Dangerous Run

17||Promise||

"Is she awake?"

"I don't think so. Her eyes are still closed."

Blur.

That was just what she could make of. Everything seemed and looked blurred and the throbbing pain in her head only seems to increase. She fluttered her eyes opened, her lashes still wet from crying.

"Oh my gosh!! She's up!" A soft voice squealed. She didn't miss the growl that came out from a guy's mouth. She slowly opened her eyes, with a soft growl. The brightness that was radiating from the small ceiling chandelier could almost blind the girl.

"Ari, are you okay?" Her mother asked watching her daughter. She was in a bad state right now and her mother did feel helpless.

The shattered girl looked at Tom and Jules, asking invisibly for privacy so she could talk to her momma alone. Tom seemed to get the cue and dragged Jules away from the room. Although, she knew that Tom already knew about her papa's death with the concerned look from him.

"How did he die? Papa." She asked heartbroken from just saying his name made her eyes sting with pain. She couldn't bring herself to think about it not even say it. The man she called her papa was dead.

"Dear, You need to hear the full story first before shedding any tears for the man you called you papa. I want you to promise me that you'll hold your emotion and try to control yourself. I believe what I'm about to tell you will change the way you see that man." Her mother spat with venom.

The girl sniffed a little bit excited to hear the story and a small part of her was curious and determined to know much about her father's death.

"This morning, when you were out in school, getting good grades and making us proud." Her mother started. The girl bit her lips. Good grade? She didn't do well this year so she wouldn't call it good grades. She couldn't tell her mother about it even though she wanted to. Not in this situation.

"Last night, your father didn't go to work. He never did and he didn't even have work to start with. He worked in a bookshop for free and get paid just a small amount of money. In the bookshop, he found this woman called Jackie. She was a married woman with 4 kids, 3 girls and just one boy. They worked together, which in the process, their bond grew stronger. That was where he got all those money he usually gives us, for home feeding." She said, her mother eyes held strong hate already just narrating the story. She looked at her daughter to see if she was listening, and she was.

"He lied. He lived a fake life. They gradually fell in love and then, he-" She stopped between mid-sentence holding her shaky breath for what she was about to say. "He laid with her." She told, sniffing. The small girl squirms just at the image of her papa and another woman doing it.

"This morning, news go to me that Jackie's house was burnt down with her possessions and children in it. Unfortunately, she didn't make it. Fortunately, your dad was with them last night. He was with them enjoying his miserable life with her and didn't know what was going on in the house. He was too late to notice the smell of the smoke and happen to burn with them. His body was found, burnt, his organs and everything burnt down like that of a deer. He didn't survive."

"W-what happened to Jackie's husband?" The girl asked curiously. Her tears were stopped and now filled with hatred in her heart. She felt a new feeling. A bad feeling. She felt even guilty for crying for a man who cheated on her mother and her and lied to her. He even committed adultery with another woman. Which she knew was a sin. She felt he deserved it but not death, no one deserved to be punished like that though.

"He was out of town for a while. He also heard of the news and said he was coming tomorrow to see his family corpse." Her mother told. "However, the burning of the house was yet to be discovered. Who burnt the house? No one knows. There was no trace at all but I'm sure the officers are at it." Her poor mother rounded off with a shrug.