MERLIAH

Chapter 29

When our friends give us surprises we always tend to smile but when it's life's turn to give us surprises we always don't smile. The surprises life gives us is sad, happy, funny, pretty and complicated. The surprise that life gave me now is the one which I never thought of.

 "Grandma!" I finally say after a long moment of silence

All others look at each other in shock. None of us ever expected Grandma here.

"Merliah, don't misunderstand. I was just here to check on you. I just wanted to make sure that  you were safe" says Grandma frantically

"I did not say anything," I say, I look into her eyes trying to interpret what she is saying is true or not

"Stop lying will you. Why don't you tell your Grandaughter the truth of who you really are?" says Finn Hazer in disgust

"Merliah, don't believe him. He is lying" says Grandma

I look into her eyes. She looks scared, the look on her face is the one when we are caught doing something wrong.

"I guess we should start spilling out the beans. This was supposed to happen one day" says Mrs Roger

"JUST KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!" yells Grandma

"What are they saying, Grandma? What did you do?" I ask 

"They are saying rubbish Merliah. Don't believe them" replies Grandma, her face is panic-stricken

"You should stop spilling trash. Stop deceiving everyone. How far will you go?" says Finn Hazer

"What are you saying?" I ask referring to Finn Hazer. there are so many things going in my mind. I seriously don't have any idea, what should I do?  

"Merliah don't listen to him," says Grandma in fear 

"EVERYONE KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!" I yell things are really confusing for me right now "Why are you here? How did you know to come here?" I ask referring to Finn Hazer

"I was meeting Mrs Roger today that's when you called her. I got to know that someone was revealing you everything regarding your mother. I was sure that it was not your Grandma, I wanted to know who was the person other than three of us who knows everything about your mother's death. I also was wanted to make sure that these two aren't teaming up and putting all the blame on me" says Finn Hazer

"Grandma, what did you do? Did you kill my mother? Why are you here? Answer me" I ask desperately

"Merliah, listen, I did do anything," she says   

"Are you lying to me? What happened? Answer me" I ask, what is happening with me?

"Merliah..." I cut Grandma off

"ANSWER ME! Tell me the truth" I shout out

"YES, I KILLED YOUR MOTHER" Grandma shouts

The words keep ringing in my mind. I fall on my knees, tears start streaming down my cheeks. The person I trusted, I loved, laughed with her is the one who killed my mother.

"Why?" I ask as my voice cracks and my tears keep falling down my cheeks

"Your mother destroyed my happiness. So how could I let her be happy" says Grandma, as I see anger surge in her eyes

"What?" I ask as I try to wipe my tears

"Your Grandfather married me when your mother was nine. Due to the sudden death of your Mom's mother, your Grandfather had to remarry. I liked John since the time of our college but he married Linda, even I thought it's better for me to move on. So I married someone else, due to unfavourable circumstances my husband died. After the death of my husband, John asked my hand for marriage. I thought it was destiny that wanted us to be together. I got married to your Grandfather. It was fine for me to have Emily, even though she remained me of Linda at times, I thought I got to have my pretty family. At times John would never care about me, he would just look at me as his daughter's mother, but still, I tried to be happy. I knew that even Lucy liked John but John chose me over her and I was sure she would do something. Instead, she moved away without telling us anything. I was really happy in my world. That day when we had Emily's birthday party, Emily was turning sixteen. John told me that he was happy having me in his life for the first time. But on that day I heard the conversation of Lucy and John. That's when I realised that John brought me just to take care of his daughter" she takes a pause