Reckless Abandon (Part 1)

Chapter Six

Hope you liked the last part!  We are heading back to Harlen's POV, but no need to fret, I'll do more from Elijah as well!

Disclaimer: Contains triggers of Self-harm

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It took me about ten minutes to come up with the courage to start my car and leave the parking lot.  It was a strange feeling.  I was afraid to go home, but everything that Elijah and I had talked about calmed me in an inexpiable way.  He knew something about me now that no one else in the world knew and he didn't even flinch.  He just accepted it as a part of who I was and that was it.  I didn't know anyone who would just do that.

I was dedicated to doing exactly what he had told me to do.  I was to go home and talk with my dad, figure out who he was as a person so I could discover who I was as a person and then I was to go to my room and lock the door and call him.  I wanted him to know that I was safe.  There was no need for him to worry about me.  I wasn't going to school tomorrow.  Was I going to tell him that?  No.  I had left my paper for his project in the office on my way out, telling the principle that my dad had just gotten home so I was going to online school in the morning.  She had no issue with that.

Making it through the night without a broken bone was most likely not going to happen.  The chances that I would make it to dinner without getting hurt was slim.  I couldn't let my dad see though.  I just couldn't.

I pulled into the drive and saw his car parked next to hers and my heart lifted.  I had missed him so much that I felt my fear wain for just a moment.

I got out and ran into the house, the only time I would ever enter the house with such joy.

He was standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand and a smile on his face.  My mom was standing across from him, a smile on her face and, for a second, it looked like I had a normal family.  A happy family.

"Kiddo," he beamed, setting his coffee down and walking towards me.

I jumped into his arms, wrapping myself around him so tightly, he might have popped if I hadn't been so weak.  My mother gave me a glare from behind him.  Quietly threatening me as his back was turned.

I swallowed and jumped down, meeting my dad's hazel eyes.  "How was your trip, daddy?"

"Lonely without my number one."

I rolled my eyes.  "Whatever, tell me about Garrett."

His eyes lit up and I studied them.  Was that what Reign saw when we talked about my passions?  "He was a good kid.  Very light and artsy with a troubled soul."

I laughed.  "Aren't they all?"

He chuckled.  "Yes, but he was different."

I gave him a look.  "Aren't they all?" I asked again.

"Okay, Ms. Sarcastic, come on, I'll tell you all about it."

We sat on the couch and for the next hour or so, we talked about his trip.  He had many adventures through London and the surrounding areas, investigating the places his artists had portrayed.  He met all of these amazing people and saw all of these amazing things and as he spoke, I watched how he lit up with this type of passionate joy.  He loved his job more than anything on earth.  Nothing compared to it except, he would often remind me, for me.  He loved me.  I was his daughter and, he would always say, I was his life.  He was telling me how all of his coworkers down there had actually gotten annoyed at some point because he talked about me so much.  I had to laugh at that.  Picturing my dad pulling out my pictures from his wallet and the big cats across the pond just rolling their eyes, annoyed, but secretly missing their own families so they put up with it.