Twenty years ago, I was just a little kid. We were walking home from school when we saw our mother. She was in a hurry. She told us to come with her and wait for father at a nearby abandoned house. We didn't know what was going on back then. I was just ten. So innocent. So pure. So naive. She told us to stay put. Then she left.
After few hours of waiting, she came back. Our father with him, covered in blood. She told us that we needed to run. As teenagers, we didn't get the chance to ask why, or how it was happening and why was father like that. All we knew was that, danger was on us.
We arrived at our relatives house late midnight. They were talking in a manner of secrecy but lucky me, I was born to be an agent. I was able to pick up bits of information they denied to share. I understood that our eldest brother threatened their lives. That he attempted to kill my mother so father had to act.They fought and left our brother to rot in our now abandoned house. Sadness hit me. Right that moment I knew, our family was falling apart.
We moved to our new place. Father used all his savings to purchase that small property. We situated there hoping for a better future. Away from chaos.Father worked on having us transferred to the new school in our area. I thought everything was falling into place. I was starting to have fun again. I met few friends, mostly relatives but those were enough for me. I didn't hear anything much about my eldest brother apart from the fact that he survived the hell my father gave him. Meaning, somebody mistakenly saved him.
I want to make it clear, my father wasn't a murderer. And he doesn't mean to do that. I knew it. And I didn't blame him for what he did to him. He did it for family. Given with the situation,I'd probably do the same. I knew because if his intention was kill him, he'd be long gone by now.
We were doing just fine until one morning, my father came from out of town looking for our mother. I was told the night before that my mother would go to see father. Father looked confused and hurt. My siblings didn't see it but I did. I was the closest person to father. Father didn't talk for few moments and then suddenly he said, mother was gone. I didn't know what be meant by that. I wasn't processing the idea of mother being gone. But I was wise enough not to raise questions. Right that second, father sold our newly built home, the property, and told us that we were all coming back to our old home. Fear covered me. I didn't want to see my eldest brother. I didn't have any connection to that beast. He ruined us. He ruined everything about the perfect family.
He ruined me.