Rose and thorn

1

The deafening silence rang through through their ears occasionally broken by the ticking of the clock resting on a mantle piece and flickering of the burning wood in the fire place.

Three of them seated on a round table while the girls eyed him with keen eyes he on the other hand wore same passive expression on his face sipping on his favourite black tea with dry fruits his gaze fixated on the paper presented by his daughters who apparently eyed him with puppy eyes laden with anticipation for him to agree.

He swooshed the sweet liquid gulping down the last sip from his cup which made his Adam's apple bobble under his thin wrinkled skin, easily noticeable.
His gaze shifted from the sheet of paper to his daughters sitting right in front of him.

"No" he answered standing in the process causing the chair to make a screeching sound against the old wooden floor.

The younger sister turnef towards the older with sadness painted evidently on her face while the older one nibbled on her lower lip grimacing with defeat.

The room all of a sudden fell deadly silent as no one whispered a word except for the younger sister sniffing as teardrops rolled down her cheeks with her head hung low glancing on the paper with teary eyes. That paper was not just a white sheet with black letters forming various sentences. This paper was a step towards the dream she had aspired for years but the only hurdle in between was their father.

"Lia don't cry silly." Older sister Maria spoke digesting the odd silence that enveloped them for seconds longer than usual.

"Why's he being so mean Mari all I want is him to give me a chance to prove myself and I can't do that by just sitting in this small town where there's no future for me at all" Lia spoke sulking down the chair as if all the energy from her body has drained out.

Maria caressed her younger sister's head

"Don't worry we'll workout this later. Don't be upset and sleep, tomorrow is a big day. Remember?" Maria said while collecting the cups and saucers placing them on the tray carefully.

"Ofcourse Maria I remember. How can I forget" More tears forming in her eyes as she remembered this as a day they lost their mother to a fatal disease.

Ever since she died things were Never like before. It felt like their small happy family that used to be in unison whatsoever had fallen apart into shreds.
Her father seemed to turned stern more and more as the days passed by.

The void created in this home can't be filled by anyone but somehow Maria voluntarily looked after this house, her father and her little sister Lia. After she got married Lia took over deligentlty although Maria kept visiting them quite frequently. That was not a problem for her since her in-law's home was quite near to hers.  She decided to stay over that day since tomorrow was their mother's tenth death anniversary.

Before they knew girls were crying in each other's arms as they rewinded their happy moments with their late mother.
Little they'd knew their father who shows up to be the most stern, emotionally drained man was crying himself to sleep lonely making sure his daughters won't hear him whimpering with his late wife's photo pressed hard against his chest.

"How c-can I let Lia go? Af-after I've made promise with you to protect our daughters till death?" The old man mumbled to himself allowing the darkness and the pain in his heart to consume him to the sleep.