It was
Easter Sunday; Lucinda was hiding the Easter eggs whilst admiring the colours.
“Look at
them, aren’t they pretty?” Lucinda asked.
“Yes,
dear. I’m sure the kids will love them,” answered Landon.
The
Sextons had three children, Cosmo, Lexie and Sherrie, in order of their age
from youngest to oldest.
Lucinda
and Landon were hosting an Easter Hunt. The neighbours were also partaking. It
was a tradition for the Sextons to host an Easter Hunt every year.
“Let’s
begin the hunt!” declared Lucinda.
The
children had all set out to find as many Easter eggs as they could. Sherrie had
collected at least 14 eggs with Lexie whilst Cosmo only had 4. Cosmo started to
sob. He wanted more eggs.
“Waaa! I
want more! I want more!” cried Cosmo as he banged his head against the wall.
“Stop
banging your head, you are going to hurt yourself,” said Sherrie.
“No. Give
me eggs and I stop.”
After much
reluctance, Sherrie relented.
“You can’t
do that!” shouted Lexie. “We put in a lot of effort in finding them!”
“Cosmo is
little brother. We should let him have the eggs. Besides, we can always find
more.” Sherrie said.
“I’m sick
and tired of giving way to Cosmo. Why must I pamper him just because his
younger?”
“But
Lexie...”
“Don’t
‘but’ me! I have had enough! If you want, you can give Cosmo your share of the
eggs but I’m keeping mine,” hissed Lexie.
“Come on
Lexie. How old are you? Your already 12 and Cosmo is only 7. You are behaving
like a child.”
“You
aren’t my mother!” said Lexie. “I hate you!”
Lexie’s
words had hurt Sherrie. Surprisingly, Sherrie had snatched the Easter eggs that
she gave Cosmo back.
“Gimme
back!” Cosmo demanded.
Sherrie
was at a lost. She wanted to keep her friendship with Lexie while being a good
sister at the same time but, things wasn’t going the way she wanted. Anyways,
Cosmo was still young, he would forget about the incident altogether in time
but, Lexie was a different case.
“Sherrie!”
shouted Landon. “How could you steal Cosmo’s Easter eggs? I would never have
thought you to do such things. You’re supposed to be the sensible one.”
Lucinda
looked on. She didn’t intervene with any of their meddling mainly because she
felt Cosmo shouldn’t have been part of their happy little family in the first
place, Cosmo had always torn the girls apart. If only she hadn’t given birth to
such a mirthless child.
“I...”
Sherrie stuttered. “I am sorry. I don’t know what I am doing.”
“Sherrie,
go back to your room.”
“Sorry?”
“Walk
home.”
“What?”
“Go home
now!”
Sherrie
had started tearing. There were times her brain fried up. It's no excuse she
knew. She owned her behaviour. She tries
to help, tries to be good, and then a trigger is flicked and she acts on
impulse.
Lexie
watched in the shadows. What had she done to Sherrie? She broke her. Sherrie
was always the one with the marbles. Now she acted as if she were a different
person. Had she, Lexie, really meant so much to her?
Sherrie
dragged her feet as she made her way home. What had she done?
Lucinda
proceeded on with her day as if nothing happened.
“The
colours. Love the colours! Remember kids, save the foils. They are pretty so
keep them!” Lucinda said. She wanted to save the pretty little foils on the
Easter eggs.
Sherrie
was at home sulking to herself. Why had she done what she had?
Cosmo was
greedily feasting on the chocolates hidden in the Easter eggs, Lexie watched as
he stuffed his mouth full. Had he not feel remorse about what his actions had
caused Sherrie not only a scolding but to be sent home?
Lexie
made sure no one was looking and started to kick Cosmo.
“Ouch!”
cried Cosmo.
“Are you
sorry for what you’ve done?” taunted Lexie as she continued to deliver a furry
of kicks to Cosmo.
Crying,
Cosmo ran to Landon.
