Shattered

26. Black

I shove a piece of ham in my mouth and chew as if my life depends on it.

My sister sits on one side of me, Chris on the other. Darren sits directly across from me. The rest of the band sits around the table. Fiona is stuck in the middle of all of them. This feels like a terrible joke is being played on me.

My father sits beside Darren. I hate how he still sees him as a son after what he did to me.

"Ciara?" Darren speaks. I look over at him, still chewing. "Can we talk after dinner?"

I continue chewing. I swallow. "About what?"

"About what?" Darren laughs, looking around to see if anyone else is laughing at my joke. No one is.

"Yeah. About what. About how you can't imagine raising someone else's baby?" I ask, shoving another piece of ham into my mouth and chewing.

Gasps all around. Only three of us at the table knew about the fact Darren is not the father of my child.

Me. Darren. Chris.

Now, everyone knows.

"I'd really prefer if we could do this in private, Ciara." Darren requests.

I laugh. "Why? We were supposed to be married. That would make us family. This is a conversation for family about family, yes?"

"Ciara stop." My father slams his fist on the table. "This is not an appropriate conversation for the dinner table. Much less for Fiona."

I stare and continue my chewing, swallowing the bite quickly. "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable, Fi."

She smiles awkwardly. Just like her mother. I look at Casey. She is the one who started this horrible evening. She caused this. I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive her for inviting the man who just broke up with me to Christmas dinner with our family.

I mean, what was she even thinking?

"Ciara?" Darren waved his hand in front of me. I look up at him. "Can we talk later, or no?"

I shove another piece of ham into my mouth to avoid answering.

However, it seems to be one too many for me.

I claw at my throat. I can feel the large piece of un-chewed ham in my esophagus, clogging my airway. I grip my neck with my fingers, squeezing it as if I can somehow claw the food out.

Chris, Darren, and my father all stand up and leap into action. Chris, sitting next to me, gets to me first.

It's too late. Black.

Authors note:

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