Debt

one

selyse harrison

He was dead.

When they delivered the news, I did not want to believe my father could be dead. My mother took it harder than I did. The love of her life. Her high school sweetheart. She never got to say a proper goodbye and for that she felt never ending guilt.

I knew one day I would be expected to attend his funeral. He served time in the military and was on active duty. It's a fate you have to prepare yourself for. But I never expected for him to be gone so soon. You hear so many stories about how kids lose their father or mother. But who ever thinks it's going to be their own parent? He never got to see me graduate high school. He never got to walk me down the isle on my wedding day. He never got to meet his grandchildren.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I refused to shed a tear. Not with my mother sobbing beside me at his funeral. It was a beautiful day despite the circumstances. Cherry blossom trees surrounded the funeral grounds. Birds sang. The sun was smiling.

My attention went to a man off to the side, leaning against a near by tree. He looked out of place despite still being in a black suit. Almost like he was here for other reasons other than to show respects to my father. Catching eye contact with him, he continued to stare me down. His look made me shiver.

"Mom. Who's that guy?" I recognized many of the people at the service. Everyone had some kind of connection to my father. But I did not recognize this man.

My mother gulped, tensing up from nervousness. Her tears came to a sudden stop. She knew him. "No one sweetie. Just a coworker of your father," she tried to give me a reassuring smile. The smile did nothing but make me even more worried. The way her body tensed when she looked at him revealed they were not just coworkers. Everyone here who worked with my father was in uniform. This man was definitely not in the military. So what kind of work were they doing?

People made speeches about my father and I wasn't surprised to hear the amazing stories they had. He was a great man. When the service came to an end, people were not shy when it came to approaching us to share their condolences. It was nice knowing we had a community to lean back on.

"I'm going to the restroom," my mother wiped her nose while walking off to where the funeral grounds had public washrooms. I stood in the shade under a tree alone until I heard leaves crushed by someone's footsteps.

"Your father was a great guy," their deep raspy voice echoed. The voice alone made my knees shake and I hoped it wasn't noticeable.

"Thank you," I turned to see it was the same guy staring at me the whole duration of the funeral. He was tall and towered over me despite my heels. His hair was dark with facial hair beginning to form. It created a beard hugging his nice chiseled jaw. The suit he wore wrapped around his muscles like a second skin. The black made his bright mossy green eyes pop. He was attractive. "Do you need something?"

He sighed. "So they never told you. I assume they never thought it would come to this. Sadly, it did and this is going to become very awkward very quickly," he bit his lip while his eyes looked me up and down.

"Pardon?" I scrunched my eyebrows together from confusion. The look he was giving me was unpleasant. Eyeing me down to take in every feature about me.

"In simple terms, one could say you now belong to me," he spoke and read the confusion written all over my face. These were big claims he was making, especially to someone currently mourning her father's death. "It's in writing if you don't believe me. Contract signed by your father."

I panted, still having no idea what he was talking about. "Whatever went on between you and my father has nothing to do with me," I insisted. "Whatever this whole...I own you now thing is, isn't happening. I understand you maybe made a deal with him, but like I said before, I'm not involved."