Deceiving Love

Echoes of The Past

Wet. I feel my face getting wet, am I sweating? It is winter and my feet are cold. I open my right eye and adjust to the lighting just to see that I am being licked by Snow, as always. He loves waking me up in the morning, I pull myself up and rely on my elbows to look at my cold feet. As predicted: Snow threw the covers away during the night. He does that because he believes to be my own living blanket, which I adore since he is quite big now. I leave the bed to prepare breakfast and Snow follows behind towards the front door to pick up the newspaper. Meanwhile, I pour some ration and water for Snow, making sure I added some dog treat in the shapes of little pigeons and birds. His favorite treat, I guess it has to do with the fact that he enjoys chasing away pigeons and birds whenever we go out for a walk in the park.

It is not even 8 a.m., yet I find a note on the fridge from Aunt Allena saying that she had to leave earlier for work. Again. I barely notice it nowadays, her absence I mean. I have become used to it, but she wasn't like this in the past. It has started once sweet boss took over the previous one two years ago. This is why I didn't want to ever meet him, feels like he took away a part of my family.

But none of that matters now. I look outside the window and notice it is snowing, it's the season that desperately calls for a heartwarming hot chocolate. I have 2 hours before work begins so I have enough time to enjoy my morning with the newspaper and my hot chocolate in hand. This brings a very reminiscing memory of my father: In the morning he would read the newspaper and enjoy sipping off his warm coffee regardless of the season. He would sit on the chair read for 20 minutes, look over the window, sip off the coffee, look at his watch and then turn a page, and start again. He would read for 20 minutes, look over the window, sip off the coffee, look at his watch and then turn a page. Repeat, and start again.

He did that in the morning before having to wake me up to go to school, but I would always awake at the same time just to watch him from the small opening of my door. I would find comfort in watching his calm figure. Time felt frozen in moments like this.

I open the fridge and grab some milk to prepare my hot chocolate. I notice Snow had returned and has the newspaper in his mouth. I pat him on the head and he happily leaves to have his breakfast and flavor the friendly treats I prepared earlier.

With the newspaper in hand, I start multitasking, trying to read while pouring the milk into my mug and leaving in the microwave to warm it up. Strange enough the published date of the newspaper does not correspond with today's date. On the corner, just below the headlines, the date is written as follow: January 21th, 2006. Incorrect, I thought. This is the same date as the incident, It couldn't be right. I didn't question it any longer and started running downstairs to see if the sender happened to be there, but as expected, there was not even a single trace of anyone.

Once upstairs, I take a seat to properly analyze the newspaper. I am caught by the spilled coffee on the lower right-hand corner. The article highlighting the words; Chasing The Unknown, showcasing the title of the new movie that would be displayed during the following weekend. This gets me wondering whether the sender of the newspaper is the same one that sent the letter yesterday, which I forgot to read.

In a sudden move, I jolt from the chair. I forgot to read the letter again. What is going on in my head? I must have been too tired from rushing all day yesterday that I forgot to open it. Doesn't take me long to find the letter that I had left on my nightstand before getting ready for the dinner.

I gasp once I see the handwriting, it is familiar. It is all too familiar. It could only be someone I have learned to love and could not be deceived by; my father.

January 21, 2017

Dear Anna,

To be continued...