“Daddy!
Daddy! Lexie kicked me!”
Landon
confronted Lexie. “Lexie, what have you done to Cosmo?”
“Nothing.”
“She beat
me!” Cosmo said.
“Did not.”
“Have you,
Lexie?” questioned Landon.
“No. I
have not.” Lexie said. “Cosmo is probably just fibbing again. It’s his word
against mine.”
Cosmo was
a known liar. What Lexie said had some truth to it but, in this case, it was
pure irony. Lexie was the one lying this time, not Cosmo.
“Cosmo!
What have I said about lying?”
This time,
Cosmo would have to bear the blunt of his reputation. He shouldn’t have lied
about the time superman ate all the sweets at home. Or was it the time he lied
about alligators flooding the toilet when in reality, he clogged it up with toilet
paper?
Lucinda
was gazing upon the rainbow that had formed in the sky. It hadn’t rained that
day. How peculiar, she thought.
The day
had ended. The Easter hunt had ended as well. The Sextons, excluding Sherrie,
had returned home.
“Sherrie?
Are you okay?” asked Lexie as she creaked open the room door.
As
siblings, Sherrie and Lexie had shared a room while Cosmo had a room to
himself. Lexie wasn’t jealous or anything, she was rather glad. At least he
didn’t have to share a room with that ape of a boy.
Lexie
crept around the room to find no Sherrie. She checked the closet, under the
bed, and everywhere she could think of. Not a sign of Sherrie anywhere.
Lexie
thought that she could have went out to buy a meal or something. Must have
been, so she thought.
It was
late, closing on to midnight. Neither their mom nor dad had noticed Sherrie’s
disappearance, they must have thought she was in the room and hadn’t bothered
to check on her.
Lexie’s
phone started to buzz. It was Sherrie!
“Hello?
Sherrie? Where are you?”
“Do you
not care about me anymore? All of you. I’m gone and none of you have even
started to search for me.”
“Sherrie,
what do you mean?”
“I ran
away from home! Have you not noticed?”
“You
what?”
“I’m going
to kill myself now. Figured I might as well remind you of my existence!”
“Don’t!
Where are you now? I’ll find you.”
“It’s too
late now.”
The phone
call ended. Lexie was going crazy! Without saying a word, Lexie mysteriously
left home at midnight. Her parents noticed her departure; the sound of the
metal door opening woke them up from their slumber. Where was Lexie going?
Landon had
enough troubles. With the disputes between the kids and Lucinda... Lucinda was
a romantic. When he first met her, her personality was like a rainbow, colourful.
Now, he noticed how childish Lucinda was, always loving sparkles and rainbows.
The two
parents got dressed and set out to follow Lexie.
Lexie had
gotten on her bike. She was going to cycle to the park she used to play at with
Sherrie. She had a hunch. A hunch that Sherrie would be at the park.
An hour
had passed, Lexie wasn’t sure if Sherrie had given up ghost yet, it had been so
long.
It was at
the park, a pebble was thrown onto the lake, ripples formed. Lexie stood by,
trying to hold back her tears. Sherrie wasn’t there.
Landon had
just gotten off the car, along with Lucinda.
“I don’t
want to go. I want to sleep,” complained Lucinda.
“We can’t
let Lexie go out alone in the middle of the night. We have to follow her.”
“Just stop
her.”
“That’s
why we are here!”
“But, you
were driving a car. Surely you could have caught up with her. She’s on a bike!”
“Don’t you
want to know where she’s headed off to?”
The two
had stopped arguing when they heard a scream. They rushed into the dark, cold
park.
It was on
that chilly night, at the park, had the Sextons changed forever.
Sherrie
had died. She drowned herself in the lake. Lexie had followed the ripples as
they formed to the other end of the lake. On the side of the lake laid Sherrie.
Lexie had shrieked at the gruesome sight. Landon and Lucinda had followed the
sound of her screams to witness the same scene.
