Diaverse

Chapter 15

8th January, 2252.
Obsidian Waste Forest, Connecticut.
3rd person POV

Clarissa sat on her bed watching out at the dark starry night, through her nearby open window. Of all the places she'd even been to, the forest was the one place to ever let her calm herself down. She looked at her alarm on her bedside cabinet and saw the time. 11:57 p.m.

She got up and walked over to the window, poked her head outside and took a deep breath of the clean fresh air. She listened to the quiet noises of the forest. Of course she knew that Obsidian Waste was no ordinary place, especially since it's forests were full of magical creatures. But even for a magical forest, it was rather quiet.

A small knock sounded on her door and it opened. It was her father.

"Hey, Rissa, aren't you supposed to be asleep?" He asked, with a small smile on his face. She nodded, and smiled back.

"School kept me up. You know how much I just love school." She said, with a fake expression on her face, and walked back towards her bed.

He closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed with her. There was hardly any visible resemblance between father and daughter. With Reece's intense blue eyes and shining golden straight blonde hair, and then looking at Clarissa with her dark brown hair. But they were father and daughter.

"There's...something I gotta tell you. Well, you and your brother." He scratched the back of his head. "But I came to you first cause, well you're a girl and-"

"He's an idiot?" She asked with a smirk on her face. Reece glared at her playfully.

"I didn't say that... but yeah that's true." He nodded. "And you're more mature than he is."

"Well, no doubt there." She said, untying her her head from a messy bun, which she'd put it in after dinner. "What's wrong?"

"Well...your Mom and I haven't really been on good terms these past few months-"

Clarissa has blocked out the rest. She already knew what he was gonna say. She'd stayed up late at nights, crying, for the last 2 months, listening to her mother and father arguing. She wasn't sure if Risse had even known about their father and mother splitting up. Or if he did know, but didn't care.

"-and I was thinking you two should live with your aunt Katherine during the time I'll be gone. She agreed to take care of you."

Clarissa snapped back into focus. "What? You're leaving us?"

Reece frowned. "I'm not leaving you two. Just flying your mother to California then I'm off to New York for a bit, that's all. I'll be back in three weeks. You won't even know I'm gone."

Clarissa just stared at him. "You're flying Mom to California? I thought she was gonna stay in a hotel or at the beach house or something." She murmured.

Her father sighed. "She wants to go back to where she's from. Probably see her parents." He said and lowered his eyes. "And Jim Lake too."

Jim Lake. Claire Nunez' childhood friend. 'Unfortunately for Dad, he's also Mom's boyfriend.' Clarissa thought bitterly. She had met him two months ago at the family trip to see her grandparents in Arcadia Oaks, California. When all hell broke loose.

Clarissa had went with her mother straight to her grandparents' Tech-Dark house, while her brother and her father were visiting at another town in California called Echo Creek, 15 miles away. Most of the time, Jim had lured her mom away to revisit the rest of town with him. Even though she was mostly at her grandparents house, lounging around, and watching old shows on their even older television, she knew that they weren't just walking around. Sure they were sightseeing- parts of each other.

It was unfortunate for her mother the day she got caught.  Clarissa's grandparents had gone out for to get meet her brother and father halfway, and Claire, Jim and Clarissa, stayed home. Claire took Jim upstairs to "check out her old room". It almost scarred the fifteen year old girl, since she could hear almost everything they said upstairs, and heard the noises all the way downstairs. And then, at the worst possible moment, the rest of the family came home. And then, all hell broke loose. That day, Clarissa learned how to expand her cursing vocabulary exponentially. Also how vicious her Dad was when it came to beating someone up.

"When." She asked, softly.

"Tonight. Your aunt should be here by the time I'm at the airport." He said.

Clarissa nodded, and tears welled up in her eyes. "D-Dad...a-are you upset w-with me, cause I didn't say anything a-about M-Mom and..." She gritted her teeth. "That dick."

Reece pulled her into a hug, and she cried on his chest, not even caring if she used offensive language, seeing that she was hurting. "No...I can't be upset with you Rissa. You did nothing wrong. I'm not upset with you."

"I...I feel like I-I'm breaking the f-family up..." She sniffed and wiped her eyes, looking up at him.

He shook his head. "You did nothing wrong. This family isn't breaking up. I'm still here. So is your brother. If your mother doesn't want to be a part of this amazing family, that's her choice."

Clarissa leaned back, as Reece pulled her blue and yellow flower blanket over her. She gave him a small smile and he kissed her forehead. I'm sorry you have to feel this pain of Mom's betrayal, she thought.

"Goodnight Dad. Have a safe flight." She said softly.

"Goodnight Clarissa." He said, closing the door softly behind him.

Clarissa tried to go to sleep but her body wasn't tired. She lay there, for a few hours, staring up at the ceiling, when another knock sounded on her door.

"Open." She said softly, and the last person she wanted to see walked in.

"Why are you-"

"What do you want." Clarissa said, glaring angrily at her mother.

Claire Nuñez-Pines sighed. There was hardly any resemblance between mother and daughter, as Claire had long wavy black hair and brown eyes, but she was the same skin tone as her daughter.

"I'm guessing your father told you everything." She said softly.

"How could he not?" Clarissa narrowed her eyes at her. "He told me only the truth."

Claire looked down. "Clarissa, I loved your father. A lot. But-"

"You'd rather be Jim Lake's exotic slut right?"

"Watch your language. I'm still your mother." Claire warned, and braced herself for Clarissa's next remark.

"No you're not. My mother died on November 28th, 2251! The day you broke my Dad's heart!" She yelled, and threw her pillow at her mother. Hot angry tears streamed down her red cheeks. "The day you broke your marriage promise! The day you gave into your horny raging ovaries and slept with that fucking asshole! The day you betrayed us all!"

Claire was also crying, finally seeing how much she really hurt her daughter. "I'm sorry-"

"No! You don't get to say you're sorry! You don't get forgiveness! From any of us!"

Claire trembled at the rage in Clarissa's voice. She'd heard it in her now ex-husband's, two months ago, when he'd found her and Jim fornicating like wild rabbits.

"I...I love you...and I always will, Clarissa. Both you and your brother." She said, in a soft wavering voice.

"Just leave! We don't need you! So just go! Run back to California and jump into Jim's arms." Clarissa said, her voice dripping with malice and her eyes full of hatred.  "And don't you ever, EVER, FUCKING COME BACK!"

Claire turned around, and exited her daughter's room, closing the door and seeing her daughter for the possibly last time. Clarissa screamed and cried herself to sleep, not knowing she could hate someone so much.