"I'm not here to fight if that's what you're worried about....I just want to talk...so can I come in?"Silver asked looking at me as I move out of the way insinuating for him to come in "you want something to drink....I have water and soda." I suggested "no thank you." He politely declined "why're you here?" I asked "to tell you the truth." He blandly replied as I shake my head telling him to continue.
"I haven't been completely honest with you Haley." He replies as he looks at me with sincerity "well you came here to talk so....talk." I said not really believing him "you see....ugh how am I supposed to say this." He said as he tries to think of how to word what he is about to say.
"What do you remember about your parents?" He asked her "I don't know...um mom died when is ten due to alcohol abuse and....uh I don't really remember much about my father other than the fact that he walked out on me ." I replied with confusion of why he wanted to know "that's not true." He said looking at me "excuse me?" I asked " I never walked out on you." He replied as he looked at me in my eyes " what are you talking about...and how would you know your not my father." I said with anger starting to grow.
"You really don't remember me, do you?" He questioned. I felt my anger become replaced with confusion. How would she remember him if she never even met him before? "Remember you? I don't even know you." I angrily replied as Terry frowned at this " actually Haley, you do." He stated "and exactly how would I know you?" I asked venomously "because I'm your father." He said as I felt my heart stop.
No, he was lying to her. He wasn't her father. "No, you're not. You can't be." I said. "But I am. I raised you." He said as I felt my mind race a hundred miles a minute "no....this isn't true you're just saying this to screw with me." I spat as Terry shook his head "how can I prove it to you?" He asked "tell me something only you know." I replied "your favorite color is purple." He said as he looked at me "oh please anyone who doesn't know me could guess that." I scoffed "you have a scar on your hip." He said making my heart stop at the mention of this.
"H-how do you know that?" I asked. "One day I came home from work to find your mother drinking as usual...so I tried to get her to put the bottle away and go to bed but she wouldn't and we wound up getting into an argument and...she threw the bottle at me and It hit the wall scaring you making you slip and cut your hip on the glass..... I tried to take you to the ER but your mother refused. The cut soon became infected before healing into a scar." He said with tears in his eyes.
"Sounds like something she would do." I muttered. "I begged her to let me take you but she refused. That's when I knew I needed to get you out of there. If she didn't care enough to take care of a cut, then I knew she didn't care enough to take care of you." He said. "So why did you leave then?" I questioned. Terry heaved a sigh. "I didn't." He said.
I turned and stared at him in confusion. "What?" I questioned "I didn't leave you, you were taken from me." He said "what happened?" I asked "it's a long story." He replied "tell me....I deserve to know what happened." I said looking at him "well after your mother died things got harder for us....I started working two jobs so that I could try and make enough money to keep up with the rent and bills and put food on the table for you....so after a while it just became overwhelming for me I couldn't handle it all....then one day I came home to find child protective services there that's when everything just got worse.....they took you away and I never was able to find again until now that I found you in Reseda.....that's when everything changed and I knew I had to get to know or at least try and be closer to you." He said with tears falling down his face as he stared at me with love and comfort in his eyes.
"That's why you offered to teach me karate so that you could get close to me." I replied as I stared at him taking notice of his features and realizing that I do sort of look like him. "Yes. I know It's a lot to hear and I don't expect you to just accept me but I am telling the truth. I am your dad." He said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder as he continues to stare at me admiringly as tears started to fill his eyes making me do the only thing that I could think of to do as a way to comfort him, as I reach out and pull him into a tight hug.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Thanks." I said as I pulled away from him "for what?" He asked as he looked at me "for telling me the truth and I just wanted to let you know that I do accept you....it's just gonna take some getting used to." I replied as he starts to walk out of the door heading back to his house "oh....Mr silver I'll see you at the dojo tomorrow morning." I said as I give him a wave "alright tomorrow morning....class starts at eight don't be late okay." He said as he gets in his car and takes off leaving me standing outside alone to process everything he just told me.
