*'Well you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow'
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Berry had came down with an acute food poisoning. So she had to take two days leave from work. She was feeling a lot more better now.
She went to sleep after setting an alarm for the next day. After two days she was sure that she was going to face a lot of pending work at office.
The sound of her phone ringing woke her up. She opened her eyes to check the time to realise it's four in the morning. She picked it up to see Dr. Smith's number.
After receiving the call she put down her phone carefully on the side table and sat up on her bed. In the early hours of morning there was no sound. It was a pin drop silence. She stayed at the same position for some time. Just sitting there and breathing.
At 3:45 a.m. on seventh of November, Hubolt Bloom had passed away.
Berry mechanically got up, got changed and went to the Nursing Home. There, one of his father's nurse, Amy was the first person to meet her.
With shivering lips Berry asked in a low voice, "I thought everything was fine Amy. He had a surgery which was successful, then how, why..."
"Relax Berry", Amy put her hand on Berry's shoulders, the woman was always kind to Berry, "it was time Berry. He was in pain all the time. Just because he was not able not react that doesn't mean he did not feel the pain. Some deaths are good Berry, it's better than the painful living. Your father was ready", Amy took her in her arms and tried to calm her.
"But I was not ready. Amy I was not ready". Berry kept on crying but she knew herself that her father have been released. From the crimes he had committed in his life, he had paid a lot of price for that. He needed the freedom from the pain, from his body.
#*#*#*
Berry reached her office that day half an hour late. She could have taken the day off but she was scared to go home alone. Working might keep her distracted from what happened that morning. It felt like it had happened in a dream, that her father isn't actually dead, it was just a dream.
The moment she sat down on her desk, her phone started ringing.
"Come inside", Victor ordered.
Berry got up from her chair and went inside his office.
"You're half an hour late", Victor barked and looked at her with malicious eyes.
"Yes actually Mr. Wild I was..."
"First you were on a leave for two days and then when you finally decided to show up, you came here late? And also without informing anyone. Who do you think is going to do your work? You are not paid here for charity. This is not your home that you can come whatever time you please. I don't tolerate laggards".
"But Mr. Wild.."
"Miss Bloom, I don't know what fantasies you are entertaining in your mind but let me tell you, this is your final warning. One more mistake and I will fire you. Don't think you are irreplaceable. And what is it that you do anyway? You just sort files and type on the computer. A high school graduate can do that. And you are not even doing that. God what a waste. Now don't just stand there. Go and do your job", he finished his castigation.
"I quit".
He looked up from his work, surprised, "What did you say?"
"I quit. I quit. I cannot take this bloody nonsense of yours anymore. You are a vile, self loving bastard. And I don't want anything to do with you anymore. I can't even stand to look at you. Take your stupid job and shove it up your fucking ass".
"Berry this behaviour..."
"Shut the fuck up. Shut it. I don't want to hear anything from disgusting mouth
And I hope you will live a long life. A long miserable life where you are always unhappy. Every single day of your life would be a curse. I hope you are trapped in your own bloody fairyland. I hope you have everything you want. Everything except happiness. I hope to God that he should make you the unhappiest person in the whole world", she was a sobbing mess at the end of her rant.
She has had enough of his humiliation. She has her pride. She already have a lot on her plate right now. And besides she doesn't even have any responsibilities now. She can live without a job. She would rather starve than face him.
"Goodbye Victor", she said, tears falling down her cheeks. She turned around and left.
#*#*#*
Berry came back from the school when she saw his car. The front door of her home was wide open. Her heartbeat went up. She quickened her steps to go near the door. She heard her mother's cry and something breaking. She went inside the door to her living room to find her mother crouching on the floor with her father beating her mercilessly. He looked like a maniac, as if the demon had taken him hostage. His eyes were red and he was beating her on and on and on....
"Stop it. Stop it", she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Get away from her", she ran towards him and started pulling him off her.
"Berry stay away from this", her dad told her.
"Berry go to your room", her mom ordered in a breathless voice.
"No I'm not going anywhere. Dad get away from her, get away from her", she kept on pulling him until he finally left her mother. He did not hit Berry. He never did, no matter how angry he was. That ugly side was reserved only for her mother.
