SHORT STORY: "Dying Peace" By Christina Adepoju

"Dying Peace"

By Christina Adepoju

      It was a cool, rainy August afternoon. Valerie had nothing to do; the house was quiet and silent and peaceful. It was a dying peace. She sat on the firm, leather couch, holding the maroon pillow and looking out the window. She and her mother Victoria,  replaced it last week after their couch of twelve years finally gave out. The new one was so much nicer and much more firm, comfortable, and had a wonderful color. Just by looking at them, they looked like bars of chocolate all stacked side by side. The same ugly drapes for six years had still been hanging on the windows, shifting from side to side as it hit Valerie in the face. She hated them for as long as she could remember. She hated everything in the house. The pitter-patter of the rain struck against the window, the way a drum stick hits a drum as it drops a beat. The rainy, dreary afternoon was only part of why she hated this day. It ruined her day with her friends to go to the beach, and to go shopping as well, but also she would be receiving an unwanted visit from a familiar stranger.


          “Please don’t act like how you are acting when he comes,” Vicky said. “I would hate for it for him to drive all the way down here and you putting up this bratty attitude.”

            “What attitude? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly happy to see the person I’m supposed to call “my father”, so I’m not going to sit here and pretend when he comes that I’m excited to see him and everything is sugar and lollipops when it isn’t.

Valerie’s mom exasperated a huge sigh. “I’m not asking you to pretend. All I’m asking is for you to be respectable and polite,” she said. “Do you think I’m happy to see him either? I’m not, and whether we like it or not, we’re both going to have to suck it up for the time that he’s here. Understood?”
 

            Valerie rolled her eyes, but then reluctantly nodded her head as a sign of affirmation. She always dreaded for this day to come, and now it has rolled right around the corner. Her mom, Vicky and her dad, Lionel, were married for six years and Valerie was their only child. Everything was all rosy and bright when they got married, but after they had Valerie, everything started to change. All that Valerie recalled was the constant bickering, screaming, and yelling that it brought her to tears. In the end, they got a divorce when she was just two and her dad relocated to Montgomery, Alabama while she and her mom stayed in Atlanta, Georgia. For twelve long, cold years, not once did her father ever try to reach out to her, to see how she was doing or if he could come visit her sometime. He abandoned her like an orphan, her whole world turned upside down. Sure, she had a wonderful mother who loved her and did everything she could as a single mom, but there was a hole in heart; something important was missing and she couldn’t find it in herself to try and fill the void.
 

            Still staring out the window, she saw a blue Toyota jeep pull up to the driveway, screeching to a halt because of the downpour of rain on the slope of the driveway. She saw him step out of the car, careful not to slip, wearing black suede shoes and a nice black jacket to match. His blue-and-white polo shirt was neatly tucked into his faded blue jeans, clenching his abs and stomach. He ran up the driveway and almost slipped from the wet and slippery surface. Halfway to the front door, he realized he forgot his umbrella; so instead, he used his black jacket and hovered it over his face, shielding himself from the harmless drops of water. Before he could press the doorbell, Vicky already opened the door.
 

            “Oh, hi!” he said. He was a little bit caught off guard since most people would wait for the doorbell to ring before they answered the door. His mouth dropped open as he looked at Vicky. It’s been over 12 years since he last saw her, and she looks as beautiful as ever.
 

            “Well, are you going to stand there with your mouth open, letting flies nest there or are you going to come in and see Valerie?”
 

            He snapped out his fantasy and abruptly wiped his feet on the carpet, and removed his shoes before stepping inside of the house. He looked around the house in awe; everything was in nice-shape and was extremely elegant. The dining room was exquisite. Hanging directly above it was a Victorian-like chandelier. The crystals gleamed and were like a thousand diamonds shining bright. The silverware was nicely placed over the tablecloth, which had ruffled edges and little blue tassels hanging at the end. The seats were decorated with royal blue plush seats and were carved out of the finest wood. He walked over to the living room where Valerie was, sitting in the exact same spot for almost an hour: sitting and staring out the window.

            He approached her with baby steps.

          “Hey Valerie,” he said as he tapped her on the shoulder.

           She cocked her head to the side, looking at him from head to toe.

          “Hello,” she said softly as she rolled her eyes.

          “Do you know who I am?”

          “Of course I know who you are! Are you stu---?

            Before she could say anything else, her mother gave her a cold and long glare, a reminder of what they talked about minutes earlier.

“I mean,” she said, “yes, I know who you are. You’re my father.”

“Hmmm, Daddy, Father” she thought as she cocked her head to the side. “I don’t remember having neither a dad nor him ever being there for me.”

