TARA
Tara got out the photograph and examined it. She couldn't help but notice how the man in the picture almost looked exactly like her. She couldn't help but wonder, who was he?
Tara never had a father. Whenever she would ask about him, her mother would say 'Not now, sweetie,' or something like that. At her elementary school, there was a father-daughter dance. Tara wished to go, for she had friends that were there. She recalled sitting at the table all alone while the fathers and daughters danced the night away. Tara teared up whenever she remembered how she felt left out. Tara wanted a father to lean on sometimes. She heard Serena's father taught her where to kick a male attacker among other things.
Her phone rang against the silence in the night. Tara and the rest of the team decided to spend the night at a cheap motel that reeked of cow manure. Everyone but her was fast asleep on the queen beds.
"Turn that thing off, will you?" Serena mumbled in her sleep.
"Sorry," Tara whispered as she took her phone.
"If you're gonna talk, take it to the hallway,"
"Okay," Tara tiptoed to the door and opened it. It creaked just before she shut the door. The hallways were carpeted and had lights scattered everywhere on the ceiling, contrasting the hotel rooms where the rest of the team members were sleeping.
The phone stopped ringing and Tara noticed it was a call from her mom. She absolutely hated it when she got calls in the middle of the night, but it was understandable. Tara's mother would work the graveyard shift, so she couldn't be at home some nights. She would worry about Tara and call her in the middle of the night to see if she was okay.
Tara called her mother again, and this time she picked up.
"Tara? How are you? Where are you?" her mother interrogated. "Is everything okay?"
"I really don't know where I am, honestly," Tara sighed. "We're doing fine. We saw a vampire kidnap a girl in a cemetery,"
"Vampire?! How the hell did a vampire get involved in this?!"
"I don't know, mom. There have been disappearances, starting with two girls in Los Angeles and a Los Angeles boy who was stupid enough to go with a vampire,"
"What does he look like?"
"Why do you wanna know?"
"I won't believe it till I see it. I need to know what he looks like so I can find him and confirm if vampires exist,"
"He has white hair and a manly look. Oh, and he's pale too,"
"Sounds familiar..." Tara's mom said with a hint of doubt.
"What do you mean? There could be trillions of men with white hair and pale skin,"
"Well...he looks like...the guy who...raped me,"
"The guy who what?! You never told me you were raped!"
"I hate to say it, but it's true. Your father raped me,"
"What?!"
"Your father and I were going to see a movie together. I remember driving past the movie theatre and asking your father, 'I thought we were going to the movie theatre'. He said that he had something else in mind. He parked the car in an empty parking lot and...he raped me,"
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? I've always wanted to know why I never had a father and you always brush it aside,"
"You were too young, Tara. I didn't want to tell you the truth because I didn't want to upset you,"
"Well, now I'm upset! Why'd you hide this all away? I wanted to have a father just like Serena and all the rest! I wanted to feel complete, that's all,"
"I'm sorry, Tara. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know when,"
"Mom!" Tara cried, but the connection was lost. "Dammit!"
"Is everything okay?" Serena peered her head outside the door. Her curly hair mimicked the appearance of a bush.
"...No," Tara shook her head.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No,"
"Okay. I'm here if you need anything," Serena closed the door, leaving Tara all alone.
Tara couldn't believe her mother would hide such things from her. Sure, her mother wouldn't share her struggles with her because she wouldn't understand, but her getting raped by her father was a whole new level of struggling. Tara couldn't comprehend most of it. Why did her father rape her mother? What happened to him? Little did she know...
---
Author's Note: I know this just got a little dark. Trust me, there are no rape scenes in this book, okay?
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