I thought that part of my life was over. I thought that he was finally out of the picture. My mom and I were fine together; we paid taxes on time, always food on the table, and even went on vacations when she got a bonus. Everything, for the first time in my life, was perfect, until he came back. He promised he would never come find us; then again, he wasn’t good at keeping any of his promises, thought Blaise in complete darkness.

One hour earlier…

“Ugh! English and Shakespeare never make any sense! I mean, yeah, it’s nice to listen to, but when it comes to interpreting it seems all gibberish. Why can’t the guy just make Juliet say, ‘Romeo, where are you?’ But of course not, he has to make her say, ‘Romeo, Romeo where far thou Romeo?’ Whatever, I’ll just skip it and go onto math. Now math makes sense, all you need to know is an equation and numbers. They are practically fill-in-the-blanks, just put a number where a letter is,” muttered Blaise as she spoke to the wall like it would actually respond. Suddenly her phone rang with the song “Untouched” by The Veronicas. Whoever it was, the caller ID came up as UNKNOWN, and when she picked it up, they hung up right away. It’s probably Matt and Jesse, she pondered to herself. They always tried to prank call her, but it never really worked. For a second time her phone rang, though this time it came up as RESTRICTED, but she picked it anyways.

“Honey, it’s your father…,” and in a flash, the phone began to fly out of her hand across the room. Fear began to crawl its way throughout her body, the world began to slip away. Her father continued to talk, though Blaise couldn’t hear, feel, taste, see, or smell anything. All she realized is that she fell, hard.

Who knew the darkness could be so comforting? It never interrupted you when you were talking, it never judged you, and it always felt like it was actually listening. It never asked any questions, though it was constantly around you, embracing you. Blaise jumped up when a splash of water slapped her in the face. Her eyes flew open to the image of her mom and dog, Shade, both wearing worried expressions.

“Sorry Mom, I didn’t mean to scare you,” apologized Blaise. She knew her mom had to deal with a lot, so she always tried her best not to be another problem for her.

“It’s okay, I was just concerned because when I walked through the door I heard a thump, and I followed Shade who ran up to your room. What happened, this isn’t like you?” questioned her mother, for it was quite obvious that Blaise was now shaking.

“It’s… it’s Dad,” trembled Blaise.

“What?!?!?!” exclaimed her mom.

“He…he called me on my cell phone. I kind of freaked out and threw it across the room. I think I passed out, too,” whimpered Blaise. A puzzled look covered her mother’s face.

“I had a feeling he would do this, he probably wants to be a family again,” she sighed tiredly, “I just wish he never made those idiotic decisions in the first place. Everyone would be so happy if we were just a family again,” muttered her mother.

“Wait, sniff, sniff,” stammered Blaise, for she was now on the verge of crying, “what do you mean us being a family?”

“What? Oh nothing, just forget he ever called you, okay Jellybean?” teased her mom, for that used to be her nickname when she was younger.

“Oh, okay,” whispered Blaise. She was exhausted, and before she knew it she fell into a deep sleep on her bright pink bed. Though that night, she couldn’t help but dream of him. Her dream wasn’t a pleasant one, like the ones she always had about with John, her boyfriend, in tux, slow dancing with her at prom. This one was a flashback of her mother’s and father’s last argument before her and mom moved out. It was loud, deafening even, both of them were yelling. It was the night when her mom found that her drunk husband had cheated on her for a second time. Even though she had never told anyone, not even Shade, and especially him, she hated everything her father ever did.

Blaise awoke the next day to the sun shining through her stained glass windows. Lasts night’s dream left her with a sickening feeling in her stomach. Although, her normal dream did follow afterwards, it still didn’t entirely help the pain she felt inside of her. She shook it off for the moment, rolled out of bed, and got ready for school. There wasn’t that much to look forward to today, that is except her basketball game. It was a home game, meaning that the boy’s basketball team would be there cheering in the stands since their game got cancelled. That also meant that John would be there watching, so she definitely couldn’t mess up. But this didn’t bother her that much, so far her team was the first in their division and she was the M.V.P. (most valuable player).

When she walked into to school she met up with John and then went to their classes together, he never really suspected anything was wrong since Blaise was so good at covering up her feeling with her dark mask that hid emotions. The day seemed to pass hidden as a leopard in a rain forest, and before she knew it she was on her way to the gym with Jenny.

“Hey, so how’s it going? Anything new and exciting? Anything you want to talk about?” asked Jenny while doing a slight jog to get herself pumped for the game.

“Nah, nothing really. Why?” spoke Blaise in a chill tone, hoping that she would just drop the subject.

“I don’t know, you just seemed out of it today. Oh well, guess you don’t want to talk about it. Hey, you better get focused for the game today, because the boy’s team is going to be there!” exclaimed Jenny. These were the main reasons why Jenny Coville was her best friend. No matter how hard she tried, Jenny could always tell if something was wrong, she never made Blaise do anything she didn’t feel comfortable with, and she was always so laid back.
All of a sudden she heard someone call out her name from behind her. Though when she turned to see who it was, her eyes crashed face first into the dreadful image of her father. She began to run and Jenny began to trail on her heels without even asking why. But, even though she was running as fast as she could, her father kept up with her in his dark blue Porsche.

