Lola Nights

A Visitor...

It was a cold and wet Monday morning and with only 3 hours sleep I was covering up the bags under my eyes with concealer before I went into the kitchen. This lack of sleep these last few weeks have been torture, I can't seem to sleep with my mind on overdrive and there was only so much coffee I could drink. 

"Morning" 

"Morning mom"

I grabbed the brush and began to neatly brush to plait her hair into two french plaits while she eats her breakfast. 

"I have ballet after school again today were getting ready for our exams" 

I nod and sip my coffee making a mental note to pay for her exam soon. 

"I also need this to be signed and we need to pay for the trip"

She hands me a permission slip and a envelope for $40 to go watch a musical. I watch her zip up her back pack, and neatly wrap her ballet shoes into her dance bag and throw the bags over her shoulder.

"Bye Mom" 

She kisses my cheek and I watch her make her way down the stairs of the apartment and just as I close the door a foot jams in it startling me.

"You aways did look great in the morning"

His voice sends a shiver down my spine and I instantly close my eyes as I realise who it is. 

I try to shove the door closed but with one push it open's and he takes a step inside closing the door behind me. 

"You know, she looks like me." 

He picks up the half filled coffee cup from the kitchen counter and takes a sip starts staring at me in the process. 

"Following me again I see, is this going to be a regular occurrence then?" 

He continues to look around and notices a shelf with trophies and badges. 

"Quite the little ballet dance like her mother, your flexibility was always..... a advantage" 

He looked at me and smirked and placed the now empty cup back on the counter 

"You done" I ask

Walking over the the kitchen to wash the cup. I can feel his presence behind me and it makes all my hair stand up. 

"If social services were to see this, and if they heard about your.. job...." 

I make my way over to the door and open it showing him the way out he glares at me and stand's still in the same position with his arms folded, he didn't even flinch. I grab a magazine off the kitchen counter and make my way back into my bedroom. 

"Close the door on your way out" 

I ignore him and continue to make my way over but he quickly puts his arm out stopping me from entering. 

"Dont do this Riley." 

I feel his icy cold breath on my face and his over powering cologne, takes me right back to when we slept together. 

"Like I said close the door on your way out" 

I duck underneath his arms and push the door shut, little did he know I was scared, terrified of what he will do but I wasn't going to show him that.  I hear the front door creek shut I peek out from behind the door and see he's gone. I then take a sigh of relief he was a monster, a monster that was coming after me. I had seen him destroy people's lives, take there homes away and laugh at other people's misery. I had to be one step in front, play him at his own game. 

I grab the pages of a custody order and began to read them line for line googling as I went along. I wasn't the smartest but I wanted to make sure I understood everything. I was researching all sorts of Legal advice more confused than when I had begun, I knew i needed help.

I dial the first few numbers from Google and soon realise that this was way out of my budget league and required a lot more shifts at work  I scratch my head is frustration and throw my head back on the sofa. I was screwed. 

As I look around I start to think about how long can I keep this up for? Hope's not a baby anymore she is going to find out. I see her teachers in the club its only gonna take for one of them to notice me. But what choice did I have? it was paying the bills, keeping a home over our head wasn't the best but at least it was something. 

I notice a card sticking out from my phone case, I took it out and ran my fingers over the large gold letters.

'Nathan Davenport' 

It was a option, maybe I could take the money and make this son of a bitch stay away from us. $250,000 was a lot of money. I began to think of all the things we could do, we could go on holiday, get a new place, get Hope that bike she wanted. My mind was a mess and my head began to ache I knew it was wrong but it maybe I had no choice in this situation. 

It was only for a few days, nothing bad could happen right? I will create some rules that must be followed and must sleep in separate beds. 

I take out my phone and try and decide should I call or text  him? which would be better? I pluck up all the courage in me and start dialling the number. It silent for a couple of seconds, no dial tone no nothing just silence which makes me freak out even more. 

"Nathan Davenport is currently unavailable please leave your message after the tone" 

The beep sounds and I couldn't get the words out, Its all built up in my head but my mouth doesn't move. 

"Hello Nate.. I mean Nathan.. Mr Davenport its Lola, here I would like to accept your offer but it has to be maximum 3 days I have other work commitments to attend"

I hang up the phone and slap myself on the head, I must of sounded like a right cow and I don't even know where the whole formal words came from! I felt a sting on my ankle and realise the blisters had now broken and were gushing with blood. I quickly ran into the bathroom and began filling the bath with warm water and disinfectation liquid reminding myself of that stupid phone call.