The Coldest Hearts

Dark trees danced in my vision as I walked down the lonely street, my tiny legs pushing me to walk faster before the sky became completely dark because that was when things got dangerous. My family and I lived on the outskirts of our town and save from going to school, we were not allowed to mingle with other people.

From the stories I had gathered so far, the town people hated my family, my mother to be exact. With her bright auburn hair that shone against her very pale skin and eyes that never had the same color, everyone said she was perfect. Too perfect to be human.

Not to me. Even though we didn’t get along, I loved my mother and didn’t understand why everyone treated her the way they did. With my dad, we were just a little family that everyone else ignored.

It had been hard attending high school. All through junior year, I had been bullied. I had no friends, nobody I talked to. It was just me and my dad; he was the one person in my entire life that cared for me.

Something moved in my peripheral vision, and I became still. I waited, listening for any sound, but there was none. I continued walking, faster than before. Dad was going to scold me. He hated that I had to walk home alone and always warned me to get back early.

I always followed that rule until today. I had been more than a few minutes late leaving school because there was a paper I wanted a head start on that was due Monday. As I took the last turn towards my house, I froze.

I could see my house just down the street, but that was not the problem. There was a dark cloud hovering over it. As I stood watching it, I felt chills to my bone. Something was wrong. I took a step forward, only to feel something move behind me.

When I turned, there was no one there. I felt my heart start beating faster as the sky suddenly started getting dark. It wasn’t until I took another step that I heard someone whisper my name, and I turned abruptly. There was still no one.

At that, I turned towards my house and ran. I forced my legs to move faster as I ran with everything I had. I snuck a quick glance at the forest that was on the other side of me and saw a blurry figure. By then, I was in front of my house.

I took a closer look, and the blur turned to a face, but when I blinked again, it was gone. I shrugged the feeling away, just happy that I was back home and safe. I put my palm on my chest to make sure I was actually here and in the present.

I was walking towards the door when I noticed two police cars parked by the side of the house. No one was ever here, so why were police cars parked outside our house? I moved up the stairs and opened the door, dumping my bag by the door.

“Daddy!” I yelled, going straight to his study where he usually was by this time, but it was empty.

“You’re not hiding from me again, are you?” I asked loudly so my voice echoed through the entire house. He was going to hear me wherever he was. He had a habit of hiding when he knew I was back from school and would jump out to scare me.

I tried the kitchen next, but he wasn’t there. I turned towards the stairs and jumped, screaming when I saw her just standing there.

I counted to three in my head before looking at her. “Mum, you scared me! Where is Dad?” I asked. Usually, her lips were set in a thin line, but not this time. Her entire body held no expression. She looked like a statue.

“Mum?” I called to get her attention. Her eyes snapped back to me. As she was about to answer, two uniformed men walked down the stairs, one stopping to whisper something into her ear.

The other looked at me with pity but said nothing. “Mum, where’s Dad?” I asked again, a dark feeling settling in my stomach. She looked at me, but she wasn’t looking. It felt like her eyes were on me, but she couldn’t see me.

Knowing I wasn’t going to get anything out of her, I pushed pass the policeman and ran up the stairs. I went straight to Dad’s room, my legs suddenly becoming heavy as I stood in front of it. I pushed the door open, afraid of what I would see.

The first thing that caught my eyes was the untidy room. Daddy never kept a thing out of place, and as I looked around the room, everything kept getting weirder. There were claw marks on the wall like someone had let a wild animal into the room.

The headboard was broken, but that was not my major concern. Where was Dad? I moved farther into the room only to stumble on something. I looked down to see what I tripped on, and when I did, all I could do was scream.

I couldn’t stop screaming. I didn’t stop until a palm clamped over my mouth. It stopped my screaming but didn’t stop the tears that were streaming down my face.

My daddy lay there, eyes open and staring into nothing as he lay in the pool of his own blood. What happened? How? Why? I had a lot of questions, so many that it made me dizzy. I tried to move to him when someone held me back.

I struggled to get out of their hold, but they were much stronger. It wasn’t until I bucked under my feet that the person let me go. I slid to the floor, my eyes trained on my father’s still figure. My daddy was dead.

I felt myself being pulled away as I struggled to get closer to him. One of the officers and Mum was standing over his body, doing God knows what.

