Desire

(10) Distance

Kimberly was sprawled across the living room couch, her head was in her fathers lap as he played with her hair, friends was playing on the tv, a show her mother had enjoyed very much before she had died. She had a large blanket over her still shivering body and a bucket besides her because she insisted she was going to be sick.

"Now you've had some medicine do you feel any better?" Dale questioned. They had been home on the couch for three hours but Kimberly had refused to eat anything, too scared of being sick and Dale was worried, she had only had a small bowl of cereal and it was 6pm.

"A little." She mumbled, pulling the blanket closer up to her chin.

"Wanna try eat something now?" He spoke while keeping his eyes on the show he had watched a thousand times. Although some of the jokes were a little inappropriate — in Dale's head — he allowed his daughter to watch the show as it was something which reminded her of her late mother.

"Can I be a brat?" She kept her voice low, a constant pout on her lips.

Dale furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Can I have McDonald's, please?" She asked politely.

Dale chuckled. "Of course. I'll order it, can you wait a little?"

"Yes." She nodded her head a little. "Can I look at the photo album again?"

"You can, I'll just have to go find it first." Dale stood to his feet, his phone in hand as he began placing the order, already knowing what his daughter would want. He made his way up the staircase at the same time in search for the photo album Kimberly adored looking through.

Dale pulled out a blue box from a closet in his room. It was filled with photo albums ranging from his baby photos, to when he met Kimberly's mother, all the way to Kimberly's birth. Just as Dale was about to leave his bedroom his phone began ringing in his pocket.

He placed the box down on his bed and lifted his phone out of his pocket and up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Thorne, it's Robert Mitchell." A deep voice answered back on the phone. Dale didn't even bother checking the name before he answered.

"Oh, hello Mr. Mitchell, is there anything wrong?" His mind went straight to the incident with Kimberly, maybe she had broken something while running, or hopefully it was something as simple as Dale left one of his possessions in the Mitchell home.

"Oh no, nothing wrong. I just wanted to check on Kimberly. Is she okay?" Robert had been thinking about the girl all day, she seemed pretty shaken up, surely there was another reason why the pool affected her so badly.

Dale was confused at the concern for his daughter. Robert was only his boss. What would the well-being on his daughter have to do with his boss? "She's okay. Not to sound rude or anything but why does it bother you? You aren't her father."

Robert took a moment of silence. Dale was right. Why was he worrying? The girl wasn't his, simply one of his worker's children. "My son caused your daughter to have a bit of a meltdown, I just wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help to say sorry."

"I'm sorry, I've just always been very protective of Kimberly, so when people show a care for her it worries me that it's with the wrong intentions." Dale chuckled nervously.

Robert joined in with the small laughter. "Trust me, I understand. I do have to ask though, the incident did seem to put Kimberly in a very bad way. Is there any reason for why she reacted so negatively?"

Dale sighed. "It's rather complicated. When Kimberly was younger, before Lucy had passed away, her uncles always roughhoused with her, I think she was only three when one of her uncles played a game of 'breath now' with her and it had scared her."

That only confused Robert more. "What is 'breath now'?"

"Caleb his name is, he would hold Kimberly under the water by her hair, then pull her up for one second, shout breath now and push her back under." Dale felt the guilt eat him up.

Robert gasped. "That's awful. Does she remember it?"

"She doesn't, but she always had a meltdown when in water after that. I didn't even know it was going on until the meltdowns concerned me and Lucy's mother explained it may have been because of the game her son had played with her." Dale hated the memory, he could remember how angry he got once he found out, screaming and shouting at the family for treating his daughter like their play thing. "Neither Lucy or I knew it was happening because we trusted them with Kimberly and Caleb most of all treated her like a rag doll. And ever since then she's always had a reaction, but I've felt too guilty to explain it."

Robert wasn't expecting that to be the answer, he thought it was just be a simply fear of water, or a silly story of her slipping in a pool when younger, not something so traumatic. "I really am sorry to hear that, Dale. I am furious at my son-"

"No no, Caiden didn't know. I'm sure if he knew then he wouldn't have done it. I'm not mad about it, and I don't think Kimberly is either. It's fine." Dale was quick to shut down the apologies and blaming, it wasn't anyone's fault.

"He should have phoned you himself to say sorry, I raised him with plenty more manners than he's giving off lately. But if there's anything I or Caiden can do to help, please just give us a call." Robert was honest in his words. He was also appalled that Caiden was sulking in his room at the mistake rather than picking up the phone to say sorry. He was acting like a child who didn't get his own way rather than attempting to make things right.

"Thank you for your concern, sir. But we'll be just fine. We always have been." Dale appreciated the help, he really did, but he felt Caiden visiting each night that Dale was working late was enough, maybe even a tad bit too much. He knew someone had to check in on his daughter, she never spent so much time alone, but Kimberly hadn't really had many friends in her life, she had a few when younger, but after her mum had died she was pulled out of public education and was homeschooled with online classes which she flew through quickly each day.

It was easy for Kimberly to get attached to new people, and Dale didn't want her getting attached to the Mitchell's. They wouldn't be around for long, only while they're working late, and after that things would likely go back to normal with little to no communication.

That's just how it was.

And Dale wanted to keep her feelings together, not letting her get hurt when they disappear and she realises Caiden wasn't a friend, his checkups were simply a request from her father.

He couldn't watch her heart shatter anymore, so he had to distance his daughter from the Mitchell's.