13

Chapter 13

Awerkok woke up to the sound of the alarm clock beside him ringing out loud and clear. Groaning slightly, he rolled onto his side and buried his head deeper into his pillow. He knew exactly who was responsible for setting off the alarm; his sons. He heard them come into their room and then stop outside the door. Apparently they had decided to wait until their dad was awake and ready to talk to him. For one minute, Awerkok contemplated whether he wanted to deal with them. He really didn't want to, considering what he was supposed to say to them. After all, he had already promised his parents that he was going to give them a reason for everything that had happened between himself and his father. And so far, no reason had presented itself. Not even close to an adequate explanation had come up. All he knew was that he had been lied to for almost 20 years and that he hated being lied to.

Finally deciding that arguing with his children, which was clearly a lost cause, was more preferable to dealing with both of them, he got out of bed and stretched. Then he walked towards the bathroom. Once inside, he washed his face and then combed his hair. After doing that, he quickly dressed himself and then checked the time. 7am. He figured it was only right that he would take breakfast with them; otherwise, he probably wouldn't have any appetite to begin with. Opening the door a few seconds later, he found that his sons were seated at the table with their food, having already started eating. Both of them looked at him expectantly and for some strange reason, he felt embarrassed.

"You two aren't hungry?" He asked in surprise.

"No, we're fine," Answered Denny.

"Alright," Said Argo, sitting down at the table and taking a bite out of his cereal.

"So..." said Denny hesitantly, staring at his father as he ate. "What exactly do you have to say to us?"

After swallowing, Awerkok took another bite of cereal and cleared his throat in order to avoid making eye contact with them.

"I have something to tell you two", He said solemnly.

"Well, here goes then!" Thought Denny.

He and Denny exchanged confused glances and waited patiently for their father to say something, but he just sat there looking at them as if he was expecting them to say something first. They were beginning to get worried. Finally, Argo reached for his coffee mug, took a sip of coffee and spoke.

"When you were young, before you left home to go to college, you were really sick and it made you very uncomfortable. We used to help you get over these problems whenever they cropped up, but after a while, we stopped doing so. One day, I was trying to look after you while your mother was away visiting family and I was talking to you. You told me that I shouldn't listen to your mother and that she didn't love me... And that made me upset. At the same time, your illness became more serious, so I decided to go to a specialist to see if we could find out how your sickness was coming from. I wanted to ask you why you were saying things like that. I mean, it wasn't true, was it? I was always there for you and I don't know when or how you learned about me and Mum, but from that day on, whenever something was troubling you, I'd try my hardest to help you through it. But I'm afraid I can't help you with this, because you won't even allow me to visit you. I think it's because you don't trust me. Do you realise that your behaviour has caused us so much pain? And what makes it worse is that you have kept this secret for so long and I can't figure out why or how you thought it was okay to keep such important things hidden! Well