Angelica
I finished my dinner in silence. There was no one to speak or disturb me with questions about my school and studies. It was an austerity that I wished since my first advent to this mansion. Yet the solicitude doesn’t feel welcoming anymore. Suddenly the house felt empty and deserted. The cooks and the serving staff would leave the house ones the dinner was laid on the table. As a result I was the only one left in this huge mansion completely alone and abandoned.
I waited for Robert to come home but there was no trace of him even after past mid night. My optics felt drowsy and with the passage of time my eyelids close automatically. Resting on the sofa of the drawing hall, I woke up next morning with the chirping of birds outside the window just beside the comforter I was sleeping.
I rubbed my eyes to get rid of the remaining sleep and got ready to go to school. But immediately my brain started questioning. Who will drop me at the school? As I was finishing my last quarter of the breakfast in utter seclusion the door bell rang and a driver stepped in. He was instructed to be my personal bodyguard and also my driver for the school by Robert.
My eyes started to well tears ones I discern my dad’s concern towards me and my outburst over him yesterday night but I brushed away the crazy feeling swiftly. He was just acting well and I am not foolish like my mom to fall for his ways. I begin to chant the same mantra to put my kernel at ease and placed my lunch in the back pack to get into the car with no emotions at bay.
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Two more days pass by after dad’s absence from home. Today is my birthday and as per my wish there was not even a trace of him in the house. I wait for him the whole day and ask my driver to take me to him but he whisks my words away saying my dad was out of station.
Days turn to weeks with no trace of ‘him’. It has been a mere drill to get up in the morning, get ready, have breakfast and go to school. In the evenings I would finish my homework, have dinner, take bath, brush my teeth and go to bed. The maids and cooks spoke to me only when I ask them for something exactly how I wanted it to be but strangely I am not feeling happy with it. I miss my dad so much.
Now the only thing that I want is to confront him. Why did he leave me and mom to die in our own hell hole when he loves us so much?
It was Friday night and also the weekend night. I finished my homework early so that I could have time to watch my favourite movie ‘Cinderella’. I was half way done viewing the movie when I could hear the entrance door screech open and in walked my dad wobbling over to the sofa on the porch. I came out of my bedroom and immediately climbed down the stairs to reach him. His eyes catch me immediately and tries to stabilise himself on his walk.
Why is he not able to walk properly? Is he injured somewhere?
I walk swiftly to him so that he doesn’t fall. He tries to walk normal but fails miserably. I go near to hold him and I could stench the stinking smell of alcohol. He struggles to speak natural, trying hard not to give me his drunken view. “Princess, go to your room and rest. You are not supposed to see me like this.” He states but I did not miss the glint of contrition on his face. “I will be fine by tomorrow morning.” He tries to assure me by dismissing off at the easiest possible way.
I look at him into the eye with welled tears peering at his disabled state. He gives me a sorry look. Raising his hand he tries to wipe away my tears when I hear the opening of the front door again. Both of us look to our sides and what I saw gave me a full blown shock.
I could see a scantily dressed woman entering inside the house. She was a blonde and had a short red dress hardly covering her body. Her make-up was overdone and she had cherry red lipstick on her lips. “Lily...” My dad looks at her in disbelief. She waddles in her steps towards dad but he pushes her away immediately. “I told you a thousand times not to get inside the house. My daughter is now residing here.” He speaks to her firmly trying to get rid of his drunkenness. “But Robert...” She reaches him tracing his upper arm with her long fingers but he pushes it away clearly showing his annoyance. Before she speaks further he admonishes. “Get out and remember always. This house is now out of bounds for you forever.”
She gives me her dirtiest glare and speaks to him in a pique. “You slept with me all this while and now you are ignoring me because of this little mutt. I will see to it that this bijou hound gets out of this house very soon.” She screams with her big boobs plunging out of her neckline. I stare at my dad in dubiety. Was this all he was doing staying away from the house.