Chapter Two: Like A Mother
1443 Words
It's been two years since Helen Campbell became a mother to a 23- year-old who is now 25 years old.
They had both chosen the name Katherine but she preferred to be called Kat. She had said it seemed more natural to her.
Helen lived alone by the beach in Lily Lac community, a small unnoticeable place by the countryside of Florida. She had one of those little houses one would see above the rocks and wonder who lived there.
She lived a simple life as a widow. Her husband had long died and left her that little house by the rocks close to the beach. The death of her husband had pushed her to retire from her job as a nurse and move to the house to feel closer to him.
The side of the beach she lived on wasn't the beautiful part that was often occupied with tourists and vacationists. Her side of the beach was the part no one saw or wanted to see. It was the side that brought all the dirt from different places that the sea gathered.
Every morning, the unkind waves washed up plastics, sea shells, dead fish and sometimes bottles. The waves were too high to swim in so the government had long banned surfers and swimmers from them.
It was usually lonely but Helen was used to the quiet life. She never had a child with her husband, nor did she have relatives or friends. She always wished she could have a
child but by the time she hit the age of 62 she gave up on that dream and left the empty space in her heart aching everyday.
She spent her mornings picking up plastics from the sea side for recycling, sometimes she picked up lovely sea shells and collected them.
When she held her basket those two years prior and wondered what the seas had in store for her morning stroll, she didn't expect to be given the body of a young lady.
“Is she dead?” Helen had said to herself.
She had been scared but went closer to her anyway. She poked her body with her stick and was happy to see that she responded to touch.
She had paid some fishermen some money to help carry her to her home where she treated her.
Kat was the most beautiful young woman she had ever set her eyes on, she didn't want her to die so she nursed her back to health.
When she opened her eyes, she didn't remember anything. Not even her name.
Poor thing, she stayed with Helen till she was a hundred percent back to health and when Helen tried to help her find her family, Kat didn't want to leave.
Katniss had washed up on the shore of a beach after falling off a cliff. She didn't know who she was or how she ended up in bandages in Helen's house but she felt safe.
When Helen asked her for her name, she didn't even know it.
Helen felt like a mother to her and she decided to stay with her.
Also for Kat, it was the least she could do for a woman who took care of her and helped her pick a new name.
****
“Nora, daddy needs to go for a meeting” Klaus said.
“No!” his five-year-old Nora replied.
She crossed her arms over her chest and squeezed her face.
To Klaus, Nora was still a baby but she knew how to push her father's buttons and this was because her little mind knew how much Klaus loved her.
“Nora please…”
“No!”
“Nora…if you behave with your new nanny, I will buy you a new toy”
“No!” Came the consistent naughty reply for Nora.
Klaus sighed. He was a billionaire who could afford anything and any type of service but he couldn't afford anything to satisfy this 5-year-old.
“What do you need ?”
“I want my mommy”
“But I told you darling, your mommy traveled and she is not coming back yet”
It had been two years and Klaus still couldn't bring himself to tell Nora that her mom died. He had strictly warned all of this staff to dare not to reveal to Nora that Melanie was dead.
It had just been two years and Klaus was a shadow of himself. He rarely smiled now; he was irritable and snapped at people easily.
The only time he smiled or genuinely felt anything was when he was with Nora. She was a light to his dark life and the only piece of Melanie that he had left.
He looked at his little treasure whose face dropped when he talked about her mother. She was just about turning three and they had been involved in that accident. He knew she missed her so much. If only he knew how to fill the void but he always had to work, not because he needed money but because it was a way to bury his pain. Being a billionaire couldn't save him from grief.
“Apart from Mommy, what do you need?” Klaus finally spoke.
“My daddy… stay with me today” Melanie replied, scrunching up her little nose.
“But you know I cannot stay with you?”
“Then give me mommy!”
“Now you are being naughty”
“No”
“Nanny Deb is really nice”
“I don't want her”
Klaus looked at his daughter again. She had made some many nannies uncomfortable till they left and he knew he was about to lose the new one again with Nora's attitude.
“I am sure Nanny Deb will take care of you”
“I don't want her”
“Why?”
“She is not like mom…” Nora replied sadly.
Klaus knew what she was playing at, his little daughter knew enough that anytime she mentioned her mother, he quickly gave in to her.
“Alright….” Klaus finally said. “Will you like to go out with me?”
“Yes daddy!” Nora jumped happily.
“Promise that you will be good”
“I will be good”
“Promise…?”
“I promise daddy”
Klaus signaled to one of his staff in the house and she led Nora into her room to change her clothes to accompany him out to the house.
Klaus looked up at Melanie's picture and his heart broke all over again.
“Melanie, I wish you were here” he whispered.
****
Kat had just come in from the farmer's market and met Helen sprawled on the floor.
She quickly ran to her in alarm.
“Mother…what's wrong”
But Helen only groaned, she could barely talk.
Kat picked up the mobile phone her foster mother had given her and called for help.
Hours later in the hospital the doctor called her into her office.
“Miss Kat, your mother has stage II cancer”
Kat's ears rang, she listened to the doctor give the instructions on how they needed to transfer her to a hospital in the city to get started on chemotherapy right away.
They didn't have that type of money and Kat didn't know anyone in the city.
She had to get a job…but what kind? She didn't even know if she had any education or skill from her previous life that she still couldn't remember.
*****
Klaus smiled at Nora who was fast asleep beside him in his helicopter. She had fallen asleep about fifteen minutes into their journey.
He was supposed to go see an abandoned beach side for a new project that Koch Inc. had been awarded with. It was a long journey and Nora didn't want him to leave without her.
He knew he spoiled her but she deserved everything he could give her since her mother was dead.
The journey was long and Nora got bored pretty quickly and fell asleep.
Klaus was starting to feel happy that he brought her along until the helicopter trembled like it hit a bump and started to rattle vigorously.
“What's happening?” Klaus called out to his pilot.
He didn't get a response.
“Hello?” Klaus yelled.
Still no response.
The helicopter started to rotate and this made Klaus force himself out of his seat belts. He struggled to the front and saw that his pilot was knocked out cold.
Klaus' eyes bulged in shock as he noticed that they were going down quickly and might soon crash.
- Writer
