The Way to Love (Camren)

Chapter 26: But All I Heard Was Nothing

XXVI.

For all the times that she wished the scene before her would unfold in reality, Camila had never thought that it would go the way it was. When her father spoke, she froze up, her body so still that the only movement that could be seen was the reflection of the fire in her eyes.

"What?" She stammered, looking from her father, slowly to her brother then back again. While Dan was wearing an expression composed of pure anger, Alejandro seemed like it was just another day at the office.

"He was the reason I left you, Mom... and Sofi." Dan said, slowly looking down at his feet. "Camila, that was his ultimatum."

Alejandro laughed humourlessly as if he was getting a kick out of finally spilling the truth. "The boy was weak, and even he understood that a parent can never fully leave their child. The two of you will always be a part of me, and I suppose that at the time, I just wanted that to be true for as long as it could."

Dan nodded. "I had to agree to it long before, but he did call me that night, and remind me that the only way he would leave as I said... was if I went with him."

Camila frowned, her head spinning. "But you didn't go with him... you stayed with us."

"I stayed with you because you needed me." Dan looked at her. "That night? I wasn't going to leave you after everything we had both gone through. You were traumatized to the bone, you kept asking questions, and I didn't have answers. You had been going through so much, I wasn't going to just up and leave you without anyone."

Camila shook her head. "But... I don't understand."

Dan sighed. "I knew that if Dad was to come back, then he would do something horrible. He would threaten you... he would hurt Mom... something that I just couldn't let happen." The boy explained. "Through the divorce, Mom was pregnant and focusing on keeping herself healthy and getting back on her feet, but Dad was doing everything he could to return to the family. I knew that he was ill, he refused to leave us alone, and I was the only thing that was close enough so that he could pull the strings."

Camila listened, her breathing becoming loud in her ears.

"If I didn't go and see him every once and while, then he would come to see me." Dan told his sister. "And if he came to see me, then he would come to see you."

"And you couldn't let that happen." Camila rasped over the crackle of the fire. "So you went to see him, and he gave you drugs and alcohol... and that's why you would always come home drunk and completely out of it."

Alejandro was nodding, nothing but a calm, eerie look on his face. "You would have done the same thing, both of you. As a father, to keep your children close to you is the most important thing, even if it was just one child. That was enough for me."

"Dad triggered the first psychotic episode in me, telling me that it wasn't so bad. I was dealing with so many things at the time, and everything he offered just seemed to tantalizingly inviting." Dan added. "And I don't know whether or not he was proud of it at the time, but just look at him... he definitely is now."

"This illness isn't something that you can avoid." The man said to him, his voice low. "I did you a favour by exposing you to It as soon as I could. The sooner you come out in the open, the sooner your body is able to adjust."

Camila backed up, gripping something to keep her balance. It happened to be one of the iron bars that were used to prod at the fire and keep it going. "But his body never adjusted... because you refused to let him heal." Camila rasped. "You give him all the things that no one suffering from a mental illness should ever have access to, and it didn't just make his life a living hell... it made mine the exact same."