CHAPTER 4: Silver water

Now, I know I never really mentioned my father other than the fact that he had died when I was two but apparently he had been doing pretty well since then. In my defense, I never met the guy and mom never talked about him. I only ever asked a couple times and she would dismiss my question and it would be as if I had never asked, so at the end I just gave up, until now. I couldn't miss the similarities between me and this guy, same dark hair, same olive colored eyes. But still it was impossible that he was my father. And if he was then I was pissed off at him, I had practically grown up on my own with only Dave (who was only four years older than me and no kid that age should be in charge of practically raising a child). My mom was there too of course, but you already heard about how she was deteriorating, and even before that started she was never really there.

The guy closed his arms awkwardly when he saw I made no move to greet him. I did not speak, and for a moment, he did not either, and it wasn't a comfortable silence. After what had felt like a while way too long he cleared his throat and nodded at the woman behind me, "you're dismissed Zoë, I believe this girl deserves some explanation?" I think he was trying to sound nonchalant, but his voice came out everything but.

The woman who had brought me in-and whose name I had just learned was Zoë-bowed in curtsy and hurried past the doors, closing them silently behind her.

The guy motioned for me to sit at the sofa, and I would have refused if not for fear of passing out if I remained standing for this conversation, so I sat at the far corner hoping that he would not sit near me.

He did, in a 7 foot long couch this dude decided to sit right next to me where our knees were touching even when I leaned them away. Even then I refused to meet his eye.

He placed a hand on my shoulder but I shook him away, he sighed and began "Look, Alyne, I know you must be very confused, not just about what is happening right now but also about what has been happening during the last few weeks, and I admit most of this is my fault."

Something made me look up at him, right in the eye and I swear in that moment I had never despised anyone so badly. "So it was you she was seeing? You made her a monster! Did you make her kill me as well?"

"She didn't kill you because she wanted too, it was just time you joined us, and besides there were benefits in it for her too, she gets to live."

"So she's just selfish, is that what you're trying to say?"
"Oh no darling, you have got this all wrong. She begged me to keep you and your brother-" "So he is aliv-"

"Hush child, and listen." He sighed exasperated. "Anyway, she begged and I knew she wasn't going to do what I asked while she was in her right mind, so I had to go to extreme measures. I'm sorry you had to die like that, I'm sure burning has got to hurt. Now she must be back to normal but listen carefully," his eyes turned cold "if you try to dishonor me in anyway she will pay the consequences, do you hear me?"

I tried to keep my voice steady, "she never truly cared about me, why should I care about her? And if you're trying to make this a heart warming father-daughter reunion, let me tell you it is not working, Dad". I tried to say the word as if I was talking about something that disgusted me, but I hadn't said it in so long that it came out sounding affectionate. I could not look away from his eyes and I found myself beginning to calm down slowly.

"She did care, but it is a long story that I think you would much rather see than hear, am I right?" He smiled, a fatherly smile that made me wanna believe everything he was saying.

But there was something I could not understand about what he had just said. "I can't see it, It's in the past...whatever it is"

He shook his head slowly as if I had disappointed him somehow and I felt the urgent need to make him proud of me and never disappoint him again. He made a soft tsk tsk sound with his tongue like one might make to a dog who has torn a couch into pieces and now cotton is floating everywhere.

"Your mother has made you oblivious to everything hasn't she? Didn't she tell you stories about the dead?"

"Of course she did, but I never believed her! She was insane." I remembered I did believe her but for some unknown reason I didn't want him to know that. In fact I didn't want him to know anything about me, he had not been there to watch me grow. And he had no right to do so now. Much less when it was for whatever twisted scheme he had in mind.

Mom used to make me sit in front of the fireplace and listen to her stories, which sounded more like lullabies without the music, like poems.

Hush my child, you shall not know
You shall not learn 'bout what hides in the darkness For if you do you will find your foe.

I struggled to remember more of it but my mind came out blank, I would have freaked out had I not been careful nit to show any weakness or vulnerability in front of this man, my dad, whose name I didn't even know.

He must have noticed the way I was looking at him because he quickly added, "oh dear! how rude of me, I seem to know all of you but did not have at least the decency to tell you my name" he bowed. "Alyne, my dear Alyne, my name is Weldom and I am your father" cliché. I knew it but he looked like the kind of guy who a) adored using dramatic sentences, or b) was a big Star Wars fan. Personally, I was rooting for the latter

By then I was glad I had sat down, or I would probably have been passed out by now. I was proud of myself for holding it together for this long but I didn't know how much longer my courage would last, I knew I was running on adrenaline.

"Hey uh...do you think we can continue this conversation in the morning? This has all been kind of overwhelming."

"Oh of course darling, I apologize, I have grown unaccustomed to the feelings of a newbie, you must be exhausted". He stood up and extended his hand, even though I did not want to I took it and pulled myself up. I stumbled suddenly realizing how tired I truly was. Weldom lead me through another set of doors, ones that I had not noticed before, at the other end of the white room. Those doors lead to yet another large corridor with many doors on each side. We walked for a while until he paused at a door on the right, its number read "39". He pulled out a ring with about a thousand keys, yet he somehow managed to pull out the exact right one that would open the door -I guessed he had a lot of free time to memorize all of the keys. We stepped inside the room where a queen sized bed stood in the back and a tub on the side. A window covered most of the right wall and the landscapes in it changed from what seemed to be deserts or oceans. It all just made me all the more exhausted. My knees buckled and Weldom scooped me up in his arms, walking to the bed and laying me there. It was so comfortable I could have slept forever. I was about to fall asleep when he handed me a silver cup full of what looked like water.

"Here, drink this. It will help you dream, it will help you understand some more and you will be rested in the morning. It might taste funny but it's nothing to worry about. If you wake up and need some more, the silver pond is right there," he pointed to what I had first assumed was a mirror and saw that it was shimmering and was in fact silver and somehow it was not spilling and I had no energy at all to figure that out right now. "Should have enough for now. Though I doubt you'll wake up before the morning." I took a hesitant sip, it did not taste funny, in fact it didn't really have a taste at all, but it did make me drowsy. Weldom leaned in to tuck me into the softest blankets I had ever felt and the softest most spongy pillow in the history of pillows and kissed my forehead, a soft tender kiss that could almost have convinced me that he had been there to kiss me goodnight every night. Almost. He left after that, closing the door behind him and I was pretty sure he had locked it but was far too tired to worry about it.

I had always been stubborn, fighting against sleep and when I finally gave in, it took me a while to start the real sleeping process, the process in which you're not quite dreaming yet but your mind is already outside of your body. When your thoughts turn way too weird for you to be awake. But this time I fell like a rock, as soon as my eyes were closed, consciousness drifted away as fast as a train. I saw the train and in every seat of the train there was a childhood memory, hope or dream that stood in the form of what looked like a flickering hologram. It had hundreds of wagons, maybe more. But I saw some memories -I knew they were memories because their colors where nearly black and white while my dreams were sharp- that I did not recognize. That's when I realized I was not seeing my own memories but my mother's. 

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Yes to Sofiaaaaa.

Although I hadn't read the entire plot surrounding it, this little snippet was beautiful. Why'd she die? And how comes its her father meeting her on the other side? I'm intrigued and I love it.

(I've added it to the magazine as well with an illustration I'm quite proud of which i'll send you a print screen of via email)

Wattpad name: sophiepeterson9