She ran to her mother to hug her, crying loudly, she screamed at him, "I hate you. I hate you. Why do you always keep on coming back here? Just leave. Leave us alone."
"You see this bitch. You made my own daughter hate me. She hates me. Hope you are happy now", with that he left.
Berry made her mother get up and sit on the chair and quickly went to get her some water.
"Berry why didn't you go to your room when I asked you to?", her mother reprimanded her.
Berry ignored her question and asked her, "why don't you file a police complaint? It happens all the time. He beats you like that then why don't you send him to jail".
"Don't say that Berry. He is your father. And I cannot send him to jail. Jail is a horrible place, he won't be able to survive that".
"I don't care. He deserves hell for what he does to you. And he has been to jail before anyway for other crimes. If you don't call the police this time then I will"
"Berry don't have that much hatred in your heart. I love him. I will not send him to jail", her mother's soft voice told her. Her hair was disheveled and her lips were cut. Her precious mother looked so broken. And still she was trying to smile to keep the facade in front of her thirteen year old.
"How can you love him? If this is love then it's sickening and stupid".
"Berry dear, I love you too. Is that also sickening and stupid?", her mother asked her.
"That is not the same", she hugged her mother and sobbed. Her mother was also crying, hoping this was the last time this had happened.
But it was not the first or the last time. It was a routine. Berry's father who was a low life creep, couldn't keep a job for more than a week. He would come running here for free cash. Her mother used to work three shifts everyday and still take care of Berry. He would fight for his share as if he had a share in her money. And if her mother refused, he would beat her.
As it is they were living with bare minimum. Her mother was not much educated. So the kind of jobs she did was mostly waitressing and housekeeping. But at least she had stable jobs.
Her father on the other hand tried to do odd jobs, but was always careless or arrogant about it. As a result, he would get fired. To make ends meet and to sustain his drinking habits, he resorted to stealing. For which he had been jailed twice. But by the looks of it he doesn't show any remorse.
Rachel and Hubolt Bloom were highschool sweethearts when Rachel got pregnant with Berry. So they decided to get married to give a stable home to the child.
But with that came huge responsibility, although Rachel rose to the challenge and started doing odd jobs to pay the bills, Hubolt was just careless. Hoping for his parents to take care of everything. His parents did, for some time along with Rachel's parents. But they both stopped when they both turned twenty. Hoping they can take care of themselves now. Even Berry was two now.
The maturity came too soon to Rachel who wanted to give a good life to her family. But Hubolt would still hang around with friends and not work. They started fighting a lot, Hubolt started raising his hands more often. One time it got so bad that Rachel's parents had to intervene. They threw Hubolt out and threatened to call the police. Ever since then Rachel raised Berry alone.
Hubolt would come often, sometimes demanding money, sometimes just to meet Berry. He was not a bad father, he would always get her gifts.
But his beatings were very severe. One day when Berry was sixteen, she found her mother bloody and unconscious on the floor. That day she called the police herself and lodged the complaint. He was arrested soon after.
When Berry met her mother in the hospital she said that one thing that she still remembers, "Berry don't ever love a man who is irresponsible. If you ever marry a man, marry someone who has a stable income and a stable job. One who can take care of you. If a man cannot provide for himself then he can never take care of his family".
Berry's mother was a strong woman. Raising a child and working full time to make sure to get her daughter into a college. She had provided her everything.
But she was weak in love. She was weak for Hubolt. Just one smile from him and she will melt. She will forget everything he had done to her.
He had asked Rachel out for a ride that day when Berry was nineteen and in college. Berry wasn't aware of this. He was drinking, though he wasn't drunk. But still he was drinking. He shouldn't have been drinking and driving. That crash killed her once and for all. He was killing her slowly all her life and then killed her for good that day.
One would think that the next six years he lived would be enough punishment for the deeds he had done. He was trapped in his own body. Trapped in his own pain. Maybe that pain was the result of so much pain he inflicted on her mother for so many years. Berry should be satisfied that there was justice. God had granted her justice.
But her fingers were still shaking and heart still breaking at the death of her father. No amount of hatred could prepare her for that. She was now totally alone.
#*#*#*
Bonus chapter for you guys. Hope you enjoyed it.
*The above lines are from the song 'Let Her Go' by Passenger.
Do vote, comment and share my dear readers.
With love and appreciation,
Sibi