Creative writing: Sisters

Photo by Lucy Elizabeth 

Not long ago I had received a message from a woman named Tara, she had reached out to me to contact my father. Her father was an old friend of his, he had recently passed, and she wanted to let him know. How nice of her, I thought – I’m sure my father will be saddened by the news.

I was surprised a few months later when, one evening, her name popped up on my phone again. She needed to talk to me and felt it was best to call. Eager to know what was going on, I made myself a cup of tea and waited for her to call. The seconds felt like minutes, time was dragging. I kept checking my phone, it felt like the wait was eternal, yet it wasn’t – there was only five minutes between my last message and her call. 

‘Hi Amy, I’m sorry to message you out of the blue like this again’ Her voice was shaking, nervous.

‘That’s absolutely fine, don’t worry – Is everything okay?’ I ask, not wanting to push her to tell me, but eager to know. 

‘I think it would be a good idea for you to take a seat, if you aren’t already’ My heart started thumping in my chest. Every bad situation possible started racing through my head, trying to figure out what this could possibly be about. 

 

‘Okay…’ I said, sliding off the sofa and kneeling down on the floor, leant up against the sofa. 

 ‘I didn’t know how to approach this subject, I just think that this is the best thing to do’ she paused, ‘I spoke to your father, I just don’t trust he will do as he’s promised’ Her voice broke ever so slightly, it was clear she was trying her best to hold back tears. I stayed quiet, waiting for her to work up the courage to tell me whatever it was she felt she needed to tell me. 

 ‘Remember when I contacted you a few months ago to contact your father?’ 

 ‘Yes…’ 

 ‘Well I wasn’t being completely honest at the time, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how else to contact him.’ 

 ‘Okay…?’ 

 ‘He knew my mother many years ago… They, well they had a relationship – while my mother was married to, who I believed was my father.’ She paused; her voice cracked again. This time the tears made it through, she took a deep breath and continued. ‘He did pass away a few months ago, that part was true. However, he was not friends with your father. It came out after his death that there was a chance, I wasn’t biologically his daughter’ her tears made it through again, I could hear her weeping. She struggled to speak, I stayed quiet, patiently waiting for her to be ready to speak. 

‘I had reason to believe that I was biologically your fathers’ daughter, and that is why I needed to contact him – to confirm it’ the news hit me like a ton of bricks, I didn’t know what to think. I was in shock, yet excited. 

‘Did you manage to contact him?’ I had heard nothing more about the situation since I had told my father that she had reached out for his contact details, I hadn’t thought to ask. 

‘Yes, and we did a DNA test… and it came back positive’ I didn’t know what to say. Although I was excited, I was aware that it wasn’t all good news. Why hadn’t my father told me himself? Did he plan to? I was horrified that he had thought to keep something so big from me, it hurt. 

 ‘Oh…’ Was I supposed to apologise or congratulate her? I couldn’t imagine the pain she was going through in this moment, I could hear it in her voice – This was hard for her.