Post by MICHAEL SHEPARD on Mar 31, 2023 22:01:07 GMT
”Call me if Hazel’s parents can’t drop you off later, OK?” Michael released his daughter from the hug he knew he likely wouldn’t have got from her this time last year. He still remembered his teenage days well enough to know how mortifying it was that they wanted to hug you in public, that they were there at all when your friends were hovering nearby. He’d never exactly been one of those kids who professed hate for their parents every time some boundary was drawn out for them, but he’d been bratty enough that he’d felt that sharp edge of guilt over it and a thousand other minute crimes when they’d died.
With the crash that had taken that man’s life, things with Abi had seemed to shift in the same way. You got that taste of mortality and what had seemed mortifying was no longer something you wanted to run from. He’d have taken it as a blessing, but honestly he would’ve done anything to take the anvil like weight of guilt and their curse off of his daughter.
In full helicopter parent mode, Michael waited on the sidewalk until Abi had walked into the Grill. He could see the group of teenagers waiting for her inside, could imagine the shrieks that rose once they spotted her. Over the years since Abi had been brought back to him he’d heard them echoing in the house enough. It could set your head to pounding, but he’d take it over silence any day of the weekend, motel rooms and rat trap apartments filled with the ghosts of a life that had been taken from him in a bloody moment that had broken him. Sara was still out there somewhere, the vacuum of her absence a constant presence in his chest, but he hadn’t lost hope that she’d turn up one day, the same way Abi had.
Abi probably would’ve preferred if he’d got straight back into the car and gone home, but he’d figured he might as well kill two birds with one stone – pick up some groceries, grab himself a coffee at the same time, make a little something of an evening where he wasn’t torn between work and spending time with Abi (it’d been hard at times, but he’d kept his promise not to waste a single moment of his second chance to be a father).
The street was still busy, folks heading home from work, taking their families out for the evening, making the most of the warming weather as winter finally released its frigid grip on the town. He was halfway down the block, the Coffee Bean just a couple of stores away when another knot of teenagers appeared. They spilled out of the Diner leaving him hopping down off the curb to skirt around them. He almost collided with someone coming back up the other side. The noise level had risen, voices calling on top of one another until he could barely hear himself shooting off an apology as he lifted his hands. ”My bad.” Michael went to move past, but stopped, eyes narrowing faintly as he glanced back. ”Kaleb? It is Kaleb right?” Humour huffed out of him as he stared at the kid – not so much a kid anymore. He’d been a couple of years older - no, it must’ve been more than just a couple of years – than Abi. They’d figured maybe in a year or two they’d have been able to convince him to do a little babysitting for them, but then … things had changed.
With the crash that had taken that man’s life, things with Abi had seemed to shift in the same way. You got that taste of mortality and what had seemed mortifying was no longer something you wanted to run from. He’d have taken it as a blessing, but honestly he would’ve done anything to take the anvil like weight of guilt and their curse off of his daughter.
In full helicopter parent mode, Michael waited on the sidewalk until Abi had walked into the Grill. He could see the group of teenagers waiting for her inside, could imagine the shrieks that rose once they spotted her. Over the years since Abi had been brought back to him he’d heard them echoing in the house enough. It could set your head to pounding, but he’d take it over silence any day of the weekend, motel rooms and rat trap apartments filled with the ghosts of a life that had been taken from him in a bloody moment that had broken him. Sara was still out there somewhere, the vacuum of her absence a constant presence in his chest, but he hadn’t lost hope that she’d turn up one day, the same way Abi had.
Abi probably would’ve preferred if he’d got straight back into the car and gone home, but he’d figured he might as well kill two birds with one stone – pick up some groceries, grab himself a coffee at the same time, make a little something of an evening where he wasn’t torn between work and spending time with Abi (it’d been hard at times, but he’d kept his promise not to waste a single moment of his second chance to be a father).
The street was still busy, folks heading home from work, taking their families out for the evening, making the most of the warming weather as winter finally released its frigid grip on the town. He was halfway down the block, the Coffee Bean just a couple of stores away when another knot of teenagers appeared. They spilled out of the Diner leaving him hopping down off the curb to skirt around them. He almost collided with someone coming back up the other side. The noise level had risen, voices calling on top of one another until he could barely hear himself shooting off an apology as he lifted his hands. ”My bad.” Michael went to move past, but stopped, eyes narrowing faintly as he glanced back. ”Kaleb? It is Kaleb right?” Humour huffed out of him as he stared at the kid – not so much a kid anymore. He’d been a couple of years older - no, it must’ve been more than just a couple of years – than Abi. They’d figured maybe in a year or two they’d have been able to convince him to do a little babysitting for them, but then … things had changed.
hope to see you in the discord! 
