LUCID LOVE

BLEAK FUTURE

CHAPTER ONE.

"From this moment upwards, you cease to be my daughter" My dad Mr Smith, CEO of Daivy Ventures said angrily before getting up from the table where he was having his breakfast of black coffee. Flanked by his bodyguards on both sides, they headed for the garage. I stood stunned for a moment before the reality of his words dawned on me. I ran out after him leaving my inhaler on the table forgetting the dusty atmosphere in a bid to catch up with him.

"Dad! dad! " he stopped for a split second but on a second thought continued walking.

"Dad please wait I can explain" I shouted desperately trying to refrain him but the guards restrained me.

"Let go of me" I kicked wildly.

" Sweetie you had all the time in the world to explain yourself when I was having breakfast" he said. They all got into the convoy and were about to leave when my asthmatic seizure began and I fell to the floor in a coughing fit. My worried dad flew out of the car and was beside me in a jiffy.

"get her inhaler" he shouted desperately to the guard closest to him. The inhaler was brought and I was okay in a few seconds. To see the man who had disowned me just few seconds back looking so worried about me seemed to amuse me, after all who could get so mad at an only child for long?

"dad, I'm really sorry about..." I began sorrowfully but he interrupted me. "Eva, I understand you are sorry and deeply regret your actions, but hacking into the military data base of the USA is no small crime. You've been consistently in and out of trouble but I've always wielded my influence and affluence to neutralize your punishments but you have stretched my patience thin and besides you have gone way too far this time and there's nothing I can do to save the situation. I fear for you" He concluded with lines of worry etched on his forehead .

"But dad... " " Eva go and attend to your sick mother besides I have a meeting in the next twenty minutes" he said glancing at his wrist watch and heading back to the car. "Then maybe we can iron things out later" I persisted hopefully, more of a question than a statement. "Honey, you know I'll be very busy " he answered as the guard shut the door of the limousine, and they zoomed off.

I dragged my feet on the stairs and headed for my room when I heard muffled voices in the library. I tiptoed to the door and could see two maids dusting the place as they gossiped .

" That worthless girl would soon send her sick mother to her early grave" said the first maid.

"Can't you see that Mr Smith is greying prematurely, he is worrying himself too much"

"If only she was a reasonable girl she would have agreed to the vice president's son's marriage proposal thereby placing her family and the business at a vantage point for better business connections"

"The silly girl had replied , no I want to marry a man I love not a proud peacock I despise for his money"

"Maybe she is waiting for Eros, cupid or some other Greek god to shoot her a love arrow" the other maid said sarcastically.

"Well I don't care if Juliet Eva is taking a millennium to wait for her Romeo. I just wish she wasn't putting her poor mother through this undue worrying" the first maid said and continued her dusting.

I knew I had heard enough because each of their words ladened my heart with guilt. Maybe they were right. The frequent sighs from dad these days and mum's cold stares which seemed to convey silent accusations said it all.I headed for my room but on a second thought took the stairs and made for my mum's room. I would have used the elevator which was faster and easier but somehow I was buying a little time to put myself together and brace for mum's unspoken confrontation. I knocked quietly on her door and without waiting for a reply, gently pushed it open.

On sighting me, she turned her face to the opposite side of the room, focusing her gaze on the oil painting of three happy girls on the wall. They seemed so much at peace that I envied them at the moment. Under the picture was written in Newis; oot vie etin translated in English as love is everything. I was told it was a painting of me and two new friends at a beach. Even as a child, mum would not let me or anyone else come close to the painting, so I had grown content looking at it from a distance.

Before mum had been bedridden, she made it her morning ritual to clean the picture.

Once as a child I had come into her room and met her crying while gently cleaning it. When I asked her why, she had told me it was her eyes but now I was smelling a rat especially as she looked at it frequently these days.

"Mum... I know you are really mad at me and yes I admit that you have every right to be because I've never been really able to be the daughter I should have been, standing by you through thick and thin" I said sorrowfully. When my mum turned the coldness in her eyes said everything. There was no longer that tint of motherly love mixed with sadness and disappointment and my heart froze.

" I'm better off without a daughter like you" Mum lamented but the statement made me cry, been disowned individually by your parents on the same day; even if it was said out of anger was no small deal after all don't you spit out hidden words when angry?

"Mum.. I want you to know that even though I've derailed so many times in the past I still love you and dad so much and I've always wanted to make you and dad proud. I.. I ..." I broke of crying. Mum must have seen my sincerity because the cold look in her eyes softened but that did nothing to smoothen her sharp edged words.

"Eva, love is something that should be felt and experienced not told. You didn't even as much as have the courtesy to check on your sick mother for the past three days. Then you turn up here one morning out of the blues and recite Shakespearean love poems to me and expect me to get down from my bed and embrace you in an " I forgive you hug huh?

" How wrong mother was! How could I explain to her that I had cried non stop those three days, that I had always wanted to make her happy, that my heart ached so bad at the prospects of her disappointment? How could I explain all these when I just couldn't find the right words to express myself?"

On a good day, mum's artistic humour was something to laugh about but today her words contained opium, piercing into the very depths of my soul.

"Eva" She continued, " You have been very selfish without realising it. Do you have any clue about what your dad and I go through to make you happy? Do you even give a damn about others happiness around you? Do you have any idea about what your sisters went through for you to be alive today? Do you..." It was mother's turn to break off crying and my turn to keep quiet digesting the shock. I was stunned for what seemed like a Millennium.

"Sisters???