The Forgotten Adoption

Chapter 16 - Dark Days

Two weeks had come and gone within a blink of an eye. I had reduced Lily's grounding to two weeks and we were going over to Mum and Dad's to, celebrate the end of her punishment I guess. Only my family would hold a celebratory dinner for my daughter who had completed her punishment.

Lily had apologized for saying she hated me. I gladly accepted it and our relationship was on the mend. But over the last two weeks there's been this dark cloud following me. I tried to blame it on the strained relationship between Lily and I.

But it wasn't that. After all, Lily and I had patched things up. She had completed her grounding without any further problems. She was glad that the time had been reduced but was still upset that she couldn't see anyone for two weeks.

Caz, Edward and Ethan literally held a protest outside my house, picket signs and all, demanding that I release the princess for a night at the movies or else the dragon (Me of course) was going to be gagged and tied up. I called Mum and Dad who quickly came to shoo them back to their houses after I said I would shoot them with my hunting riffle.

The very next day as I was leaving to take Lily to school and to go to work, I had water balloon's filled with paint thrown at me by my three very annoying and immature siblings. I went bat shit crazy and chased them up the road. I called in late to work before I went to Mum and Dad's house to tell them to tell Ethan, Edward and Caz to back off. After that I had no more problems and they waited patiently for Lily's punishment to come to an end.

There was still this heavy weight on my chest every time I tried to breath. Every breath I tried to take was laboured. Every smile I put on was forced and the muscles in my cheeks ached. Sleep had become a foreign concept and I would toss and turn about in my empty bed hoping that sleep would just take me.

I cry in my shower. As pathetic as it sounds, I turn the shower on and just cry. I only do this in the shower so Lily wont get worried.

I miss him.

I miss his presence. I miss his smile. I miss watching him play with Lily. I miss his strong arms wrapped around me tightly, holding me close to his warmth. I miss his kisses and his cuddles. I miss his goodnight texts.

I miss Jack.

As much as I try to hide it from Lily I know she knows something is wrong between Jack and I. He was the only person who I said she could see and over these past two weeks he hasn't been seen at all. Lily isn't dumb, she's probably worked it all out now. The dark circles under my eyes, my lack of appetite, the long showers and the early nights to bed. Its not hard to put two and two.

More recently she's been having to wake me up. When sleep finally does take over, I am able to sleep, but its such a deep sleep my alarm can't wake me. Lily's been late to school three times this week and the school actually called me to ask if everything was alright and then proceeded to explain that punctuality is a good trait to have when students go out into the real world. I was so close to telling them to go fuck themselves but I hung up before I said something I might have regretted.

Lily and I pulled up to Mum and Dad's house and the front door flew open. Caz was the first out the door and practically tackled Lily. Ethan and Edward followed and they all ignored me purposefully.

I walked into the kitchen and the smell of Mum's cooking warmed me up a little. Mum and Dad had kissed me and then proceeded to push past me and make a beeline in the direction of Lily.

It was only Daniel and I in the kitchen and I stood picking at the grapes. Daniel stood by the counter and just stared at me.

"What?" I asked Daniel. I had a feeling that he knew about Jack and I, after all they were best friends.