CHAPTER 3

Theia

I rushed to the kitchen just before the food got burnt. I had slept off and forgotten that mother's soup was still on the stove.

I sighed gratefully, just arriving before the food got burnt.

"Theia!" I heard my mother's voice, she sounded like she was coming from the living room. I placed the lid over the pot and went to the living room.

"Welcome home, mother." I smiled at her, helping her to a seat nearby.

She had been the breadwinner of the family ever since my father mysteriously went missing. Even though everyone thinks he's dead, I have a strong conviction in my heart that he's still alive.

"You didn't leave the house, did you?" She frowned a little at me, I knew what she was talking about.

"There's no need for that, mother." I responded, avoiding her gaze.

She had been adamant about my attendance in school. As a child, before my father's disappearance, I wanted to go to school like every other girl my age; get a degree in college and perhaps a well paying job so my parents could stop being a harvester on our neighbor's field.

Now, my mother was getting old and too weak for that job. It was something mostly men did but she did it anyway so we could have some food to eat.

Schooling would only mean that she would have to make more money. I couldn't let her work harder than she was already doing.

"Theia, you're still so young. You can do so much more than I am if only you're educated." She said with pleading eyes.

"I'll only go to college if you let me share in your responsibility. I know you're concerned about my safety and that is why I have decided that I wouldn't mind working in the field with you. That way, we could be close to each other and you don't have to worry about my safety anymore." I also pleased with her.

Education was important, but my mother's health was much more important to me. I have lost a father already, I cannot afford to lose a mother too.

"Being a harvester isn't as easy as it might seem, Theia..." Before she spoke further, I interrupted her,

"....but you do it anyway."

"Theia, I can't let you do this. Being a harvester required so much from you and so does being a student. You would not be able to meet up with the standard if both. You have to let me play my role while you played yours."

I knew she wasn't going to agree no matter how much I tried to convince her so there was absolutely no need to press further.

"Fine then." I gave up.

"We'll visit Brilfield College tomorrow for your registration." She smiled and in return I managed to pass her a tight smile.

"Dinner's ready." I left the living room to serve her soup.

I didn't want the life my mother wanted for me. While she wanted me to graduate from college and get a good job in the City, I wanted something different.

I wanted to find my father.

There was absolutely no way he was dead. If he were, his body must have been found. It had been so long since he went missing and never returned, the police stopped searching after one fruitless year.

But I felt their effort wasn't enough. I was too young to do anything back then but now, nothing would stop me from going in search of my father.

At the end, maybe my mother's idea about college wasn't so bad anyway. Being in college meant I got to be away from her watchful eyes.

That was the freedom I needed to go in search of my father. There was nothing stopping me this time, I would definitely find my father.

I wasn't going to sit and pretend like I didn't still feel my father out there. Unlike other girls, I was going to go in search of my father and definitely find him.

I made sure my mother was not following me into my room, before locking the door.

When I did, I raised my mattress and brought out the brown envelope I had hidden for far too long. It contained some objects my father owned before he disappeared.

He had this thing that was a watch but never told the same time as a normal watch did. Strangely, the hands of the clock had remained stagnant since my father's disappearance.

It never moved since I found it in his room four years ago. This was probably one of the few reasons the cops couldn't find my father.

His disappearance must have been mystical. Maybe if they had these things, they could lead them to him but there was no way I was releasing this into their care.

My mother was still trying to forget about my father like everyone else had told her to. Bringing up the case again with the cops would only make her feel more miserable than she already did which I didn't wish to happen.

Asides the strange watch, there was his regular work shirt and an empty notepad. The only interesting thing about the items he left behind was this watch.

I had stared at it over and over, trying to find what the strange markings inside the watch meant and why the hands of the watch were yet to move after so long.

"Could it be broken?" I asked myself, dangling the watch in the air like that was the solution it needed to finally work.

I couldn't afford a watchmaker, at least not the ones who made watches at regular work hours.

There were a few who worked at night, they mostly repaired stolen watches and didn't charge so much for their services.

Maybe they would be able to help me out with this thing.

"Theia?" I heard my mother's voice, her footsteps approaching my room.

Quickly, I returned the items to where they were hidden and placed my mattress in its original position.

"Coming!" I responded, hurrying to my feet to get the door.

"Mother?" I opened the door and saw that she had changed her clothes into another pair of her work clothes.

"I'm off to work." She stated the obvious.

"But you just got back? Moreover, your work hours have elapsed." I was almost yelling at her.

"There's still so much more to be done at the field. By the way I won't be working on the field tonight. Some thieves have been harvesting the grains even before the harvest period. I'll just be keeping a watch with the others. I know you're worried but there's no need for you to be. We'll be taking turns in keeping watch and I only have a night shift once a week. There's no more after that." She said and then kissed me before walking away, not giving me the chance to argue with her.

"Be careful out there!" I yelled after her.

"I guess fate was giving me more time to search for my father than I had asked for." I smiled to myself.

With my mother out every Tuesday night, I had more time to find my dad.

Great!

I rushed into my room and threw on an old pair of jeans and my father's shirt. I made sure to wear a hoodie too, to protect myself from the harsh whether and preying eyes.

I picked up the watch and dumped it in my pocket, leaving my hand in there for protection.

When I felt I was ready enough, I left the house, slipping into the darkness of the street.

WRITER'S POV

When Theia walked into the street, she took out the watch and stared at it even though she could almost not see a damn thing on the object, in the dark.

Just before she returned it into her pocket, the hands of the strange watch moved for the first time in four whole years.