Daughter of Hela

Unshed tears

Debbie's POV

Finally I am done with my food. I don't know why, but Lou always insists on having vegetables. I hate it. Why to eat veggies when we can have tasty meat. Lou started pulling my leg because I was the last one to finish. Even Derek and Keri were faster than me. But let's not consider them. They are tiny. They eat way lesser than me.

Now that we were done with our dinner, we all decided to watch movies. The kids wanted to watch Maleficent. When I was inside jail, Disney decided to bring out a new version with Angelina Jolie, making Maleficent a hero instead of villian. I haven't seen it yet but Constance and Amita were all excited. They had boasted of watching it almost 10 times. I mean weren't they satisfied with old animated ones? I don't watch kids movies. But I sometimes do watch so that as to criticise it later with Lou. By criticising, we mean, we secretly enjoy but act like we don't, in front of Tammy and others. Now too I thought of doing the same and turned to hint Lou.

I saw Lou's face. I couldn't read her. She was silently sitting in her chair, indifferent to all the chattering going around her. Before I could check on her, Constance turned on the movie. And Derek sat on my lap. So I had to sit through entire movie. I wanted to speak to her. I felt she wasn't all fine.

****

The movie was really good. I liked the concept of mother's love that made Aurora wake up from her eternal sleep. Good twist. Now that the movie was done, Tammy took upstairs. We all had the last minute arrangement for kids. Lou was worried they might dislike. They had been here many times, but never stayed overnight. Lou loves those kids. She is their 'crazy and funny aunt', who spoils them by treating them with whatever they ask. Tammy always had tough time controlling Lou's overflowing love towards them. But also, she was happy that Lou would do anything for their safety, and always takes care of them. Lou was the one Tammy approached when Derek fell sick one night and no one was there to look after Keri when he was admitted. Lou also was there on school's pick up list. I never was with Tammy during both the kid's birth. When Derek was born, I was with Claude, and Keri was born when I was in prison. Though I am still against Tammy's marriage and the life I don't hate those little munchkins.

Back to present. Shortly afterwards Tammy took her kids to room, Lou too walked upstairs. I saw her walk. The regular stylish sway was missing. Something is definitely wrong.

Daphne and Rose started speaking about the movies and the technicalities behind those, Constance, Amita and Nine started playing some game in their cell phones. They were playing as a team or something. I don't get that. So I thought of going back to my room. I walked upstairs, peeped into Lou's room. She was not there. May be she's in bathroom. I walked towards my room and was about to enter when I saw Lou sitting outside kids' room. The door was closed and Lou was sitting right next to it, tears in her eyes. I sat next to her. She didn't mind me seeing her in this state. I could hear Tammy reading bedtime story. I am still confused about why Lou is here and why she is having tears in her eyes. I was about to wipe her tears, when she spoke

"Did your mum read you bedtime stories?"

That was it. Lou was missing her parents. Well she never had any. She was an orphan. Even though she was blonde and attractive kid, something always came up and her adoption was cancelled by every couple who met her. But I never saw her thinking about parents, or even speaking about them. Only once or twice, she spoke about her past. She only knew that someone left her on the doorsteps. And earlier, she was neutral about her feelings. But as rejections from different couples increased she started hating her life. She started hating her parents because of whom she had to lead a lonely life. She wasn't able to make friends. In orphanage too, the kids didn't take her into their groups. She was always considered as some goth girl. Well, Lou wasn't subtle enough to differ so. With the rebellious attitude and style, she was feared by many. Some considered as a punk. She was lonely because of all these notions. A lone tiger, to be honest. She was just being who she was. But people around her didn't think that way. Once she was 16, she moved out of the orphanage, joined bartending by pretending to be older than she really was. The owner was in need of a worker so he didn't look much into any documents. She got the job, bartended at night and continued preparing for her higher studies during day time. She started saving money so that she could attend college the next year or two. It was really hard. Sometimes, she couldn't afford daily meals. So she started a day job, babysitting kids for some socialite. But she never stopped her studies. She now had a small apartment shared with some guy whom she met few months ago. It was difficult for both of them to pay the rent. They had to work hard. He was an aspiring musician, which obviously meant minimal income.