The ambulance sirens were sounding so loud and fast. Just like it was on a double-fast mode play.
Machines beeping slower, like the sound is placed on setback...
Sandra held onto the hands of her young boy like it was a source of energy for her to live on.
"Richard..." she whispered.
"I'm here, Mum," he replied quickly with his voice shaking and getting more panicked as the woman whose hands felt weak some moments ago started holding him with a stronger grip with tears rolling down her cheeks like one filled with regrets.
"Promise me that you will never be like your father." She said, with her lips trembling.
He answered and nodded frantically with tears rolling down his face. "I promise you, Mum. I won't ever be like him. Just stay with me and don't leave too.
Sandra chuckled faintly with a little smile radiating on her face. The energy from the palms holding Richard reduced and loosened like a rope slipping away.
And then, her hands fell.
"Mom?!"
Richard screamed and cried as he held her lifeless body, shaking her and begging with the intention that she would hear him and that would remind her that she was leaving him behind in a world where all he ever had was her alone, but she didn't.
Years Passed...
Richard grew up to become a more handsome and hardworking guy who carried resentment against a father he never knew and who was never present in his life.
A failed father who left.
"What a wicked man" would always cross his mind whenever a flash of his mum's memories came appearing to his face like the rays of the sun.
He was not ready to love deeply or stay committed to anyone to leave her just like his father did.
He convinced himself that not getting committed and avoiding responsibility was better than becoming someone's disappointment.
"I'm not like him," he would always say.
He became the shadow of himself on a story he never verified.
But then, something happened! The truth was worse.
On one of his leaves from work, Richard decided to sort some of his mum's belongings, to go through them and refresh the memories of his mom.
As he was doing this, he stumbled on a dusty box. "I have never seen this before with my mum" was the whole thought walking through his mind.
He opened the box and saw a few brown envelopes neatly tied with a red ribbon. On taking one, he discovered they were letters meant for him because his name was written on them.
He opened the first letter and was shocked by what he found. IT WAS A LETTER FROM HIS DAD!
"Dear son, if you're reading this, then it means your mother didn't get the chance to tell you the truth."
Richard froze for a few seconds.
"I didn't leave because I wanted to. I was sick and dying. I was so scared to allow you watch me die like you will be doing to your mum. I promised her not to show up, and she promised to make you hate me so that losing me doesn't hurt or break you."
Letter after letter, more truth about his family got unfolded, and Richard came to realize the real fact he had been shunned from all these years:
A father who loved him so much. Well enough to disappear.
A mother who lied to him just to protect him.
The whole promises built on sacrifices and not failure or abandonment.
That moment, Richard cried so bitterly, realizing the many years he had wasted resenting a father who had loved him so much.
The hatred he had kept in his heart against a father he never knew.
A story he never feel bothered to verified.
"I kept the wrong promise" was what he kept uttering.
For the first time, he understood.
His mother had not meant "never be your father." She had meant "never hurt like he did."
That night...
Richard placed a call to his girlfriend he had been so afraid of staying committed to.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice breaking. “I made a promise a long time ago… but I didn’t understand it.”
Then softly, “And now?” his girlfriend asked.
He wiped his tears.
“Now I do. And I promise… I will stay with you for the rest of our lives.”
....................
I'll be dropping my 🖊️ here on the Inkwell community prompt on PROMISE
Thanks for reading through 🤗
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