Paradise Is Here

Laundromat (Elizabeth Olsen V)

☀︎

"Hey, sweet pea..." Sammy's dad opened the door to the woman's old room with just a crack, he peeked inside and spotted her sitting on a chair while staring outside her window, watching the sunset, creating a soft orange sky and a warm ambiance.

"Hey..."

"I wanna make some rice porridge for dinner today, can you run to the market to get some rice? You know the one I like, right?" The woman then slowly stood up from her spot and smiled weakly at her dad.

"Yeah, sure." As she looked up to the man, she saw the sad eyes her was making. "Oh, dad, you don't have to look at me like a puppy just died in front of you."

"I'm sorry, it's just...I could see how tired you are." Sammy's skin was paler and the dark circles that were slowly appearing didn't go unnoticed. The rosy cheeks that her dad once loved weren't there anymore. Her complexion reminded him of himself when his wife and Sammy's mother passed away. The sign of lifelessness in her eyes.

Before Sammy could leave the room, he pulled her into another embrace. "I know it's hard right now. He was a good man, but right now, I want you to forget about him. My baby girl deserves someone better." He gently rocked his daughter side to side and Sammy released a sigh.

"I know...He treated me nice and good. I just...really didn't expect him to do something like that..."

"That's okay, the only thing that matters is that you tried."

"But that's the thing, I feel like I didn't give it all-"

"Shhh!" The man shushed her, cutting his daughter off, not wanting to hear Sammy talk lowly about herself. "Do you remember what mama used to tell you? When you turned 15, do you remember?"

The woman chuckled when her father brought her back to that moment, "Yeah! How could I forget? Anytime she suspected me of dating anybody or whenever I made new friends, she'd always say it to me."

"Mhmm, and what did she used to say?"

"She'd say...'When you gave it your all and they failed to see it, give them hell! You don't deserve those people.'" Sammy replied.

"And I want you to remember that, always!" The woman blesses her dad for reminding the most important lessons her mom kept telling her when she was still alive. One of the purposes of Sammy's father was to keep his wife's memories alive and Sammy loved that. Anytime she was in a dark place, she could count on her dad to pull her out.

Sammy's dad squeezed her a little more tighter and the woman genuinely feels like she's being suffocated. "Okay, okay, dad! Y-You're killing me here!" She said, tapping on her dad's muscled arm. The man's physiques were big, if Sammy were to compare him to anyone, it'll be Dwayne Johnson. The only thing was just that he wasn't a wrestler and he wasn't bald. Overall, he had a big, tender and soft heart, and intimidating looks, just like the famous actor.

"Right, right, sorry." He then lets go of Sammy. "Be quick, okay? I've already got everything else prepared, and bring your phone!"

"Oh yeah." Sammy walked over to her nightstand and opened the drawer, taking out her phone. "Alright, see you in a jiffy!" Then she was out the front door.

As she was making her way to the market, she thought of bringing her phone back to life. After waiting a second to turn on and unlock the code, Sammy was met with thousands of missed messages and missed calls. "Woah." It made sense since she had turned off her phone and hadn't turned it on for at least two weeks already.

She looked at all the notifications, a lot of the texts were from Elliot and Macie. Elliot was begging to meet him and Macie was trying to explain, basically saying everything between her and him was a mistake, then both called like 13-19 times, and their last text and call was a week ago. Honestly, she wasn't expecting anyone else to check up on her, but there was Elizabeth.