The perfect timing

Seeing his face for the first time in years was something I wasn’t prepared for. I mean, who could prepare me for someone who was supposed to be dead? The answer was no one. It was like seeing something you always had wished for, but at the same time you couldn’t do anything because you were too shocked. That was also the way I reacted when we made eye contact. Immediately I compared myself to him, his nose, his lips, his features and his eyes. They had the same brown color as mine and they wouldn’t look away. And that’s when I saw something more in them, something hidden, though something malicious and cruel. Goosebumps rose on my arms and I involuntary shivered.

And slowly I came to my senses again. He was here, my supposed to be dead father, and he had freed Haley, who was now laughing spitefully at us. She probably knew it from the beginning that he would come to rescue her and not only that. She knew it would break something in me, seeing him again for the first time in years, the way her a mocking look was haunting me. My mother’s words echoed suddenly in my mind.

“Dear, did you never think about the reason why you remember my face? They told you you were two years old when the so called car accident happened. How is it possible then that you remember my face?”

It was the same with my father I shouldn’t remember his face, but I did clearly. How many lies did they tell me?

“Shut up,” he barked angrily surprising everyone and Haley immediately listened to him, but still pouted at his rude words.

After that he took a few steps closer towards me and my first reaction was to move away from him. Hurt was evident in his eyes for only a brief second though he quickly reposed himself.

“Celia,” he tried again, but I raised my hand to stop him. Only now noticing that it was bleeding because a few splinters of glass had cut me.

“Don’t come any closer,” I told him, my voice shaking. And not only my voice was shaking, my whole body was.

“You are hurt,” he stated, but stopped like I told him.

“It’s nothing,” I whispered and then a another voice entered the conversation. The voice of Juliette Matthews.

“Thomas don’t even try it you bastard. Leave her alone!”

The guy then laughed humorlessly at her words giving her a cold stare for even suggesting such a propose. But what caught more my eye wasn’t the content of their conversation, it was more the fact that they seemed to know each other.

“You can’t forbid me to talk with my own daughter Juliette,” he spit back and I heard several people gasped at his words.

“I can if you are only here to hurt her even more,” she answered him. But she wasn’t finished. “All these years you made her believe that you were dead and also killed her mother and her aunt. And now you suddenly think it is time for her to meet her daddy. Her monster of a father. She clearly managed her life well without you.”

Furious was an understatement of the state my father was in, he was raging and his voice got louder with every word.

“I would never hurt my daughter and it wasn’t me who pushed her away from me. You all just took her and made her believe all those lies. And I surely didn’t kill her mother,” he declared with such venom in his voice. Though that didn’t let me forget that he never said something about not killing my aunt. I never met my other aunt, but they told me she died early because she had cancer.

“You have to believe me Celia,” he said now looking at me again, however before I could answer him Reece beat me with his words.

“Don’t talk to her,” he said, pressing my body against his in a protective manner.

“And you must be Reece,” he said observing the boy next to me and the way he was holding on to me with a glare. When I wished I had a real father, I wanted it to be like that. A protecting father who cared enough to shoo all boys away who just come near me. But that wasn’t the father who he was.

“I believe you,” I told him and Reece only hold tighter on to me and whispering “don’t”, though I wasn’t finished.

“I believe that you didn’t kill my mother, but only because I saw that she is alive. Though I don’t think that you are a good man. You said yourself that you helped her and now you doing it again by freeing her,” I said while pointing at Haley. “And now tell me where my mother is!”

At my words he gritted his teeth. “How did that little bitch even,” he growled showing his real face and the clear hate for my mother. With every action from his side it got more clear that he was the guy my mother had been talking about. The person who she said was coming and stopping her from seeing me. My father was indeed a monster like Juliette had said before. And I think there was nothing more sad than to admit that to myself.

“Maybe we should leave now,” Haley suggested, when she heard the load footsteps and noises that were coming closer. Yet she still closed her mouth at the fierce look my father was giving her and she shrunk back like someone had hit her.

“Yes we will, but I will come back Celia and you can always come to me my child,” he said and suddenly there was thick smoke covering everything so I couldn’t even see my own hand in front of me.

But I could hear his last words clearly. “Because I’m not the enemy here Celia!”

In a matter of seconds the smoke had vanished, but Reece hadn’t and he was still holding tight onto me, which I was grateful for. Because I probably would have broke down if it weren’t for his arms that were holding me together at this moment.

“Celia,” it then came from the other side of the room and I turned to my side to see that Juliette was the one who had addressed me.

“Yes,” I said, but it came out only in a whisper.

Unfazed by my behavior Juliette just said what she wanted to and not care the slightest bit. Before I would have said she was insensitive, but a part of me was happy that she didn’t sugarcoat me like I would break anytime soon. It was an act of strength and in some twisted way I admired that in her. Always being strong and always thinking about the future and what would come.

“You said that you’re sure that your mother is still alive. How do you know that? Did you met her?,” she wanted to now and by now others from the M.E had arrived, though they first had to made their way through the entrance, which was a mess. The explosion had destroyed the door and to get to us they needed to take all the stones and rubble away. So it would take them a while and we could talk without them hearing because they were too occupied.

“Mother not now,” Reece intervened, but his mother immediately shut him up.

“No Reece, we need to talk about this now!” She answered, waiting for my response.

I cleared my throat and then spoke. They already knew about my father, what damage would it made if they knew about my mother as well?

“I didn’t meet her really from person to person,” I began and Juliette nodded, eager to now more.

“I met her through my dreams and at first it was just that; dreams. But then a few days ago she told me she wasn’t dead and through my dreams she was connecting with me. However this would be the last time because someone was holding her back. At first of course I thought I was going crazy, but she gave me some good explanations and I trusted her words.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Reece wanted to now then, and I sighed. Yes, I could have told them, but would he have believed me? I don’t think so.

“Reece everybody has reasons not to tell something and I think you are one of the people who knows that the best,“ Juliette came to my rescue and I looked between mother and son, who were starring at each other.

Though that was forgotten. Well, on Juliette’s side, because she then surprised me even more with her next words.

“You know Celia, I and your mother were friends when we were in your age. And I was really sad when I heard that she wasn’t under us anymore.”

I didn’t know what should have shocked me more the fact that she knew my mother in the first place or that they had been friends.

“And it also seems like you know my father,” I said bitterly, remembering how she called him at his first name.

“I do. But among us super humans we thought that he had killed his wife and was hiding in a secret place. Or some even thought that he had killed himself after that because he felt so guilty for taking your mothers life. Though we all just saw that he is as alive as we are,” she added bitterly and I didn’t miss the hate she had for him.

“Wait wait,” I interrupted her afterwards anger slowly building inside me again.

“You knew that he maybe had killed my own mother and was still around, but you all let me believe that both of them died in a car accident,” I almost screamed and Reece tried to calm me down, but I pushed his hands away.

“Celia, you have to understand that I did this, because the truth can be too cruel sometimes and we thought that it was the best for now.”

“A lie is never better than the truth,” I told her, feeling betrayed and played. “Even if it is as ugly as that,“ I added throwing my hands up in frustration.

“We will talk about it again in my office they are getting through,” was the last thing she said to me, before others stormed the room, finally getting to us.

Though I wasn’t happy with the situation right now, I knew it was more important to get help for the injured. So I got quiet for the moment and waited with the others for their rescue.

But when one of them asked, “Are you all alright?” I shook my head slightly so no one would notice. No I’m definitely not alright.