The Other Side

Night Five

Day Five

I woke up with a start to a dark room and a cold bed. I sat up and looked to my right to see nothing but a note on my bed. I looked over at my alarm clock and saw that it was seven at night. I sighed before getting out of bed, taking the note with me.

I walked out of my room and into the living room. Andy sat on the couch playing his Xbox while my parents sat at the table. I sat on the couch next to Andy and he smiled knowingly at me. I smacked him a few times before starting to punch him.

"Claire, stop it."

I stopped as soon as my mother spoke and turned back to the piece of paper in my lap.

"Oohh Claire has a note from someone!"

"Shut up Andy!"

Everything went silent and I looked back at my parents. They were watching us and I swallowed hard.

"A note from who?" My mother asked.

"Marko....who's Marko?"

I closed my eyes before glaring at Andy.

"I'm going to kill you later."

He held his hands up in surrender and I sighed as our parents patiently looked at me with their 'I'm waiting' faces.

"Look, Marko is Ace. Ace is just his nickname while Marko is his real name." I explained.

"And how did you get that note, Claire Marie?"

I swallowed and looked away from my father's intense gaze.

"That boy was in your room, wasn't he? Claire Marie, you lied to me! How could you - "

"Oh, stop it Jim, they didn't do anything. He was just there as moral support after you told her your stupid decision and upset her." My mother defended.

I stared at her in surprise and she shrugged.

"What? He asked me before he even came here if it was okay. I thought it was best to get his number from him since he's Claire's first friend since she was ten."

I sighed in relief after she said that. My mother doesn't just hand out her number to people she doesn't like.

"I don't care, Claire Marie is my daughter and I will not have some boy sneaking in and out of her bedroom!"

"You gave up your parenting rights when you knocked up that girl."

We all went silent after my mom said this and my dad turned to her.

"Now that is not true. Claire Marie and Andrew are still my children. I am still their father!"

"Don't yell at her like that!" I yelled.

My mother looked at me.

"Sweetie you go and sit down. Stay out of this okay?"

I ignored my mom and looked at my dad.

"You may be my father in blood but that doesn't mean you're my father in any other way. You have a new family, a new baby, a new life without us in it that's waiting for you. I don't even know where you get the thought that Andrew and I even want to be around you or Taylor for that matter. Why would we want to be around the people who replaced us?"

"Claire Marie no one is being replaced - "

"Really Jim?"

We all turned to my mom.

"That's a lie and you know it. Look, I agreed to getting divorced but I told you, we would only have shared custody if the kids wanted it."

She looked at Andrew and then me. I shook my head no before staring at my father. The room became silent and he didn't say a word as he sat back down at the table. I walked back over to the couch, picking up my note, before running back to my bedroom, slamming the door. I ran to my bed and started to read my note.