The Entangled Fate

Part Four

Laura opened her eyes faintly. Her weary eye lids shut down immediately protesting against the fatigue and exhaustion as she tried to focus. She was relieved , for a moment , that the horrendous nightmare had ended. She opened her eyes again and tried to focus , her gaze searching every corner of the room for her mother.

She was lying at a place she couldn't identify , in clothes that didn't belong to her. It was a dull room , free of any decoration. A curtain was drawn over the window. The walls were cream coloured , on one of them hung a small wall clock. Laura tried matching her breaths to the beeping of machine surrounding het. It was a hospital. She tried to get up but her muscles were drained of all energy , just as her heart was drained of emotions. "How are you feeling now , Miss Laura?" A nurse came to her ,and gently placed a hand over her forehead. "Your fever is almost gone." She muttered as if talking to herself. Laura felt alienated. She wasn't sure of what was real and what was a mere figment of her imagination.

She tried to ask the nurse what had happened but the pile of words inside her had been caged by her dehydrated throat.

" In case you're confused , you were brought here after someone called an ambulance for your mother. Did you fall? You hurt your feet and fractured your scaphoid. You had high fever , thankfully it's gone. You have been treated and can get discharged in the evening." The nurse took a pause. Laura noticed a bandage covering her feet neatly. If only emotional wounds could be bandaged too , she thought. Laura wanted to scream and tell her she doesn't need to know all of this. She wanted to know about something else , something far more terrible than her injuries. The nurse then said in hesitant tone , as if she read her mind ,
" Miss Laura Washington , I'm so sorry for your mother. It must be hard on you , she's probably watching at you from heavens so please have strength for her sake...if not for yourself"
She waited for a moment before opening her mouth to say something , and closed it without uttering more. Her voice seemed faint and distant almost like a hum in background.

Laura stared at the ceiling for a long time , silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Her desperate voiceless cries of denial seemed inaudible to the world.

It wasn't a dream after all. The only thing that's more frightful than dreams is reality , and unfortunately that's what it was.

The door knocked twice. She kept staring at the ceiling silently.

Her only family was gone. She had no friend , no family , she had nothing left. She couldn't hope for her mother to enter the door , so she kept staring at the ceiling silently.

The sound of footsteps came nearer to her. She didn't want someone to come. She wanted to be alone but she didn't object. Instead she kept staring at the ceiling silently.

"I'm David Peterson , our team is in charge of your mother's case. Would you mind answering a few questions , if you're okay with it. " She didn't respond.

"It's alright. You can take your time. I'll come by later." , said his deep voice after a while of complete silence , as he closed the door behind him gently. He knew how losing a parent felt like. He knew it too well.

In the evening the nurse from earlier came again asking her if she's feeling well enough to get discharged , she just nodded silently.

She wanted to go home. She wanted to look at her mother's room , her clothes , her books and everything that smelled of her. She wanted to find all her scattered pieces in her home and gather them all. She wanted to hold them to her chest and glue them all together with utmost care and love.

As she got discharged , the detective came and told her that she's still in danger and he is assigned to guard her. She nodded silently and sat in the car with him as he drove off to her house.

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Laura opened the door to her mother's room. It was the same , all her things were at exact place where she left them , waiting for their owner to come and put them at their right place. How annoyed Laura used to get at the messy state of her mother's room. She would ask her to clean it up before leaving for university. Alessa would assure her everytime , 'I'll do it at night. Promise!' Laura would believe her everytime , believe that she would return till night.

Laura teared up. A part of her was still waiting for her mother to come from university and start ranting about her day as soon as she gets in.

Quietly she went to the bookshelf that stood in right corner of the room. She touched the books trying to feel touch of her mother's tender hand. Then she went to her cupboard and opened it. It was as messy as the room itself and for the first time it didn't annoy Laura. 'Come back Mom. I won't ever tell you to clean your room so please come back.' She broke into a stream of tears.

After a while of helplessly crying she stood up closing the cupboard as her eyes fell on a small case beneath the drawers. Carefully , she took it out , surprised by the fact that she had never seen it before. Inside there were a couple of polaroids , a pendant and a diary. The polaroid framed her mother in her early youth , with a couple of people that seemed like her friends.

Cautiously , Laura opened the diary.

" To my Laura , to whom I can never make up for my selfish acts even if I atone for a lifetime. I probably won't be under the same sky as you when you're reading this. Even If I was , I would've never gotten enough courage to face you ever again. Before you read this diary , I want you to know that my love for you was never any lesser than the love of any mother for her child. I loved and treasured you as much as I could. I hope you forgive me Laura but it's alright if you choose to hate me. In fact you've got every right to hate me. My only request to you is to not feel abandoned after you read this. You deserve everything my child , everything I failed to provide you. I'm sorry Laura."

She turned the page unaware of the fact that what's written ahead would turn her life upside down.

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Author's Note:

So, are y'all ready for the twist?

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