Surrounded

Chapter 11

The next day, I found myself woken up by Bryce. I fluttered my eyes although my vision remained blurry for a few seconds.

“Come on. Wake up sunshine,” He smiled at me. 

The last person I needed to wake me up was him. Ain’t that perfection?

I gave him the death glare, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I have an alarm.” I tried pushing him away but I guess he held still, enough not to push him off which I knew he knew that I would try to pull something like that.

“A human being gives more happiness than an alarm could ever give. Come on, mom’s making pancakes just like always,” He was smiling.

Just like always.

It wasn’t like always.

This time Bryce had come back – not from the construction site – from jail after being called in by me for being a drunk, a drug dealer and abusing my mother. No, this time he was not back from work and ready to spend time with us. He had come back from jail and he was determined to get his life back just like my mother because really, what other choice did he have? He had no other life to get back-to. He met my mom when he was eighteen and he hadn’t made any friends in his life – well real friends. The only friends Bryce had were either, into drugs or alcoholics, and he couldn’t screw his life up again now, could he?

The only real friend he has ever had was Andrew Nelson but he fled to England when he got married, and never saw him again. Mom was Andrew’s friend back in the day, and so that’s how she managed to tell me. Now, he has two children of his own and lives in Birmingham with his wife, Daphne. Mom said that he was the only friend that Bryce confined to, apart from her, of course.

“Believe me, an alarm is less perky than you are,” I covered my head with my pillow and stifled a groan. I still had not processed and I wasn’t seeing myself processing either.

“Stop. You’re still mad?”

“Well Bryce, what did you expect? Did you expect me to forgive you the second you said sorry? You came yesterday and to add, I see you with your tongue down mom’s throat. What the hell do you expect me to think? You’re nothing but a burden to me,” I said with my pillow still over my head.  I could hear him smothering.

“Can you stop saying my name? I’m daddy – I’m your dad,” He slid my pillow off my head along my few pulls.

“No, Thanks for the suggestion. I won’t take it into consideration,” I gave him a fake-smile but the only look he shown was grimace. He sat himself on my desk chair and stared at me as I was getting myself out of bed.

“Can’t you be any nosier?”

“I’m a dad. You see is what you get.”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Arielle, please don’t be like this.”

“No. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for school.”

“Just … Can we talk?” He pleaded.

“No.”

He nodded and stormed out of the door, closing the bedroom door behind him. I groaned again. Why was he always this frustrating and annoying?

I opened my wardrobe and got out my outfit – white T-shirt, my oversized white jumper, floral jeans, cream neck wrap and my gold tip ballet flats.

After I had washed and dressed myself up, I let my hair down and ran my fingers through some knots. As I looked in the mirror, I stared at the visage that was Arielle Anne Dawson. She looked exactly like her so-called ‘daddy’. Grey pillows under her eyes made her look like she hadn’t slept in a week and her eyes were the darkest shade of emerald. Her normal sized lips were light pink from her lipstick. At least, her light make up made a tiny difference but nothing would change how she was really feeling inside - She just looked like a drained teenager that spent her days doing drugs and drinking alcohol when in reality, she had quite a lot of stuff on her plate. That is why Arielle Dawson could not process, because a lot happened in one-go and no adult could go through the stuff she did, imagine a seventeen year old. Tyler was enough to make her go crazy, seeing her dad once more made her go zany and catching her mom and dad in a make-out session made her lose it. All of that was not scheduled for Arielle Anne Dawson. I sighed and pinched my cheeks for some color but it failed miserably.