Zyn turned amethyst eyes
on her, giving her a small smile. “Nothing. I called Clear View, a
school that’s only a couple of minutes away from us, yesterday. To
register you.”
Jamie froze.
“
I’m going to school
again?” she asked, her voice nothing but air.
Zyn nodded. “I can’t just
let you forget about education. It’s important.”
Jamie shook her head,
sitting up. “I can’t go to school here,” she said,
convinced.
He sighed and sat up,
resting his elbows on his knees. His face looked almost sad as he
scrubbed a hand over it. “Jamie, I know you don’t know anyone here
but me --”
“
That isn’t it,” she
snapped, standing up. She didn’t care about meeting people, about
having friends. She had him, why did she need to meet anyone else?
Zyn had become the father she had never had. The prospect of school
seemed like it would tear her life apart -- again.
“
Well, what else could it
be? I mean, you told me about your school, your friends. You seemed
pretty popular,” he said, frustrated. He stood up with her,
towering over her.
Jamie fumed, fisting her
hands at her sides. He couldn’t understand -- he was the kind of
guy that acted like he hadn’t a care in the world, how could he
know that with school, problems came? What happened when she got a
bad grade on a test -- what would he do to her?
The thought stopped her
cold. He raised his hand, and she couldn’t stop the way she
flinched.
Zyn froze. Just....froze.
Stopped moving. Stopped breathing. And then, in a strained voice,
he whispered, “You think I would ever hit you?”
For the first time in
months, Jamie felt tears sting her eyes. And then she was running
from him, to her room. She could hear him coming after her, but she
slammed the door closed and locked it, sliding against the door to
her knees. Jamie couldn’t help the tears that rained from her face.
They had been bottled up since that first night, and she seemed to
cry for hours and hours.
Later, after pouring her
heart and soul into every single tear that fell from her face,
there was a knock on the door. At first, she paused. Backing away
from her door, she watched as it opened and had to force herself to
get to her feet. When he saw her, he paused at the threshold of the
door.
She swallowed and sat on
the bed, keeping her head down. The bed dipped when he sat down on
it, and he cleared his throat awkwardly.
“
I think it’s time I show
you something.”
Jamie looked at him from
the corner of her eyes, but kept her head down. Her face was no
doubt a mess, and she had never been a pretty crier. She took a
breath and wiped her cheeks. “Show me what?” Even to her own ears,
her voice was hoarse. She winced.
Zyn was silent as he held
out his hand, unfolding his fingers in front of her view. In them,
a scrap of paper was crumpled and almost brown, and under that was
a small sepia picture. She swallowed, looking up at him for
permission. “Go ahead,” he said, voice choked.
Jamie took the crumpled
paper and the picture, hands shaking. In the photo was a baby with
a patch of hair as dark as oil, and eyes as blue as the sky. Her
heart stopped beating as she stared at it. “This is... who is
this?” she asked, high-pitched voice making even her
wince.
“
That’s my
daughter.”
She choked, bringing the
picture closer to her face. She had seen this exact same picture in
her mother’s purse, a long time ago. Jamie had always assumed it
was her, but Zyn was saying this was his daughter, so it couldn’t
be...
“
Read the letter,” he told
her, taking the picture. She stared at it still, even as his hands
closed over it gently, as if the picture was as fragile as the baby
it depicted. Hands shaking, numb, feeling like she was going to
puke, Jamie opened up the latter as carefully as she
could.
Dear Sin,
I’m sorry to have kept
this from you as long as I have, but my conscience is getting the
better of me. I do not know how to say this to you outright, and
therefore I have written this letter. My husband will never know
what we did, or even that that night existed. Please understand
that while I write this, my heart is heavy because of what I will
do to you...and the baby that you gave me. I’m begging you to leave
us alone, to not come after us as I know any worthy man would. My
husband would kill me, and the baby. If he ever found out, she
would be damned and as would you.
The picture attached to
this letter is yours for the keeping. I have a matching one, and
should you ever need another, I will willingly give you mine.
Please, for the safety of Jamie, leave us alone. Do not watch her,
do not come after her. She is only a baby and will grow up to be a
beautiful young woman. I cannot risk her future by allowing her to
have communications with you.
When she is of age, I will
not stop her from seeing you, but I will also not tell her who her
real father is.
I hope that you understand
and wish the best for Jamie.
Sincerely, Ms.
Saxton.
“
She... She spelt your
name wrong...”
It was the only thing
Jamie could say, could get out. Her throat was closed so tight,
filled with tears, that it was all she could do to
breathe.
The penmanship was
definitely her mother's. It was elegant and refined, small and
barely readable. The paper was a soft pink, from her mother’s
ancient stationary that she insisted on using for every letter
written. If she brought it to her nose, she swore it would be like
walking into her mother’s room, even after all of these
years.
“
I never told her how to
spell it,” he murmured. She could feel his eyes on her, watching
her. Jamie looked at him, eyes wide and confused, watery.
Desperate.
And then her head started
shaking. “You aren’t...”
“
Jamie, the only reason I
didn’t come for you was because of the senator. Or I swear I would
have been there for every birthday, for every tear and party and
dinner, and breakfast. I never would have let any harm come to
you,” he said brokenly. She recoiled, her head shaking even
more.
“
No... stop it... I can’t
be...”
“
Please believe me... When
I heard word about you, about the Senator, I told him. I told him
that you were mine, and I almost beat the living shit out of him
for laying a hand on you. Your mother had to send you to me... I
couldn’t let you live a life without knowing who I was, I couldn’t
let myself --” His voice broke off. Zyn took a hard breath and
stood up.