“Blaise! Honey, come here, I want to talk to you,” hollered her father. What in the world could he want now? was the only thing she was able to think about as she drew near the gym.

“Please, just leave me alone,” moaned Blaise as she entered the building. Soon enough the girl’s team began to warm up and so did thee opposing team. At last the game began, and Blaise was now ready to dominate the court. Though, throughout the game she seemed so distant and the image of her parents happy with each other kept on popping up in her head. Her team did end up winning the game, but it ended up being a close call. Due to Blaise’s unwanted distraction, since she was thinking of her dad, the game had to go into overtime. But just to make things better, John decided to walk her home since her mom was working late tonight.

“Is there anything wrong?” asked John with a puzzled look. They were now on her porch.

“No, well yeah I guess. But you don’t need to worry, I can handle it on my own,” reassured Blaise.

“I wish you just asked for help sometimes, I’m always here no matter what happens. You know that, right?” John said in a worried tone.

“I know and I’m fine. Thanks for walking me home,” sang Blaise as her lips briskly greeted his cheek.

“Okay, if you say so. Good night, see you tomorrow,” he said, defeated. After he left, she went inside and washed up. Then she finished her homework and went to bed. That night she unexpectedly had a dream of her father, again. Though this time it was a joyful memory, it was the memory of how he used to put her up on his shoulders at a baseball game so she could see, even though she had no idea what the teams were doing. The dream filled her with a sense of completeness as she saw everyone in her family together and happy, but it also filled her with a feeling of loss. It had been a long time since everyone was that content, and she had a feeling that in the future she still wouldn’t be as happy as she used to before her dad became a jerk. But as soon as that dream ended, she had the same hurtful dream she had the night before. And once again her young, vulnerable heart, hardened with rage and hatred.

The next couple of days passed in a haze, as if mist covered her eyes and enveloped her mind. She began to realize that she couldn’t focus on anything, not even math or basketball. This is when she was truly beginning to worry, because those were the two things she was always focused on. But for some strange, unknown reason this situation with her father seemed to be different.

When Blaise got home after basketball practice, she was astonished to hear father at her home arguing with her mom. She was used to sneaking up to her room when they were together, so as soon as she saw them her instincts kicked in, and she soundlessly floated up the stairs to her room. They began to yell when after she washed up and began her homework. After an hour she started to get hungry, so she went down stairs to whip something up. As she crept into the kitchen, her mother asked her to join them in the living room.

“Your father would like to have a word with you,” cautioned her mom.

“Mom, excuse me for what I’m about to do. Dad, get out of our house!” Blaise poisonously spat.

“Blaise Amber Thaine, don’t think you can…,” her father began, but Blaise quickly cut him off.

“Don’t think! That is it! Don’t think that the first time you cheated on mom it wasn’t your fault! Don’t think that the second time you did it that you weren’t drunk! No, no! Don’t think I am ever going to forget what you did! Don’t think you can come here, say you’re sorry again, and be a family again! You are out of chances! AND DON’T THINK YOU ARE GOING TO COME HERE AND RUIN MY LIFE!” hollered Blaise, she couldn’t stop but that didn’t matter to her now, “It’s my turn to scream and yell! What you did devastated me. I never wanted to hurt you, but you need to know for your own good because it’s obvious you’re clueless. I hate you and everything you ever did,” screamed Blaise, now crying.

“Blaise, I never knew you felt that way,” her shell-shocked father whispered.

“Well now you know. Why did you hurt me and mom, two times? (Sniff, sniff) Why did you do it? Was I that bad of a daughter that you wanted to have a family with someone else? What did I do? I miss you and all the good times, but we can’t be a family again. I know and understand that now,” babbled Blaise as she was crying, “so Dad just do us a favor and leave us alone.”

“I’m so sorry I made you feel like something was wrong with you. Blaise, you are the best daughter any father could ask for. I love you so much, and I am so proud of you. And if that’s what you want, for me to go away, I will,” spoke her father who was also now slightly tearing, “You know my number, call anytime. You know my address, too, so stop by if you want to. Blaise, I really do love you and your mother and I truly am sorry about what I did in the past.” With that, her broken father exited their house in silence. Now that he was gone, Blaise began bawl over everything that has had happened.

“Jellybean, I’m happy you finally told him how you feel, and you’re right. We can’t dwell in the past, we just have to be strong and move on with our lives,” cooed her mother. Then for the last time she cried over her father and everything he ever did.

Two month later…

Life moved on as always, and Blaise continued with her life with her mom. Though every once in a while she would call her father. And if she was in a really good mood, she would spend a day with him. Even though she still felt strongly about what he did, she learned that it was the past and she couldn’t change even if she wanted to.