Days had past;
the terrible night was etched into the Sexton’s minds forever.
“Where is
big sister?” asked Cosmo innocently.
Lexie
stood there, not answering. She was at a loss of words. What was she to say?
Sherrie died. What more to say?
“She
is...”
“Not
coming back any time soon. Sherrie went abroad on a holiday,” Landon
interrupted.
It was a
lie. This time, it was the parent’s turn to fib. A white lie. That was what it
was.
Soon
enough, Cosmo grew up and matured, did he learn of Sherrie’s death. Six years
had passed since that fateful day. The day the Sextons were to be without
Sherrie.
The family
had split apart; Lucinda would not even acknowledge Cosmo as her son. Landon
and Lucinda divorced. Landon took custody of Cosmo while Lucinda took Lexie.
The next six years since Sherrie’s death had been hard.
“You have
to throw her things out! It’s driving me to hysterics!” Lexie shouted.
“Whose
things?” asked Lucinda.
“You know
who I’m referring to.”
“I won’t.”
“The sight
of Sherrie’s stuff reminds me of that day. You know what day I’m talking
about!”
“I won’t
throw them out.”
“If you
don’t, I will.”
“No!”
screamed Lucinda. “You will not touch any of them! You hear me?”
“It pains
me. It hurts me. Can’t you understand?”
“I’m
keeping all her things!”
Lucinda
slammed the door shut. She retreated into Sherrie’s and Lexie’s old room. The
room was kept as it was years ago, not a thing out of place of its original
position.
Cosmo was
13 now. His father finally told him the truth behind the Sextons’s
estrangement.
“Sherrie,
she never went on a holiday.” Landon confessed.
“You mean
she...?”
“Died.”
Landon said. “That was what broke up our family.
Years
back, on the night Sherrie had gave way of all flesh, the Sextons were in the
middle of processing Sherrie’s death.
“It can’t
be. My darling daughter.” Lucinda said.
“That jerk
of a big sister, she left us.” Lexie said.
It took awhile
for the police to arrive. By then, the tears on Lexie’s face had dried up.
Lexie didn’t cry anymore, not because she got over it but because she couldn’t.
She cried out all she could until not a drop of tear was left.
At home,
the Sextons had cried their hearts out. Cosmo was confused at the sight. Why
were they crying and where was Sherrie?
The
funeral service was horrible, Cosmo was the only one spared of misery, left at
home with a baby sitter.
“Sherrie
was a very sensible girl,” said Lexie. “She drowned herself, not because she
had gone crazy but because she was a sensitive soul. I failed to realise that
when I refused to listen to her and as a result, she killed herself.”
“No!”
shouted Landon. “It was my fault. If I didn’t send Sherrie back home by herself
in the first place, this would never have happened.”
“Well
said. You’re at fault. Why I married you in the first place is a mystery beyond
me,” said Lucinda.
“I should
be asking that question, not you. You childish beyond childish. Rainbows?
Sparkles? That’s all you think of.”
“Me? Nuts?
You’re crazy!”
“It’s my
fault!” shouted Lexie. She was firmly ignored as the two parents continued
fighting.
“You are
crazy! That’s what you have always been. When will you pull your act together? Crazy
woman, no, crazy girl, that’s what you are.” Landon said.
The other
people whom attended the funeral service were dumbfounded. This was a funeral,
not a place for debate. It was a time for mourning, not debate.
“I want to
divorce you!” declared Lucinda.
“You will
regret that. No one else whom is sane will marry you.”
“You are
implying you aren’t sane?”
“If I was I would never have married you!”
“If I was I would never have married you!”
Lexie
started to pull her hair and cry. “I hate all of this nonsense!”
Everyone
turned to look at Lexie. If anyone was nuts now, it would be her.
Cosmo,
with his newfound information, decided to contact his sister, Lexie. He had
regretted being as naughty as he was years back. If only time could turn back,
he thought.
