I stab my fork in my macaroni, put it in my mouth and chew. My mom was excellent in the culinary field. It tasted creamy, it had zest from the pickle bits and sweetness from the cheese. I was thinking too much about its taste that I hadn't noticed my father trying to get my attention.
I couldn't actually talk with a mouthful of pasta so I settled with a: "hm?"
"What have you been doing today?" he asks. "Have you finished your homework yet?"
How was school? How was your day?
A child would get asked that question by their parents when they gather or when one arrives at home. The child would give an answer along the lines of: "it was fine" and "I'm okay," and maybe the child would elaborate. It was always same old, same old. It used to annoy me, really. It's basically the same questions with the same answers so why bother?
Then I realized that it showed their neverending concern even with the littlest of things.
I rather have them ask me the same question every waking hour of my life than never at all.
I gave both my parents a smile. "It was alright. I just have an essay to finish up for school tomorrow, that's all." I take another bite of my dinner.
My mother who is seated parallel to me on the table speaks. "What's it about?"
I shrugged. "It's just something about freedom."
"Ah, for Miss Halloway's class? I remember having that exact same assignment years ago. It was one of the hardest essays to write! I still passed though," he beams.
I go to the same school dad went to when he was in high school. He and mom met at college in her hometown, just a couple of hours away. They told me that they moved here just after they got back from their Honeymoon in Hawaii.
I laughed. "I spent the entire weekend writing it."
"Speaking of the weekend," my mom starts. "We'll be visiting Bella and the kids."
Bella was my mom's sister who had a whooping number of five kids: a set of triplets and a set of twins. The triplets were all boys and the twins were both girls. It wasn't actually that hard to distinguish each and every single one of them since they were faternal. My aunt was a strong woman despite the fact that her husband left without notice when the twins were about a year old. They experienced hard times but we helped them get back on their feet.
The twins were a little over a year younger than me but the triplets were two years over.
We had finished dinner so I was about to get up from the table when my father stopped me. "Mallory?"
I settled back down on my seat. "Yeah?"
My mother had started putting the dishes away. I would've helped her but every single time she wouldn't let me.
"Are you going to finish your essay?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Why don't you get ready for bed first?" he suggested. I was confused. My father continued: "my laptop kept on hanging so I was going to borrow your laptop to send an e-mail to my client."
I just stared at my dad.
He laughed. "Don't worry darling, I won't tamper with any of your files."
"I..." I didn't know what to say. All my letters to Jem were on that laptop but it wasn't likely for my dad to mess with it. He was my dad after all, he would give me that right to privacy right? He did say that he wasn't going to tamper with anything. "Okay," answered eventually.
Minutes later, I cautiously handed over my laptop to my dad in the living room. It felt intimidating, even my mother was watching the encounter by my father's side. My father said it was going to be quick.
I bounded up the stairs as fast as I could without being too obvious of my haste.
I took a bath as quick as I could, doing all the essentials. I quickly tugged my clothes over my body as well, nearly falling over. When I stepped out of my bathroom that joined my bedroom I noticed that my laptop was perched on my desk. My dad must've placed it there.
The next thing I knew was that I was seated on my desk chair looking through my documents for any changes.
I let myself release a breath I never knew I was holding.
Then, I heard it: a soft ping.
I clicked my web browser to find that two tabs were open: Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. I exited the latter tab; no one was logged in.
My mail was still open. I received a new message from an e-mail address I wasn't familiar with. I clicked it. The message read:
?
My heart stopped beating in my chest when I scrolled down to find that somehow... my letters to Jem were sent to this adress.
The letters I never meant for anyone to see were read by a stranger.
I felt myself breaking to the littlest pieces.
I thought I already posted this chapter hours ago but it was only saved as a draft lol.
Vote if you like it and tell me what you think! :D
