“Nothing.”
I don’t know why I lied. But on the way back home I could no longer keep it to myself.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Grandpa said something to me.”
My mother was driving. His expression immediately became serious.
“What did he tell you?”
I repeated Grandpa’s words.
For several seconds, Mom said absolutely nothing. He then stopped the car on the side of the road.
His reaction scared me more than Grandpa’s words.
“Did he tell you exactly that?”
I nodded.
“And he told you not to tell me?”
I nodded again. Mom closed her eyes.
“My God…”
“Mom, what’s going on?”
He turned to me.
“Tonight you’re not going anywhere. You will stay by my side.”
When we got home, Mom called my aunt. From the hallway I could only hear fragments of the conversation.
“…he told Lily…”
Silence.
“Yes. Tonight.”
Then, with a much lower voice, he said:
“I knew this day would come.”
After hearing those words, I couldn’t calm down for the rest of the night. Around eleven o’clock, the doorbell rang.
It was Grandpa. Mom opened the door, but didn’t invite him in.
“Dad, why are you here?”
“I came to find Lily.”
Mom’s face changed.
“No.”
Grandpa looked at her for a few seconds.
“Sarah, you can’t protect her from everything forever.”
“She’s a girl.”
“That’s precisely why I want him to be there tonight.”
