Dove Sport

Chapter Twenty-Three: Water of the Womb

The week of Halloween had come and gone for Dara. In years past she might have dressed up and gone out partying with her best friends, but seeing as her family was in pieces, she had more important matters to attend to. Over the weekend Dara had fielded messages from her father's attorney. Her father's trial was coming up and because her mother was technically missing Dara was being asked to testify to the court about her father's character in the hopes it might sway the judge to issue a more lenient sentence. Dara had managed to convince the attorney that she needed time to compose a proper statement.

In actuality, though, Dara wasn't sure she wanted to give any statement at all. Guilt had plagued her for the rest of the weekend and into her school day. Even now, in her last period of the day, Dara found herself unable to focus. It was her father, after all. He'd raised her and she struggled to foresee a future where she'd be ok with not giving the statement if it would help him get less jail time. This, coupled with her suspicions that her father truly was guilty of the crimes he'd been arrested for, added to her uncertainty. She didn't want to cross a moral boundary and lie in court but the knowledge she could help put their family back together again was nagging at her. Dara knew what she wanted, she just didn't know if she could live with herself if she did what needed to be done in order to have her father back.

Her stomach roiling uncomfortably, Dara reclined in her chair and stared at the ceiling of her English classroom, silently counting down the moments until she could go. She was meant to be proofreading her neighbor's essay, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. Their essays were meant to be about the 'toughest experience' they'd ever had. Dara had written hers about moving and had omitted any mention of her parents. The author of this paper had written about her dog dying. Sure, it was sad, but Dara had bigger things on her mind. As the paper was swept off her desk for the final peer rotation, Dara finally dragged her attention off of the ceiling. There was a fresh paper in front of her now, unmarked save for another student's scant blue corrections. Dara resolved herself to focus by reminding herself this was the last school-related thing she had to care about today. Picking up her purple pen for correcting, Dara began reading over the essay.

It followed the prompt with the author speaking about her family's financial struggles and the looming threat of her parents' divorce. Though it was written by someone with an unquestionably different life than her own, Dara found herself moved by the author's reflection on their family's struggles. She recognized herself in the typed lines, particularly the part of herself that sometimes wanted to curl into a ball and never leave her bed again. Dara flipped to the first page once she was done reading through it. Her eyes flicked up to the author.

Beth Cherish.

She recognized the name. It belonged to the fidgety, anxious freshman she'd tried out for the cheer team with. Now that anxiety made more sense. Twisting in her chair, Dara craned her neck to peer around the room to find Beth. Though cheer auditions felt like forever ago, she was still able to recognize the slight girl by her long braids. Dara walked Beth's essay back to her and smiled, hoping she was coming off as inviting, when she asked Beth to work on their essays together after school. Though she badly wanted to go home and rest, Dara told herself she could spare the time it would take to be friendly to someone who was clearly not feeling well.

Dara and Beth walked beside one another to the library after class.

"So, Beth," Dara said when they settled into one of the corner tables with their things. "I was really moved by your essay. I don't want to overstep- I know we never really talk- but I know how you're feeling right now because I've gone through it too. I wanted you to know that I'm here if you need someone to vent to. Is everything alright?"

Beth tapped her pen on her notebook and stared off into the middle-ground at some sort of demon Dara couldn't see. A silence stretched between the two girls, and just as it was veering into awkwardness, Beth spoke.