"Ilyse? Can you come in here a moment please?" Aunt B called out to me one early evening, I had been sitting out on the porch just watching bugs lazily fly by. The sun hadn't set yet and at that moment it didn't feel like the temperature was going to drop too much overnight, in fact it was probably going to be too humid to sleep yet again.

"Sure aunt B, what's up?" I asked, walking through the front door. She had been standing just inside the doorway, the phone clutched in her hand. I was a little worried when she didn't look up at me, her face was ashen looking like she'd just seen a ghost.

"Uhm sweety, there's no easy way to say this. But your father is back in the country and he is attempting to gain custody of you...he wants you back in his life Ilyse and he's doing his damnedest to do it." Aunt B began to cry, at first it was a few tears and sniffles. But the longer I stood there quiet the louder she got.

To be honest, my brain was in total meltdown mode.

"I'm not going! He can't make me...I'm not leaving you aunt B. Why now? It's all his fault that mom died, that my siblings died and that you had to take me in. It's his fault and he should be the one that suffers now, we've all suffered enough. Aunt B, what can I do?" Disgust welled up within me at the thought of my father, he had caused so much grief and pain in not only my mothers life but also in mine too.

There was no way I was going back to him without a fight, if I had to I'd chain myself to the house.

"I love you so much Ilyse but you have to know he will win eventually. People with money always come out on top." Aunt B was right but I refused to give in that easily, then again it might have been easier on aunt B if I really did just leave. She'd have no more teenagers to worry about, she'd have her house and her life back to normal like when it had been.

"Aunt B, I love you too. You've given me so much just by being my awesome aunt B and I couldn't have asked for better or more." Aunt B cried harder when I said that, it made me realize that perhaps she'd already given up the fight or that there really was no fight because we'd never win.

"He's coming by in the morning to collect you, he has said that if you're not here to be collected by eight in the morning that he'll send the police around and child protective services." I was feeling murderous when aunt B said that, after being an absent father for years he was suddenly back making demands?

"Oh don't you worry aunt B, I'll be ready in the morning." I said through clenched teeth, oh my sperm donor of a father wasn't going to know what hit him. I was sure I'd be dropped right back at aunt B's home within a few hours. Aunt B had taught me zen but that was now gone out the window at the thought of being around my father.

Aunt B gave me a stern look, it was hard to take her seriously though because I could see that she was as sad as I was.

We both spent the evening apart, digesting and processing what was going to happen. I couldn't stomach the thought of dinner, I tossed and turned much of the night and when morning rolled around I was angrier than I had been when aunt B had dropped the news.

Aunt B and I had barely been out of bed for an hour before we heard someone walking up to our front door and banging on it like the world was ending. I had packed my bags in between trying to get some sleep the night before but I was not prepared to see my father so soon.

"Brenda! Open the door, I want my daughter!" The sudden sound of his voice spiked my nerves as aunt B went to open the door. I was still very much angry, but I doubt it translated well as I was still in my pajamas and had bed hair still.

When aunt B opened the door my father came storming through the door straight to me, his arms were open as if he were going to hug me. Thank god my brain kicked in early and I side stepped him, when he tried to hug me again I moved around him until I was standing behind aunt B.

"Ily, it's me...your papa." I studied the man that was taking me away from my home, he seemed genuinely hurt that I'd rejected him. I don't know if it was real or not but I trusted him about as much as I could throw him, which wasn't much or far.

"Don't call me Ily, and you're not my papa. You're my sperm donor and I want you to remember that, you gave up all rights to being my father when you ran away with your side lady and never looked back at us. It's your fault mom is dead, your fault that they're all dead and I'll blame you till my last day. So don't think I'm willingly going with you, I'm going because I don't want you causing any trouble for aunt B. She raised me, not you." My father, Martin looked like a clown had farted in his face. His jaw was slack, his eyes were wide and he didn't know what the heck to do or think but I wasn't going back on anything.

"Why don't you go up and change and do that thing with your hair that you always do. I'm sure Martin wouldn't mind sitting down for a moment and having a cup of coffee while you get ready." Cue aunt B and her trying to mend a situation. She gave me a stern look, I know she wouldn't have been pleased with anything that was directed at my father.

For all that we'd been through and for everything my father had caused...aunt B still believed in forgiveness and keeping a level head in situations. It just was me, whenever I was passionately angry about something I spoked first and thought second. But at least this time I didn't cuss, which made me smile a little as I went up to shower and change.

When I came back down 'Martin' and aunt B were actually sitting in the kitchen at the table talking. I decided that eavesdropping was better than anything else so hung back from the door and hid around the corner a little bit.

"I didn't think she'd hate me so much, I guess she didn't know how messed up Annie really was. I can't tell her that truth now and ruin what she thinks is a perfect mom. It's better that she hates me than knows the truth about Annie I guess. But I'd still like to take her for a while B, not permanently...just enough to get to know her. I can tell you've done a better job at raising her than either Annie or I could manage and I will pay the child support that I need to pay and back pay too. I know you won't take it but please B, just let me do that for you." What the hell was he saying?

Hearing small snippets of a conversation didn't exactly help me piece together the puzzle that was my past. What was my mom really like? Was Martin just trying to lie some more?

"Martin, I tried telling her about Annie a few times when she first arrived but her grief was so consuming that she wouldn't listen to a word that I said. So I left it alone, eventually she started blaming you and I tried to get her to see through things. But she's stubborn like Annie used to be, she'll hear what she wants to when she's angry and she'll shut herself away when she's upset." Okay, things were starting to build in my mind. Like my past was a lie and everyone had been hiding things...even if they hadn't been trying to.

I was determined to think of my father as the villain that he was, after all if he hadn't left my mom wouldn't have gotten drunk and driven home from picking us up at school. She wouldn't have crossed the centerline and ploughed head first into an on coming freight truck, she and my siblings would still be alive and I wouldn't be left with the bitter thoughts that I wasn't good enough for either of my parents.

Hearing the chairs scraped against the kitchen floor I turned away from the door and headed back to my room to bring my bags down. A million and one thoughts went through my mind after hearing Martin and aunt B discuss the past and my mother, what was I supposed to believe now?

__________

I'm back! 

That was a long while away from writing but I'm back and ready to update several times this weekend :D.

While away I thought I'd forget how to write Water...but I think I've still got the inspiration so that's good!

Has anyone thought about cast? I'm thinking of how to add in Ilyse and Keelan's physical descriptions without it being pointless or stupid.