Moments

1 - The news

A little earthquake in our family started suddenly without any warning. Unintentionally I was the first person to hear about it. To be honest... it was sneaky of me. I didn't mean to eavesdrop! My mum always told me that eavesdropping was not allowed and an eavesdropper would always be punished somehow. Now I knew she was right – I learnt my lesson...

I'd say that spring of 2015 was a tough time for my family. I'd just finished my final exams in junior high school and my oldest sister, Katie, was preparing for her high school finals. Luckily our parents decided many years ago that my younger sister, Jade, would start school later with a younger class. Otherwise she would also be having her primary school final exams. And that would just be the end of the world!

Three finals at the same time in one family? Way too much!

My exams were nothing new for my parents. They had already experienced Katie's exams three years ago and my brother, Luke's, exams last year. But the high school finals was something new. I wasn't sure who was more worried – Katie or our parents!

One Friday evening at the end of April, I was just passing by the bedroom I shared with my sisters when I heard my mother's worried voice...

"What to tell the kids?"

I froze.

I knew I shouldn't be eavesdropping on my parents, but suddenly I felt with all my heart that something very important had just happened. It wasn't the first time I'd had such an overwhelming feeling that something BIG was happening around me. I called it a hunch with capital "H" – so strong and important it was to me.

I stopped breathing and leaned against the wall.

"Everything will be fine, Alice..." my dad whispered, and I could imagine his arm around my mum.

"But... this will change everything!"

I didn't know what to think! Mum was always confident and brave. She always knew what to do or say. So was something awful going to happen if she was so worried?

"We'll be OK, I promise... I'm always by your side, remember?" my dad said, and I almost heard a smile in his voice.

There was silence for a moment, and I was about to leave when mum spoke again...

"Let's not tell them anything just yet... Katie is studying for her finals... Why should we worry her even more? And Ellie..."

"Katie is stronger than you think, Alice..." my dad replied. "And Ellie has just finished her exams. Besides, it would be better if we started looking for good schools for our kids as soon as possible. And we need to find a new home so you don't have to travel."

What did he mean by saying 'a new home'? Where was mum going to travel to? Was she... was she sick? Were we moving to Krakow or something? To be closer to hospital? I felt my heart miss a beat for a moment in fear.

Then suddenly I felt the opposite thing – my strange Hunch with capital 'H'. The Hunch that gave me hope, not despair. As if it wanted to calm my fears and anxieties. As if it wanted to tell me that everything was fine with my mum...

I was a little surprised. I'd had maybe ten Hunches so far in my life. Now... I had felt it twice within minutes!

For one moment I wanted to go in to confess that I'd been eavesdropping and ask my mum if everything was OK. But at the same time I felt something inside that made me stay undercover. I went silently back to my room.

"Something's happened?", Katie asked me quietly when she saw me.

She was lying in her bed surrounded by piles of books and notes trying to revise as much as possible. Jade was dead to the world sleeping sprawled on the bottom bunk.