family of one

chapter 1: reunion

"Hey Christy, no! Don't!"

Eddy shouted after his beloved daughter, who is rushing out the road to pick up her doll that fell to the floor while she was playing with it.

"Rebecca!" Christy screamed. "My daughter! Do you want your granddaughter dead?"

Eddy laughed. His daughter might be only four years old, but she already has the potential of being a mom. Look at how she treated her doll. Every night before she slept, she would hug her in her arms and let her lean close to her chest, and her doll doesn't leave her wherever she went.

"Of course, I don't want her dead, my sweetheart," Eddy said while comforting his shocked daughter by stroking her head gently with his hand. "But your mum will no longer be with us. So don't risk your life to save Rebecca! You're the most important person in Daddy's life and Daddy can't live without you."

"But Mum saved me from death, so as Rebecca's mum, why can't I save my daughter from death too?" Christy asked with her cute tone and a smile on her face, but this sentence stabbed Eddy's heart deep inside. It's heartbreaking to recall Cynthia, Christy's mum's death scene. Eddy still remembered her tired, painful yet smiley face when she breathed her last breath.

Tears formed in Eddy's eyes, and they slipped out of Eddy's eyes themselves. Eddy didn't want to cry in front of his daughter, but he just can't control his tears.

"Oh my god Christy! Are you all alright?" a female voice broke the silence.

Eddy turned and saw Nora, who is running to them and catching her breath.

"Hey, Nora," Eddy said to Nora. "Your goddaughter is fine. That little girl nearly scared me to death."

"Oh that's good that she's fine," Nora said, "But come on Eddy, even though how busy you are, you should always keep an eye on your daughter. If she had a scratch anywhere, Cynthia wouldn't forgive you from heaven."

Eddy stayed silenced, and it was at this point that Nora knew she said the wrong thing. They all missed Cynthia, and they really hoped they could see her again.

Sadly they couldn't see her. Ever again.

"Hey? Are you guys the residents of this area?" an unfamiliar voice rang and got Eddy's and Nora's attention.

"Yes, we are... Wait, Brett Yang, is it you?" Eddy exclaimed, never thinking he would see his old friend again.

"Eddy! It's been such a long time since I saw you!" Brett said back as they exchanged a huge hug.

"Yeah, we haven't contacted each other since the joint-school concert of the Royal Music College. Awww, how have you been doing lately old pal?" Eddy asked, and this is when Brett's smile faded.

Brett looked at Angela, his wife, and his son Mark, but wait, Pensy is nowhere to be seen.

"Dude, where's your daughter?" Eddy asked Brett.

Then Brett pulled Eddy to a side and whispered near to his ear.

"Pensy is long gone, Eddy," he said with a voice that is about to cry. "She was eating walnuts one day which suffocated her. Mark tried to scream for help, but there was nobody nearby, and as he was still young at that time, he didn't remember our phone numbers, and by the time help came, Pensy had already been suffocated to death."

"Oh, I'm... I'm so sorry lad." Eddy shivered the words out of his mouth.

"Brett are you done yet? We've gotta move! And also, long time no see Eddy!" Angela shouted from the car, and Mark waved at me although he didn't even know who Eddy is.

"Hi Angela," Eddy said, but it was quite embarrassing saying it out. Angela used to be a very extroverted girl and a cheerful one as well, but now she had a frown hanging on to her face the whole time, and she didn't look pretty with that face. Maybe the death of Pensy really affected her a lot.

——

"This house is so much better than our old house! Look at that view, look at that space... I'm glad we moved here." Brett said to his wife while they are tidying up their new apartment.

"And you got to meet your old friend again," Angela said, with a tired face. Ever since Pensy's funeral, Brett hasn't seen Angela smile. She had been hanging up this face for nearly four years, and Brett is tired of it. It's an accident, and when could she let go of it? Brett always thought of this question, but he could never get the answer.

"Oh," Brett said, trying to shift the focus of their conservation. "I heard Cynthia is in heaven now. What happened to her?"

"She died while giving birth," Angela said, tears coming out of her eyes. Cynthia has always been her best friend during college and until now. "She had another child apart from Christy, but the doctors said as Cynthia's health condition is so weak, giving birth to her another child is gonna be a very big risk. But you know Cynthia, once she had a decision, she won't change her mind. She wanted to have her son born healthily, even though this means her life would be gone. Then when she was giving birth, the baby was stuck in the wrong position, and after the baby was born, he died because of hypoxia. And when Cynthia knew the baby is dead, she took sleeping pills and went bathing on purpose. She even locked herself up, so she couldn't get rescued. Oh, how stubborn is she..."

Oh my gosh.

This is one of the saddest stories I've ever heard. It just breaks my heart to hear this.

"Wait." Angela suddenly said. "Why is this photo still here?"

Brett went to Angela and saw the only family photo left of the Yang family. And with Pensy on it. The ones before have all been cut to pieces, and this one as well, but it was glued back to one photo.

"NO! DON'T CUT IT AGAIN!" Mark shouted, rushing out of his room and snatching the photo from Angela. Ever since Pensy died, he had turned from a happy boy and talked to whoever he met, into a quiet boy and not even talk to his mum.

"Give it to me," Angela said, her voice shivering and looking at her son with cold eyes.

"Hey, Angie. This is the last photo. Just let Mark leave a final memory, please." Brett said, looking hopelessly at Angela.

"You give it to me! YOU GIVE IT TO ME!" Angela lost control of her emotions and started beating Mark.

"Stop, Angie. Are you out of your mind? You're beating your own child!" Brett shouted at her lost wife. He knew Angela was lost, but he never saw Angela beating her own child.

"Yes, I'm out of my mind. I should be the one that died instead of Pensy!" Angela shot back screaming. At this moment, she was completely out of control and expressing all her anger and frustration all these years.

"Could we stop mentioning this? It's an accident! Nobody wanted it to happen! Could you ask yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose?" Brett said, with a begging tone. He was fed up with this life, and he wanted to get rid of this life.

"Yeah, you could forget about this as nothing has happened, but I'm not you! I'm not you who only focused on your work and your extraordinary yet impossible dream, and didn't even have an eye on these kids. Why would you leave them both alone? Why would you go out yourself when I'm not here? If you are here, Pensy could have been recused, and wouldn't be killed by this rascal..." Angela shouted, kneeling on the floor, and completely depressed.

"Could you just stop? Just stop mentioning this!" Brett shouted, hoping to stop Angela.

"NO! It's Mark who killed his own sister! He's a murderer!" Angela shouted, pointing at Mark weakly.

Brett couldn't stand it anymore. Anger and rage rose up to him, and he slapped Angela hard. Like really hard.

"SHUT UP!" Brett shouted to Angela, feeling completely depressed. After that slap, there was only silence in the room. Quiet and still.

Without saying a word, Angela rushed back to her room, packed a suitcase filled with her accessories, and ran to the door. But then she stopped.

"I have no relationship with you guys anymore." She said weakly. "You guys are free now. Happy?"

Then she opened the door, ran out of it, slammed the door hard, and since then never returned.