His Daughter

Chapter 4

The smoke rolled deliciously on his tongue. Greg exhaled, letting the white cloud drift in the evening breeze before dissipating into the air. He reached for the tray, shaking off the ash before taking yet another drag. He could hear Jenny walk around the house, creaking of the doors and thuds on the stairs as the girl explored the house. He did not know where Gabbie was, but If he had to guess he would say... "Bedroom with the doors locked shut". Not that she would tell him know if he had just yelled out to her, having been absolutely silent ever since this morning. After the heated argument they had she just went upstairs, not to be seen or heard for the rest of the day. So just Greg once again had to assume the role of both parents, cooking and cleaning the rest of the cabin, while keeping their daughter occupied enough not to notice the absolute disaster of a day her parents were having.

Greg sighed what must have been 80th time today, before mushing the finished cigarette onto the ash tray, successfully extinguishing it.

He was tired... Sure, he cleaned the entire ground floor to bottom, dusting wiping and all that, in addition to cooking a scrappy soup Jenny did not want to eat. He was tired... No, he was exhausted. Not because he had to clean or cook. Not because coming up with fun stuff for Jenny to do grew more and more challenging with every hour. Hell, not even because of this morning's emotional outburst and upset feelings still tumbling around in his head. He was exhausted, because of how things have been lately. Gabbie's emotional relapse was now more than clear to him... The first time it happened he was heartbroken, seeing his wife miserable and thin, hiding away from their infant daughter in a locked room pretending she doesn't exist. Soon, their friends and family begun to notice Gabbie's at times terrifying behaviour. Suddenly friends' visits turned into just phone call's followed by a complete silence after. He still could hear them sometimes... The quietly uttered words of concern when Gabbie was not listening

"-You have to do something about it, mate. This is hard to watch... I had to convince my Miley not to call social services on you guys...

- I don't know guys... You don't seem ready to be parents...

-Greg, look at her... She is not fit to be a mother....

- You guys should try adoption. My friend had used their services before....

- Gabbie should see a therapist Greg, not be locked in the room..."

And so they went. He booked an appointment and soon Gabbie begun to make progress towards standing back on her feet. It was going good, until it wasn't. The first time Gabbie relapsed back into her old-self was when Jenny was diagnosed with a heart condition. She would not talk the whole day, locking herself away for multiple days while Greg, scared and broken, cried at the kitchen table with little Jenny sleeping in his hands. Ever since that memorable day, Jenny's health has been declining, slowly but steadily. The bills have been piling up, Jenny was growing and Greg for the most part of it has been alone. Gabbie would bounce back for a couple of months, before succumbing to her old-self, leaving him once again crushed by the weight of financial responsibilities and parenthood. With every of Gabbie's breakdown his empathy turned to anger only to soon morph into an ugly form of exhaustion...

Greg lit up another cigarette, taking a deep inhale as the bitter thoughts run through his head. The sun was setting, colouring the whole sky pink and purple. The crickets sung in the nearby bushes, making the whole scene look a little too beautiful and definitely not fitting the current silent resentment, sipping out of the house like a black smoke. Greg listened to the whole side of the lake slowly come to life as more and more critters begun to walk out of their layers and hideouts for a hunt.

The sky soon morphed into deep purple as Greg kept smoking, until there was one last cigarette left. Once again he extinguished whatever remained of the previous one reaching for another one when a tiny light caught his attention. Right there, between the bushes a tiny orange light shined through the thick greenery surrounding the lake.