What I Wish You Knew | ꪜ

Chapter Forty Six

To Dad,

46. I wish I knew what that happy ending was.

Six years ago
Hayley's POV

The sharp knock at the door tore my attention away from my mirror. Downstairs I could hear pots and pans slamming against one another as mom began to prepare lunch which meant my father was the one disturbing my practice.

I pulled away from my mirror and trekked towards the door, expecting him to announce that I needed to get downstairs to have lunch but instead, he sauntered into my room, a smile on his face, "wassup kiddo?" I eyed him peculiarly, "did you just say wassup?"

He shrugged, "isn't that how you kids talk these days?" Not in my school. He slumped down onto my bed and laid splayed out onto his back, his arms outstretched, taking up every inch of space. "Come lay next to me."

"Dad, I was practising for the recital!"

"That's in two weeks, come on!" He tapped the empty space beside him, beckoning me towards him. With a sigh I strolled towards the bed and lowered myself down beside him, both of us facing the ceiling.

At first, we laid in complete silence, the only sound emitting through the house was the bird perched upon my window seal and mom's cooking downstairs. He then tilted his head towards me, his face mirroring one of complete concentration, "do you think there are hidden rooms in the house?"

"Huh?"

"Like a hidden room or a hidden space like you know in those spy movies we watch there's always a hidden room behind the bookshelf? And they pull down a book and the door opens, or there's like a fake piece of wood in the floorboard that reveals a secret spot where people hide things?"

"Oh yeah!" I responded, suddenly overwhelmed by confusion, "why do you ask, do you wanna hide something?" He nodded his head vigorously, "I have something to tell you, now promise you won't tell anyone. You're the only person I trust okay, pinky swear, you won't tell."

He outstretched his pinky finger towards me. Without hesitation I linked my finger through his, growing excited as he sat upright. He cleared his throat and leaned into my ear, "I'm a secret special agent spy. I've been working for the government for the past ten years fighting evil guys but then recently I found out that they were really the bad guys.

I stole this bracelet, it's a key to a vault that holds something extremely important to them and I don't want them to find it or else the person who it truly belongs to will not get their happy ending."

I pulled away, assessing the look on his face carefully, trying to decipher whether or not he was joking. A secret agent spy? I burst out laughing loudly, ignoring the stunned look that flashed across his face. "Dad, how stupid do you think I am?!"

He retrieved something from his pocket, "I'm not playing, Hayley, look." He rose something to his eye level and dangled it in the air. It was a gold bracelet held together by a single gold key perched between the chain links. "This is the key and I'm gonna hide it one day, you have to promise me when you find it, you hold onto it, kay?"

I was tongue-tied. It was convincing. Was my father really a spy? My father, who screamed at the sight of a cockroach that was at least six feet away from him? My father, who slipped on dog poop in the backyard and broke his arm? My father, who danced in his underwear to the Gummy bear song when I was six?