A Mother's Cry (short story)

I was a Daddy’s girl. We’re always playing after my classes in Kindergarten. He was even combing my black hair. He was cutting my food in a small size so that I can eat it with my small mouth. He brushes my teeth after getting to sleep. And then, he will read some bedroom stories so that I can sleep peacefully at night.

Back then, we were once a happy family. We loved bonding with each other, picnics, hide and seek, running on the playground and what I really loved was when my dad threw my little body through the air like I was a superhero.

But our joyful laughter turned into a catastrophe…

In the middle of the night, I heard those restraining sobs. I walked out to my room and follow those hurtful sounds. I saw her, my mom. She was crying endlessly. And it breaks me. If it’s just possible to passed the pain on someone, I would gladly take all her pain. I wonder why did our family ended up like this…

After that night, when I was at my 10 years of existence, I learned that my dad cheated on my mom. He has another woman in his life and they have a child. My mom was punching my dad in his chest but her wrist was so weak, she was breaking down and my two eldest sisters were hugging her. I am just at the corner with my younger brother and sister, not processing what was happening. But my parents did not break up and I wonder why. He was still living at our house that time. And my mom got depressed after that incident.

My mother is a hardworking woman. She was a full-time mom. She did all of our dishes, the laundry, cleaning the house, cooking, everything. She did everything. She did everything for us, for our family. And I was so mad that my dad cheated on her. She deserves more. She deserves to be love.

As me and my siblings grew older, our father were pressuring us to get a high grade and be the top on our class. At first, I don’t like the idea. I mean, I want to study on my own accord and not thinking about my grades on my every subject. When I was in middle school, there was the time that I cried so hard because I did not get the perfect score on our quiz. I was thinking what number in the questionnaire that I did get the wrong answer. It was my first failure. In that moment, I don’t want to go home because I know that my dad will just scold me.

I called my best friend to pick me up at the street where I was waiting. When we’re inside her bedroom she suddenly hugs me but did not say anything, it was comforting. I’m so fortunate to have her by my side. I slept on her house that night.

When I got home, as expected, my dad shouted at me continuously. And it was tiring. He was like that too to my siblings. Every time he will do that, our mother will just cry while consoling us. My siblings and I were just like robots who were greedy to be perfect at everything. It was like we do not have lives. A normal life.

However, instead of getting angry, I locked myself in my bedroom. I did not cry but I get my books on my study table and study again. I don’t have a social life, it’s just me and my best friend because I don’t have time for that. My daily routine was, eat, sleep and study.

After two years, I graduated as the first rank. Most of the students were congratulating me and I will just smile to them to expressed my gratitude. But I am not happy. My dad did congratulate me and even said how proud he was. And I looked at the corner where my mom was and again, I saw her cry. I walked towards her direction and gave her a tight hug. When I pull myself from the hug, I smiled and this time it was a genuine one.

One day, my dad called all of us in the dining room. He said that his wallet lost an amount of two thousand. So, he asked everyone of us and his eyes… his eyes were menacingly looking at us. I felt my heart throbbed. Sadness filled my heart. I’m asking myself why my dad needs to accused us? What happened to him?

I am here at our house, helping our mother with the household chores. I looked outside the door where she does the laundry, even if I am three meters away from her, I saw her palm with new bruises and callouses. It was an agonizing sight.

I knocked to my second sister’s room…

“Hey, Charm”, I greeted her in a careful manner

“Hey, sis, ‘zup? Something’s up?”, she asked to light up the awkward atmosphere

Since, our dad was controlling us, we lose our time to communicate with each other as we were just in our different rooms and studying.

“Well, I just want someone to talk to, I’m kinda bored… No, let me rephrase that, I’m kinda tired. I’m tired… with all of this”, I said emotionally

“You know what, all of us in this hell house were feeling like that”, she responded

“Yeah, I know”

“It is hard, I know, but we need to overcome this problem. God is within us, He will never neglect us if you trust Him”, she smiled sincerely at me like comforting me

Three years had passed and I am now in college. I continue to study hard to be at the top. But now, I do not feel any pressure because it became my routine. It became my life. Step by step I am learning how to communicate to other people. And my circle of friends grew bigger. I am at glee. It was like I felt the freedom that I had not felt in my eighteen years. As I get matured, I now have my own decisions in life. And you know what surprised me? My dad did not interfere in any of my decisions. I have no clue why.