            He wiped his feet on the carpet and walked towards the living room, where all the memories started flashing back to him- the birthday parties, Valerie accidentally having an accident, family movie nights. Then the missed memories started to form in his head, like the missed birthdays, the missed award ceremonies, missed Christmas dinners, Thanksgiving dinners. Memories he will never, ever get back. The picture of him and his wife hanged quietly above one of the leather couches. The smiles on their faces were, shining bright and priceless. So in love and oblivious to the world around them, but just like the marriage, the smiles were a fraud and fake. He sat on the couch, taking everything in as he prepared to meet his daughter face-to-face for the first time in almost twelve years.

           “Nothing’s changed much, has it?” he said in a friendly manner, but the smile soon wore off his face. Valerie stared and looks at him, no response. How could she answer this man who is supposed to be her dad, who was supposed to look out for her, who was never supposed to leave her? He tried reaching out to her to touch her leg, but Valerie quickly moved her leg. Vicky sat there quietly, not a peep came out her mouth. All three continued to stare at one another in the family room they had once shared for six years.

The silence continued to evade their presence. Valerie felt awkward, like the conversation was going to nowhere.

“How about I go into the kitchen and get us some drinks? I’m sure dinner should be ready soon,” said Vicky. She excused herself and went straight to the kitchen to continue making dinner.

“So, how’s school going?”

“School ended almost two months ago,” Valerie replied. She subsequently rolled her eyes to ignore the fact that he didn’t realize it was early-August.

Idiot, she thought to herself.

“Oh, okay,” he said. “Well, how’s soccer going?”

“I’m a gymnast.”

Vicky was cooking dinner, but at the same time listening to their conversation, hoping they would get somewhere and finally mend their broken relationship.

“Let me ask you this: Why do you even care? You’ve been gone my entire life! I think the last time I saw, I was two and I remember because I was crying and screaming when you got inside your car and left. Some part of me was thinking, “Oh, he’s coming back, he just went somewhere to cool.” But you never did.”

“Valerie, listen just let me-“

“No! I’m talking,” she yelled. “You left mom and me here, all alone when I needed someone to protect me, to be always there for me. But you weren’t,” She tried to fight back the tears, the overwhelming emotion from all the years she felt empty and alone. “For eight solidyears, you were gone, living your life God knows where! God, dad! You missed like, half of my life. You missed my gymnastic competitions, award ceremonies, even my birthday! And now you want to waltz in here, and pretend that everything is okay and that we can pick up from where we left off. Well, reality hit you in the face with a good slap because that’s not going to happen. And you know it. How could you do to this to me? To Mom? You have no idea how much I’ve been hurting inside, so don’t think you can fix everything just by showing up at the house, because you’re just making it worse.”
 

“Valerie,” Vicky said. “That’s enough!”

“No, Mom. He needs to hear this. He needs to hear how much pain he has caused me and you.”

“You will never listen to me, will you?, " Vicky continued. " Even after what he talked about before he came here? I have tried my best to raise you the best I could, but lately you have become just so bitter and disobedient. I don’t know what else to do!”

“No, its okay Vicky,” Lionel said. “I deserved it, and I wanted to say sorry for not being the father I should have been to you. You were right, I should have been there for you, and I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

Still crying, Valerie began to shake her head. “No, you’ll never be the father you were supposed to be and you’ll never be sorry.”

       He abruptly got up from the seat and began pacing back and forth, scratching the back of his head, trying to find the words to say to ease everything.

“   "I don’t know what else you want ME to do Valerie!” he said with a roaring voice. “I don’t know how many times I have to say “I’m sorry.” The marriage and the divorce was a nightmare come true! I didn’t want to go through it and neither did she, but guesses what? We had to!”

Every part of the house was silence as his voice continued to echo through the halls.

         “We grew apart, and no matter how hard I tried to fix everything and make it right, nothing worked and I just couldn’t do it anymore with your mother,” he said. “I thought you would have been better off without me, because I couldn’t make your mother happy anymore and I thought…. I thought…..I thought I wouldn’t be able to do the same for you and that you were better off without me, but I was wrong.”
 

          “You were wrong,” Valerie said. “But I’ll never forgive you for what you did.” Valerie jumped out of the seat and ran up the stairs to her bedroom, covering her face to mask the tears falling down her face.
 

“Valerie!” Vicky called out. She started to move towards the stairs, but removed her foot from the steps and stopped herself from following her.
 

            The rain finally slowed down and ceased to little rain droplets, but the sun was still hiding behind the clouds, afraid to come out. The awkwardness never left the room. Both Vicky and Lionel stared at another, looking into each other’s eyes. All the pain he had caused both of them escalated, fueling into a fiery ball of anger, spinning out of control with no way to stop it, and bursting into a billion fireballs. Tears, falling down like the droplets outside the window were on both of their faces. How could they mend this broken relationship and make everything seem like its perfect? Nothing was perfect and it will never be perfect. They sat there, in this living room, where she grew up and listened to the continuation of the rain, to the pitter-patter pounding the ground and the droplets, as it slid on the window screen, wiping away all droplets of rain.


(c) 2013 | Christina Adepoju