The Player

Chapter 15

I was taking a cab from the airport to my dad's house because my dad was working and couldn't pick me up. He would be at the house when I got there though. After I landed in the airport in Baltimore I grabbed a cab outside the airport. We drove along and I watched the city quickly turn into a suburban setting. The cab pulled into my street and then stopped in front of my dad's house. I saw my dad's black truck in the driveway which meant he was home. I got out of the cab and paid the driver who quickly took the money and sped off. I started walking up to the door when my dad came out. He came running towards me with open arms.

"Ella! I'm so glad you are here!" He said.

"Hi dad!" I said with a smile as I dropped my bags and hugged my father.

"How are you? How was your flight?" He asked me.

"I'm good and it was a nice flight. How are you doing dad?" I asked him.

"Uhh, couldn't be better." He said.

"Good.." I said, not really believing him. "Should we go inside?"

"Oh um yes..inside..sure." My dad said grabbing one of my bags. I looked at him strangely because of how weird he was acting. He led me to the front door and opened it for me. I walked in and placed my bags at the bottom of the stairs. I would bring them up later. I looked around the entryway and it looked exactly the same as when I left it.

"The house looks nice dad." I said.

"Thanks. I've been fixing it up a bit." He said while running his hand along the trim of the door. I nodded. I decided to explore the house a bit more and see if it had changed since I was last here. I walked into the living room that was right off the entry way. I looked around a bit, and that's when I laid eyes on her. She was standing there with her blonde hair loosely curled to perfection. She was wearing a pink blouse with black dress pants and a silver heart necklace. Her hands were folded in front of her and she stood straight, almost as if she was nervous.

"Ella, oh my goodness look how beautiful you are." She said.

"Mom?" I said, not believing that she was standing here in front of me.

"Yes, it's me." She said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I just thought I would come and visit."

"Come and visit?" I snapped back at her.

"Yes, I haven't seen you in a long time and I wanted to see you." she said as if she had any right to be here.

"And who's fault is that?" I snapped again.

"Excuse me?" She looked to be wounded.

"You left us, me and dad, you're the one who left. And you have the nerve to come back here and say you wanted to see us?" I said, I was getting angry.

"Ella, I'm sorry. If you would just let me explain it will all make sense."

"I was five years old mom. Five. What makes you think an explanation will do any good?"

"I just want to talk Ella, that's all I'm asking. Just for you to listen. I know you are upset but once I explain it will make it better." My mother tried calming me down.

"No, you don't deserve to explain. You left me when I was so young. I had to grow up without a mother! And when people asked me where my mother was, I couldn't answer them, because I didn't even know myself. You left without an explanation, so why would one matter now?" I was tearing up now.

"Ella please, just listen. I can explain everything. You don't know how deeply sorry I am for leaving, but I had to or else this situation would have been a whole lot worse and whole lot more complicated." My mother explained.