SAPPHIRE (Book #1 Of Fire Series)

XVIII

"Mr. Zima is coming out now. You can go through and wait for him." says the guard up front.

"Are you ready?" Stefano asks gently next to me.

I look up at him, take a deep breath and nod.

"Alright, let's go. You've got this," He soothes as he puts a hand on my back and pushes me forward gently.

I step forward slowly, my heart begins to beat faster and faster it feels like it will jump out of my chest and slap my brain for making me do this.

What if he doesn't recognize me?

What if I'm just a painful reminder of the past to him?

How are the Ceretti people even linked to this man?

What if the Ceretti's were also involved in the things my biological father did but were never caught?

What if he is still that monster people said he was?

What if..

What if..

What if...

These are all the things that are rapidly rushing through my head as I slowly make my way to the visting room.

"You look just like him," Stefano softly says into my ear
"You have his strength too."

I look up at him with a sheepish smile, "Really?"

Stefano grins widely, "Yep."

We progress through the halls slowly and quietly.

Just listening to the rattling sounds from within.

Just listening to the hundreds of voices talking.

Just feeling the thousands of souls that have lost hope.

All of it, it's all so much, it's scary in a way.

Suddenly my heart skips a beat.

I'm meeting my REAL father...

Yeah I know you might be thinking, "'You only found out David wasn't your father a few days ago."

It doesn't feel real.

I've been praying my whole life that David could magically not be my father.

And now -after years of praying- he, not exactly magically, but biologically, isn't my father.

I have no link to him anymore.

I'm sure a lot of people like me can agree.

Emotionally absent fathers are more of a thing than absent fathers.
Absent mothers...
It's just a common thing now.

I can't put my heart to rest.

It beats faster and faster with every step closer to the visiting room.

Finally we reach the room and we are told to sit at a table while they bring him.

We sit there, me and Stefano.
Side by side, we are patiently waiting for him.

From behind us a gate is opened and we hear 2 pairs of footsteps. I instantly freeze and try not to look back. The tension building up so much as the footsteps come closer.

Finally they stop in front of us, but the men are facing the other direction.

One man is an inmate with almost black, curly hair.
He's really tall I think close to 190cm.

On the back of his neck, I notice a small sliver of a tattoo peeking out, and a multitude of other tattoos covering his forearms.

His forearms are a red colour and look at tad swollen, probably from the handcuffs on them.