Isabella left and she couldn’t help but look at the people who came to support her. She was disappointed
at herself for not being able to be strong enough. She was disappointed at herself for not being enough.
Why couldn’t she be enough?
Was it her action? Was it her words? Was it her persistence that drove him to say such things? Was it her
stubbornness, where she didn’t listen to him when he told her to leave? Was it her? Just her? Was her
presence enough to make him mad? Maybe. Maybe because she perhaps reminds him of his wife.
A wife who didn’t stay. A wife who hated Isabella so much that she threw her to people who either pitied
her or threw her away as well. A wife who had a child of abomination.
“Isabella?” Ezri asks while the little girl looks out the car window with a distant look plastered on her
face. Rafael was looking at Isabella in worry and in pity. Of course, he pities her, Isabella thought. He has
the right to pity her. She just wished he didn’t look at her like a wounded animal who’s already near death’s door.
Rafael was also looking at Dmitri in question. He’s probably wondering what happened in the room
because Dmitri suddenly entered with a look that he’d never seen before. He was usually aloof and a ‘go
with the flow’ kind of person. To have such a desperate and sad look on his face scared Rafael.
Ezri tried to hold her hand but she wormed away from his touch. Isabella shook her head. “Not now, Ez.”
She whispered, looking at his hand who was hovering awkwardly. He looked like he wanted to comfort
her more but he decided against it, knowing that he would make matters worse.
Dmitri sighed loudly, making Rafael go almost insane. He’d done it in the last ten minutes for six times.
“Look,” Rafael started, trying to be careful and gentle with his words, “I won't ask what happened and I
won’t pry around too much but I need to know what I… we could do to help.”
“Well, you could help by giving some space.” Dmitri said sarcastically before sighing for the seventh time.
“I know you’re worried. Both of you are. But can’t you read the room? It’s too tense, okay? There’s no
room for comfort.”
Rafael gripped the steering wheel. He was just worried. Can’t he be worried? When Isabella came out of
that office, it looked as if she was on the verge of breaking down. The look of utter defeat and the
amount of pain painted in that expression of hers will forever be embedded in Rafael’s memories. The
emotions rolling off her was so great that it even affected Dmitri.
What had happened in that room?
It was Isabella’s words to sigh. It sounded more like irritation than Dmitri’s tired sigh. Still, it didn’t stop
everyone from flinching at the little girl’s sudden response. “I can hear you.”
“I know.” Dmitri awkwardly answered back quietly, looking at the window like Isabella. Rafael felt like
they were trying to frown themselves in the scenery before them in order to muffle out the grave
situation before them.
They both share the same expression though. The desperate look on their faces, as if they were still
trying to ignore the inevitable and the look as if they wanted to cry but couldn’t because it looked as if
they couldn’t accept the defeat. It was as if they were falling out of the sky with clouds watching their
anguished attempts to survive the pain of landing but it was obvious how it was going to end and yet, they still can’t accept it as they argue themselves over the impossible.
“Did you see the way he looked at me?”
Everyone was taken aback by her sudden words and was confused by what she meant. Still, nobody had
said a word----- too frightened to shatter the moment, too afraid that it would scare away the person
who was willing to talk. Nobody could understand Isabella at the moment and so nobody dared to say things that would cross her line.
“Dad…” Huh. It was painful to say it, Isabella realized. It was as if she swallowed a glass filled with
needles and was forced to say such a word. “Dad said he was tired of me.”
Tired.
Isabella was so tired as well. All she wants is to sleep forever and forget such things ever happened. She felt lost. As if the only light she’s even known has disappeared without a trace. Now, she was the black
sheep of the family. The disgrace.
They were tired of her.
They were…
A few tears started to trickle down her cheeks as she stubbornly looked out the window. She was unable
to look any of them in the face because of the despicable feeling of being useless. Ezri and Rafael were
so hopeful of her, thinking that she could resolve this but she only made it worse. She disappointed
them. Isabella wasn’t brave enough to resolve it. She should have though.
She should have.
“W-When papa said he was…was tired of me. Can you imagine the look on his face?” Isabella looked at
her trembling hands. The same damn hands that trembled in fear when she came face-to-face with her
father.
Why couldn’t she stop him? She should have. She was so useless and pathetic and a good-for-nothing
daughter who was spoiled rotten, unaware of the outside world that raged with cruelty. She should have
known better. She should have been better. She should have done something instead of trembling in fear.
Isabella should have been unsatisfied with just better. The little girl should have been perfect. Someone
they could be proud of, someone who excelled in everything, just like her brothers, instead, she
remained a childish brat who yearned for the love of her family.
Nobody answered her and she accepted that. Isabella clenched her hands in anger. She should have
resolved this but it was too late. “When he said h-he was tired of me,” Isabella started with a trembling
voice. Tears fell down her eyes and she didn’t bother wiping it. “He looked as if he wanted to cry.”
That surprised everyone. Even Dmitri was surprised. He was so mad of Dante that he didn’t notice it. But
of course. Of course, Isabella noticed because she was kind and that kind of thing can’t get past the little
girl.
“He looked as if he wanted to cry a-and I wanted to comfort him even when he started to blame me for
everything. He looked at me as if he wanted to stop saying those mean words to me and I couldn’t
comfort him.” Isabella sobbed as the situation finally dawned on her and it was drowning her.
The little girl’s heart and mind swayed in a miserable dance as her cries became louder and sorrowful. “I
want my papa back.” She whispered. "And no matter what I can do, he won't come back. Not for me. My brothers won't."
“I wanted us to go home. This wasn’t what I wanted. I want my family back, please, please. Just bring them back to me." She wailed desperately, finally showing the rest
of the pain and sorrow that she thought she left in that room.
Ezri couldn’t help himself and immediately hugged the little girl. Isabella finally allowed him, placing her
forehead on his shoulder as she clung to him in defeat. “Oh, Isabel.” He whispered as he hugged her back
just as tightly, “Lo siento. Lo siento mucho, Isabel.”
(I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Isabel.)
Why was he sorry for? She was already sorry for herself.
She should have resolved it sooner.
She should have been better.
She should have done something.
She should have been perfect.
She should have been…no.
She shouldn't have lived.
That's what her grandmother wanted all along. That's what her mother wanted. And now, that's probably want her family wants too.
Isabella was tired.
________
I hope you enjoyed it.
How was it? I'm so sad for Isabella that she had to go through that. Augh (ᗒᗩᗕ) I'm sorryyyyy
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Little Game
Teen Fiction[[COMPLETED]] "Life's a little game that people play." ____ Isabella Sofia Torres was someone who was born in a world where she did not belong. She was the light, they were the darkness yada yada yada. How could there be light without darkness? If s...
