Chapter 2
Secrets are made to be found out in time. It might take less than no time or it might take twenty-one years but eventually someone has to let the cat out the bag…
Daniela leaves the hospital with anger and shock still flooding through every part of her body that she seems to have forgotten that she has a little secret of her own. She scurries down the street with no particular destination in mind, with the tiny drops of rain gradually increasing to larger drops; her head is kept with her eyes focused on the ground causing wrinkles to form in the glabella. Everything is just playing on her mind, especially her mother’s last confession
“Clarence isn’t your dad…your Uncle D is really your dad”
“Uncle D is really your dad”
“Clarence isn’t your dad”
This continues to replay in her head, blinding her senses and making her ignorant to her surroundings – that is until a loud screech echoes in her ears and a car comes to a sudden halt in front of her causing her bones to stiffen and her feet to feel as if it’s glued to the particular spot she is in.
On lifting her head and staring into the brightness evading from the car in front her, shock begins to plop up through her veins whilst her tears blend together with the raindrops collapsing onto her face. The man in the car seems in a peeve about the delay and pushes his angered red face through the window
“Watch where you’re going woman!” he then swerves pass her whilst flipping her off
She then comes to her senses and realizes she’s going nowhere slowly, so she hurriedly walks over to the sidewalk and raises her arm out, receiving the intended goal of gripping the attention of the cabbie.
Once she flops onto the back seat of the cab, she shivers with the sudden transition zone of the cold air outside to the warmness surrounding her in the cab, and then she finally manages to let out through her quivering lips, the address to which she intends to go.
As the cab moves along the streets, Daniela sits there drenched in rain and stares out the window with a blank expression painted on her face. The cab is shadowed by the absence of sound as she seems to be captured into her own little world, but the cabbie seems unable to welcome the silence so he turns on the radio
“You're never wrong and I’m never right and
You win all the rounds in every fight
That’s why...
Can’t stay another day when you're always
Gettin your way, you just keep getting your way
You just keep getting your way (selfish)
So i decided not to get in your way
It’s time to do it my way and that means
Getting away from you, ya selfish!”
Asia Cruise – Selfish begins to play and Daniela nonchalantly listens to the words of the song, relating part of it to what she’s going through at this moment
“She’s selfish” she murmurs which gets the attention of the cabbie that probably has been waiting all this time to start a conversation because he looks like a chatty type of guy
He turns down the volume on the radio and focuses his attention on Daniela through his rear view mirror
“Sorry, did you say something mam?” he stares at the rear view mirror patiently awaiting a response
“No” she mumbles whilst still looking out the window
“Huh could you speak up” the cabbie tries to dig at her patience as he pretends to not hear her the first time
“NO…I didn’t say anything!” she angrily protests
“Geez, you didn’t have to be so harsh…so who’s this ‘she’ whom is selfish? He begins to ask her questions like a gossipmonger which he probably is
“No-one” she tiredly says
“Okay…” he finally gives up as he sees he’s not going to get any stories from her
After some moments of silence, Daniela twiddles her thumbs and seems nervous or scared “My m…mum” she finally says trying not to cry
“I’m sorry mam, why do you say she’s selfish?” the cabbie asks her
“She kept this huge secret from me…my entire life” she looks down at her fingers whilst still fidgeting with them
The now very interested cabbie asks “What secret is it mam?”
But just then Daniela lifts her head up and notices that they are almost at her destination. She asks the cabbie to please stop the car, she hops out after paying the cabbie but as she stands outside the cabbie tells her
“Whatever secret it is that she has kept from you, she probably did it for a reason and I’m guessing that reason was for your own good. Always remember it’s not the end of the world when you discover a secret that’s been kept from you because everyone keeps secrets, it’s just a way of life”
Who knew the cabbie would have such wise words but it sure did give Daniela something to think about
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Momma's gotta secret but...So do I (Watty Awards 2012)
Short Story“What do you mean by Uncle D is really my dad?” she looks at her mother’s face with confusion and hope that it’s just a misunderstanding. Daniela is so furious with her mother for keeping such a huge secret from her that she forgets about her little...
