On the first day of Christmas, Zara Fischer's 'true love' gave to her... a breakup.
The day before seventeen-year-old Zara takes off for the Christmas holidays to the other side of the world--cold, dreary London--her boyfriend of two months dumps he...
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Thursday: December 2nd, 2015
Time was a bit of a blur as the hours of no sleep continued to tick on. But when my final plane touched the tarmac at Heathrow, it was just about noon on the second day of Christmas.
I gladly got out of my seat, enjoying the feeling of stretching my legs, before I shuffled out of the plane with the masses, down the jetway, and through border control. After collecting my suitcase, I finally walked through the arrivals gate, gaze searching the crowd for the familiar face.
Normally, the sight of my father would cause the corners of my lips to turn upwards. But this time, when my eyes landed on him, I could only feel the betrayal. As I stared at his lit-up eyes and hand waving above the crowd for my attention, the last time I saw my dad flashed through my eyes.
╔═══━━━─── ∘◦ ❈ ◦∘ ───━━━═══╗
Last Christmas, dad had come to visit me, like he did every year since mum and I left England for Australia. And in the final week of his visit, he decided to drop some life-changing news on me... which did not go swimmingly.
"Hey poppet, do you think you can sit and have a talk with me for a minute?" dad asked as I walked into the kitchen. While dad had been staying in the spare room for the month of December, it didn't mean we had been spending every waking moment together. He knew in the mornings I liked my quiet time to wake up.
"Sure," I mumbled, noticing mum sitting on the couch next to him. Even though mum had allowed him to stay with us, the two barely ever conversed without me present.
But as I took the seat between them, mum got to her feet. Without even glancing at me, she left the room.
That was... odd, I thought. Looking at my dad's awaiting soft gaze, I began to wonder if this was about me... Eyes widening, I then thought, Oh my gosh, does he want me to move back and live with him?
But before that thought could carry on any further, he said, "You know how I told you I've been seeing someone?"
Grimacing, I recalled the brief mention of a woman with a kid he discussed over the phone a couple months before coming to visit me. He spoke to her almost every evening during dinner time and mum would send daggers his way when he left the table. "Yeah," I said hesitantly.
"Well... I have some news about her and me to share. Her name is Clare and I think you'd really like her. She has a daughter who is three years old and they've been living with me over the past year."
It took dad only a year to replace us. Mum and I had felt that weight crush us, but we always assumed eventually he'd end things with her. Because what man in his forties wants a little kid running around in his life again? And Clare was only in her early thirties, so maybe she'd want more.