In Sherrie
and Lexie’s old room, a depressed Lucinda laid on Sherrie’s bed, crying. What
had she done wrong as a mother? What had she done to deserve this? She wanted a
happy family but was now left with barely half a family.
Lexie was
lamenting the fact that she couldn’t make it in time to stop Sherrie from
drowning herself. If only she had started looking for her when she noticed
Sherrie was missing. If only she told her parents. Sherrie’s death was all her
own lousy fault and she knew it.
Landon was
working overtime that night; his boss noticed something bothering him,
something disturbing his closest colleague. His boss was one of those rare few
bosses whom sympathetically cared for their workers.
“Landon,
you seem troubled.”
“I’m
alright.”
“My
friend, I know when something is up. What’s the matter?”
“I just
broke the news of my daughter’s death to my son.”
“Didn’t
she pass on six years back?”
“Yes. But
I told my son she just went on a holiday and wouldn’t be coming back soon.”
“Ah, you
lied to him? How did he react?”
“He took
it well.”
“So what
exactly is bothering you?”
“My son
took it too well.”
Lexie had
just taken a shower when she heard a beep from her phone. It was an text
message from an unknown number, it read: Lexie, its me, Cosmo. Dad just told me
about Sherrie’s death. I want to talk to you if its okay. Call me back please.
Cosmo had
received a call from Lexie. They were meeting at the park. The park where
Sherrie died.
“I found
her here.” Lexie said.
“You?
Alone?” Cosmo asked.
“Yeah. Mom
and Dad came a tad bit too late.”
“You
seemed to have moved on.”
“Moved on?
Maybe. I don’t think so.”
“You speak
so calmly. Most people can’t even come here in your situation.”
“Being
here reminds me of the time me and Sherrie played here. No matter the sorrow
that this place brought me, I still come here every morning.”
Cosmo
changed the topic at hand.
“How has
mom been?”
“Bad.
She’s probably at home now having a break down in Sherrie’s and my old room.”
Lexie said. “How’s dad?”
“Dad
became a workaholic now. Trying to stay from home, I guess.”
Cosmo and
Lexie had been apart from years, Cosmo had only obtained her phone number
through their dad’s contact list.
The two
had returned to the shabby flat they used to live in together.
“This
isn’t a good idea.” Lexie said. “She hates you.”
“I want to
see my mom again.”
“Its best
you don’t. At least you have memory of her pretty self still, you don’t want to
see the state she’s in now.”
Before the
two could make any further discussion, a familiar voice screamed. ‘You! Go
away! I don’t want to see your face!”
Cosmo
gazed at the woman standing before him. The woman looked old enough to be one
foot in the grave. Her gait was unsteady, Cosmo could tell as she walked
towards him. It was his mother, Lucinda! He felt like removing the mask of age
to see the person behind it, the girl she was all those years ago.
“I said go
away!” Lucinda continued shouting.
“You were
right when you said I wouldn’t want to see her.” Cosmo said.
“You go
back to your dad!”
“Mom.”
“I’m not
your mother! You aren’t my son!”
It was
hopeless. No matter what Cosmo had said, Lucinda would not be swayed.
Eventually, he decided to go back home.
The bond
between the Sexton family had been torn. The relationship was sour. If only
Sherrie was still alive and well. The Sextons learnt one thing, time may never
mend the wounds that the past inflicted.
A year had
gone by; it took the loss of another loved on to bring the family together.
“Go back
home. You have done enough work today.”
“Boss, its
fine. I can work overtime.” Landon said.
“Please,
go back. Talk to your son.”
After much persuasion from his boss, Landon
finally agreed to return home. He plugged the car key in and turned on the
engine.
Landon was
on his way home when he suffered a severe headache. He was in so much pain and
agony he instinctively put his hands onto his forehead. This meant putting his
hands off the steering wheel. Landon realised his mistake and attempted to
control the car but, it was too late. The swerved off the road and slammed into
a tree.
