Misunderstood

Chapter VIII

"Tara...is this you!What's gotten into you?Do you want your father to die so soon?"my father shouted at me.

Silence.

He looked past me to Westley. His eyebrows arched in surprise.

"You decided to come back. Both of you have a lot of explaining to do,especially,"looking at Westley's face. Then again he critically looked at my face and he noticed the scar on my left eyelid and the healing black eye. He took my face into his and examined it further and his eyes softened.

"Tara! Why didn't you tell me about this? What really happened while I was away? Westley I thought you would take care of her!"he shouted again to Westley."Or did you actually do this?"a note of accusation crept into his already booming voice.

Silence again. I looked behind at Westley and our eyes exchanged. The thing is if I tell my father the truth I'll just continue getting hurt and soon die,and the last thing I want for my father is for him to live in regret if that happens. Maybe I'll just cook up a story, add the seasonings and keep it stored until it rots,which will take some time.

"Can someone talk to me? Or you've been made dumb?!"he looked at us in despair.

"Uncle,I ran off and that's wrong. I'm very sorry,"he started.

"We can go and talk in the living room,"my dad offered,"I'll be with you in a moment,go ahead."

Westley led the way to the living room."Tara you have to tell him the truth,"he whispered to me.

"Are you nuts Westley? He'll go back to the school, complain and this will be the final result,"I whispered back,pointing at the scratches on my face and blisters on my hands.

"But you cannot lie to him forever.He needs to know the truth Tara! He's your father and I'm sure he will understand if you tell him not to tell the school. You could even ask for a transfer,you've always wanted to. This will be the best opportunity,"he wisely stated. I thought about it for a moment and I shrugged showing him that I have no choice.

"He's coming,let's sit down,"I whispered as I moved to my usual couch. Westley joined me. We sat in brief silence until he emerged.

"I realised that your wounds are healing well for a person who got hurt four days ago...did you go to hospital?"he asked in astonishment

I looked at Westley begging him to help me.

"Anyway, I'll start with you Westley. Tara,will you mind if you give us some space? You too need a private talk then I'll talk to both of you as soon as I'm done with talking to both of you individually."

"Sure dad...I'll be in my room."I stood up to head upstairs.

Westley POV
"Son,I've always treated you like one of mine. I love you and I care for you so much. You have a lot of explaining to do. You may begin when you're ready."

I wasn't ready to explain myself now, after doing some damn horrific things. But here we go...let's see how far this goes.

"Well..."

"After the day you two fought,"he offered.

"I felt so guilty and my friend offered me a place to stay until I try patch things up."

"Who's this friend Westley,if I may ask?"

"It's a girl who was also Tara's friend,Kenzie,"I replied.

"Go on,"he reclined,never loosening his serious look.

"We fell in love with each other earlier and we wanted to express our love," I chuckled uneasily,"so that's why we moved in,if you could call it that. It was a good break from the stony silences every evening between Tara and I . The thing is...we took it too far. We ..."