Catherine woke up the next mourning... she had an headache. It was so strong, she felt like her head would explode. Her sister was sleeping next to her, still holding her hand under the blankets. She lifted up her head, and noticed her mother sleeping by her side, on her seat, leaning against the headboard. Catherine looked around the room for her father, but he wasn't there. She tried to remember what happened yesterday before she fell asleep as she would let out a few hiccups every few seconds. Her head was heavy, she was feeling dizzy, and her vision was spinning... she was starving. She tried to get up as she got herself free from her sister's hand, then went to the bathroom in her parent's bedroom, and looked at herself on the mirror...her face looked as melted as an ice cream, she had a disgusting taste in her mouth, and her eyes were red. She slowly washed herself as she started to gain some strength to move her body, even though it felt tired and heavy... then, she left the room.
Once she reached the bottom floor, she looked around the living room, then called for her father. No one answered. She went to the entrance hall and opened a door that led to her father's office, then she walked in and stopped in front of the table, staring outside the window, looking around at his bookshelves, then walked back out of the office, and went to the kitchen ... he was nowhere to be found. She then took a look at the door that led to the backyard, and so she opened it and went outside, in hopes to find him there. Here father wasn't there as well, so she walked back through the door she came out from, and closed it behind her. She was in the kitchen again.
She looked around for something to eat as her stomach kept rumbling loudly through the silence. She would still let out a few hiccups once in awhile. Her eyes would still let out a few tears as she stopped to think about what happened yesterday... but she wasn't going to cry again... she doesn't wanna listen to herself crying again. Even so... she still couldn't handle it... she didn't want to accept it. Eva's death...
It took her a few minutes until she found a jar of cookies in one of the kitchen shelves. After that, she served herself a cup of milk, and walked back to the living room with a plate of cookies on her hand. She sat on the coach, resting her elbows on her knees, covering her face with the palm of her hands. She looked at the food on the center table she had put in front of her as she was gathering up some courage to eat. After a few minutes, she grabbed one of the cookies she loves so much, then took a first bite, slowly chewing it up as she grabbed her glass of milk to drink, little by little.
The house was completely silent, the atmosphere around her was so heavy, it didn't feel like home. It didn't feel safe. She was staring at the black screen of the television in front of her... she was staring at her reflection, overflowing with a dark aura that kept growing bigger, until it eventually shaped itself as a figure of a person... a figure that perfectly matched her friend's, Eva. Before she even noticed, she felt sick again. She dropped the glass of milk on the floor and held tight to her belly as she covered her mouth with the palm of her hand. She felt her stomach in flames, restless, as if it tried to find its way out. She started retching loudly as she felt her food slowly coming up, filling up her insides and burning through her throat until she could no longer breath, almost choking on her own tongue... and when she least expected... it stopped. It went back down as she swallowed and started coughing, uncontrollably, then her food came up once more. And all of a sudden, she was retching , again... louder, stronger... they took longer and became way more painful than she thought she could handle. And a few moments later, it stopped again... Catherine started trembling... she looked down on her hands, shaking as her tears started flowing down her eyes again.
" D-Damn it! F-fuck... Stop it! " she said to herself, cleaning the tears off her face as she leaned back on the coach. She then cowered herself, wrapping her arms around her legs, resting her face on her knees, sobbing, holding tight to her wrist until she eventually started silently crying.
" Catherine? " she heard her father voice as he came in through the back door, holding onto a few shopping bags. " Baby, what are you doing here? " her father asked as she lifted her head to look at him. " You should be resting! " Gordon said as he put the bags down, on the ground and rushed to his daughter.
" I-I was hu-hungry... " Catherine tried to speak normally as she rubbed her face, trying not to sob too loud, or doing any noise at all.
