Grim Reaper

Mother did not have to be told I had broken up with Simon, she could tell by the way he had quickly left, the way I hid under my covers and refused to eat anything. She kept trying to find out what went wrong as she likes Simon a lot and was happy when we had got together and our sudden breakup was puzzled her.

Peter called me and I was uncertain if it was unexpected or not as I was not sure how much Simon confided in his father. He told me he knew why I had left and although he did not blame me he wanted to know that it basically was his fault for being such a cad and abandoning his family. He told me that he had never seen Simon as happy as he had been with me and that my leaving was breaking both their hearts. I told him as much as I cared for Simon I could not live with the secrets of his past and he said he appreciated my position and we left it at that.

I cried for an hour then dozed off in a fitful sleep until Jazz woke me up with a call asking me why I was no longer working at the car yard as she had tried calling me there and had been told I was no longer an employee. I told her that Simon and I had broken up and she did not ask me why nor seemed surprised instead she asked if I would like company but I couldn’t face her as I was sure her lack of surprise was from her believing this was the result of the confrontation between Jojo and me the other day. She was too close to and if she came over she would raise the subject of her brother it would have been torture as I didn’t want her to think that I left Simon because of Jojo, although I could not rule that out from happening. I was not about to tell her about Simon’s past with Gervais so I told her I had a headache which was true and was not getting out of bed which also was true.

Tiah after hearing of our breakup on the grapevine rang up trying to get the story from me but I didn’t say much as Tiah was the last person in the world I was about to confide in. She offered to come over but I wasn’t about to have her hound me for the gory details of my breakup. I wandered downstairs to find Mother sitting in her drawing room in the dark. I turned on the light startling her as she looked a bit confused and pale. She smiled and told me it really was a big shame that Simon and I were no longer together and looked so sad I almost felt tempted to comfort her but this was not something I could discuss with her, some pain is too private to share and leaving her to her gin I wandered back upstairs.

Coco woke me with a call that surprisingly was not about my break up with Simon at all but the latest Vanderhaven gossip and it was typical of Tiah to call about my life while blithely ignoring her own dramas. Taryn was tormenting Jago so much about Nadia claiming the baby was his that Tiah wanted to move in with Coco a few days. Zizi was also not speaking to Jago again or her mother for being with Tony and Braith was trying to help Royce get out of his engagement with Elyce Dubois. It seems that family had troubles enough for a millennium but it got worse, for then Gervais phoned Taryn to tell him that Jago was having an affair with Liselle. A furious Taryn wasted no time, driving to town she engaged Alexis Sarant, the meanest, high powered divorce lawyer in Bishop Vale, the same one who scared Mr.Sangu into taking his tarty wife back. She meant business and Jago was about to discover it in a very financial way.

After Coco had passed on all the meaningless gossip I hung up and wandered downstairs only to find the house in dark again so I turned the light on to see that Mother sitting in the dark in her drawing room. She probably fell asleep after her gin and I went to wake her up to go to bed. I saw her sitting in her favorite chair, her gin on her little table beside her, with her eyes closed, she looked so peaceful it was a shame to disturb her. I shook her gently but she didn’t wake so I shook her a bit harder and she slumped over in the chair. I called out but she didn’t answer then I took her hand and it was ice cold. I shook her but she stayed limp and for a minute I stood there just staring while panic filled my heart then I ran and called the ambulance while shouting Maritka at the top of my voice. It did not take long for the paramedics to come and when they saw her shook their heads but they didn’t have to tell me anything I didn’t already know. Mother was dead.

Previous Next