SHORT STORY: "Cold Days" By Zachary Velarde

“Cold Days”

By Zachary Velarde

                It was another windy winter morning in downtown Chicago. The grass was covered in a layer of frost that made the once green patches, a frozen brown. The sun hit the Sears Tower perfectly; a shining example of how Chicago was America’s architecture king. Traffic was already piling as people rushed around heading to whatever destination they had in mind. One such person, or rather two persons, were traveling towards the Sheraton Chicago Hotel, one smiling gleefully, her dream only a few blocks away, the other silently fuming as she twisted words in her mind to try and make her target hurt as much as possible.

                Little Junie Bel was extremely excited. Ever since her birth she grew up, like most girls, and was just hitting the princess age. Wheat made her an exception was her parents, or rather her father. Her father was the Guy Coby , the billionaire playboy who spent his nights partying and his days resting from his hangovers; not that she knew of these facts. To her, her father had left, probably for some important reason, and just hadn’t finished his business out there so he could return. When her mother showed up at school and told her they were going to see her father she just couldn’t wait. Finally she would meet her daddy. Finally the taunting would end. Finally they could be a real family.

                May Bel stormed into the hotel gripping her daughter’s hand tightly in an effort to move faster. She had finally found him, Guy Coby. They were the best of friends when in high-school. But everything changed when his parents died and left him alone without a single living relative. He was always so quiet then; he played the nice guy role when every girl wanted a bad boy. Well everyone but her. May had a crush on guy since middle-school and Guy was an oblivious boy. Still he made her smile and feel warm. When his parents died she was the first to volunteer companionship, the first shoulder he cried on, the one he talked to at their funeral, the first to meet his compassion with an equal level of intimacy, and the first to love him physically as well. So when he left before she awoke she was the first to cry. But now, she had found him… and he was going to pay for leaving her with little Junie for five years.

                “Welcome to the Sheraton madam, how can I help-“

                “Hi, nice to meet you. Yea, can you direct me to the presidential suite; the one Guy Coby is in? I’ll make it worth your effort?” May said, holding out fifty dollars

                The clerk looked longingly at the money, and took it. Grinning she walked around the desk after, setting up the please wait sign, and said to May “Right this way madam.” directing her to the elevator.

                In the elevator May kneels and says to Junie “Listen sweetie, daddy and mommy are going to have a loud conversation before you can meet him alright?”

                Pouting, the five year old says, frowning at her mother “Mommy why can’t I go first so you can have your grown-up talk afterwards!”

“Shh little Bel” May says, a tight grin on her face as she hugs her daughter.

                “Our grown-up talk won’t last long mkay?

“Kay.”

                Guy Coby awoke to a cold bed, as usual the girl he was with last night, Sara, or was it Rose?, seemed like the one-night-stand kind of gal; all the same for him , since he was a one-night-stand kind of guy. Stumbling around the bedroom he made it to the window and opened the blinds, the Chicago skyline assaulting his retinas, along with the morning sun. Hissing at the bright light he shielded his face and exited towards the suite’s lounge. He heard the sink running and the sounds of a women humming. With a click and a whirr a sly grin spread on his face: Andrea was making him coffee! Strutting into the kitchen, his monogrammed bathrobe on, he sees her at the sink, positioning himself behind her, he grasps her hips and pulls her close.

                “Hey babe you were amazing last night” he said

                “Well then you’ll love this” a distantly familiar voice said as a fist impaled his face.

                S***!” he exclaimed in shock of the first

                Smack! “Don’t curse in front of our daughter!”

                Guy’s eye’s widened as he saw the little girl in the doorway. He promptly passed out.

                In the darkness a tiny voice seeped out at him. He could almost understand, but his brain was still too slow. Then as if his hearing removed its handicap a little girl’s voice echoed into his mind.

                “Daddy wake up!

                Rushing upwards he jumps and looks down and sees his daughter smiling at him. Before he could even think of picking her up and hugging her like a father should, May stated tone colder than the winter air.

                “Her name’s Junie, not that you would know.”

                Silence. The large hotel room resounded with that haunting silence as realization filtered through his veins. He left them. He left a family he never knew he had.

                It wasn’t my fault! I had to or I wouldn’t have been able to take it! These and many other, desperate, statements filtered through his mind. Before a single one could escape his lips he realized he missed Junie. Junie Coby. His daughter who he had never seen before this morning. His daughter who wished every birthday wish for the chance to meet her dad. His daughter who was teased and taunted for not having a father. Of course he knew none of this, because he still hadn’t said a single word to her.

                “Hey Junie… I’m your dad.” The words felt foreign to his lips but at home in his heart

                She giggled and smiled her to hear at him “Of course you are! Mommy told me!” she runs and they embrace for  the first time, as a father and daughter should. They cried on each other’s shoulders and she whispered to him “Why didn’t you come back daddy?” he held her tighter and said the most unfulfilling statement any parent could say in that scenario “I’m sorry.”

                Soon after Junie had fallen asleep, tired from learning all  she could about her father and telling her dad all about her: Her friends, her birthday, her favorite colors, her faovite Disney princess. Everything.

                Laying her to rest on the couch, he ushered May into the bedroom, knowing this trip would be everything, except fun.

                “Why?”

                “May, I-?”
                “D***** Guy! Tell me why you left me! I loved you so much and you left me!”  she screamed, the pain and loneliness she felt after five years without him echoing in every single letter”

                Guy sat down on the bed and asked her “Do you know what I do every night?”

                She snorted and said “Yea, waste your parent’s fortune on drinks and girls.”

                He looked at her with a sad smile on his face “I drink, and party, and sleep with random girls, because it keeps my mind away from it all. My parent’s, home, you… everything I left behind. Because… It hurts to much to remember it all.

                As if a dam had broken, tears ushered from her eyes, as she whispered in a broken tone “Then why did you go?”

                “Because I couldn’t take it! I couldn’t stand everyday waking up to an alarm clock instead of a knock on the door. Because I couldn’t handle the emptiness my house gave… I couldn’t stand it.”

                She looked at him, and he looked at her, and she turned away. “I’m sorry Guy… Junie will visit every summer.”

                His heart fell into a spike filled pit and was impaled everywhere “What? What about-“

                “I cant0 I can’t take the thought of Guy Coby, the best man I ever knew, being… this” she says and goes to leave, leaving Guy alone, in a cold bedroom, a bittersweet feeling hitting him as he realized what he missed. And what he will always miss.