It was the close of school activities for the day. Many students took their bags and left for home but Casey stood behind. He wanted to figure something out. The school was way different from St. Mark's.
At St. Mark's High School, everyone loved one another. It neither was nor was an expensive schools but there no infrastructural differences. Everyone respected one another. Mill High School was expensive, everyone was classy and unfriendly. That was so easy to detect. The hostile treatment those boys gave him earlier served as an eye opener. Besides, no one deemed it fit to welcome him as a new student.
The students looked happy, rich and contented. He was almost sure they all had moms. He would be happier if his mother was still alive. He remembered how he found out.
He had just learnt about a family tree in Social Studies in the second grade. He asked his friends if they had moms and they all answered in the affirmative. He began to nurse suspicious feelings. If all his friends had moms, why didn't he?
As he walked towards the zebra crossing that was in front of the school, he made a firm resolve. He was going to question Clara about it when he got home.
He walked in without knocking. He saw his sister inside the living room. She was still in her school uniform and it was obvious she also just came back from school. She was in High School and she was classy. Clara was beautiful. She was tall and slim. Her eyes and long hairs added to her alluring beauty. He recalled she was also just fifteen and he was seven.
"Clara, I want to ask you something". He said, dropping his backpack on the sofa.
"Okay, you can ask me anything. You never stop asking questions. It's you". She said with a smile and sat on the couch.
"Where's mom?" He dropped the bombshell.
Clara's smile dried up immediately. She sat up to listen to more of what he was about to say.
"What do you mean? Stop it if it's a joke". She said, folding her arms with a slight frown. She thought her trick would wok magic as usual but she was wrong.
"I mean the woman that held us in her womb for nine months. Where is she?" He said, tapping his foot on the ground with a frown.
"Okay. Don't come crying to me when it's too much to bear." She said, deciding to finally tell the truth." I'm all ears." He said without batting an eyelid.
" I am sorry to tell you this but mom is long dead. She died in an airplane crash fifteen years ago. Then you were just nine months old and I was nine years. I couldn't bear it then." She said, bursting into uncontrollable tears.
Casey went berserk immediately. He couldn't believe his ears.
"What!" He said and lay on the ground in tears.
I am so sorry. I should have told you about this earlier but dad made me swear not to." She said pulling him up to the sofa with her.
They embraced each other and they slept off on the couch embracing each other that afternoon