Dearly Beloved

09 | friend

V A U G H N
09 | friend

I can hear their footsteps all over the mansion, even though they aren't here. I can listen to them fighting, calling me to resolve whatever new trouble they have got themselves in. I can feel their presence and it only makes my heart hollow.

What I won't give just to have them break another vase in this home again...

I never thought I would miss my sons this much with just a few days of separation. Being away from Claire, and letting her have her space, has proved to be my undoing. I haven't slept in a week, even since she left. There hasn't been rest, both mentally and physically. I have driven myself towards exertion, both in the office and out of it are times that I spend in my gym. Dinner grows cold by the time I am out of my headspace.

Just like now, I have captured my soul in my sons' room, spreading out on Zac's bed with his and Zayne's shirts over my chest. Even their scent is enough to remind me of what I have lost.

The double doors open, making me turn to find my daughter stepping in, followed by Mom who follows in with a disturbed look all over her.

Mia rounds the bed and my eyes follow her movements as she stands near me, her pink dress reaching her knees and her long, blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Seeing her always softens my heart. She is like her mother — a teenage version of Claire who used to look at me with dreamy big blue eyes.

Mia's brown pupils are however laced with sadness.

"Dad? You okay?" she asks, sitting on the bed, the soft mattress dipping slightly under her weight.

I go back to staring at the ceiling, trying to find my sanity somewhere because I have lost it to myself, to my deeds. I have become my worst enemy.

"Vaughn!" Mom's voice is the one that gets me shaken by its loud pitch.

I raise myself on my elbows, blinking at her and finding her lips pursed tightly.

"What?"

"You need to pull your shit together, son," she says, tone lowering to a sharp edge as she throws daggers at me through her eyes. "Go and get Claire back and my grandkids too. I can't take this anymore."

"Claire wants space from me," I deadpan.

"No, Dad," Mia responds this time, squeezing my arm and looking at me with glassy eyes. "Mom doesn't want space from you. If anything, she'd want you to go and get her too."

"I can't do that," I state, dropping back on the bed with a sigh. "What your Mom did was...not good."

"Shut up, Vaughn!" Mom interrupts again. "None of this is her fault. I understand that you feel that way but it wasn't Claire's truth to tell."

"You won't understand," I say the same words to her I have said to Claire before. Words she didn't believe. "The only one who will understand isn't here."

Mom's frown drops, replaced with a hint of empathy in her expression as she and Mia exchange a look. I watch a silent communication pass between them, befuddled by how quiet they have suddenly gotten before Mia rises to stand.

She walks toward Mom and stands looking down at me spread like a teenager on the bed. "Dad..." she starts. "You might be wondering why I didn't go with Zac and Zayne."

I did. If anything, I thought she would be the first to leave because of how I treated another woman, her mother, in front of her.

"I didn't leave because I know you, Dad," she continues. "I know you better than my brothers do and I was scared to leave you behind. You are destroying yourself and I won't let you."