Hunger

t h i r t y - n i n e

I stare at the person behind the glass, taking in what my eyes were seeing. He had changed so much, it was like I didn't even know him. His beard was long, not that much, but nothing like I've ever seen before. His hair was short, almost bald and his face was full of new scars. It seemed like they were finally healing but weren't there completely. Not to mention the huge dark bags under his eyes, showing the lack of sleep he was receiving.

"Hi." I whisper through the phone against my ear, trying really hard to avoid any tears.

"Hey." He cries with a smile.

He puts his hand against the glass, and I stare at it for a while, but soon after did the same thing as him.

"You have grown so much." He whispers quickly cleaning a tear away from his cheek.

"It's only been six months." I laugh shrugging. "I haven't changed that much."

"You look thinner." He adds with a smile. "Has your mom being feeding you lately?" He jokes. "How's life now being privileged?" He asks sarcastically, but I knew he was hurt.

"Not as good as when I had you." I whisper looking down, knowing that the tears would probably show up soon. "I mean, I guess he's okay."

"Does he treat her right?" He asks, a crack in his voice mid-way.

"I mean," I whisper. "He buys her stuff and takes her on trips." I continue.

"I bet he does." He replies rolling his eyes. "How's Olivia?"

"She's the one that has grown up." I say with a smile. "She has grown half a foot." I laugh.

"I bet she has." He says sad. "She's going to be a tall girl when she grows up."

"Like you." I murmur with half a smile.

"Yeah." He nods

"Dad?" I ask with a frown. "Why did you stop writing letters to me?" I asks, knowing I had to ask sooner or later.

I had to face my fears, I need to be strong and asks stuff that I'm scared of. Like seeing my father for an instance.

"I don't blame you." I whisper sad. "It's just-" I cry with half a smile. "I miss you. I hate it there and I know it could be worse, I mean from anyone in this world you understand it better, due to your circumstances." I add with a sigh. "But I'm your daughter, your family. How can you forget about us?"

He stares at me, a few tears in his eyes. I know he's in pain, just like me, even worse, but I needed to know. How can somebody just forget?

"That's what you think I did?" He says hurt. "That I just forgot about you guys?" He whispers. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you." He adds putting his hand again against the glass. "I've missed you like crazy, you and Olivia."

I nod, drying my tears away, trying to show him a smile.

"I did stop writing." He says with a shrug. "But I regretted it so much, the guilt began to consume, so I started writing again." He adds, and I stare at him surprise. "But after a while of you not answering back I realized you probably had moved already from that house, and I don't know where you live now." He answers truthfully.

"Really?" I ask relieved, he hadn't forgotten about me. I think with a smile. "We moved a few weeks after I told you about the marriage." I whisper.

He nods, and I smile, glad to know that he cared.

After another half an hour of talking with my father, he had to leave because they said visiting hours were over. Time went fast, too fast for my liking and I didn't want to leave.

I get inside Nate's car and he drives away, not asking anything, yet. He probably had a million questions, because before today he didn't know the whereabouts of him, but he didn't ask anything.

"You okay?" He whispers grabbing my hand.

"Yeah." I say with a small nod. "Can we quickly stop in another place before going home?" I ask with a frown.

"Sure." He whispers back.

I type the address on his phone and soon after we were almost there.

When we got to the neighborhood it was pretty clear it wasn't a high class one like the one we live now. It wasn't a gated community and most of the houses needed some paint.

We get to the street I used to live, and my old house comes to view. It wasn't the same anymore, the new owners probably painted it after they moved in. The grass hasn't been cut in probably months, making the kind of decent looking house look awful.

"Why are we here?" Nate asks staring at the house in front of us. "Do you know the people that live there?" He asks confused.

"No." I whisper trying to see if someone was home. "This used to be my old house." I whisper.

Why am here? I wonder looking the house with a frown. They probably threw away the letters or send them back, it was a waste of time.

"Oh." He replies staring at the place with determination.

I was about to tell him to drive away, but a girl about my same age came out of the house. She stood in the balcony staring at us with confusion, and I sigh debating if I should get out of the car.

She's probably wondering why someone, who's so rich, judging by Nathaniel's car, would be in front of her house.

"I'll be right back." I whisper, opening the car door.

"Be careful." He murmurs with doubt on his face.

I roll my eyes at him and walk to the girl, not knowing exactly what I was planning to do or say.

"Hi." I say to the girl with half a smile.

"Hey." The girl replies with her arms crossed, a frown on her face. "What are you doing at my house?" She asks intrigued, staring at the car.

"I used to live here." I say with a small shrug.

"Really?" She asks doubtful.

"Yeah." I reply confuse.

"So..." She asks raising her brows. "Why are you here?"

"Oh." I quickly murmur remembering I had something to asks. "So, this is really random, and I doubt you even have them, but did you ever receive any weird mail?" I ask shrugging.

"What do you mean by 'weird'?" She asks frowning.

"Weird has in an inmate." I reply. "From jail." I whisper.

"Are you Katherine?" She asks surprise.

"Yeah why?" I say confused.

"We got some letters a few weeks after we moved here." She says shrugging. "For some Katherine Allard, but we didn't know who it was or if it was a mistake. We send a few back but they kept arriving." She says with an apologetic smile.

"Oh." I say disappointed.

"I kept a few though." She adds, and I quickly look up.

"Really?" I say exited. "Do you still have them?"

"I think," She says. "It was a few months ago so I'm not sure but let me quickly check."

I nod, and she goes inside, closing the door behind her. I couldn't believe it, I got them, not all of them but some is better than nothing.

I wait patiently for a few minutes, and she comes out again, a few envelopes in her hand.

"Here." She says with a smile. "I read one." She says embarrassed. "I'm sorry, it was really tempting. I tried not to, but they kept coming even after we send them back or got rid of them." She says frowning. "But I didn't do it again, it seemed really personal, and I felt guilty. I didn't think someone would come for them after so long."

I stare at her, her cheeks were red from embarrassment, but truthfully, I didn't care. I was too happy over the fact that I had them in my hands.

"It's okay." I say with half a smile. "I would have probably done the same thing."

I say goodbye to the girl and go back to Nate's car, exited to get home, staring at the letters on my lap.