Below The Surface

Reunion

A couple of days later, Caroline slept in as usual until she woke up around 11 A.M. She woke up, and brushed her teeth. As she looked in the mirror, she could hardly recognize her reflection anymore. "How did all of this happen," she thought to herself "not even four months ago, I was just a girl starting out at Joseph Anderson High School. Now, I'm a murderer who is hiding from everyone. Even my own parents." As she continued to look in the mirror, tears began to form in her eyes. She quickly wiped the tears away and walked down stairs. When she walks towards the kitchen, she notices Alex sitting at the dining room table on his laptop.

"Good morning Alex" Caroline said. "Oh morning Caroline" Alex says as he glances up from the laptop. "Come look at this" he said with a somewhat serious voice. Caroline looks at the screen to see that the missing person report that her parents filed was all over the website to every news station in the entire city. "This is not good" she said. "No it's really not," said Alex "if we go to that funeral now, even if they don't know that it was you who accidentally Naomi, if they see you then they might call the cops saying they've seen you and that could seriously cause some problems. I don't think it's a smart move to go to this funeral, but it's completely up to you." "I understand the risks," said Caroline "but I still feel I need to go." "Alright then," said Alex with slight doubt in his voice "well Taylor told me that she would find out the address of the church that is holding the funeral and tell me as soon as she could."

As soon as Alex says that, they both hear a knock at the door. "I'll get it," says Caroline "that must be Taylor." Caroline opens the door not see Taylor. Instead, she sees a man who looks to be his early 40's with a think beard and blue eyes that reminded her of Alex's. "Ummm hi," Caroline said "can I help you with something?" "Yes," the man said "by any chance, is Alex Thomas home?" "Yes he's home," Caroline said with extreme curiosity is her voice "who are you?" "My name is Marshall Thomas," the man said "I'm Alex's father." When he said that, Caroline's eyes widened with shock. She immediately invited Marshall inside. When she closed the door, Alex looked up from his laptop to see his father, the man who abandoned him four years ago. "So," Alex said as he rolled his eyes "you finally came back from that 'little trip to the store'?" "Listen son," Marshall began "I was horrible for making you fend for yourself at such a young age and I was horrible for everything I did to you and your mother. I'm sorry for that. But I'm here now so let try and make things work with us."

When Marshall said that, Alex stood up from his chair in the dining room and looked at his father with nothing except for pure disgust and rage that was only increasing by the second. "You beat me and my mother every single day until she committed suicide to finally be free of all the hell you cause on her. You beat me every day after that simply because you felt like it! You up and left your thirteen year old child and never came back! And now you have the nerve to tell me to forgive you just like that?!"

Becoming extremely concerned, Caroline went into the kitchen to leave Alex and his father alone to talk. However, she was able to hear every last word of what was happening. "Son please," Marshall pleaded "I'm sorry." As he said that, Alex pointed towards the front door. "Get the fuck out of our house," yelled Alex "and this time, stay gone and don't ever come back!" "Son I'm begging you,"said Marshall "please just give me a chance." With that, Alex began to walk towards Marshall. "You have two choices," said Alex "you either walk down the front door, or I beat your ass and then throw you out the door. Pick one before I pick it for you!" However, Marshall wouldn't budge or even speak. As soon as Alex got close enough to Marshall, Alex punched him in the stomach and Marshall dropped to his knees. While he was down, Alex began to kick Marshall in the ribs and punch him in the face. As blood dripped from Marshall's mouth and nose, Alex grabbed him by the shirt and tossed his father out of the house. "And stay out you piece of shit!" yelled Alex as he slammed the door closed and locked it.

Realizing that conversation had ended, Caroline reentered the living room. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Yeah I'm fine" Alex said as his anger slowly faded away. "Why didn't you ever tell me that was what happened?" Caroline asked. "I did," Alex said "just not in that much detail. It's something I try not to think about." "Alex" Caroline said. "Yeah?"asked Alex. "You said 'get the fuck out of our house'" Caroline said. "Yeah,"Alex said "our house. As in your house and my house. You live here. You're the love of my life. What's mine is yours." Alex walks towards Caroline and kisses her lips. "Thanks babe" Caroline says as a smile forms on her face. "Not a problem," said Alex "just forget about my father. We already have too much to worry about right now anyway. After all, Naomi's funeral is tomorrow."

TO BE CONTINUED.......