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Maynia -- Day Eighteen -- 1,832 words
“Sheriff Heins! You can't go in there, the Mayor said not to disturb him!”
I didn't mean to ignore father's secretary as she tried to run after me, but I didn't really need to make an appointment just to talk to my dad. I only hesitated when I saw Uncle Derek stood guard by my father's door, but he just gave me a stern once over then gestured to dad's now panting secretary to let me be, before he opened the door and let me into father's office.
What I saw inside made me stop in my tracks-- father had his head in his hands, clutching his thin greying hair as he kept muttering something to himself-- he looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. “I told them not to let anybody in!” He looked up from his desk then, an almost crazed look in his eyes.
I watched as his left hand made a grab for the paperweight on his desk, it took me three strides forward before I managed to stop him mid throw, “We need to talk about Shiela.” I spoke to him in a toneless voice, the hard grip I had on his hand the only thing that betrayed what I was truly feeling at the moment.
“HA! That Ms. Lancaster! I’ve been trying to contact her these couple of days, but she hasn’t returned any of my calls! And here I thought she was different from your mother! They’re all just emotional bitches at the end of the day!”
Clenching my jaw, I barely registered the slight sting on my palm as I gripped my father a little too hard before he gave out a pained yelp and forcefully pulled back his hand from my own. The momentum however may have been a little too much for him, causing him to tumble out of his chair and onto the room’s plush carpeting with a slight thud.
The sound might have been loud enough for Uncle Derek to hear as he soon knocked on the door, seeking permission to enter, but what really got my attention was how father crawled to the other side of his desk and started coughing really loudly—as if he was coughing something out. Was he sick?
I didn’t get the chance to round the desk and have a good look at father as Uncle Derek came rushing into the room and began to help father stand up, I only heard him take a deep breath before he patted my uncle on the shoulder in reassurance then started to slowly walk pass me. I watched as he stopped by the door, noticing how he gripped the handle before he acknowledged my presence, “You take care of yourself, Jackson.” He slightly looked back at me, enough for me to notice the change in his demeanor.
I tried to follow him as he walked out of his office but a firm hand on my shoulder held me back, I turned and saw Uncle Derek give me a stern look then shook his head at me, before he let go and started after my father. What was that just now? That look on my father’s face—for once he looked sane, like how he looked like before he got crazy at having the Lancaster Tower built.
I clenched my palms only to register the sting it caused as I looked down and opened my right hand, my father seemed to have left his signet ring.
“Drink it, Shiela. It’ll be good for you.”
“But daddy.. the water tastes funny..”
“Just do it Shiela. Think about how you’re doing this for your mother.”
I pouted at the mention of my mom. I missed mommy. I remember I drank a lot of that water that day, thinking I was really doing it for mom. Little did I know, dad was only doing it for himself.
I got out of my car then, feeling like the enclosed space would suffocate me. I wobbled hurriedly to the base of the tower, gripping its metal foundation as my knees gave out on me and I heaved on the ground—wanting to expel the very thing that made me forget. It came from the water tower..
I was already taking deep breaths as I tried to stand up straight when I heard the rumble of an engine before someone called out my name, I briefly glanced back to find it was Z as he started to get off his motorcycle. Not really wanting any company at the moment, I began to slowly walk away from him as I ventured further into the thicket of trees that surrounded the tower’s area. “Shiela, wait! Don’t go too far!”
I barely registered Z call out to me, still walking away from him as I tried to stand on my unsteady feet. I began to see a clearing nearby and headed towards it, almost stumbling forward as I saw it was an open edge down the mountainside before a pair of strong arms suddenly pulled me back into a strong warm chest.
The momentum had the both of us stumbling back and landing on our asses, I weakly looked up and saw Z looking at me with obvious concern on his face, the late afternoon sun adding an intensity into his hazel brown eyes while he still kept his arms securely around me. “Really Z.. I’m really just fine..” I told him softly as I tried for a smile, although it turned out watery as I felt some unwanted tears slide down my face.
