You took my heart, could I please have it back?

[52] You took my heart, could I please have it back?

With thanks to everyone who commented on my note, with special dedication to brendarose1698 for coming up with the idea for this chapter (with tweaks from me!)

Chapter 52

{~Liz's Dad POV~}

"Please, dad. Please. Please come back. You can't leave me now, not after-" a choked sob escaped her lips. It was definitely female but I couldn't work out who it was. Elise, maybe? But no, she called me dad. I was a dad? I didn’t really remember. It was all a little confusing.

"-not after I just got you back," she was pleading, whimpering at me to wake up. I wasn't even asleep, I could hear her, how did she not know that? I'm here, I wanted to tell her. I'm awake. But my lips didn't want to move. "Please, dad," she sounded so choked.

I came to the terms that yes, I did indeed have a daughter. And this was evidently her. I wondered if she was like Elise, and then I wondered why I didn't remember her. I vaguely recalled being with Elise in the house and there being another someone, a child. Was that her?

Elise.

This single name brought pain to me, shattered my heart to a million pieces, made me want to choke up and curl up and cry my eyes out like a child, rather than the grown man I was. I had fallen so irreplaceably in love with her that losing her was like losing a part of myself.

That phrase was so overused, but it was true. My beautiful, kind, gentle wife; gone. I never found out who did it. It hurt, so much. I had to find a way to get rid of the pain. I had to find a way to block it out, drown it out.

Drowning. Maybe I could kill myself.

But no, I had a daughter, apparently, I couldn't leave her...

Drowning...drowning my sorrows. Alcohol.

Something flickered in my brain. Recognition. No, more...need. I needed alcohol. The need was slowly overtaking my brain. I had to forget about this pain that I had, this pain that was tearing away at my chest. Drinking would help.

Drinking always helped.

Flashbacks entered my mind, and I remembered how alcohol helped me before.

"The usual, Hank," I said gruffly, leaning on the bar counter, my eyes lingering over the many bottles of alcohol behind that bar, waiting to be consumed. Hank filled a glass and put it on the counter in front of me, making me pay up. I took several swigs, and felt it burn my throat. But it didn't erase the burning in my heart.

More. I gulped down more and more. The pain I felt in my throat, the burning of the spirit soon overcame the pain in my heart. The world was distorted, my head was pounding like a bass drum, but it was good. It helped me. It distracted me from the other pain, the pain of my heartbreak.

It was quarter past nine. Something told me I had to be home by half past, in case I'd miss something. What would I miss? I didn't know. I'd had my fill of drink. I left my money on the counter and stood up, swaying suddenly. There was two of everything, I couldn't see straight.

But somehow I managed to walk out onto the street. I didn't have a car anymore; it got towed away one day when I didn’t pay for a parking ticket. I didn't have the money to get it back so I walked everywhere. I found my way back to the house.

Cracked paving slabs. Overgrown weeds. Mucky windows. When Elise was here-

No, Stephen. Don't even try to think about that. You're invincible now. The heartbreak can't get to you.