Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

know n Mum in her youth, in her pr ime. She was a rebel, they said, always thinking
one step ahead of everyone else. Then some r emember ed us as childr en, all messy
hands and unr uly cur ls. You were quite the handful, you two, they told us. We never
knew where she got the energy from, to raise two young girls and keep her career
afloat. Then once all the plates w er e clear ed, and all the stor ies told, w e got in a taxi
and dr ove home.
Dad cr ied on the dr ive home. Sandw iched betw een my sister and me, he shook
like a leaf betw een gr eat w heezing sobs as w e held him close. He kept telling us, I?m
sorry, I?m sorry, and w e believed him. Ther e was nothing he could have done.
Nothing at all.
Cancer is a bastar d, a malicious and cunning one at that. And so, w e w ear pink
r ibbons, like poppies in November to honour our dead. But the war is never tr uly
over , and w e w ill never see an ar mistice.
Putting Dad to sleep, on the couch in the sitting r oom, cover ed in a blanket that he
and Mum bought on holiday befor e I was bor n. He has stopped shaking, though his
eyes ar e r ed-r immed and his dar k suit is stained w ith cr usted tear s and spittle
dr aw n fr om clenched teeth. We tur n the heating on, to br ing a spar k of war mth
into this empty house. My sister and I, w e do not talk, but get on w ith things as they
come. We check the post, w e wash the dishes, w e sor t the r ecycling into its neat
little boxes. We do this, to avoid noticing the absence that w e dar e not name.
I hug my little sister in the bathr oom, as she collapses in sputter ing tear s on
finding one of Mum?s per fume bottles in the medicine cabinet. She was looking for
toothpaste w hen she spied the little bottle of No.5 nestled betw een the Colgate and
the TCP. She didn?t even take it out, to uncor k its war m delight and smell the scent
of our Mother linger ing in the air ; she star ed at it, for a long, long time. Then, w hen
the spell was br oken, her feet gave way fr om under her , and she let the gr ief begin
anew.
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