Stacey's Pov
I had never in my life felt so pained, that it went so deep to the pit of my stomach only to surface in tightness around my chest and be released in endless running down of tears and the rotation began once again.I needed to lay down to compose myself but i could not stop trembling. I needed serious reassurance that everything was going to be alright.
Every year in my family, despite having so little we came together and celebrated my birthday in the same style as the last one. I would go to my ballet class and return to a surprise I had anticipated.
Gerald would come and fetch me but on this particular birthday, I received a text saying I should find my way home. I smiled to myself thinking, they had finally come to a decision to break the norm. Neither the less I took my bag and headed home to the house that had groomed me to be the woman I was.
Growing up my mother only had me and that was due to a condition she had that never allowed her to carry a pregnancy full term. According to her after five miscarriages, I was a blessing to her.
My father was a construction worker but that never showed in our lifestyle because he provided for us by all means and we lived a comfortable life. My mother was a stay at home wife and she loved her job so much she glowed doing each chore around the house.
I walked home instead of taking the bus. The walk was refreshing and I thought maybe this year I would be surprised rather than have to act surprised. I smiled to myself. Music was also a big part of me and with Gerald a singer I was exposed to a lot of it.
Gerald was my fiance, we had planned on getting married the following year after I had performed on one of the big stages and made a name for myself enough to start my own school. We had everything all planned out and so far we were doing well.
Gerald was going to continue singing and also teach music. We were going to move upstate away from our neighborhood that we had grown up in. Gerald and I were friends since preschool and it was not so hard to fall in love eventually because we knew practically everything about each other.
The door to the house was slightly open and that was rare because this was not the safest neighborhood. As I approached the house something told me something bad had happened. The hairs at the back of my head stood and my heart began to beat at an unbelievable fast pace.
My feet got so heavy and the bag on my shoulder almost felt like I was carrying the world's burdens in it. I walked in slowly and I could hear music as I pushed the door open.
I put the bag down and searched the house with my eyes. The curtains had been drawn and there was little light penetrating the house. This was indeed unlikely and my mother would have met me by the door and ruined the surprise shout moment.
As I walked further in my foot stepped on something slippery and sloppy and I looked down to see a red round puddle where I stood.I made nothing of it as I thought what's the worst that could possibly happen.
The switches of the lights were not working and I walked in further into the house.At this point I felt so heavy with worry and my knees were betraying me,shaking uncontrollable under my petite, slender body.
It must have been that the sun was about to set , that was why it seemed so dark. I finally reached the living room and there was this steel smell, a dampness of something wet and dripping. I tried the switch in the living room with so much confidence it would not switch on but it did.
I stood stationary as I saw before me a sight. I will live to remember.I saw letters hanging reading happy birthday. What followed after was a blur vision but I still remember very well that the happy birthday hanging was spelt out in Gerald, my father and my mother's guts.
They sat in the chairs with eyes clogged out and hanging. Their stomachs were open and empty as their intestines were used to spell out the happy birthday that hung on the wall.Nausea greeted my nostrils and I put my hand over my nose and mouth.
I turned around and slipped while I tried to get to the telephone. I slipped and rolled in whosoever the blood belonged to. I tried to scream to save my life but nothing came out of my shock stricken lungs.
I managed to get to the phone in the house and as I lifted up the receiver it went dead in my ears. I crawled to my bag and took out my phone and dialed, with my hands trembling and shaking like a leaf,when help responded all I could give was the address.
I woke up days later in panic and shock and still had no screaming voice. I kicked and mumbled until I was sedated to keep calm. When I woke up once again, I was wet with my own sweat and beside me sat Gerald's grief stricken mother.
"I am so sorry" she said as if this had only happened to me.
I looked at her blankly waiting for her to tell me it had all been a dream.
"We buried Gerald, your parents are waiting for you to bury them." She continued.
I had been out for a week and she had buried my fiance without me. Pain took over and I let myself die with every tear that dropped.
I was out of the hospital before I knew it and I was faced with burying my only family. The house was a crime scene so Gerald's mother took me in. She helped me and I finally laid them to rest.
I was hit however after giving my statement by a disappointing revelation that there was not enough evidence to charge anyone. I had my suspension and I knew I was right.
King pin Valdo was behind the death of my parents and fiance. I had not thought he was serious when I rejected his advances and he promised to make me pay.
I told the police who I suspected but he was released after providing an alibi for his whereabouts on the day of the murder. I had nothing to go by and so I gave up and planned on leaving for the city.
I buried my parents side by side and the funeral was packed with people from church. They passed sympathetic glances at me.Each one with a different message in their eyes.
After the coffins had gone down,I knew I was alone and the realization of that made me so weak in the knees that the tears I was trying so hard to fight just started falling. My knees gave up on me and I fell to the ground in pain.
Gerald's mother had been by my side since, she came to my aid and held me up balancing me up and holding me. I cried till tears could not find a way anymore.
I went to Gerald's grave side and sat there alone for hours.I spent days returning as if I would find him there.I felt like each time I was there I was hugged by his spirit in comfort.
The same I felt for when I went to visit the graves of my parents. The reassurance that I would be fine but yet the pain did not subside. All I wanted was to not feel anymore.
I sat on Gerald's grave as I had done daily since my parent's burial and I spoke to the love of my life.
"Your mom has taken really good care of me." I said.
"Although she is hurting, she tries not to show it." I continued.
"Although I hear her cry each night thinking of how lonely she will be" I poured out my heart.
"I am so sorry, I really am very sorry." I said to a cold tombstone that was in front of me."
"Our future was cut off so tragically, I don't know if I can carry on." I said, feeling my heart break.
I felt a pain that needed release but it had no avenue to go through. It was trapped between the pit of the stomach and around the heart. I was so broken.I thought maybe it was time for me to start a new life.
A friend of mine, Laura, who once lived in our town, had gone to the city and she had offered to let me visit after I had called her and told her about everything that had happened.
She had been unable to come for the funeral because we had lost contact and I had happened to stumble on her contacts one morning when I went to the house to get a few things.
I had nothing here and I could not face the house on my own,talk less of living in it.I needed to begin a new life and I knew the city was the place to start.
I packed up one morning and decided to take that leap of faith into the world of the unknown.
"I am going to the city," I said to Gerald's mother when she saw the bag on the bed.
"You know you do not have to go?" She said,assuring me that I was welcome to stay.
"This place has nothing for me except heartache." I responded with a heavy heart.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes and she came to me and hugged me so tight I felt my breath leave me.I heard her muffle a cry as she let go.I bid her goodbye and walked out.
I passed by the house and stood outside and allowed all the memories that once were to come flooding back. Tears came to my eyes and I quickly wiped them with the back of my hand and walked away.
I passed by the grave site and decided on not going in. I walked past and never looked back.The bus arrived just in time. I had just about enough of the town.