Your Tragic Fate

Maggie Baker’s Point of View.

I woke up that morning to Zacky snoring in my ear. His hands were tucked under his pillow. His face was towards me though so I could see him sleep. I heard the pitter patter of little feet running toward the bed, there was no impact of her weight when she landed on the bed. That was because she wasn’t really there. She cuddled in next to me but she was facing Zacky. Sapphire looked about three years old.

“Is he my daddy?” she asked.

Sapphire had dark white skin, her father had been tan, where as Zacky was pale. She had clear blue eyes; they were light, almost glowing. Zacky’s were a mix of green and blue. Her hair was more of a black shade then a brown. My point is that she didn’t look like Zacky at all.

However, when she asked that, Zacky moved his hand out from beneath the pillow, right next to her face, like he wanted her to hold it. She put her hand over his. He smiled into his sleep. She was making him dream about her; of course I doubt she had any idea of what she was actually doing.
“My daughter,” he mumbled in his sleep.

“Yes, he’s your daddy,” I told her.

“We play,” she said and then she was gone. I imagined him chasing her around the house, playing hide and seek and tag, like he did with Damien and Daryk. I let him dream as I rolled out of bed. I was traveling upstate with Daryk today. It was going to be a long day.

This is in the point of view of Daryk Tanner Baker.

Today was a blur. I had spent most of it on a train and I had done all of it for my mother. I hardly remember waking up this morning; I hardly remember getting on the train. I didn’t even know what we were doing until we were halfway to Syracuse, New York. That’s when she told me a secret, a secret that has the potential to change the rest of my life. The only reason it wasn’t was because I was holding onto a small amount of hope that nothing she told me was true. Part of me knew all of it was true. This was happening and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I couldn’t help her. I could only be strong and be there for her. What she told me had the potential to ruin our family. It could ruin my father and my brother. It would ruin me. So I needed that hope. I needed faith that everything was going to turn out okay. That would hold me together. The exhaustion hit me hard as I collapsed on the hotel room bed in New York City. The reality of it all hit me; my mother thought she had cancer. She assumed she had a potentially life threatening disease and she told me her secret, a secret that I couldn’t tell a soul until we knew for certain. Who knew when we would know for certain? I fell asleep shaking, trying to control the sobs that riddled through me. This was the only time I would allow myself to be like this. I had to be strong for her.

This is a flashback of earlier that day.

The sound of a baby crying woke me from my sleep, from the weird dream I had been having. It was of my Aunt Maddie and my sister Sapphire, at least I thought it was them. Aunt Maddie was telling me to be brave, and to take care of my mother. Sapphire was crying like she was in pain and sad, like something terrible was happening. If I was dreaming of Sapphire crying, how come it was waking me up? As I began to stir I thought I heard my mom say, “Give her to me,” Was she talking about Sapphire? The crying quickly faded and stopped all together. For some reason the words ‘you’re a natural’ popped into my head and I think it referred to my mother’s mothering skills.
The next few moments after I woke up would change whatever plans I had for my future, whatever my life was supposed to be like. My mother told me her suspicions about her cancer, about the illness she didn’t know she had. I remember mumbling words of hope, of reassurance. I have no idea what I said though; it was like my body was moving on automatic. I remember the cold chill that went up my spine when we enter the hospital, waiting in the doctor’s office for my dead aunt’s (cancer doctor). A piece of me was uncomfortable with the fact that my mother was choosing a doctor who we had lost Aunt Maddie and Grandpa to. This was what she wanted though, so I kept my thoughts to myself. Mom’s said some words of friendly introduction to the doctor, smiling like old friends. Once in her office, I believe her name was Dr. Stevens, my mother spoke of her suspicions. The doctor listened, I did not. Owen popped into my head. It felt like he was just getting better, just coming back to me, and this was happening. Somehow it seemed like I could never be happy for more than a moment. Something would happen that would cause everything to shake, which would cause my world to shatter. I had nodded at something they were talking about, next thing I know mom is being dragged off to do tests; Tests which we wouldn’t find out the answer to until after the holidays, until after we were back in California. The doctor hugged my mother goodbye and I shook her hand, I was just noticing that she had a nice smile, but old eyes, eyes that told me her life was full of hardship. I smiled at my mother, who seemed more content, more at ease that it was finally over with. Checking the clock, she said we still had a few hours until the train back to New York City. As we sat down to lunch, she began mentioning how long my hair was getting. That it might be time for a haircut. I agreed, even though I liked the length of my hair, even though Owen really loved my hair, it would make her a little bit happier. So after getting a bite to eat in the food court of the local mall, we went to one of the salons there. To be honest, I ended up loving the haircut I got. It seemed to suit me. I was kind of excited about how Owen would react to it. So we boarded the train heading back to our family. Mom and I talked about when she wanted to tell them and what she was going to tell them. Mom decided that she was going to wait until we were already back home in California, because she didn’t want to ruin the holidays for anyone. She also wanted to get the test results back, so if she didn’t have cancer, why worry everyone? In the end she would still tell dad. It would just matter in if she had it or not when she told him. Crawling back into bed as soon as we got back, I recalled my day, hoping everything was going to be okay.