Today, we had a quiz on our Microbiology subject. I did not review for the first time. I don’t know what had gotten into me but I don’t want to review. The questionnaires were given to us, and as I see the questions, I know all of the answers but I did not choose the right ones. At the end of the quiz, I come out of our class with a wide smile on my face.

My graduation was so near and my professors said that I will graduate as a Magna Cum Laude. My friends said that they want to celebrate my achievement but I told them that we will celebrate on the next day because I am not in the mood to go outside and I just want to lay down on my bed.

I ran downstairs, I’m looking for my mom and I saw her outside, watering the plants. We now had maids to do the household chores because of my two graduated elder sisters. And I saw my mom doing that, I can see that she was now okay. I ran towards her and kissed her on the cheek and said “Mom, I will graduate as the Magna Cum Laude” and then I saw her crying again.

It’s been ten years, I am now a Pediatrician at a big hospital here in Canada. My older sister is an English Professor, my second sister is a Civil Engineer at Singapore as well as my younger brother and our youngest sister is an International Flight Attendant. We made it.

We were now travelling at the different part of the world. And we decided to have a vacation, we are all here at our own resort with my dad. I don’t know if we are really vacationing because our faces were all serious and no one is talking as my dad is here.

All of a sudden, my mom broke the silence by abruptly standing up and again it was her first time. We all looked at her, “Enough. This is enough. I’m done with my plans so you can leave us now Charles”, she was talking to our dad with braveness filled in her eyes. My dad got shocked by what my mom states.

“What are you talking about, Melinda? We are family”

“Family? You did not treat us as your family. I endured the pain you brought us, I endured the hurtful words that was coming from your filthy mouth, I endured living with you in our house. It makes me sick. The sight of you makes me sick for how many years. And now, that all our child has a stable job, I don’t have the reason to stay with you anymore. You are now rich, go with your other family”.

My dad was looking at us, his eyes were asking if we want him to leave… And then, our eldest sister speaks, “Dad, we missed those days before you cheated on mom because on the years that had passed you are with us but we don’t know you anymore… I’m sorry, I respect mom’s decision”.

And then, my dad looked at me…

I walked towards him and gave him a hug, “Thank you, Dad, I would not be successful if you did not push me through. Thank you for giving those challenges on me, I will miss you…”, I said that wholeheartedly

My brother gave him a tapped on his shoulders, “Dad, I hope you spend more time with me…”

“I did not feel that I have a father but you made us, thanks dad”, our youngest said

“Dad, I know that you also want us to have a secured life that’s why you forced us too… I’m thankful for that but sometimes you need to be a parent too. You don’t need to pressure your children to have a perfect grade. You don’t need to make decisions in all our life because we are old enough to make decisions for it. Please, dad, just this once let us have a peaceful life that we never had… We love you no matter what because you are still our dad. I hope one day you’ll realize everything we’ve gone through”, my second sister maturely uttered

Three years ago, when we let go our father. Honestly, it was very peaceful for all of us. I thought I’ll never see my mom cry again but we heard our doorbell rang, it is New Year, our maid opened the door in the entrance of our house. We got stunned for a moment as we did not saw him for the past few years. I observed his physical structure, it is visible that my dad did get older. Yet, he seems like he has changed as his features got softened and he seems really happy.

He suddenly cried, in front of us. He bent down his knees even though he cannot bend it properly due to his old age. My heart throbbed again as I saw my father apologizing to us. We helped him to stand up. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry with what have I done. I just want you to be secured but I did not know that I’ll become a bad parent and husband. Melinda, I’m so sorry, I admit that I fell out of love during our relationship or maybe because I met Gina and my love for you is not enough to stop my love for her. I am just here to bid my goodbye and apologize to all of you properly. We decided to migrate in UK.”

Me and my siblings hug him for the last time. “We already forgave you dad”, we all said. And just like that he left us for good.

That time, my mother was just at the corner and did not say anything nor cry.

In the middle of the night, I get out to my bed because I cannot sleep. I heard those restraining sobs again and the scene is so familiar. I saw her again at that exact spot, crying again. But this time, I know that it will be her last cry.