Serendipity

Chapter 14. Acceptance

Chapter Fourteen ~ Acceptance 

           I was slipping. I was slipping and I hated myself for it. I had never been so careless before. It was unlike me.

            I sat motionless on the sofa. I stared straight ahead of me and waited. I knew Dad would be on his way home after seeing what he saw. He would yell at me. He would beat me, maybe.

            If it wasn’t because of the fact that I was having a relationship with Levi, then it would certainly be that I didn’t tell him about it. I was keeping secrets from him and he didn’t tolerate that, even though he kept secrets from me as well.

            We were going to move, I decided. I prepared myself for the possible outcomes so when Dad walked through the door, I wasn’t scared.

            He was silent. His lips were pressed together in a thin grim line as he took one glance at me. Without saying anything, he walked past me and into the kitchen.

         I followed his every move with my eyes. As the silence continued, I became nervous. I expected a reaction. I wasn’t prepared for the silent treatment.

            “Dad,” I said, breaking the silence.

            He lifted his gaze to me. “What’s for dinner, son?”

            I opened my mouth to respond but the words got caught in my throat. “W-what’s for dinner?” I repeated, swallowing a lump in my throat. When he didn’t respond, I continued. “Um, do you want me to order something?”

            Dad pulled out a few receipts from his pockets and spread them across the kitchen counter. “No need.”

            Maybe he wasn’t bothered by what he saw. Maybe I was overreacting. “Are you sure?” I questioned, walking over to his side.

            He ignored my question and handed me a folded newspaper. “You like reading those, right?”

            I nodded and grabbed the newspaper. “Are you ok, Dad?” Thinking about it a little more, it was strange. I knew my father and this was something he’d never do. He would never pretend to not acknowledge the situation. And that made me decide that he was hiding something from me.

            “I’m fine, son. Don’t I look fine?” He glanced up at me only for a moment before returning his eyes to the scattered receipts.

            I didn’t answer the question because I knew he didn’t want an answer. Instead, I just nodded and shuffled towards the sofa, taking a seat. I tore the plastic wrapping off the newspaper and unfolded it.

             I liked newspapers because Dad never bought us a TV or a computer. He believed that they would corrupt us, as if we weren’t already corrupted.

            I began to scan the front page and what I saw shocked me. I snuck a quick glance at Dad who was lost in his own world and I looked at the page again.

            On the front page, there was a picture of an older man with thinning gray hair and dull green eyes followed by the headline ‘Philip Clement, shot and killed at 58’.

*            *           *            *

            The next morning, the very first words that came out of my father’s mouth were: “Did you hear something outside last night, son?”           

            He was seated on the sofa, wiping his wide-rimmed glasses and placed them on the brim of his nose. He crossed his legs and looked at me inquiringly with a big grin on his face. 

            I stared at him, shrugging nonchalantly. I had a hard time accepting the fact that Phil was murdered. Dad never stooped that low and I refused to believe that he would. 

            “Maybe we should get an alarm system,” he told me. He rubbed his chin as he pondered the idea, but shook his head. “Or would that be too pricey?” 

            Again, I shrugged, not bothering to debate this issue. All last night my mind was racking at the thought of me practically killing Phil. I didn’t do the dirty work, but my part was just as equivalent. 

            “Are you sure you didn’t hear the banging noise outside?” he questioned. I knew that he knew and he was only trying to get my mind off Phil. 

         I shook my head quickly and moved into the kitchen, pulling out a box of cereal from the cabinet. 

           Dad opened a box of crackers and shook them at me. “Son, come here. Let’s discuss our protocol.”   

            I sighed, knowing that there was no way I was getting out of this. I took a seat next to him.

         “The Samuels are going to be staying at their private property for a few days. That gives us a great window, but that means they’ll have their house on lockdown so we’ll have to find a way around that.”

            “Like we always do,” I added.

            This made me smile. “Like we always do.” 

           He didn’t mention anything about Levi and I decided that he wouldn’t. But the real issue at hand was killing my insides and I had to know.

            “Dad?”

            He raised an eyebrow, signaling me to continue.

            “Did you kill Phil?” 

            Dad’s expression softened. I knew from experience that Dad was a tough guy. As far as I was concerned, he had no emotions. When I saw this vulnerable version of him, I shook my head. It couldn’t be true.

             He exhaled heavily. “Yes.” 

            Those were the three letters that I didn’t want to hear. I didn’t want to believe it. I could feel my throat constricting, making it harder to breathe. I knew my father, or so I told myself. I accepted a lot of things that my Dad did, but this? There was no accepting bone left in my body.

            We were thieves, that I knew. 

            We were not murderers.

~*~*~            

No Levi this chapter :( And yes, I do realize that this chapter is fairly short and I apologize but you know..this is important and I thought that it would do justice if this was the only event that happened in this chapter. To make up for it, the next chapter will be longer. 

So, tell me what you think? Please vote and comment because that makes me sooooo happy and then I'll bake cookies for you guys! Although, I wouldn't trust them because I suck at baking..

~lara <3