Burnt Cities

Chapter 17

"Maya, I haven't seen you in ages," says Larry as he leans in to hug me.

"Yeah, it's been a while."

A few days ago my mother had decided to set up a hike trip with the Steins and the Furness's without us knowing, so here we were on Saturday morning that I could have much rather spent in bed about to walk up a steep hill in the scorching sun.

"You don't seem too happy to be here."

"Let's just say I'd really prefer not to be here."

The Furness's do not have any kids of their own, so it's just Larry, me and the parents. We proceed to walk up the hill together, Larry and I leading by a few metres.

"How are things with your, you know..." I say to break the awkward silence between us.

"My boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"We're good."

"That's good, that's really great. Can I have a sip of your water?"

"Sure."

I gulp some water from his bottle and hand it back when my thirst is quenched. He takes the bottle and looks at, and then turns to look at me.

"You're a thirsty girl Maya," he says with a little chuckle.

"Yes, yes I am."

"So you still don't have a boyfriend?'

"I used to but things got complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't say."

"Oh come on Maya it will stay between the two of us."

I look back to see how far behind the others are and realize that we have been walking faster than we realized. We're half-way up the hill and at this distance away from them, I am sure that they cannot hear us.

"This is personal stuff Larry, I'm only telling you this because it has been eating me since I found out."

"Sounds deep."

"It is."

"Okay I am all ears."

We continue walking to maintain distance between us and the parents.

"I recently found out that my father had a kid before me. He's been keeping this a secret from the whole family until I met Phoenix, my ex-boyfriend, and turned out that he is the child. I had to break up with him, and I've been keeping the truth away from him...and my mom."

I turn to look at Larry who has completely stopped walking and is looking at me with a look of horror.

"How long are you planning to keep this a secret?"

"No, how long is my dad planning to keep it a secret? It's not my position to tell."

"How do you think your mother will feel when she finds that you've both been keeping something like this from her?"

I am about to defend myself when we hear screams from below us. Startled, we both turn to look at what is causing the commotion. Terror tears through my body as I see my father rolling down the steep hill, his body coming to a stop as his head hits a sharp rock at the bottom.

***

"This family is cursed mom."

"Don't say that Maya."

"No it is. First it was Charles, and then it was you, now dad. Who's next, me?"

"Nothing is going to happen to you while I am still here, okay?"

My knees are weak and I cannot stop shaking as I hold on to my mother, crying onto her shoulder.

"He can't leave us mom."

"He won't."

Larry approaches us holding two cups of coffee in each hand.

My mother sits down and pulls me onto her lap, allowing my head to rest on her shoulder as she brushes her fingers through my hair.

We sit in silence for a few minutes until a doctor walks into the waiting room.

"Mrs Purple?"

"Yes?"

"Your husband has had severe bleeding to his brain and a skull crack. He underwent hypervolemic shock."

"What does this all mean?"

"He's in a critical condition and will need a blood transfusion. Additionally to that, when your husband rolled down the hill, sharp rocks stabbed into his back and ruptured both his kidneys and a portion of his spine has been damaged, he won't be able to walk again."

My mother stares at the doctor as tears run down her face.

"Mr Purple will need a new kidney. There aren't any new donors currently, so we will need to run some tests on the family to find a match. From the information I have it's just you and your daughter?"

Larry walks to my side and secretly holds my hand giving it a gentle squeeze, a signal that now is the time.

"No," I say before my mother can say another word, "there's someone else."