The Downfall

Chapter five: Dear sixteen.

        
"...Happy birthday Celyn! Happy birthday to you! Wish!"

I hope nothing goes wrong this year.
I blew out the candles with the number 16.

"Well done!" Sebastian shouted.
"What did you wish for?" Peter asked.
"If I tell you it won't happen." I said plaintively.
I was surprised by everyone without expecting it. The cake was held by Levi, he had a very big smile. This was the first time I noticed his bright dimples, they were so bright they appeared without him smiling.i

They were all there and they had made the cake themselves.
We sat in the living room and Leda served us.
"You have a maid? Yeah probably not rich!" Jun said excitedly.
"Housekeeper, actually." I corrected him.
I didn't like that term.

"We directly figured out which one is your house, though." Theo said.
"It's so big we could tell." Mia complemented him.
I laughed.
"But very lonely...I mean...aren't you afraid? You're all alone out here, almost on the river." Leo joined the conversation and soon they were all in.
"I never thought about it, to tell you the truth. As a matter of fact the house is guarded and there are cameras everywhere so..." I hesitated, thought about it for a moment and corrected my sentence.
"Actually now that I think about it it kind of scares me a little at the idea. I don't know why we're in the middle of nowhere." That was the truth.

"What do your parents do for a living?" Levi asked and everyone looked at him with wide open eyes.
"You don't know what her father does for a living?" Stephanie said.
"No, I don't."
"Seriously you don't know?" Said Marcus.
"Is that absurd? I first heard about it on the first day of school." He said and threw his plate on the table.
"You seem to be living in another Salmon Arm." Peter said.
"Why? You're all starting to get on my nerves now."
"It caused a mess the fact that they were coming here before they even stepped their foot in town." Theo answered.
"Yeah but why? Who are they and they caused such a mess?"

I felt uncomfortable with this conversation but also a strange feeling, like it felt good that Levi had no idea who I was, I felt like he would see me as a normal person, the real me and not one of the Ferrits.

"Her father has..." I interrupted Mia before she could continue.
"My father owns the largest weapons company in the world and we can stop this conversation here."

{-}

Everyone had left and it was just me and Levi who was talking on the phone.
"Dad, I'm telling you I can't come back home alone... I couldn't not come because it was a friend's birthday dad... No my friend can't drive me home... Can you just come and pick me up yes or no... Well leave it I'll see what I can do..." He rubbed his forehead in with his hand in frustration.

"Do you have money for a taxi? I'll give it back to you, I promise." His eyes were glowing, they were like autumn, olive green and as they closed inward they grew darker.
"I don't know if you'll find one at this hour, in this weather." I told him and he looked down.
"Maybe one of your folks can give me a ride?" As he went she grew more and more desperate.

"Never mind I'll walk anyway it's not too far from here." He said and started walking towards the door.
He couldn't be serious. He would walk alone 3 o'clock at night, his house was half an hour from my house. What if he got lost?
As soon as he reached for the door with his hand to open it I said.
"You can stay here tonight if you want to, of course." I told him hesitantly, I didn't want him to think I felt sorry for him, he gets very upset if you say the wrong word.

"Really? Won't your folks have an issue?" Surprisingly he seemed very positive about what I had suggested.
"No, of course not, it's Saturday tomorrow anyway. Do you want to stay?" I wanted so badly for some reason for him to stay with me tonight.

"It's my birthday today too." I told him and he smiled making his dimples appear again.
"Then I'll stay." He informed me and I pulled him by the arm walking him to my room.

{-}

"This whole place your room? And you have your own bathroom?" He asked me excitedly as he looked around.
His voice wasn't so heavy, it was nice and calm when he wasn't yelling at least.
"Yeah, I guess."
"That's what my whole house is like." He looked at me with admiration.
"What are you talking about, I've been to your house it's fine."
"Fine if you say so."
"Well, let's get you some pajamas." I said happily and pulled him towards my pajama closet.
As soon as I opened it it only had shades of pink and purple in it and Levi looked at me in horror.

{-}

"This won't work..." He said as he put on my pink pajamas.
He looked like a little boy in pink clothes.
"Why what's wrong?" I said and laughed hysterically.
He looked at me with a serious look on his face and I directly stopped laughing.

{-}

"Your father must be very serious and tough." He said to me.
"Why, because he owns a gun business?" I asked him.
"Obviously."
"No, not even a little. Quite the opposite, in fact. He's very nice and sweet."
"To you and your sister only, I guess." He said as he looked at the pictures of me and my sister when we were little.
"True. I also remember one time when I was younger that his phone was ringing on his desk while he was away and I picked it up. There was a gentleman on the other line."
"And?"
"And long story short, he told me that if my father didn't give him his money my dad owes he would kill me and hang me in front of my father's company. I was scared as the little girl I was and I told him crying and he never bothered us again." I told him while laughing as I walked next to him and we looked at the pictures together.

"So a bullet to anyone who dared to hurt his daughters but what about your mom?"
"Me and my mom? Yeah we don't really get along.." I said as I put a picture down.
"Why is that?" He asked me again.
"Basically she was never there. She had her problems from when I was young. If she had a bad day she would make it a bad day to all of us. She was also suicidal so she would commit in front of me or my sister. She would scream for hours, fight with my dad and my sister would put her headphones in my ears with full volume. Years later I finally understood that she was doing it for attention." I walked towards the kitchen.

"That's harsh Celyn, I'm sorry you went through that." He followed me.
"It's fine, got used to it but enough about me. Let's talk about you, your dad seems tough." I said while I was making us food.
"He is.." He said hesitantly and sat down quietly.
"Why so shy all of a sudden? Is there anything you wanna talk about?" I asked and sat next to him.

"Is just that I thought that it was normal. My family was normal till one day someone came and told me „you know that's not normal". I thought all of it was normal him breaking everything inside the house because he was mad, I thought it was normal, I thought that that's how adults act when they're mad. And I just wish that I had the money that you have so I could be happy." He said and he laid his head slowly on the kitchen counter.
"Levi, money won't ever fill the gap in your heart."