MY STORY: When death knocked on our door
By CAROLINE KAGOSE
December 2nd 2014 will forever be engraved in my heart. It’s as if it was just yesterday.
Being the early bird that I am, I was up bright and early. I don’t know why but I was unusually happy. The joy I had that day wasn’t normal, add that to the fact that I had a presentation to make later in the day and you can guess how my morning looked like.
The day got on as usual; I had my classes, chatted with friends, and did anything that normal people my age would be doing. I sometimes think that I was meant to use up all my happiness that morning. It was as if fate had in mind that this was probably the last time I would be happy.
At around midday, I started receiving calls from my family members. It wasn’t like them to do so but I reluctantly ignored the calls. I had a presentation coming up and I thought they were just calling to tell me something they saw and wanted me to know. I told myself I would call them back later, after the presentation of course. All went well during my class; I presented and waited till the class was over so that I could go home.
When I stepped out of class and boarded a bus to go home, something immediately crossed my heart. It was a slight sense of panic mixed with a sense of fear. I decided to call my mum. The phone rang but she didn’t answer. Her not picking my call was very unusual. She always had her phone in her hand or nearby. If she didn’t pick up, I knew she was pretty occupied.
MISSED CALLS
Then there were these missed calls from family members. Several of them. I sat there, wondering what could have happened. I thought whatever it was, it had to be really bad; I had several missed calls from family and my mom wasn’t picking up. I didn’t want to make any hasty conclusions, so I decided to call my mom again.
She picked up. Her voice was so shaken, so broken and sad. “I am so sorry,” that was the first thing she said to me. I sat there wondering what in the world she was talking about. Did she perhaps do something really bad, get arrested or maybe broke something I liked.
“Sorry for what mum?” was all I was able to say. At this point I was already sick to my stomach; I wanted to know what was going on. When she finally gathered the strength to tell me what was going on, I felt like I was going to pass out. “Your dad passed on a few hours ago.”
I don’t remember what happened next but it all went dark. For the first time in my life, I fainted. I fainted right there in the bus. Surrounded by strangers, which probably made the situation worse or better, I don’t know.
Next thing I know, I wake up and a man relatively young was holding me in his hands. “I heard everything, everything is going to be ok,” was what he said to me. My dad had succumbed to a heart attack. He was gone. It was hard to believe a day that started so well could end so tragically.”
Caroline Kagose writes for Content Production Media. Content Production Media is a Nairobi based Media Company that creates elegant content for print, online platforms, film and television.
Twitter: @CPMBelieve1
