THE MID NIGHT WISH

MIA and KIA

Dee paced up and down the hotel corridor.
Her father, once MIA was now standing in front of her, perfectly healthy. Why was he away so long then?
Dee heard footsteps approaching, she could tell it was her mother.
She looked up and saw her mother, gracefully walking towards her. She was wearing a gorgeous lavender business suit that complimented her lean figure.
After her father getting comfortable in her room, dee did not hesitate to call her mother.
"Mom!" dee called out.
"Dee, are you okay?" her mother said, hugging her tight.
"mom I'm fine."
She opened the door and both of them walked in to find Dee's father, getting comfortable on the couch.
"Oh my dear! I missed you so much," he leapt up and hugged Dee's mother.

For the period she had known him, she could tell if his expressions were genuine or not.
This was one of those times where he was lying. She could see it in his dark, soulless eyes. His eyes had only darkness no matter where he was. It was the thing she hated the most about him. After his repetitive compulsive lies.
He feigned astonishment and was now hugging her. If she were alive, she could have felt his cold palms on her.
According to her, he was dead and heartless on the inside.
"I missed my family so much!" he exclaimed letting her go.
Dee looked at her mother and back at her father. She was confused to say the least.
"Get Mr. Eric a room for himself, and book another under the name of Miss Alice," she said to her personal assistant who stood behind her.
The young lady turned sharply and went out the door.
"why separate room?" Mr Eric asked.
"You know why," Alice almost hissed.

"What's wrong mom?" Dee asked.

"Nothing dear, I'll talk to you later."

Dee's mother left the room, leaving her husband with Dee.

"Your mother has always been cold. She was always trying to separate us when you were younger you know. She would sometimes send you to your grandma's. She's a tricky one, your mother," Dee's father said as he picked his bags.

"Well there's a room waiting for me," Dee's mother chipped in.

"Mom, can't you stay over?"

"Don't you worry dear, it'll be okay," she said planting a kiss on Idun's forehead.

Idun's mother left the room after making sure her father was out of sight.

Idun sighed. It felt like a sudden hurricane had swept past her, leaving her feeling lost.

"Dee?" Max called out from the other side of the door.

"Come in Max," Dee called, sounding defeated.

Max walked in with a small box of chocolates and sat down next to her.

"What bothers you?" he asked.

"I don't know. It's like my father is here but i'm not happy about it. Most of my life he was pretty much MIA, now he's here. It feels like he's a stranger, I mean what if he is not who he is supposed to be?"

Max put his arm around her and comforted her.

"Normally I'd say you should follow your gut..." he paused, "but in a situation like this I would like you to look inside and see what you want the most."

'What do I want?' Dee thought.

Maybe all she wanted was for everything to go back to normal. Maybe things were better as they were.

Max could only offer her his company. His heart fluttered as she leaned against him. She was sad. She really could not wrap her head around her father's sudden appearance.

"Dee?" Max called, almost in a whisper.

"Hmm?"

"Just know I'm there for you, no matter what," he said.

The words he wanted to say, he could not phrase them. How could he? His heart fluttered when he did not know much about her, she would think he was crazy!

"Thank you," Dee whispered.

Slowly she reached her hand out and held his. He inhaled deeply at the action. In fact, at that point, it felt to him like he could not breathe. Yes, she just held his hand momentarily, yet somehow his heart started soaring. He felt his finger tips go cold, oddly enough, his chest was burning up.

He stood up suddenly, startling Dee.

"I have to... ummm... go do stuff," he said walking to the door.

"Is it important?" Dee asked worried about his sudden action.

"No, I mean yes, it was a tonight kind of thing that I uh.. I had to finish? I am so sorry but, it's something I can't ignore," he said in a rush.

Max opened the door only to see Mr. Eric, Iduna's father, standing there, with a bottle of wine in one hand and two wine glasses, in another.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" He asked.

"No sir, I was just about to leave," Max said, now nervous.

"And why are you sweating like you have been caught doing something?"

"No sir, That's not the case," Max said, taking a step back.

 Eric took a step toward him. 

"And who are you to my daughter?"

"Dad, he's just a friend who has been helping me!" Dee said rushing over to Max's side.

"A friend? Helping you for free?" Eric asked, now glaring at Dee.

"Dad, he just wants to help," Dee said calmly.

"Oh and I suppose there's no ulterior motives he's got, right?" Eric said his gaze shifting back to Max.

"I would not look at Dee that way sir," max said firmly.

"Then how do you see her?" Eric raised his voice. "Do you expect me to believe that you don't have any ulterior motives? When you are in my daughter's bedroom in the middle of the night? Alone? Sweating?" 

"Dad, it's not like that!" Dee tried to intervene.

"Get back you whore!" Eric screamed.

He raised his hand ready to smash the wine glasses on Dee, when Max intervened, catching his arm before he could hurt her.

"Do NOT touch her," Max growled.

His eyes narrowed. His anger boiled over and his ears had turned red. Dee, coward behind him and held his arm. She clutched tightly at his arm and put her head down. Her eyes watered. She was angry, she was confused. 

Eric looked at his hand and back to Max in shock. It followed with anger. He brought up his other arm and smashed the wine bottle on Max's head in a quick move. 

Max let go of Eric's hand and stumbled back. The pain felt unbearable. He felt a trickle going his hairline, towards his cheek. He fell on his knees and held his head in his hands. The pain was overpowering him. Dee crouched near him. He could hear her whimper.

She was crying in disbelief as she held Max. She kept saying no as she tried to stop the blood from going down.

Max looked at her and smiled.