She's Broken

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Dear Kat.

                You’re still not answering me, sweetheart. Nothing much has changed, I tried to ring home again. Mum picked up and hung up within about a twenty second time period. It doesn’t matter, I heard you talking in the background and that’s enough to keep me going.

                Your words still hurt me, you know. In the court, your accusations. I hear them at night when I try to go to sleep, they haunt me. You help that go away with your picture and the laughter I heard the other day, so thank you.

                I reckon I’ll get out on good behaviour sooner than you think. Won’t that be amazing? I’ll get to come home to you again, hold you and feel you. One warning, though, Kat. If I get back to find that you’ve been whoring around with another guy, I’ll kill him and then deliver your punishment. You won’t walk for a week, so don’t test me.

                Answer me, please, sweetheart. I can’t do this without you. I think you owe it to me, putting me in here is your biggest ever mistake.

                Love always, Finn x

                The last time I had seen my dad was across the court room. The last time he saw me, was when I stood up in the witness box and pleaded my case. I didn’t look at him, mainly because I couldn’t. He thought I was a liar and that was how court was happening. Dad with Finn, Mum with me.

                Sitting outside his house was more difficult that I had first imagined it would be. Carter had dropped me off and after offering to go in with me, he said that he was going into town and would pick me up as soon as I needed him.

                I took a deep breath, looking at the apartment blocks before getting to my feet and doing the bravest thing that I had all week. His apartment on the outside didn’t look very promising; neither did the dirty lobby through the glass door.

                “Hello?” My dad’s muffled voice came through the receiver on the door buttons. I cleared my throat, taking another shallow breath.

                “Dad, it’s me.” He said nothing, the line went dead. Just as I was about to turn around, swallowing my disappointment, a noise came from the door. I turned around, finding it slightly open.

                In a way, I wished that he didn’t open the door. Swallowing my hesitation, I took the first step inside the building. A wave of nausea hit my stomach when I saw the directions, telling me that my dad’s apartment was on the second floor.

                The stairs seemed to go on forever and when they finally ended, I was greeted with a musky smell. Choosing not to breathe it in, I turned along the passage to find apartment 34. It all seemed pretty run down, something that didn’t seem like my dad. Either he didn’t have a lot of money when he left, or he just didn’t care all that much anymore. Both of those sent a knife to the gut. It was my fault he was there.

                His door stared me in the face for a good few minutes before I tapped on the wood gently, scared that it was going to fall down. It looked too fragile to still be standing.