" Holly sh... what happened here? Are you hurt? " Gordon asked as he stepped on the glass shards on the floor. " Why aren't you wearing any slippers? " her father asked as he crouched down in front of her. " Baby, are you hurt? " Gordon said as he looked at her. Catherine kept sobbing, not answering to any of her father's questions. Gordon stood there, staring at her... his poor daughter who'd probably survive what could've been the last day of her life...he just wants to ask her about EVERYTHING.
How did she ended up in that house? Who was that girl back at the hospital? And how did they met?
He had so many questions to ask her, from the craziest one to the most naive... but he can't do it... at least, not now. It's his daughter, she's just his 9 years old little girl. And damn it, he would see her as a little girl even if she was 90! Right now, there's only one thing in his mind. And that is, to be with her.
" Kate... does it still hurt? Did you feel sick again? " her father asked her. Catherine wiped off the tears from her face as she kept sobbing.
" My head hurts too... " she spoke at some point.
" You have to eat something. " her father said.
" No! It will hurt harder, again... " Catherine said as she shook her head. " I-I d-don't know what's wrong with me! I'm sca-ared! " she said as she struggled to keep herself from crying. Her father grabbed one of her hands as he slowly caressed his daughter's head, then kissing her forehead, telling her it was okay and everything was going to be alright.
" You wanna have a picnic in the backyard, with daddy? " Gordon said at some point. He knows his daughters love picnics. It was still early in the mourning, but he knows very well that, for them, it didn't matter at what time of the day it was. It could be 4 in the mourning, and they would still wanna go for it.
Catherine nodded as she started wiping the tears off her face with her arms, again. Gordon took her in his arms and carried her across the room until they reached the kitchen. He let her sit on a chair and went back to grab the groceries he had bought from the store. Catherine was waiting, resting her head on the table as her father cleaned the mess she had made, and then started getting the kitchen ready so he could prepare her something nice that he was sure she would never resist to eat.
Before she noticed, they were already outside. Her father had made breakfast for everyone, even though Catherine's sister and mother were still asleep. They were sitting on her favorite blanket. She never agreed to say that it was her parents's best choice, because it had an awful chess pattern with a weird combination of a light green and a dark grey... but it was her favorite. Her father had backed her some eggs and bacon... he made Tuna sandwiches, he brought some peanut butter, strawberry jam, then made some orange juice, some tea, and even prepared some hot chocolate... and of course, there was cake. Gordon brought all Catherine's favorites for breakfast, but even so, she was too afraid to eat anything.
" It still hurts... " Catherine said as she was looking at all that food. She wanted to eat, but didn't have the courage. After a little while, Gordon decided he would make her something that he knew she would eat for sure. And so he walked back inside, leaving his daughter on the backyard by herself. It didn't take longer than 6 minutes, and he came back outside with a little bowl on his hand, and after a closer look, Catherine's fear suddenly disappeared as he sit next to her.
" I made porridge! " Gordon said as he kept slowly stirring it with the spoon, then taking it up to his daughter's mouth. " Let's go slowly, okay? " he said as she slowly nodded, staring at him with her eyes shinning from the tears, eating slowly.
Catherine was calmer now. She was still sobbing, and she would still take her arms up to wipe her tears away every once in a few seconds, but she was calmer now. Her father kept talking to her as he kept feeding her, until she ate everything and the pain in her stomach disappeared. She then rested her head on her father's lap for a little while. They stayed in silence for sometime, Gordon would still feel her sobbing silently as the wind kept blowing the leaves away from the trees. They remained in silence, listening to the trees, then to the birds, until the streets became a little noisier and suddenly there were dogs barking and cars passing by.
" God, please don't ever leave side..." he whispered to himself at some point. After some time, Catherine lifted herself up, then started eating more. Her father kept talking to her, as she kept listening. He insisted on making side conversations and bringing up random things from the past, until she eventually let out a smile. At that moment, Gordon knew his daughter was getting back to normal. He knew that she was scared, but he felt a massive consolation when he saw his daughter's smile for the first time, today.
Comments (0)
See all