No Regrets

Chapter Fifty - Jokes of Fate

DOMINCK'S POV

   "I am just like him." I say, the words are as poison to my tongue as they are to my mind. The only memory that comes to my mind of my father was staring at a picture of a man who everyone said I looked like, and wondering what his voice sounded like. Wondering if he was the kind of guy who would play with me on the playground or watch cartoons with me in the morning. When I was old enough to realize that my father feels into the category of "deadbeat scum", I swore the day I was a father I would be better; because I once believed I was better Now, I'm seventeen with beard stubble, my voice is still changing, barely twenty dollars to my name, a bad reputation with several authorities, and a daughter. Not exactly what I imagined for myself all those years ago.

   Ezibell sits down in the chair across from me at the table. She hands me a bottled water and gives me a serious expression. "Dominick, you are nothing like your father." She says. She must see the doubt in my eyes or perhaps there's some maternal mind-reading trick she can do. She lets out a sigh and mutters something under her breath. "Stay right here, I got something to show you." She gets up from the chair.

  She walks into the living room and disappears out of my sight when she walks into a room. I hear her footsteps get fainter as she walks further away. My view of the apartment from the kitchen chair is a small kitchen, a decent sized living room. From the living room is an entry way to what I'm guessing is a hallway. On the left wall of the living room is the door to the room Ezibell walked into. The living room only has a few pieces of furniture; a couch, a chair, and a small entertainment center. From my view, the furniture looks brand-new and the appliances in the kitchen appears to also be brand-new. Either they came with the apartment, more likely, or Ezibell has actually gotten things together and is taking care of herself, less likely.

   I take a chip in the bowl that Ezibell had set on the table when we first walked in. She apologized for not having anything else in the way of snacks; and to my surprised said that she'd planned on getting cosmic brownies or chicken wing bites for my visit. Both snacks used to make up 75% of my diet, because they were my favorite and they were all Ezibell could afford to feed us with fast food or drug-store sandwiches.

"Took me longer to find it, it was hiding behind a few boxes" Ezibell says walking out of the room. She shuts the door behind her and returns to the table holding a medium sized rectangular box. She sets it on the table and takes off the lid. Inside, is a mess of photos, ribbons, folded letters, weird clay molds, and much more. Ezibell laughs, "I know it's a disaster." she says.

  Half of my lip curls into a smile, my eye catches sight of a familiar looking object. I start to reach for it but pull my hand back. Ezibell, once against either reading my mind or from me being easy to read, knows what I was trying to reach for and pulls the item out of the box. She hands me a tiny stuffed penguin with a bent right flipper, two missing eyes, and a foot that's been badly sewn back together; my old favorite stuffed animal I called him Grey. Grey was given to me by my maternal-grandfather for my first birthday, back then Grey was in perfect condition.

   Last time I saw Grey was eleven years ago, it was the first and last time my parents believed Ezibell had "turned a new leaf and was on the path of recovery". I'd been seeing her a lot more that year and she must have shown a lot of improvement; because my parents believed she was responsible and trustworthy enough to be able to have me overnight. Ezibell was living with her at-the-time boyfriend's family in a three bedroom house, and she set up the guest room for me and surprised me by having Grey waiting for me on the bed. He'd already lost both eyes and gained a hole in the stuffed foot from being attacked by a dog. I played with Grey and Ezibell's boyfriend's older sister until bedtime. The boyfriend's sister was the one who took care of me for a majority of the night, until two in the morning when Ezibell and her boyfriend got back from partying with "friends". Ezibell came into the bedroom and tucked me in the bed. She told me a bedtime story and gave me a kiss goodnight.