The Saint & The Sinner.

Chapter 6: One New Message!

|Corey|

I'd say the first day with Tali was a success. She and I bonded over a lot of things, she's almost my doppelganger and that's scary. I learned a lot about her last night; she's mainly like me in a lot of ways that I can't even comprehend. She did well in School; she just didn't attend a lot of it. She questions everything she's been shown or taught, and that makes me very proud of her. It shows she has a working brain. Although her main priority was partying and living her life in that moment, that's actually how she met Jesse. But I can't say anything since that's how I was when I was her age. She told me about some of the things Jesse did to control her and my hatred towards him only grew more and more with every event I learned about. It hurt me to know that even at such a young age, Tali has experienced things that she shouldn't have. She shouldn't know what it's like to be a part of an abusive relationship, or to know what it feels like to be treated that way. She shouldn't know what it's like to have to recover from that.

The anger that I'm feeling is 60% because she's my daughter, 40% because she's a person and as people a part of the human race, we shouldn't treat other each other like that. But the percentage consuming my brain the most is the 60% (obviously) where I've gone all giant, green angry superhero smashing everything in sight and yelling "That's my daughter". If I were to ever meet this Jesse guy, character, asshole, I'd look him dead in the eye and say "If you're man enough to put your hands on my daughter then you're man enough." And then I'd Hulk smash him. I'd be deemed Tali's superhero and she and I will only grow closer from there. Even though this relationship between us has just started I don't want it to end. I want to have a good relationship with Tali for her sake. She grew up without a proper dad and I need to make it up to her. I have a good relationship with Griffin and I want to have a similar relationship with Tali. She may not be a baby anymore but she still needs me.

You can safely say that throughout the night I'd get up and go check on her. It's strange to know that even though Steph is gone and Griff isn't here, I'm not alone. In situations like this I'm used to being alone but I'm not. Every time I woke up I'd make the trek up the carpeted stairs to the third floor to make sure she was actually here and I wasn't just dreaming. Sure enough, she was there every time. I even checked when I got up this morning; y'know, just to make sure she was actually there and I wasn't seeing things in my half sleep state. She was still there, but this time she was up and caught me checking up on her. She was sitting on her bed reading when I went up. I scrambled to come up with a story to cover up the fact that I was still in a state of shock and disbelief. Although, I think she saw right through me. Either way, she got up and came downstairs with me. I don't know what it is about Tali that has red flags risen in my head. There's just something about her that I can't put my finger on and it's driving me nuts. Is it her weight? Am I worried about her health? Am I worried she'll be bullied for being a bit thicker than other girls? What is it about Tali that I'm all up in arms over?

"So, what're the plans for today?" Tali asked over a bowl of Frosted Flakes. I looked at her from across the kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee for myself. Tali was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. She had thrown an oversized tee shirt on overtop of the tank top she was wearing, I'm not sure why but she did. She was busy scrolling through her phone. I sighed and shook my head at her.

"I have chores and running around to do this morning, then I'm meeting up with the guys for rehearsals." I made the list as short as possible, mainly because I didn't want to admit that there was so much still to do. I couldn't do a lot of the yard work yesterday due to the rain, but this morning it's bright and sunny, so maybe I'll be able to get to cut the grass and all of that adulthood fun stuff.