Night Visions

Chapter Three

*the girl in the photo: Katie Holmes*

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I swing my backpack around my shoulders and sigh. Well, it's been a long, exhausting day. I'm glad its over. Tomorrow might not actually be so bad, considering that now Skylar knows my darkest secret. I actually trust her even more than I had before she found out. I feel like I can tell her anything that's on my mind. She's such a good listener.

I walk out of the school through the front doors and make my way to my mom's car and can't help myself but smile.

Skylar, Katie, and Sara are already seated in the car. I sit in the front with my mom and turn my head to look at my three best friends. I smile at them and put my hand out in a fist. They all do the same and we stack our fist on top of each others. We usually did this a long time ago when we wanted to tell each other that we've got each others backs. We separate and my mom drops off Katie to her house. Sara is next since her house is more closer to Katie's. Finally we drop off Skylar to her house. Before she walks out of the car, I grab her wrist and she faces me.

"Sky," I whisper. "Don't tell anyone about my secret, not even Katie and Sara. Okay?"

She thinks about it for a second then looks at me.

"I won't. I promise. We'll talk more tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright. See ya."

She waves goodbye to my mom.

"Thanks for driving me home, Mrs. Carlen."

"Any time, dear."

Skylar closes the door behind her and walks up her driveway. 

I walk in my house and plop myself on the couch, reaching for the remote and flipping through channels. Something catches my eye and I flip back to the channel. It was the Syfy channel. I instantly had a flashback of when my dad used to live with me and mom. My dad and I used to always watch Syfy movies together.

Every day at 8 o'clock, the couch and TV would be ours. I loved the feeling of laying on the couch with my dad. We'd throw our feet on the table in front of the couch and just rest. He always called me Pumpkin, which I never knew why or where he had gotten that ridiculous nickname, but after years and years of listening to me being called Pumpkin, the name just stuck to me like a piece of gum under a shoe.

My dad taught me so many things before he left us; he taught me how to fight a person if our house ever got broken into and taught me self defense and he taught me the basics of surviving without any food or water. My dad knew a lot about survival. He told me that if I ever worked in The Coast, I use the skills he taught me to survive. Dad was very proud of what I've learned; he always told his co-workers that his 8 year old daughter can put you in a headlock in 10 seconds.

When he left, it was like someone had ripped my arm off. He was the one who taught me everything I know now. He was the one that raised and loved me, aside from my mom. Before I went to sleep, dad tucked me in bed and told me the same thing every night. He'd say,

"I love you very much, Pumpkin."

I'd say,

"How much, daddy?"

Then his response would be,

"More than the world and beyond."

Years after he left, I grew more angry and distant from him. He was now no longer in my heart. I think, if he ever did love me, then would he have left me? And cause such pain to my mom?

And every day, I ask myself, how much do I hate my dad, the man that raised and taught me and took care of me and loved me?

More than the world and beyond.