FATHER ALWAYS SMILING

Chapter 29 ~~~~~

Ah, Alastor thought with a sly smile when the man walked past them. You must be Mr. Green. No wonder my daughter dislikes you. Such a foul smell. You must be rotten to the core.

Silently, Amalie tugged Alastor's hand, wanting to head home. Whenever she became like this, be it upset, fed up or annoyed she would go silent most of the time, and only give ques with her expression or the grip of her hand if he was holding it.

Some would find this ridiculous, that she should talk and use her words, but given that Amalie had all but exhausted every avenue with words she would fall to this. Childish, yes, but she was a child. She wouldn't get loud unless she was hurt badly, she had never even thrown a temper tantrum, the screaming kind, at least. The worst she'd get would be by hiding in a place where he couldn't find her easily, sitting in the corner or not even look at him.

He could still recall one time when she was four when he tore a drawing she did on accident, mostly, and she just sat in the corner hugging her little legs while eyeing him silently telling him that he was a jerk for what he did and refused to talk to him for the rest of the day.

Alastor smiled at his daughter as they walked to the car to take her home, though he had concerns on his mind. About his daughter, the cause of the bullying, and that so-called teacher.

"Amalie, what did Mr. Green do?" he asked when they were both in the car.

"I don't know," she said softly. "I really don't."

He looked at her through the rearview mirror, she was being honest, she didn't know. But he guessed, that it must have been something, otherwise she wouldn't have said anything to the principal in such an accusing way.

Should I do something? He thought as he drove them home. If it was something as bad as he expected, he could think of multiple ways of dealing with such a pig. But... was that something that she wanted?

If it was, Amalie would have said something, but she hadn't. Perhaps she was looking for something to make it so that she's believed? Such a thing would be hard to do when someone was that young. And he couldn't do anything himself, besides, get rid of the repugnant man.

Oh how I want you to tell me, Alastor mused in his thoughts. But I can't force it.

"Dad?" she spoke up when they were back home, she had been silent the whole car ride, not uttering a single sound until now when she was safely inside the house and away from the rest of the world.

"Yes?"

"Am I in trouble?" she sounded worried as she asked so hesitantly.

His smile softened. "No, no sweetie, you're not. You did what you felt like you had to. It's why you did it, right?"

"No..." her voice quivered. "I did it because they changed from attacking me... to attacking Lauren." She looked up at him as tears threatened to fall. "They said she was dead, that she was gone and died and that I should be like that too. But Lauren can't be dead... she can't..."

Alastor silently picked up his daughter and hugged her, silently swaying, rocking on the soles on his feet.

"She can't be dead Dad... not Lauren... I don't want her to be dead..." she said as she cried into his nape and shoulder.

So she did that because of what someone was saying about a person she cared about but didn't care about herself. A self-esteem issue? Or did she feel like she needed to defend a person who couldn't defend themselves?

Or was it that those bullies stated something that Amalie deeply feared?

That she was afraid Lauren was dead, and she blamed herself for it.

Alastor held his daughter tight, not enough to hurt, but enough to give her comfort. His baby girl must have been holding that in for so very long since Lauren vanished.

"Oh Sweetie..." he mused.

"I'm the one who deserves to disappear..." she kept her face buried in his nape, her little hands clawing at the back of his vest and shirt. "If I was dead then this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't say that." He said, no soothing tones in his voice as he stopped swaying, a hand resting along the back of her head. "Don't ever say that Amalie, if you weren't here... if you weren't here, I don't know what I'd be." He kissed her head keeping her close as she continued to cry. "My baby girl, you are so important, to me, even if the world wishes you were gone, I would never. You are all that matters." And if the world wants you gone... "Then I'd rather kill this world and make it all disappear if anyone dared to try." His tone shifted to a darker note as his smile became tight.

Amalie moved to look at his face. "What did you say?" she asked sniffing back tears.

He was smiling lovingly at her. Oops, he did not mean for that slip out verbally. Just the mere thought of her not being here made him think something truly awful. Thankfully, even while in that state of mind he still had the forethought to say it so softly that even she wouldn't catch it. If she blamed herself for his thinking, Alastor might not forgive himself for it.

"I said that you matter, to me, and to so many others. I know what they said hurt, that it hurt a lot, but know that I, Vivian, your aunt, Lukas, Lauren, Mr. McCrae, Madam Andrews, and even your grandparents would never want you to disappear or die. You are important to us, and we love you."

She looked unsure. "Even grandma? Cause I don't think she likes me much."

Marie's mother, ah yes. That insufferable old woman, at least the husband was a decent and good fellow. He was genuinely mortified when he learned what his daughter did to Alastor, although it's because of it that something so wonderful and good came into Alastor's life. Still, when it all happened, he vowed if he ever had the chance presented to him, he'd kill that old crone of a woman and make it the most painful he could inflict on a living person.

The only good people who came from that side of the family were Marie's sister, and her father, her brother... no. Just, no.

"Do you like her?" Alastor asked.

"No really." The wait she admitted that like it was something bad to say was so adorable.

"Then you want to know something?" he pressed his forehead to hers. "I don't like her either. But you have grandpa and your aunt, and they both send you texts and pictures all the time don't they?"

She made a sound of agreement.

"Then that just shows how much they think of you." He wiped the tears from her slightly bruised face with his thumb. "Now, why don't we get you cleaned up? Have a nice warm bath and fix up your injuries. Do they hurt at all?"

"Not really."

She was his daughter, pain, was something that he could handle with ease, and as could she, but her's would probably be far greater than his tolerance to it all.

"Well, we'll make sure everything is okay, and then we'll have dinner. I made beef and potato stew, then I'll give you a nice slice of pumpkin pie, would you like that?" he asked as he carried her up the stairs to the bathroom.

She nodded.

"Is there anything else you want? Anything at all?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

He hugged her again. "Of course, you can." If you asked the world I would give it after finally standing up for yourself. You make me so proud my little doe.

Yet a part of Alastor couldn't help but feel that nagging aggravation of what took place today, the incompetence of the majority of the school's staff, and of the principal and Mr. Green in particular.

Perhaps it was time to contact Allen Husker for a bit of a favour that needed to be owed.

He hummed to himself as he kissed his daughter's cheek, Alastor had no intention of ruining whatever his daughter wanted, but he thought he could at least, help out a little.

After all, what kind of father would he be if he didn't do this much?