To Break Her Heart

Chapter 18 ~ "Would you stop touching me? You're giving me a rash."

A/N: In case it's not clear, this skips forward a few weeks :) I'm gonna be skipping around with time a lot, so I hope you don't get too confused!

Chapter 18: "Would you stop touching me? You're giving me a rash."

"Oh my god, Richard, how could you set me up for another abortion without telling me?" I heard Mum yell as the front door slammed shut loudly.

"Delilah, you better be home early because the operation took less time than planned!" Dad warned right back, not bothering to hide the rage in his voice.

I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to concentrate on my Calculus homework now that they were going at it again. I couldn't believe that Dad had actually had the balls to go ahead and tell Mum that she had a doctor's appointment when he'd really scheduled an abortion. Again.

"Richard, you now that I'm four months along! Abortion after three months is illegal!" Mum screeched. I winced, my hands itching to clutch anything and fling it at the wall.

"Then why did you cancel when I signed you up last month?" I rolled my eyes. He was seriously relentless. I didn't understand why it didn't click with him that Mum was having the baby, regardless of what he thought. Those two were both so goddamned stubborn.

"My god, Richard, I refuse to abort and you know that! Why do you have to keep doing this?" I could hear how Mum's voice was beginning to quiver. This was around the time that Dad would quit, knowing that her wonked-up hormones would make her cry easier than before.

"Why are you doing this, Delilah?" No, Dad, stop. My hands curled into tight fists, my nails digging into my palms at the sound of his hard, cold voice, devoid of the usual anger and desperation. "Why are you insisting on keeping this thing? You're breaking this family apart! You're not the one who's going to be taking care of the baby! You're going to be-" Don't you dare finish that sentence, Dad.

"I'm the one breaking this family apart?" Mum's voice was steadily climbing, growing shrilled and higher by the second. "This family was never even fixed to begin with! When was the last time you called Seth voluntarily? Did you even know that his wife is pregnant? Did you even know that he's married? What about Jordan, huh? I don't think I've ever seen you two interact normally! How old is she, huh? How old is she, Richard?" I couldn't take it. I couldn't take it anymore. I was going insane. 

"When are you ever going to realise that I'm like that because I love you?" You certainly weren't acting like it, Dad. My god, please, no more arguing, no more fighting. Please, why wasn't it ending? I couldn't take it. I just couldn't.

I was shoving my books to the floor and stalking to the stairs before I even realised it. "If you love me so much-"

"Stop." I didn't even recognise the aloofness of my voice, the emotionless void it had, the way it seemed to freeze the very room.

Dad's face was bright red and his greying hair was literally standing on end as he breathed heavily, glaring darkly at the ground. At the sight of me, Mum's face immediately paled in guilt. "Darling..."

"No, that's enough," I said crisply, so sharp that she actually flinched back. I would've felt bad it I wasn't just so tired of it all. Tired of the fighting, the crying, the insomnia.