My father’s funeral had just over. All of his close friends and business partners came to visit. I hate it when they come. I’m glad if they come because they were sincere, but I really hate it when some of them come to only confirm my father’s death and some of them even looked happy when they see the dead body of my father being buried. Those smirked on their lips still haunted me till now. Every time I close my eyes, trying to sleep, I would remember those lips curved upward slightly, eyes shone with satisfaction.

A month had passes since my father’s funeral. Mother was busy, like really busy. After the death of my father, mother had to take over the company as my brother and I were not old enough to take over his place. I kind of miss my mother. We hardly see her. Whenever we got home, we were only greeted by the empty house. It was lonely but I guess I got used to it already.

On some rare occasion, I was able to see my mother but it totally hurt me. My mother had changed. She was not the same kind and loving mother anymore. She acted cold to us. I didn’t even know why.

I couldn’t sleep that night. For someone as young as me to be in a stupid problem as this was killing me from the inside. The curiosity inside me got the best of me. I wanted to know and find out what was happening. I wanted to know what had changed my family. I wanted to know everything and as you all know, curiosity kills the cat and my curiosity had totally killed the trust I had to my mother.

I had sneaked into her room that night. I was curious on to why my mother had changed. I thought that maybe if I sneaked into her room I would know the reason and damn I was right. I heard her talking and laughing on the phone and what I heard totally broke my heart. Even if I’m still young, I still understand what was happening even if it’s only a little.

“Well, thank you honey for helping me back then,” I heard my mother said in a sickeningly sweet tone. The person on the line must have been replying to my mother because I saw my mother paused for a second. Her face was adorned with a wide smile and I could practically see her blushing. And that was really weird. My mother blushing? Like, what the hell? The only time I saw her blush like that was when she was with my father. And I’m sure she was not talking to my father as my father no longer exists in this world.

“Yeah, I know. Those two kids are troublesome. I wish I could get rid of them like how I got rid of their father,” she continued. And that was the moment I realized what she meant. I was clueless at first but I come to understand the meaning behind her words. She killed my father and now, she was hoping she could get rid of us, her sons.

I guess, I could say I’m lucky because my parents were both a well-known people. If not, she might have thrown my brother and I out from the house. She had a reputation to maintain. She needed to make sure people always see her as one of the kindest, prettiest and caring mother on earth which is now I doubt she ever was.

The next day I tried to tell my neighbours about it. Of course, they don’t believe anything that I told them and they said that I might just have a nightmares. But I insisted. I also brought them to the place where I buried the knife but I was shocked to see that the knife was not there. It seemed as if someone had taken it already. My neighbours met my mother and told everything that I had done.

At first, my mother just showed a sad smile. She started to make up stories saying that I was always like that and how troublesome I am with my constant outburst and so on. And she also told them to keep all of this as a secret as she still ‘love’ me and didn’t want people to see me as a troublesome kid. Of course everything that my mother said wasn’t true.

After our neighbours left, my mother looked at me and I could see in her eyes that she was really mad. I tried to cower away but of course, I couldn’t fight with someone bigger than me.

“You shouldn’t have done that. You should just listen to me and do as I say,” she said in a low tone which scared me to death. She never used that tone before and this was the first. I was scared. My silly mind even thought that my mother was possessed by the devil which was maybe the real reason to why she became like that.

“Never talk to anyone about this thing ever again. If I heard about it, then you’re going to pay for the consequence,” she continued with a glare. She looked away and sighed. “Go to your room,” she said again. This time, her voice was much calmer than before. I quickly ran to my room. I was scared, totally scared. I knew that my mother would stay to her word. If I ever did anything wrong again, she would definitely do something that I wouldn’t like.

She had changed too much. How I wished she would still stay as the mother I once knew. Its hurt when the one you know is the one you knew as it stabbed your heart, leaving it to bleed on its own without anyone there to repair the damage.