“Daddy!” I screamed, hoping that he would somehow hear me and come back to life. I needed him to come back.

Mum looked at me. There was a hint of smile, but I might have made that up in my head. I let whoever was holding me drag me out of the room but not before I saw the two bite marks on his neck. Where did that come from?

The door closed, and all I could do was just sit down there and stare at it. Just this morning, we were talking and laughing. He even promised to get me ice cream.

I shook my head frantically. He couldn’t be dead. This was just one of his tricks that he liked to play. I stood up and dusted my bottom. All I had to do was just sleep, and he’d be there when I wake up.

My room was on the other side of the house, several rooms down the west wing. It was usually freezing cold there, but I never complained to Dad because if I was being honest, I liked it that way.

Clothes were scattered everywhere, and there was barely space to move around. With no intention of cleaning the space, I pulled off my clothes and threw them on the ever-growing pile of dirty clothes on the floor.

My underwear was next to go. Tying my hair in a bun, I slipped under my blanket and snuggled my pillow. I was going to have a well-deserved nap, and when I wake up, Daddy would be there.

It was well past evening when my eyes opened, my lids still hanging heavy with sleep. My body felt stiff, and my head ached. When I finally got up from the bed, it was completely dark outside.

My gaze was still outside my window when I saw the face I had seen earlier again. The thick trees that were opposite our house could not hide the figure. It was glowing in the dark with red eyes. No one ever came as far out as this, so it couldn’t be someone from the town. And I’d never seen anyone with eyes that glowed like that.

Was I hallucinating again? I closed my eyes and counted to ten before looking again. This time the face was closer, and it had a body. The person wore a long back coat that seemed to be endless.

I took a step back from the window. Every time I blinked, the person came closer, and I could finally get a good look at the face. Very bright eyes that had no particular color, plump lips, and very long hair.

Suddenly, I felt very cold air on my body, caressing me from my shoulder and down my arms. I tried to move when I realized I had been standing naked all this while, but I couldn’t. I was glued to the spot, looking at bright eyes that were trapping me in.

The cold air wrapped around my waist before brushing the tips of my breasts and moving back to my arms, as if embracing me. I tried to move, but I still couldn’t. I was frozen to the spot.

I heard footsteps coming to my door. It must be Dad coming to call me down for dinner. I opened my mouth to scream for him, but no sound came out.

It wasn’t until my doorknob turned that I suddenly moved, stumbling to the floor in the process. When I looked back out the window, all I saw was nothing. The person was gone.

I grabbed my blanket to cover myself immediately as the door opened. I was disappointed when Mum’s face poked in.

She stood there, unsure of what to say before coming into the room. She crossed her arms over her chest and uncrossed them, something she did whenever she was nervous.

I sighed and said, “Did Dad ask you to call me for dinner?” I put down the blanket and pulled a graphic tee that was on the floor over my head. “Tell me him I’ll be down in five” I said to her, searching for a pair of shorts to wear under.

Mum sighed heavily, and I turned back to her “What is it?” I asked. She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her.

“I…” she started but seemed at a loss for words, which was weird. Mum always had something to say.

“I know you’re probably in shock at what happened, but…your dad is not coming back. And I don’t want you pretending that he’s still here for both our sakes,” she finished, looking at me with pity.

I laughed. “I totally did not understand what you just said. And where did Dad go that you’re saying he’s not coming back from?”

She glanced around the room, her eyes looking at everything but at mine. “I don’t know how else to say this, but your dead is dead, Bethy. And he’s never coming back to us.”

I’ve never found anything more hilarious in my life. “Is it because of all the blood in his room? We both know it’s one of his pranks on me.” My eyes finally found a pair of shorts across the room, and I put them on. “I’m already prepared to give him a piece of my mind when we’re done with dinner.”

“Elizabeth!” Mum suddenly yelled, making my eyes go wild. She never screamed at me. “Your dad is fucking dead! Dead as in never coming back, and the last thing I want is you pretending that he’s still fucking alive,” she said in one outburst.

I just stared at her as she breathed heavily. She was lying. They were both taking this prank to another level. “Okay, you guys got me,” I said, putting my hands up in mock surrender. “Your prank worked. Can we go have dinner?”