“Are you
Lexie Sexton?” asked a voice over the phone.
“Yes.”
“Your
father had been in a car accident. He is currently in intensive care.”
Lexie was
put into shock. She thanked the operator after milking out information about
Landon’s condition and which hospital he was in before calling Cosmo.
“Cosmo! Go
to Ortown Hospital. Dad is in intensive care!”
‘What?”
“Meet you
there in 15 minutes.”
With that,
Lexie ended the call. Cosmo made his way to Ortown Hospital as quickly as he
could.
“Lucinda?
Kids? God, it took a tragedy like this to bring us all together in the same
room.” Landon said.
“Hell, you
still can joke,” complained Lexie. The
Sextons were finally all in the same room again. It took Landon’s impending
death to bring all of them together.
“The
doctor has already said, I am going to die soon.” Landon said. “I have a tumour
in my brain. I have cancer.”
Landon
stared at Lucinda as if it was going to be the last time he ever saw her. He
tried to memorise every detail of her face. It was indeed, the last time Landon
would ever see her.
“Lucy...”
Landon muttered.
Landon
used to call Lucinda, Lucy. It was the pet name he gave her.
A tear was
shed. It belonged to Lucinda.
“Lance, I
love you.” Lucinda said.
“Lexie,
Cosmo, I’m sorry. Sorry that I wasn’t the best dad in the world as I promised.”
It was a distant time back, had Landon made a
promise to his children.
It was a father’s
day.
“Daddy!
Daddy!” the girls shouted in excitement.
Lexie and
Sherrie handed Landon a card that read, ‘Best Daddy Ever!’. It warmed his
heart. He sat with his three children, Cosmo still a toddler at the time.
“Kids, I promise you I will be the best daddy
ever. If not, this card wouldn’t belong to me.”
“You
already are!” the girls shouted in unison.
Now,
Landon lay in his death bed, unable to fulfil any promises he may had ever made
before.
‘You are,
the best dad we can ever ask for,” Lexie said.
“Yeah. You
are dad,” Cosmo added.
“I love
all of you.” Landon breathed his last.
Landon
closed his eyes. Tears flowed like an eternal spring. The beep sound echoed
throughout the enclosed white room. The doctors rushed into the room and
started to perform CPR on Landon.
“His
gone,” one of the doctors said.
Lucinda
stood up. She finally spoke after a thick silence. “Landon was a great man, he
was my man. Breaking up with him was the biggest mistake I made. The colours I
used to embrace turned to a dull black and white when I was separated from him.
The kids I had with him, are my greatest joy. This man, Landon Sexton, had been
my husband and always will be.”
Lucinda sat
down.
“Great
speech, mom,” praised Cosmo.
“Thank
you. A great speech is only deemed fit for such a great man.”
The
Sextons, or what was left of the Sextons, paid their final respects to Landon.
Landon was buried six feet down next to Sherrie’s grave.
With all
of this, Lexie left two bouquets of flowers on the two tombstones.
The family
was finally reunited. Lucinda now bursting of colours once more, Cosmo
finishing up his studies and Lexie finally moving on over Sherrie’s death.
Epilogue
It was spectacular, Lexie and Lucinda made
their ways to their seats. Cosmo was finally graduating. It was all smiles when
Cosmo collected his certificate. It was time for him to soar like a bird in the
sky in his own way when it came to a career.
“It’s my
entire fault.” Landon’s boss ranted. “Damn, I killed off my best worker
indirectly now my company is busted. Lack of manpower now, curse my bad luck!”
Cosmo
overheard Mr Muckle complaining to himself in his office. It had been a few
years now and Mr Muckle had refused to take down his company after Landon’s
death and now his company was full of debts. Cosmo finally mustered up the
courage to knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Mr Muckle said.
The two
had been locked in eye contact for the last few minutes when Cosmo finally
broke the silence.
“I would
like to have a job here.”
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