The Ruined Rainbow

CHAPTER 27

When you inherit a broken family, you can't throw it away and get a new one. What you can do is find people and situations that provide for you what your family cannot.
- Iyanla Ianzant

Ayesha

I read and reread the letter, my eyes, especially in the last paragraph. Tears came out instantly and fell on the paper. The ink did not get smeared, but it made a blotch every time.

My dad was murdered. By my own family. My uncle and my mother. And he chose to remain silent and write a letter to me, then search for the cure.

I was the main cause. If I had hidden my journal, this wouldn't have happened. If I had taken this to Delhi, this wouldn't have happened. If I hadn't written this, this wouldn't have happened.

The main reason for me not telling my dad was- I don't know.  I honestly didn't feel like it. I knew the trust he had on his brother and the bond between the two. I, lost hope after my mother asked me to remain silent. I never wanted my dad do be burdened with the thought that his own brother had abused and harassed his own daughter.

I sat on the bed, my tears still not stopping. My dad's letter and the green bottle lied to the right side. I was shivering. Head to toe.

Something else caught my eye. Something in the green bottle. I picked up the bottle and turned it upside down, and something shiny, long and slender fell on my lap.

A gold chain.

A beautiful gold chain. It was a simple one. Had no design on it: just a simple, and a beautiful one. A paper was folded along with it.

Consider this as my gift, Ayesha. For your birthdays ahead. I know it is not much but couldn't arrange anything at this time. Accept it. Please?

"Ayesha?" My mother's voice came. I saw her standing at the door, looking at me.

I stared at her — the Lady, who killed my father.  The lady who had fallen in love with my Uncle over my dad, cheating him. The lady who had asked me to keep quiet when I told her what I faced. The lady who was the main cause of my situation today.

And she was my mother.

If it weren't for her, I would have enjoyed a beautiful childhood like everyone else; we would have been in Massachusetts, we would have been one happy family with no regret. We would have returned to India, and established a company of my dreams, but most of all, my dad would have been alive.

The bitterness would have shown in my face. Cause she looked away and said, "I have made tea. Coming?"

I should have said no. I should have screamed at her now. I should have confronted her what she did with my dad. I should have told her she was a monster and a horrible person.

Instead, I nodded and said, yes.

She looked at me and looked like she wanted to say something, but decided against it. She walked away, leaving me staring behind her.

I looked at the chain again. And the note again. I couldn't just feel anything. The gold chain was cold against my skin. It was a beautiful piece. Simple, I know. But it meant the world to me. Why? Because my father gave it to me.