Something was in my room, moving. I could feel it. Moving around quietly. I was scared to look or come out of my blanket. It could be the person that was staring at me from the window.

I immediately felt it get closer to me, slowly, and just as it was about to touch me, I flipped over and put on my light. My bedside lamp illuminated the room and revealed that no one was in the room with me. Why was I always feeling uneasy?

I pulled the blanket over me and tried to go back to sleep, closing my eyes as tight as I could and holding my pillow tighter.

It did not work. I had already grown restless, and a part of me was scared whatever was in my room was going to come back immediately after I went to sleep.

I sat up, groaning as I slipped out of bed. It was already six in the morning, and in just a couple minutes, my alarm would go off. There wasn’t even any sense in going back to bed.

Somewhere inside my closet, I managed to find my running attire which consisted of a sports bra and spandex shorts. A good run was what I needed now for a clear mind. It was not totally bright outside, but I could see pretty good.

I left my room quietly, so I wouldn’t wake my parents. I made it downstairs and out the door. I stood on the patio for a few seconds, breathing in my surroundings. My house was situated close to a forest, which was where our town ended. There was nothing else, just tall, huge trees that made the morning air always clean and cold.

I took a deep breath before breaking into a run. At first, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, then I gradually slowed down as beads of sweat formed on my forehead. At this point, I just walked, listening to the tiny birds that sat atop the trees.

Tiny stones flew a little off the ground as I kicked them, landing a few feet away from me each time. I turned the way I had come, slowly making my way home.

The sun was almost out, gradually casting its light on me, and I relished in the warmth it brought. My hair stuck to the back of my neck. I was going to wash it over the weekend. My long black curly hair was hard to maintain, so I only washed it on Saturdays. That way I could spend the entire day taking care of it and not worry about running late for anything.

When I walked through the door, it was still quiet. Normally, Daddy would be whistling as he moved around the kitchen making breakfast. There was no one downstairs. Were they still asleep?

I heard someone come down the stairs as I started coffee.

“Bethy, what are you doing up so early?” Mum asked. She walked in, rubbing her eyes as she grabbed a class of water before sitting on the stool beside the kitchen counter.

I held myself back from rolling my eyes. “I have school, Mum,” I reminded her in a bored tone. When it came to me, she didn’t pay much attention.

“You’re not going to school,” she said, making me turn to her.

“What do you mean I’m not going to school? We’re about to start midterms,” I told her. The coffee maker went off, and I poured myself some and then put Dad’s in his mug.

She rubbed her forehead, her eyes tired, but that wasn’t my problem.

“You’ll be going to a new school,” she said simply like she just talked about the weather.

“And why is that? You can’t just take me to a new school without talking to me about it. Does Dad even know, or are you doing it behind his back?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest. This was going too far.

Our little town had just one public high school, and that was the only one I was allowed to attend. It was practically impossible to be enrolled into another school here, so she was probably bluffing.

She held my gaze for a long time before she spoke. “I have decided, and it’s final. I think with moving away, you’ll come to terms with your father’s death and every other thing around you.” Her voice was quiet.

I turned to the mug that was filled with coffee and carried it. “Daddy!” I yelled as I went up the stairs. There was no way I was going to stand there and let Mum just talk nonsense to me. Dad was not dead. I was just going to give him his coffee in bed, shower, have breakfast, and then head to school.

When I pushed the door to his room, it was locked. I tried again, but it wouldn’t budge. Enraged, I threw the mug on the floor, watching it shatter into a couple pieces and the brown liquid spread across the while tiled floor.

I heard steps pounding up the stairs before Mum stood in front of me. “What have you done?” she asked, her eyes wide in anger. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” she yelled.

I stood there looking at her. I had nothing to say to her. My eyes went back to the door. “Where is Daddy?”

She slapped her forehead lightly in frustration. “What do I even do with you?” she asked, the question seeming more for her than me. “With Isaac, it was easier to handle you, now…” she broke off, a sob tearing through her throat.

I was not falling for this. Avoiding the glass, I stepped around her and went to my room. I picked the first thing I could lay my hand on from my wardrobe and entered my bathroom. I avoided looking at myself in the mirror as I went through my routine.

By the time I was ready for school, the sun was bright up in the sky, and I was five minutes late. My bag slung over one shoulder, I rushed downstairs, grabbing a banana from the fridge as I headed towards the door.

