Met the widow
1648 Words
She stood up from her chair and gave me a curious look. To be honest, I didn’t like it. “Who did you say you are?” she asked.
“I said my name is Anon” I replied. I didn’t want to tell her that I was a Prince and as if I knew, I wasn’t wearing anything that would signify that I was a Prince either. I was on a simple crisp black shirt with brown trousers that gave me a loose-fitting. I dressed like I was a commoner and I know quite well that it will take someone that even comes close to knowing me a considerable amount of time to say it was me from a far distance unless the person comes very close.
“It's been close to a decade and few years that uh. . .I am seeing someone asking for the Oliver's family. Which makes me wonder who you really are.”
Heavens! Does it mean Brady doesn’t visit his family at all or am I in the wrong place, I asked in between thought. I don’t know where the fault was coming from. Was it me that wasn’t still thinking straight? “Brady is my friend, I thought I would find him here,” I said. I was careful not to tell her that I had seen him recently until I fully understand where she was going.
“If I am correct, Oliver Brad was the third child of his family who served the cursed Prince of the wife of king Dracula. If that is the one you are looking for, then I am afraid, you need to quit searching for him. It’s fruitless by the way,” she said and sagged down on her chair.
Cursed Prince? It was as if it wasn’t me she just talked about. Why was I cursed? Was it a made-up story Veronica might have spread to justify the evil things she did or did the old woman spoke from the abundance of her heart?
“Cursed Prince?” I said, almost silently. I was lucky, she didn’t hear it.
“If he was the third child of the family, then where are others?” I asked.
“Others?”
“Yes!”
She gave a half-laugh. “There are no others now. Few nights after the Prince had been banished, something remarkable happened to the family. Something really really bad that no one in this place has actually forgotten.”
What could that be? What could be this significant?
“What happened?” I asked her immediately.
She squinted her eyes at me again and rubbed at them with her hands. “It’s a long story son,” she said and sighed.
“Please, you can cut it short, I am ready to listen.”
I didn’t intend to tell her to cut it short, I wanted to hear the full gist. But she was old and I was still a stranger to her, so, if I argue thoughtlessly, she might lose interest and decide not to say anything, I thought.
“Three nights after the Prince was banished, some group of men ransacked Oliver’s home and murdered the whole family except one.”
Goodness! Did I just hear her right? My eyes widened and my body remained motionless. Does Brady know about this? If there was a possibility that he has a twinkle of an idea, why hasn’t he talked to me about it?
“Except who?” I asked.
“Except the first son of Oliver’s family. He wasn’t killed.” She inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled it.
“Why wasn’t he killed?”
“He wasn’t around the day those men came. When they noticed that there was someone in the family missing, someone they haven’t killed yet, they terrified the whole neighborhood. They broke into every home in this neighborhood and damaged a lot of things and even lives were cut short. They even broke into my own house but I was lucky. I was home alone so maybe for one reason or the other, they thought that I was too old to hide someone. So after a small check, they left. But most people’s houses were destroyed and burnt down to ashes.”
Oh no! No wonder why I saw so many dilapidated housing structures around the area—it now started to make sense. Does it mean that these houses that I saw were preconditioned to be this way and weren’t caused by natural causes? But wait, I think I was missing a point. These unknown assassins couldn’t just be after Brady’s family members unless of course, they came after him because of the ties he had with me or (after all, they weren’t rich and there was no political office holder from their family) was it something else? If it was the former then it means that someone deliberately sent assassins to butcher everyone in his family. So this wasn’t something that just happened out of the blue or any coincidence. It was a premeditated act, I thought.
“Was he later found?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as blitheful as possible.
“I don’t think so but from the way I see it, he wasn’t caught and still haven’t been.”
“Who do you think might have been after Brady’s family? I mean Oliver’s family?”
She looked up, exposing the wrinkles just above her brows. Her chin widened but firmly closed. “Do you expect me to answer that question, son?” she asked with an irregular contralto voice.
“If you can, why not?”
To be honest, this wasn’t what I wanted to say. She looked at me curiously, widening her eyes at me. I was now curious to hear what she would say to me.
“well, I don’t know. And even if I know, I am not sure I will be able to answer that question.”
“Why won’t you tell me?”
“Because I don’t know who you are,” she said and relaxed her head again and closed her eyes. It was as if she didn’t care. “But wait, what did you say your name was again?” she asked. She raised her head like she suddenly remembered something and looked at me anxiously.
“My name is Anon.”
“What’s your surname?”
Now I was nervous. What does she want to do with it?
“Anon is okay.”
“What!?” She said starring at me without saying a word. I avoided her gaze. “Is that all?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Anon! Anon!” She said repeatedly. “If my old memory still serves me right, then I think that I have heard it before.”
Goodness! I had perfectly mistaken this white hair of hers for clumsiness. This woman does deserve some credit for having a sharp brain at such an old age, I thought.
“Any two people can bear the same name.” I tried to keep her away from having a twinkle of the idea of who I was but I wasn’t sure if it worked.
“That I know but…Are you of royal blood?”
Now I knew the conversation was heading somewhere else. It seemed as if she was interrogating me. I needed to get out before my weariness takes over, I thought.
“No, I am not. I am a commoner. Just like everyone else here. Maybe I might visit some other day and we will get to talk further. Bye for now” I said and managed to fake a smile but deep down, I was losing it.
“Okay.”
“But, eh-m, can I know your name too?”
She chortled. “You didn’t tell me your name and you expect me to say mine?” she asked.
“But I told you mine.”
“No. You told me what I needed to hear. Anyway, you can call me the Widow.”
“The Widow?”
“You heard that right. Even the animals in the street know my name.”
“Quite popular, I guess?” I asked, raising a brow.
“You are so right.”
“Okay. I have to go now. Fate might bring us together again.” I bowed.
She just nodded and sat back down, relaxing her head back to the position I had met her when I came. Now that I have walked out of her house, I realized that I have spent too much time in the shadows of the tree. My eyes squinted at the sight of the morning sun. It appeared I have wasted more than enough time talking to her than I thought I would. Now that I was out of her sight, I stopped in my tracks.
I started reminiscing over the conversation again. I still haven’t gotten my answers: Who could have wanted to wipe out Brady’s family and for what purpose?
Three nights after I was banished! A Group of unknown assassins attacked Brady’s family!
Unknown assassins?
Who would assemble several assassins enough to terrify a neighborhood? Except…except it was done by someone who had more than enough power and money. I closed my eyes, still standing on the street, without giving much thought to anyone who might see me like that.
But there was no way Brady’s father would do something that would warrant hiring groups of assassins to go after him unless of course, it had something to do with me, I thought. I forgot to ask the Widow the type of weapon she saw the assassins with. But on second thought, I don’t think she would know, or would she?
Well, I need to find Brady first, I thought.
- Writer
