The Crying Wind: Book One

Fourteenth

After such a long day, Jack was prepared to come home, and go straight to bed. He didn't want to interact with Athena, he didn't want to kiss Juliette goodnight. No, he wanted to sleep. Not wanting to wake up Juliette or Arabella, he was careful to unlock the door with little to no noise. The lock made only the quietest click before he turned the doorknob, and opened up the portal to hell.

Sitting on the couch was Arabella, her small body hidden in the dark and her face buried in her hands as her shoulders moved up and down with quiet sobs. His heart dropped. His stomach twisted. His hands tingled with anxiety. Without saying a word, he walked to her, and gently pried her hands away from her face. There were tears streaming from her eyes, and dried blood underneath her nose.

"She opened a cabinet, and the door swung and hit my face." She said in between stray tears. "It was an accident but she told me to tell you that I fell." He was silent, checking her face for any other sign of pain. More blood, a bruise, a scratch- something. But, when he was sure that it was just a bloody nose, he questioned what was making her cry. He couldn't see beyond the obvious, and it killed him.

"Where does it hurt?" He had meant to sound calm, but he couldn't control the worry in his voice. She shook her head. "My vision is blurry. I'll have a headache tomorrow morning, and it's so painful when they happen."

Apparently, she had inherited more than his physical appearance. She had also inherited his migraines.

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"Athena!" He pounded on the door. "Open the fucking door!" He shouted, not caring if he woke any of her neighbors. He raised his fist to the white door again. "For the love of God, open the-,"

"Alright, alright already." He heard her grumble groggily on the other side of the oak. "You understand that I hate being woken up, don't you?" She opened the door, anger evident through her hardly opened eyes. "How fucking stupid are you-," once she realized that he was holding Arabella as she leaned into his side, she was suddenly awake. "Oh god."

"Where's your couch?"

"Put her on my bed. Arabella, what's wrong, love?" The child gave a small hum of acknowledgment. Jack put his arms under her legs, deciding it best that he pick her up completely rather than let her suffer with a walk. "Well, where's your bed?"

"It's just down that hall. The last door on the left." She opened the door wider so they could come in. "Get me a warm rag, will you?"

He laid her down on the soft white sheets of the even softer bed. Athena's smell in her blankets was more comforting than the bed itself. "Cold." She managed to get out, as each word she said brought her another wave of pain. She had to save her speech. "I know." He pulled the comforter over her. The poor girl's migraine had started in the car, and it was nowhere near ending.

"Here." Athena handed him a warm, wet cloth. He began dabbing away at the dried blood on his daughter's face. "What happened? Was it Juliette?"

"She said that she accidentally hit her with a cabinet door, but she told her to tell me that she fell."

"That bitch." The woman made a beeline towards her walk-in closet, ready to change out of her black silk slip dress and into something she could murder someone in. "Athena, not now."

"What the bloody hell do you mean 'not now?'" She quickly threw on some sweatpants. "Look at her. She's in obvious pain."

"It's a migraine."

"What?" She walked out of the closet wearing a hoodie. "It's a migraine." He repeated. "She probably gets them as badly as I do."

"Oh, no. No, she's just a child- she can't possibly have to deal with this. Not yet."