Don't Talk To Daddy

Innocence (Re-Written)

I'm currently in the process of completely re-writing this entire story, so therefore, unless the chapter says "re-written" next to it, it may confuse you a bit.

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It was early in the morning. A car sat idling in the driveway and suitcases were strewn about. A young child was crying while a mother was attempting to console her and a father was being impatient. That meant that my parents were leaving on another one of their frequent business trips. 

I'd been through the process enough times that the whole thing no longer bothered me. "So, I guess we'll see you guys in three days," I tried to convince them to leave. They were already ten minutes late for their flight because Mom was attempting to calm my disgruntled younger sister, Harmony.

"Mommy, please stay," She begged in her small, five-year-old voice while Dad sat leaning up against the Mercedes, his eyes fixed on his custom-made, highly expensive, watch.

"We really need to leave. Trinity, take your sister so that we can go." Dad spoke up, becoming irritated, ignoring his stepdaughter that was bawling her eyes out over her mother.

By then, Harmony was clinging to Mom. She managed to pry Harmony from her legs and hand her over to me. Dad had made his way into the car, and was now sitting in the driver's seat, tapping the top of the steering wheel, not bothering to say goodbye to either of us. I struggled to control Harmony, who was kicking and thrashing about, while Mom loaded a few final bags into the trunk of the car. She quickly said goodbye one last time, and then got into the passenger seat next to Dad and Dad quickly drove the car out onto the residential street in front of our house. 

When the car left our view, Harmony began screaming loudly in my right ear, so I quickly tried to calm her, "Come on Harmony, let's go inside and I'll let you have some chocolate ice cream after lunch."

Harmony stopped screaming and muttered, "Okay," at the sound of something sugary. My parents were health freaks, so ice cream was a rare treat for her. 

I felt bad for my little sister. Mom and Dad seemed to be constantly leaving for business, and Harmony was too young to understand the circumstances that caused them to leave. Unlike Harmony, Mom and Dad leaving did not bother me. It was simply part of my everyday life. I was nearly eighteen, and I had been staying home alone ever since Mom and Dad got back together when I was fourteen. Harmony was too young to understand a lot of what happened, especially things like why dad wasn't always the nicest to her, and why Mom and Dad argued so much. She may not understand, but luckily for her, I do. I always promised myself that I would always be there for Harmony, so that she wouldn't ever be alone like I was. I promised that I would try to make her childhood a lot less traumatic than my own.

Later in the day, after lunch, I sat Harmony up on the counter like I always did, and scooped her some chocolate ice cream into a bowl for her. While my parents were away, I liked to spoil Harmony. I'd let her have sweets, stay up a half an hour later, and sit on the counter, and because she was five, that was enough for her to be happy. Such simple things brought her so much joy. 

When she was finished with her sweet snack, I rinsed the bowl and the dishes from lunch off in the sink. The sound of the dishes clanging against each other echoed throughout the large house. It always felt eerily empty when it was just Harmony and I in the house.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching movies with Harmony. Her G-rated movies were excruciatingly boring, but I sat through them because I didn't have much else to do. I have to admit, though, I was relieved that my phone rang in the late afternoon so that I could escape the movie for a while.

It turned out to be my boyfriend, Jake, calling me. He wanted to see me, but I had to explain to him once again that I had to watch Harmony for the next few days, and he wasn't allowed over either because my dad had a "no boys" policy, and Harmony was aware of it. Sometimes I was able to bribe Harmony into not telling Dad that Jake had came to the house, but I'd already given her ice cream that day, and I was out of ideas. The responsibility of Harmony often conflicted with my personal life, but it was just another one of those things that I had to give up in life for my little sister.

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Note: Re-written, this chapter is a lot shorter than it was previously. I will make sure to make the next chapters longer, but I couldn't find a way the add more to this one.