The Unexpected

Chapter 3: Mandy

Mandy's POV...

It's been months since I've last seen Lily. She hasn't been going on her usual morning routine run lately. I've even been getting up extra early because at one point I thought maybe I was just missing her. Lily was the only person who ever seemed to care about me or at least I thought. 

“How could she do me like this? I thought as I rushed to my bedroom crying. I had come to believe that things were finally getting better for me that I had a friend that I could finally lean on. sure she's older than me, but she never treated me like a little kid.

A sharp pain struck me in my chest which wasn't unusual because I've always felt this agonizing pain whenever I felt like someone was abandoning me. I've always known not to trust other people, but I thought that Lily was different.

“Why am I not good enough for anyone to stay by my side? I keep asking the same question over and over again but I never seem to get an answer. My mom can't stay clean enough to notice what is happening around her, let alone notice what's happening to me.

I look across my room at a striking photo of my dad smiling affectionately while holding me in his lap and my mom tenderly caressing him on his cheek. That was the last picture we ever took together as a happy family. I had merely turned six that Saturday when my dad left me.

Flashback started:

My dad had dropped mom and me off at home and left to do something before my party began. I waited patiently for him to return as people began arriving. I felt like something was amiss because dad was never late when it came to him being there for me.

“Mandy stops worrying honey! Mom says. “You know your father he's probably somewhere getting you another expensive present that you don't need.” She adds with a nervous chuckle.

Everyone was there except my dad. I cried incessantly in my mom's arms until I fell asleep, and she lugged me upstairs to my bed, carefully tucking me in. Mom gently kissed me on my head then turned on my bedside lamp because she knows how much I hate the darkness. Mom turned and looked tenderly at me one last time before walking leisurely out the room leaving my door slightly open as I go back to sleep.

The insistent ringing of the loud doorbell jarred me out of my peaceful sleep. I walked cautiously to the grand staircase and squatted with my slender arm's hugging my legs. I instantly hear mom talking vehemently to someone; I hear her gentle voice instantly begin to radically change into something that I've never heard before. A high-pitched scream then erupted into the air. A loud ringing noise pounded furiously in my ears when I heard the cruel words that I thought I would never hear “My dad was dead.”

I felt myself being carried down the stairs at an incredible speed. As I struck the bottom of the stairs, I noticed my mom, pounding her fist on a local police officer's chest.

“Mommy, please tell me it isn't true! I frantically yelled, causing her to promptly stop hitting the police officer and turn towards me in slow motion.

“Honey, I'm not sure of what you're talking about,” she tries to say, putting on a fake smile.

“I know what I heard mom,” I mumbled. “Please tell me it's not true,” I scream and cry bitterly as my chest feels like it was ready to explode.

Flashback ended:

The loud banging on my door immediately jarred me out of my thoughts. Already knowing who it was I yelled “what do you want Elliot?