Bring Glory(Us) Life

Chapter 9- Past

        She was very young, standing scared and nervous in the massive, ornate doorway, clinging to her mother’s skirt. It was just a blurred memory now. A tall, hunched old man, easily in his sixties, stood before her, eyes dark and serious; loveless eyes behind flashing lenses. His mouth was turned down at the edges in a permanent look of dissatisfaction. Her mother was his polar opposite; young, in her mid-twenties, beautiful, her face dimpled from smiling so much. Her green eyes always had a sparkle of laughter and her full, red lips had a natural upward curve to them that her daughter had inherited.

        “Kilay, sweetheart, I’d like you to meet your father, Eion Lorton. Eion, this is Kilay.” Kilay glanced shyly up at the frightening old man, who could easily be her grandfather. She had been born from a brief romantic affair between the young woman and elderly man. Eion was descended from British aristocrats and had inherited his family’s old money. He had made more himself in his long career as a lawyer, which had hardened his heart. Retired now, he had closed himself off from the world in his massive manor in the countryside.

        He had yet to acknowledge his daughter as his own. The old man had never married, never had children before. He paid for her expenses, her many hospital bills, and sent her a very generic birthday card every year, which he signed with his name, not ‘Father’ or ‘Dad.’ Today, a little after her fifth birthday, was his second time seeing her in her whole life.

        “I thought I told you I would keep paying her bills if you stayed away,” Eion said coldly, staring with distaste at the child. Kilay’s mother glared at him, one hand on her daughter’s back.

        “Eion, she needs a father. She’s got it rough as it is with her health. She deserves to at least have two parents who love her.” Eion turned inside, pausing in the doorway.

        “Then perhaps you should marry someone for her instead. Let him be the father.” The young woman leapt after him, snagging his sleeve.

        “Eion, please, don’t do this. Do you understand what it does to a child, knowing their parent doesn’t love them, doesn’t even want to see them? She’s your daughter, and nothing is going to change that. It’s time you grew up and accepted your responsibility.” Eion shook her off, grabbing her hand tightly.

        “I’ve kept her alive until now, haven’t I? Is that not good enough for you, because I wonder what would happen if I stopped taking care of those bills?” Tears ran down Kilay’s mother’s face, her lovely, smiling mouth pulled down in sorrow.

        “You heartless bastard! How could you do this to us, huh?! Look at her, just look at her!” she screamed. Eion shook his head slowly and slammed the door in their faces.

        Lachlan could still remember the days when he was very young, staring out the window at the neighborhood kids. It was summer, the day hot and dry. Young Locky watched a group of them skateboard, without much skill, down the sidewalk past his house. One of them fell with a cry he couldn’t hear through the glass window. Another child rushed over to help the first up, and they were off again, shaking the injury off. In the backyard that butted up against theirs screams emanated from a child’s pool party. Locky wanted to ask his parents if he could go—he was pretty sure they were friends with the people who owned the house—but he knew they would say no. And anyway, they had locked themselves away and were doing that ‘thing’ again. They would be occupied for a while yet.

        He remembered when he first discovered his family was different, the way his parents saw and gossiped about him. It was at a party. His parents had dragged him along because the hosts had wanted to meet him. Everyone was partying and getting drunk, kicking the kids outside to have fun on their own. They were playing on a new playground the owners had built for their son. All the kids were laughing and having a blast. Locky had walked over to join in and been promptly stopped. The other kids shooed him away, whispering to each other.

        “Mommy says we can’t play with him because he’s a bad influence,” he heard one child say. “My daddy said that that boy’s daddy is a rival so I can’t have anything to do with them.” “My mommy says he’s a cursed boy, because his parents don’t want him. My mommy says it was the devil who made his mommy have him, and he might send us all to the bad place if we get too close.” Lachlan backed off and hid in a bush for the rest of the evening. When he got home his father almost broke his arm for acting in such a filthy manner and sent him to bed without dinner. That night was the first time Lachlan jumped out the window.