I wrote this when I was thirteen. I DON'T RECOMMEND READING

Chapter Ten

So, here is chapter ten. I felt bad for leaving a cliff hanger like that, so i uploaded today. Unortunatly, it is really short. But it's better than nothing, right? Anyways, chapter 11 should be up by next week at the latest (unless i am having writer's block, which in that case i will let you know). BYE BYE!

                                                                             ~K

          “Arielle. Oh how you look like your mother.” He took a step forward. I took a step back and didn’t say anything. I knew I looked nothing like my mother. “How have you been? What about Jasen and your mother?”

          I shook my head and braced myself to slam the door, when my mum and Jasen entered behind me. “Richard?” My mum stepped in front of me.

          “Hi, Melissa.” He said and looked down.

          “Arielle, Jasen, why don’t you guys go in the other room.” We obeyed and walked towards the living room. “Richard, let’s talk outside.”

          I heard the front door close and I turned to Jasen, “So, where’s Kendra? Did you make her wait up there for you?”

          “Maybe...” He said and walked towards the foyer.

          “Where are you going?”

          He smiled deviously, “Eavesdropping.”

          Hesitantly, I followed him. We pressed our ears to the door and we could hear everything. It brought back memories of Jasen and I pressing our ears to the kitchen door to listen to them fighting. It was always about money. Never about him cheating.

          “Why are you here, Richard?” My mum’s voice said on the other side of the door.

          “I wanted to see my kids,” My father said back, “Is that so wrong?”

          “Yes, it is actually,” She snapped, “Especially since you haven’t even bothered to have contact with them in ten years.”

          “Ouch.” Jasen whispered with a smile.

          “I have tried, Melissa.” He said.

          “No you haven’t.”

          “Melissa, you changed your number, you moved, you changed your last name.” He said with what I think was complete sympathy. “What else did you want me to do?”

          She paused for a moment before saying, “How did you find us now?”

          “Ten years of search.” He said. “Now, that I realise it, how many forty year old Melissa Gould’s with two kids named Arielle Marie and Jasen Cole could there be in Ireland?” After my dad left, my mum got all of our names changed to her maiden name.

          She didn’t answer and he continued, “I’m sorry Melissa. I never meant to leave like I did. I meant to keep contact. I didn’t even want to leave. I’m sorry.”

          “Why did you then?”

          “I... I... found out that Jasen and Arielle aren’t my kids.” He said. I jumped back but pressed my ear back to the door. “A few months before I left, my doctor told me that Arielle and Jasen were miracles because I can’t have children. Naturally, I had my suspicions after hearing that. So, I had a paternity test.”

          Jasen stood up and just stood there for a minute staring at the door. I touched his arm and he turned and stomped up the stairs. I stood there looking up the stairs. The door opened behind me and my mum cried, “Oh, Arielle.” She tried to hug me but I pushed her away and followed Jasen up the stairs.

          “Do you see what you’ve done?” I heard my mum say to my ‘father’.

          “What I’ve done? I’m not the one who has been lying for the past seventeen years.”

          I knocked on Jasen’s door. He opened it and I saw that Kendra wasn’t there. For a seventeen year old boy, his room was surprisingly clean. “Can I come in?”

          He nodded. I walked in and sat on his desk chair, “What are you doing?” He started grabbing all of his clothes and throwing them in the suitcase laid out on his bed.

          “I need to get out of here. I can’t handle it anymore.” He looked at me and I saw that he was crying. He was finally cracking under all the pressure put on him by our mother.

          “Where are you going to go?”

          “I don’t know Ari.” He sat on his bed and placed his head in his hands. “But I just can’t stay here any longer, I’m sorry.” He stood up and grabbed his suitcase.     

           I walked over to him and gave him a hug, “Just please call, okay?”

          “Of course.” He said and walked over to his window and dropped the suitcase as carefully as he could out the second story window. “Goodbye, Ari.”

          Next thing I knew, he was gone. I slowly walked back to my room. I walked in and didn’t even bother to turn the light on. I closed the door behind me and climbed into my bed. I don’t know how long I was awake for after that. All I know is Jasen was the only person I could trust, and now, he is gone too.