Phantoms

April

'Ding'

A text alert sounded in the quiet room awaking the girl curled on the bed. She was a small beauty with those soft blue eyes and small pouty lips. As soon as she looked at the text, the girl was even more in a daze and another alert snapped her out of her stupor. She never imagined, that he could be so cruel. He just believed whatever he wanted to and took a decision without even consulting her. She immediately called the number and the other side picked the call even though she did not expect that he would.

"Hello", came a deep baritone voice from the other side of the phone.

"Hey" she said, trying her best to control the tears that gathered.

"April, Darling, I know you are baffled but this is not something I decided out of the impulse, I have thought this through and I think this a right thing to do."

"Don't call me darling. I have had enough of you. How could you, it's only been a few months. How could you change so much in such a short span of time."

"April, you know time changes everything, why can't you accept this?"

"Accept? Are you kidding me! Time does changes people and it also shows true faces. Seriously how can you take this decision without even consulting me?"

"Stop being selfish April", he raged through the phone.

At the same time another alert chimes, April looked at her phone and there's was a text from an unknown number. It was a picture of pregnancy report and when she took a closer look, she broke down. Everything that had crumbled before, turned into smithereens.

"What's wrong darling, April, sweetheart, answer me," He asked with concern as he could hear muffled noises from the other end.

"Is this the reason"? She asked him with a calm tone.

"What is Darling?" he asked confusedly.

"The reason for marrying her", she said.

"What, I'm getting confused April, what reason?", He asked her again.

"I know she is pregnant and it's more than four months", She said trying to control her tears of anger and sadness.

There was a long pause from the other end of the phone.

"I did not want you to find out this way but yes, it's true", He sighed.

"Dad".

"This is not the only reason April, I love her", Michael tried to explain.

"I'm tired, I'll speak to you later", She said cutting the call without giving him a chance to speak.

The amount of information and emotions were too much to handle. April started thrashing her room as if it would help her vent some emotions. After exhausting all her strength, she crashed onto the bed. It's only been a 'few months' since her mom's death, precisely the amount of months she is pregnant for. Just then 'Kill bill' started playing in the background alerting April a call from her best friend, Enid.

"Baby, I heard what happened, are you okay?", Enid worriedly asked her.

"I'm not", she cried, her voice hoarse and broken.

"It's fine April, it's okay, your dad's old, he must have felt lonely, albeit being very quick, it's okay sweetheart. There won't be any stepmother drama, you know it." consoled Enid.

"Enid, the woman he is marrying is pregnant and she is 3 years older to us".

"WHAT, is he crazy", she shrieked.

"What am I going to do now, I know it's his life and I should be happy for him, oh my poor mom, she must have known that, that's why she gave up right, he is so cruel, I am never going to forgive him, but I only have him as my relative and he is already so old, what if he's getting cheated, oh my god, I have to stop him."