Chapter Fourteen
❝ when one door of happines closes,
another opens;
but often we look so long at the
close door that we do not
see the one which has been
opened for us ❞
;
Helen Keller
"Theo! Where'd you go?"
Six year-old Harper asked, running to and fro around the yard in her pastel yellow dress. The sun burned brightly in the very blue sky and it reminded Harper of the yellow light bulb in Mr. Brown's art room. She looked at it several times during his classes and often wondered if it would be as hot. Turns out, it wasn't.
"In our house, Martin? You took her in our house and fucked her in our bed?" A loud slam of a door filled Harper's ears as she gripped a flower in her hands she plucked from Mrs. Martinez's garden.
"I don't have anyone else but you, my love." Harper took off running to the back door, the flower she was holding a moment ago now left discarded in a patch of dead grass. "Believe me, I will never— never— replace you and Harper for someone."
A humorless laugh. "Of course, my love. How could I accuse you of such a thing?" Harper tiptoed her way out of the kitchen when she slipped on a puddle of water, landing hard on her back with a soft thud.
She didn't feel the pain right away.
It was only when she made her way to the top of the staircase where she could listen to them without the fear of being caught eavesdropping, was when she felt the harsh stinging on her shoulder. "I mean, I didn't most certainly found a lingerie under the bed and what? A thong? Since when do I use those?"
Stifling her cry of pain, Harper silently went to her room and took Mr. Toots by his red bowtie before retaking her spot by the stairs. "—a gift for you! I was supposed to surprise you with them."
A pause. "Martin, I just," her mother's voice sounded to be on the verge of crying and Harper itched to run to her. Fights like these between them were so common it took nothing less of a difference not to surprise her. "I thought you've changed. I was wrong."
"It was just a one-time thing and nothing else! I swear it on my life." Harper could've sworn there was a pain similar to those of what the princesses felt when they got heartbroken by their prince charmings. But they would always be okay and live happily ever after in the end. Just like her parents. Or so she thought.
"Please, Martin. Get out of my home." There was another slam of the door and she heard the sobs of her mother. This time she ran to her with her arms wide open, her shoulder stinging with every step she took.
"When will he come back, ma?" Harper asked, hugging Mr. Toots and her mom as much as she could.
Her mother looked at her through bloodshot eyes. Little did six year-old Harper knew that would be the last time she'll ever hear of her father again after many, many years. "I don't know, Harper. I don't know."
YOU ARE READING
Over Again | ✓
Teen Fiction|| The Global Awards Winner: Best of Awards: Teen Fiction || ❝It's your turn to prove just how much you love him.❞ What I didn't know was I might have been too late already. All I said was, ❝I don't know how.❞ Then and there, I had my answer. *...