It was locked. I tried the back door but even that was locked including every other door that led outside the house. Mum, really?

Luckily, the kitchen window was big enough to let me pass through. I opened the blinds, and in a few seconds, I was outside. I whooped in joy; my mum had no idea she had a smartass for a daughter.

The door suddenly opened, and my livid mother stood there glaring at me, the keys to the doors in hand. “Why don’t you ever listen. This is for your own good!” she yelled.

I laughed. “Mum, I really have to be in school. I’ll see you when I get back.” I waved at her for good measure.

“Wait…” she called softly. She walked out of the house but stopped exactly where the sun started to shine, the roof casting a shadow over her. “I need to tell you something.”

I shook my head. “I’m not falling for one of your tricks.”

She took a step further but stopped. “If you’ll only listen to me for a moment, Elizabeth,” she pleaded. My mouth opened slightly; she never used my full name.

I did not know when I started walking. I only knew I found myself sitting with her at the kitchen counter as she dried the corner of her eyes.

Mum brought out a file and placed it in front of me. She looked at me, but I didn’t touch it, only eyeing it in suspicion.

She flipped the cover. When I finally looked at it, I pushed it away. “Why are you showing me Dad’s costume?” I asked her. It was one thing knowing it was a prank, just Dad trying to scare me, and another staring into a picture of his soulless eyes.

“That is not a costume, Elizabeth. Your father is really dead,” she said quietly, reading through the report. “I was in the kitchen when I heard him scream for help. When I got to the room, it was too late. He was already lying there dead, and I couldn’t find the culprit,” she said.

Despite shaking my head, I pulled the file back and read it. It was my mum’s statement of what had happened to Dad. Then there were several pictures there of Dad on the floor, taken from different angles.

“Why are you trying to convince me that Dad is dead?” I asked her quietly as I dabbed the side of my eyes. I was not going to cry over nothing. Dad was still here. He had to be.

She sighed heavily. “I’m not trying to convince you. I know you both were the closest any father and daughter could be. Hell, it was just him for you. This is a tragic event that I never imagined would happen, and I understand how that affects you.”

I stood up to leave when her hand enclosed around mine on the counter. Her hand was cold.

“It’ll take a long time to process his death. It could even take years, considering how much you loved him, but you have to leave here. You have to move on,” she said as her hand on me tightened.

“Stop,” I whispered, pleading with her as a light went out in my heart. “Please…” I said, my tears falling without control as a sob choked me. “Daddy is not dead. I don’t want him to be, so let me just remember this as a prank he played on me before going far away. One day, he’ll come back to me and bake those cakes I love so much,” I struggled to say as I cried.

“Please…just don’t ruin his memory for me. One day, he’ll be back, and I’ll be here waiting,” I finished before letting the hurt consume me. It was like someone was stomping on my heart repeatedly, and I could do nothing about it.

Daddy. Prank. Faraway. That was all to it.

“If he went far away, then you could just do the same,” Mum said, her voice so gentle like she was speaking to a broken child. “When you come back, he’ll be waiting for you right there.” She pointed to Dad’s favorite chair.

I thought about it for a while. She might just be right. If I and Dad both go far away, then we would come back home and meet each other.

I looked at her and asked quietly, “How far away do I have to go?”

“Very far away,” she answered.

“And what about you?”

“I’ll take care of our home till you’re both back,” she said, squeezing my hand. “You’ll leave by tomorrow and don’t pack anything.”

“What about my clothes?”

“You wouldn’t be needing them. Just wake up early tomorrow morning and get dressed,” she said and before I could ask which school I would be attending, she left.

And it was just me, sitting in the empty kitchen and staring into nothing.

I don’t know how long I sat there. All I know was by the time I was back, it was already dark. I went to my room, snuggled under my blanket, and just lay there.

By tomorrow, I would no longer be here. I bet all the kids in school would be happy that I left. Or maybe they wouldn’t even notice, just like they never noticed my presence or ever acknowledged it.

I turned in my bed. I missed Dad so much. I felt even lonelier than I usually did. I blinked several times to stop the tears that were obstructing my vision. I couldn’t wait to leave tomorrow, so I could hurry back to see him.