Promises

Chapter 18

-IVORY

I'm out of breath and the stitch in my side is worse than it's ever been. You would think after all these times that I ran with him I'd have gotten used to it. To be honest, until today I thought I was. I think something about the mental pain I felt today after me physically too. I can't believe what just happened.

"I already miss him," I scream to myself, it was more of a shriek.

Filled with pain and emotion I have never felt this strongly before. A mix of regret and hatred.

A brown dog runs past me. Unusual as I am nowhere near any houses and I've never seen anyone come around here before. I follow him through the field and I start running out of breath. The dog speeds up forcing me to speed up too. It looks back at me. The dog turns around and runs towards me. Jumping onto my leg like it was signaling me to keep going. It barks and runs off again.

The air blows through my hair as I run as fast as I can after this dog. Its eyes where green, just like my fathers. The thought comes into my head but passed as quickly as it came. But as the dog stopped right at a cherry blossom tree, I couldn't help but think it again. Is this him?

"Dad?"

He barks. He jumps onto my lap and licks my face.

"Dad." I smile as realization hits.

Me and my dad used to love picking cherries off of the trees at grandmas. It was his favorite tree. He has always wanted a dog but mom was allergic. It has to be dad. I hug him tight. Worried I would stop his air flow I let go.

"Oh, how I miss you so much," I whisper to him as I look him in the eyes.

I sit down under the blossom tree with him. As the day goes on and I catch him up on everything that's been going on, good and bad, he snuggles up in my lap.

"I need to take you home. Do you have an owner?" I ask him, as if he would talk to me like a human. Like he was actually my father in human form.

"Right," I giggle.

"Bark once if you are stray, bark twice if no."

He barks twice.

My heart stops for a moment. Guilt fills me at this point. I want to take him home, I want dad. I need dad. I don't want to take someone's dog away from them and I don't want to take him away from his owners who he is now loyal to. Either way, mom doesn't deserve him.

"Do you want to lead me there?" I ask him. Holding his face and petting the top of his head as his tongue sticks out of his mouth.

He barks again. We start running. All the way across the field back towards the way we came from. He leads me into a neighborhood I've never been to.

"Will I be able to visit you?" I cry.

He stops and whimpers. He comes back to me and I bend down to kneel eye to eye with him. He licks my cheek and gives me a reassuring tail wag.

We finally get to a house. Its small, a bungalow, and it has thin curtains in the front that every granny has. He scratches at the door.

"This the one?" I kneel down to give my dad one last kiss on his black nose and say my last goodbye.

He barks again, wagging his tail. I knock on the door. I wait at the door. Keeping any chance to stay with him for as long as I can. I hear footsteps at the door. Eager to know the owner I stay longer.

"Hey, I'm Ivory, Um, your dog ran up to me while I was going for a run, we kind of spent the day together and then he led me here so I followed him and uh... Should I go now?" I stumble over my words, nervous.

"Ivory?" the woman questions, as if she feels like I'm familiar.

"Uh yes, you don't know me." I giggle.

"No, I think I do. You go to my sons school. You are dating him."

-REMI

I scream as I rip every poster off my wall. I bawl my eyes out as I punch the wall multiple time until a hole forms and more of the wall falls as I keep punching. Blood stains permanently on the wall.

I through myself onto my bed and continue to it out into my pillow. My pillow cold with tears and my room is a mess now. Everything is on the floor and the hole in my wall is causing a draft in the room. Drops of blood on the floor and on my bed. I look into my now smashed mirror. Theres scratches on my face and my eyes are blood shot from the crying.

"This will be a pain to clean."

I cuddle up in my bed, shivering. My eyes slowly close and I fall deeper into my mattress and pillow. But as my eyes close fully I see something I had wished I didn't.

Me and Ivory, standing in the rain. Screaming at each other. Anger in both of our faces. Hate. In that moment, it looked like we hated each other. Is this how she feels about me now?

"I can't fucking do this," I scream out the window.

My dad runs up the stairs. A concerned look on his face. What is he doing here and why is he looking at me like this?

He picks up a smashed lamp from the floor and places it on my bedside table where it was originally.

"Thanks," I sniff my nose.

"What's wrong son," he questions, like he actually cares for me.

I continue looking out the window, ignoring his question. He walks towards me and puts his hands out. I flinch, but he doesn't hit me.

"Come here,"

He hugs me. I put my head on his shoulder, like I do with Ivory. I close my eyes and finally feel safe. We stay like this for a few minutes but in this moment, it had felt like time stopped. I didn't know why this was happening and how it got to here but I just enjoyed it in the moment.

"I'm sorry, for all the times I hit you, everything I said to you, I'm sorry, to you and your mother." he tells me. His eyes were looking down. Almost like he was embarrassed to apologize.

"But why, why are you apologizing now?" I look at him in the eyes. A mad look on my face.

"Your friend, Ivory, she-"

"Shes not my friend anymore," I burst into tears once again.

"She hates me, I ruined everything I had with her. It's all over," I continue.

He looks at me. A look on his face. An emotion I don't recognize. He hugs me again and I realize he just felt bad for me. Felt bad that I fucked up, just like he has with my mother. It was just empathy.

"I don't think she hates you," he whispered into my ear as we were hugging.

I held on tighter, almost digging my nails into his back. He clenches his muscles in pain from this. I let go. I lift my head and notice that Ive made his shoulder wet from tears. I pat his shoulder gently and giggle. I look at him smiling. I haven't seen him smile since mom left.

"Oops sorry, got it a little wet." We both laughed.

"So did I," he admitted, with the empathetic look on his face again.

"Seriously listen to me, she doesn't hate you." He puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Follow me," he exclaims as he grabs my arm and runs downstairs with me.

"Ivory..." I'm shocked to see her here. But as I say that, something even more shocking shows up.

"Mom."