Hopeful Lovers

Part 10

"Hello? Who is it??"

Avis gulped. Tyrrell had picked up the phone right away, like as if he was expecting her to call. His velvety voice made her heart flutter. She didn't want it to. At all. After what he did, what did he deserve?! Nothing! She hadn't heard his golden voice in two years.

"Uh, hi- it's Avis."

There was a lengthy silence.

" Avis. I haven't heard from you in so long. How are you?"

"I think I'm alright, thank you. How are you, Tyrrell?"

Just saying his voice was like tasting the sweetness of forbidden candy on her tongue. She loved it, and she hated it.

"I'm OK for now, thanks. You got my letter, didn't you?"

"I did. Thanks for...... putting so much time into it. It was long."

Tyrrell laughed. Like he gave a damn.

"Yeah, it took a while. I'm glad you appreciate it."

There was another bit of silence.

"Do you - uh, hate me, Avis? Please be honest with me."

There was pure pain in his silky sweet voice.

"Yeah, of course I don't hate you. You did nothing."

Avis was trying hard to keep her voice steady, trying to mask the pure hate in it, the violence.

"Avis, I left you and you did nothing to me."

"Duh, I know, Tyrrell! I remember. I'm not an invalid."

"You call that nothing?"

"No...."

Avis fiddled with her hair. A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye. She took a few deep breaths, but it only made it worse.

"Avis - how's Phoenix?"

"He's doing great. He's taking a nap right now."

Avis hated lying to people. It was her pet peeve. But she knew that if Phoenix talked to Tyrrell, it would be hard to explain to him why his Daddy left. Avis knew she wouldn't be able to explain, because she herself didn't know why. Part of her didn't want to know.

"Are you at home taking care of him?"

"Yes, for the past 2 years."

"Oh."

"Tyrell...."

"Yes??"

"I have a question. You don't have to answer this if you don't want to."

"What is it, Avis?"

No way he didn't know what she was getting at.

"Why did you leave me, Tyrell?"

Another longer silence.

"Avis, I'm sorry...I couldn't take the responsibility..."

What????? Avis thought bitterly. Just because of that doesn't give him the right to do what he did. Little crap.

"If you couldn't take it, than why did we have a child in the first place?!"

"I thought I could take it...I've had a child before, Avis, and she died only a few months after she was born. I was saddened for several months, several years actually. I didn't want to risk it."

Avis was outraged but sad at the same time - she felt bad for him.

But obviously he could be lying, too.

"Right, so I guess you left because if Phoenix died, you wouldn't have to feel bad about it? You could rest assured that it's my fault and not yours, and you wouldn't have to deal with the burden??"

"No, Avis, really.....

"Let me finish, for God's freaking sake. I'm here, in this house, for the past 2 and a half years, taking care of Phoenix. You walk out on me, and then you don't even bother to call to see if I'm doing OK, and then now you come into my life as if it's the normal thing in the world! How could you?"

"Avis....."

"I have to deal with this every single day. How the hell do you think I feel?!"

"Seriously, Avis, can I talk now?"

Avis was steaming. She was shaking with anger and sadness. She knew deep down inside though, deep down, that she still loved him - a bit. But right now, she was hating him for every single problem, every single horror he put her through - for 2 years.

"If you really want to."

"I wrote to you because I'm sorry. I didn't know that I would inflict so much pain on you..."

"What kind of stupid crap answer is that?! Are you that dumb to believe that I wouldn't be hurt when you left me?! Really?"

"I'm sincerely sorry. I'm so freaking stupid. I should have thought... I should have...."

Avis realized that he (and herself) was crying.

"Think about what you've done. Then call me back, okay?"

With that, she hung up on him.

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Thanks for reading, guys! This is just a super long chapter to make up for all the short ones so far! Gotta go now - my phone's at 2 percent!

Love you all!

XOXO, icy234