“Oh sweetheart.. You’re far from being fine right now..” Z gently told me as I felt him caress my face and wipe off my tears before he held me close.
I didn’t know how long we stayed like that, watching the sun set and me wondering if this warmth I felt was from the sun or from his embrace, but I was sure glad for one thing—that Z didn’t ask me what was wrong—because I couldn’t really tell which part of my life started everything that was going wrong now..
But as if reading my mind, Z started to slowly speak, “You wanna know what I do when the world seems to be throwing all the wrongs my way at the same time?” I only shook my head as an answer, still looking out at the vast landscape before me as I heard Z continue speaking, “Well, this wide open place is as good as any to just let it all out—scream out to the world all that pain, sadness and hurt you’re feeling. But let the world know it only got to you this one time, that you’ll need time to heal.. and once you’re better, you’ll be back for your war-cry.”
I took what he said in before I noticed the absence of his warmth around me as Z stood up and held out his hand, I looked up and saw him wink, “You gotta show the world you’re screaming out a fight with your head held high.”
I smiled at that as I took his hand and stood up, focusing out on the distance as I remembered mom’s warm voice as she sang me to sleep, dad’s laughter as we used to have playfights together before mom died, Ms. Chip’s enthusiasm every time she worked on a new recipe—I screamed it all out, every pain and drop of blood that was connected to my life, every memory that was warped just so dad could train me to fight.
I just let it all out until I knew I’d be hoarse the next morning, until the ugly wracking sobs took hold of my body and I felt all the tears I could cry out stream down my face, but this time my knees didn’t give out on me, because Z was there to hold me up as he held me close as I cried into his chest.
I cried today for the people I couldn’t protect, but that didn’t make me weak enough to fight for the ones that were still here.
“Has your father told you anything out of the ordinary lately?” I heard mom ask over the phone as I sat in the quiet of my home office.
“What’s wrong mom, dad not being his usual drunk self?” I asked offhandedly as I raised the signet ring in my hands, more focused on checking every detail on it.
“Now that you’ve mentioned that, Jack… Your uncle did mention that he was suddenly given the afternoon off by your father, and since then well..”
“Well?” I urged my mom to continue but pulled over my desk lamp in order to clearly see the inside part of the ring.
“Well, your father suddenly had the urge to make a major cleanup around the house—nail clippings and all—you’d think he was overturning this place to look for something..”
He was probably looking for this.. I thought inwardly as I now then noticed the words engraved on the inside part of the ring. “Listen mom, I gotta go, there’s just this thing with work. Take good care of yourself.” I quickly told her bye then turned off the handheld before I quickly scribbled on a notepad the wordings I was trying to decipher. It’s looks like a foreign language..
I was concentrating on the words when an urgent knocking sounded at the door of my office, I only had time to pocket the signet ring and stand up from my desk before Z suddenly came barging through. Ah.. I forgot that Z and Luke were now in the process of moving back here.. My amused look turned to a frown as I noticed Z had an almost guilty expression on his face.
“Jack! Uhm.. how ‘bout we take this downstairs..? There’s something you gotta know..” That got me curious as I followed Z on the way down to the living room, only to find Luke sitting on an ottoman as he seemed to checking on the person that laid unconscious on the sofa. As I got closer, I tensed as I saw the sight of a deeply sleeping Shiela, her chest rose in even breathing as her pinkish lips slightly parted, I swallowed hard at that.
“It finally got to her, you know? She’s just probably real tired and.. I wasn’t sure if it was safe to bring her back to her house, knowing she was alone there so…” I heard Z try explaining while Luke still checked on her.
“Looks like she hasn’t been eating enough..” He made a tsking sound before Luke then looked up from where he sat and asked me a question I wasn’t sure what he really meant by. “You got room for a fourth person here for us?”
God only knew what it would be like to have Shiela sleeping here with us in the same house..
to be continued...
Image from Pixabay, by Phan Minh Cuong An: https://pixabay.com/users/minanfotos-9565064/ (edited with dreamscopeapp)