Chapter 6: Going Home
1182 Words
Astria couldn't believe her ears. The father who was nothing short of a powerful mountain in her heart, couldn't possibly do something like that!
"What?! Why?!"
"Ask yourself why! Come here and get him out of the office before something happens!"
Astria scrambled up on her feet, still groggy after the eventful day she had yesterday. She didn't even have it in her to fix her appearance as she ran outside. She barely remembered to close the door as she left.
Once she was outside, she remembered that she couldn't run all the way. She needed to fix a cab or any other form of transportation, but she left her wallet inside! She couldn't go back in without the spare key!
Everything poured into her head like acid! She knelt on the ground and pounded onto the concrete under her flesh, scratched and bled. She was a mess and it was not even dawn yet!
Astria made up her mind to run all the way back home when a loud honk cleared everything from her mind for a split second.
She looked up to see the familiar black car. Shocked by Bryce's appearance, she rushed up to the car. The window opened and Bryce's frowning face appeared before her.
"Hey, what's going on with you?" He asked.
"Can you give me a ride? I'm in a hurry! Please!" Astria's pride left her body as if it wasn't there. She didn't hesitate to beg him. She didn't even care what he was doing in the neighborhood at this time!
"Of course. Get in."
Astria got into the car and Bryce immediately started rounding up outside the community.
"Put in the address."
Astria quickly added the address to her father's home in the system and asked Bryce to drive as fast as possible. He didn't ask again. Seeing her state, he focused on driving.
She couldn't be late today, or else her life would never be the same. However, it was still not enough. She didn't get to reach in time.
Halfway there, her mother called again. Astria picked up the phone with trembling hands.
"H-Hello?" The silence on the other side was deafening. Astria covered her mouth and choked, "M-Mom?"
Her mother's voice was hoarse and weak, "Don't call me mom. Don't come here ever again."
"Mom, where is dad? I want to talk to him!"
"Your father is not here! He is gone! He died because of you!"
"Mom, please don't say that. I don't know anything. I didn't -"
"Save the excuses for those who care! Don't ever show up in front of me!"
"Mom, please tell me where he is. I want to see him one last time. Please! Please! I beg you!"
Bryce's hands tightened on the wheel until the tips of his fingers turned white. His arms were still and his teeth clenched. He didn't know the specific situation, but from what he heard so far, something terrible must have happened to her father.
He overtook another car and ran a signal at a speed that was guaranteed to give his mother a virtual heart attack if she knew.
At this moment, he couldn't care about the consequences of the rules he had broken. All he could think about was taking Astria to her father as soon as possible.
He couldn't bear to look at her face stained with tears. It was so unbearable that his heart gave painful jolts every time he peeked at her. Huh, he was getting closer and closer to the clear conclusion.
"You don't deserve to see him! I am taking him away!"
Astria didn't get to talk anymore. The phone was hung up. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. There was something so terrible about the times that Astria didn't want to face it. The reality was too painful. She wanted to go back and fix it all.
What did she do wrong? She made one mistake of loving the wrong person five years ago, and she is still paying for it.
What did her father do that he had to loose his life? Was it so easy to mess with people's lives? Was it so easy to take lives?
Astria cried into her palm without the care of who heard her.
Bryce couldn't help it anymore. He lifted one hand and rubbed her back to offer some comfort, feeling the sparks as he did so.
He used one hand to operate the wheel and pressed the accelerator. He even lost count of how many signals he ran. The distance of ten kilometres that originally took an hour was covered in half the time.
"We are here." Bryce said it before hitting the brake.
Astria got out of the car and ran inside the front gate. There were people gathered inside by the front door.
All of them wore solemn faces. Astria pushed them aside and went in only to meet with her mother's pale and lost face.
When her mother saw her come in, the first thing she did was raise her hand and land a slap on her face.
Astria did not dodge. She thought she deserved it. Although she didn't know exactly what she did to deserve it, there had to be something she did wrong that caused such a terrible thing to happen. And that realisation came instantly when she saw her mother's face.
"Get out!" Her mother suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. She grabbed Astria by the shoulders and pushed her back. She seemed to have lost her mind after the death of her mate.
Astria fell on her knees on the ground. Her father's lifeless body was right in front of her eyes. It was such a terrible sight that Astria thought she was in a nightmare. She wished it was all a nightmare and all the illusions shattered in the morning. But everything was too real. She couldn't fathom how her life went from a beautiful dream to a hellish nightmare in reality...
What happened?
The question lingered.
Her mother still wanted to vent her anger on Astria. If it was not for the people around them restraining her, she might have even killed Astria.
Astria vaguely heard someone calling a sanatorium to admit Astria's mother.
It was not unheard of for people to go crazy upon the death of their mates. Astria's parents were mates who met at the right time and established a happy life with each other. Now that her father was gone, her mother rightfully lost her mind.
Astria let out a shaky breath as once again fresh tears gathered in her eyes.
She didn't think there were any more tears left to shed on more tragic events in her life, but every time fate shocked her with more problems. Each one is worse than the first.
A pair of exquisite sandals and fair toes entered her vision. Her tears dropped on the person. Astria didn't look up because she already knew who it was.
"I thought you weren't going to show up at all."
- Writer