“
I’ve loved you since the
day you were born, since I knew that you were mine. Don’t ever
doubt that you have a father who loves you as much as I do. If you
don’t want to stay here... I’ll find someone to take care of you. I
just.... I needed this time with you, my daughter...”
Jamie was too...devastated
to cry. Was too shocked to do anything but stare at him. With a
shaking hand, she held the note to him, speechless. His hands were
unsteady when he took it from her.
“
If you can find it in
yourself to just...stay with me, I’ll show you my world. I’ll let
you live the life you deserve. I’ll do everything I can to protect
you and to make you happy. I couldn’t do anything less for you
--”
“
I’ll stay,” she managed
to whisper. Her bottom lip trembled to the point where it was hard
to talk, but the utter relief on his face was worth it. “But I
need...to think.”
He nodded his head,
closing his eyes. She could only imagine him trying not to cry,
just as she was.
When he left, the door was
closed so softly, it sounded and felt like a whisper of pain as it
coursed through her with the power of a raging wave. Nothing could
stop the onslaught of pain, nor the need to escape. Jamie grabbed
her hoodie, threw it over her shoulders, and ran from her room
blindly, not noticing how dark it was getting. Zyn didn’t come
after her -- probably because he didn’t hear her.
So blinded by her tears,
Jamie didn’t notice she was veering off of their normal trail until
it was too late. The months that she had spent here hadn’t been
fearful. Their walks were calming and peaceful, all during the day.
She remembered his earlier warning that she wasn’t allowed to leave
the house after nine. It was well after nine-thirty.
Jamie stopped running,
slowing to a walk. It was so dark that she couldn’t see her feet,
and her normally keen senses were gone. The trees were so thick
that she couldn’t see the moon, and the barely noticeable shadows
the cast reminded her of the horror movies her mother had said she
wasn’t allowed to watch, but had anyways.
“
Oh god,” she breathed,
turning in a circle and staring around her. Which way had she come
from? Was Zyn going to notice she was gone? Her stomach rebelled
against her, threatening to spill all over the dirt floor of the
forest.
She felt something move
behind her -- Jamie screamed, wrapping her arms around herself.
Should she run? Should she stay until Zyn came to get her? She
chose to run.
Flying, crashing, and
slamming against things as she struggled to get away, Jamie’s lungs
were working against her and everything was starting to blend, to
blur right in front of her face. Crying out as something sliced at
her cheek, she tripped over her feet and saw the ground coming go
greet her face.
The fall stopped any
movements she could have made. The trickle of blood that fell down
her face was enough to traumatize her, but no more than the fact
that, standing above her, was a creature as white as snow and as
thin as a post. Her breath stalled in her lungs.
“
Hmm...what have we here?”
Jamie flinched at the chalk-on white-board sound that grated
through her ears. The sound was cut off by a sort of...humming. It
was the creature, she realized with horror. She could feel her eyes
get wider with each second.
It bent down to her, and a
chalky-white...appendage reached out and touched her skin. Ice shot
through her body, and the thing pulled away with another hum. Her
skin now felt as if it were being burnt by coldness. He held his
finger in front of her face, and her own blood stared her in the
face.
She reached up slowly to
touch her cheek. She cried out, yanking her hand away and recoiling
from the creature.
“
Oh... my god. Oh my god,
I’m going to --” Jamie felt her stomach leave her and the creature,
with a disgusted sound, shot away from her, out of site.
“
Jamie!”
She wrapped her hands
around her stomach, curling into a ball. Zyn wasn’t going to come
for her. He didn’t even know she had left. A tear rolled down her
cheek as she stared at the crumpled leaves, the broken twigs, and
her own spots of blood.
“
Damnit, Jamie, answer
me!”
She froze. Looked up. It
couldn’t be Zyn. He wouldn’t... No, he wouldn’t come after her,
would he? The minute she thought it, she felt stupid. He had just
told her a bit ago that he would protect her no matter what...that
he was her real father... Her body convulsed as pain tore through
her, not only because of their conversation, but because of the ice
that was slicing through her veins.
“
Zyn...” she coughed,
finding her throat tightly constricted and, as she talked, her
breath became visible. Horrified, she cried out.
It felt like someone
shoved a knife down her throat.
She heard pounding
footsteps, and then Zyn’s strong hands were in front of her face.
When he tried to touch her shoulder, unimaginable pain shot through
her and she screamed, causing him to pull back.
“
Goddamn It, no,” he half
shouted, half groaned. The torment in his voice matched the pain in
her body. She stared up at him, wishing she could just grab onto
him and make him fix everything -- but it would hurt her too
much.
Jamie panted, feeling the
heat in her body slowly drain. Her cheek no longer felt as if it
were burning -- there was simply too much happening to her body to
account for it. The ice slid through her body, out of her body,
everywhere it could reach.
The tears that fell from
her eyes were turned to crystals. They gathered there, like a pile
of diamonds. Zyn stared down at her, and for the first time, she
saw what she never thought she’d see in his face.
He was crying.
Jamie fought the pain and
coldness for as long as she could. She tried to reach out to him,
to get him to stop crying and just...find a way to help her. She
didn’t want to leave him after everything that she had learned,
after learning that he was her real father.
And yet, it wasn’t
enough.
Within seconds, she felt
the final tug of her soul and the warmth that she had tried to find
so hard, finally came to her.
“
Is there anywhere that I
can...hit something?”
Jessica looked up with her large bird
eyes and peered at Jamie suspiciously. “In the building? Yes. But
if you get me fired, I will never forgive you. Last time, I swore
Talon was going to kill me!”