Just an Ordinary Girl

22 - The Art of Seduction

My mother didn't believe the doctors when she was told my father was divorcing her and that she wouldn't be coming home again.

I don't think it registered for one moment. The fact that she had screamed for a divorce had been forgotten as well as the man whose life she had nearly destroyed with repeated unsolicited love notes.

My mother's memory had become like Dory from Finding Nemo and like a goldfish she seemed to retain very little.

So, my father felt duty bound to visit her. Her parents were dead and both her sisters lived opposite sides of the globe. If he didn't visit no one would and he couldn't bear the thought of her being alone.

Despite everything my father wanted me to go with him. I think he was afraid to go on his own. I looked at him incredulous. There was no way I wanted to see her and be in the same room. Intense hate surged through my veins mixed with fear, and I felt my palms become clammy.

My father was adamant, I attended. He promised he wouldn't leave me alone with her and that the doctors wanted to speak to us both.

I believed him. When you're young, you tend to believe what adults and doctors say, pretty much. I didn't want to disobey my father and felt I had no choice but to go.

It might have only been a ten minutes' drive to the hospital, but it felt like a lifetime. My pulse pumped harder and louder through my veins in my wrist as we drew closer.

The intercom announced our entrance, and we entered the three security doors, one by one. The last one finalising our arrival, the heaviness of the door made it sound like thunder, as it slammed shut.

Eyes followed us, sad ones wearing mismatched clothes, befuddled in their drugged stupor. Myself being a child; I was an unusual commodity as a visitor. My father held my hand, and we were ushered into a large office, which looked similar to my grandmother's front room, apart from the imposing desk.