Phield of Flames

1.2

The plate in front of me was still untouched as I watched my father greedily gobble down his breakfast. Without much thought my lip curled up in disgust, it was like watching a pig eat, and if he wasn't careful he'd probably choke on his silverware. At least I wasn't the only one to notice this, Adrian looked at my father with amusement but also slight disgust.

Adrian cleared his throat, slowly trying to take his eyes off the messy scene beside him to face me, who was also having a hard time looking away from my father's carnal way of eating.

"Did you sleep alright, Effie?" Adrian asked softly, but loud enough to be heard over his boyfriend's loud chewing.

For a few seconds, I quietly thought about what I should say. Over time questions like these, that came from my father most of the time, became hard to answer.

No, of course, I didn't sleep well-that would be my truthful answer. No, of course, I did not sleep well, the entirety of my sleep consisted of me hopelessly searching for something and ended up with me getting hurt badly-that would be a more thorough answer. But I would never answer with the truth because then there is always the retort, "why?"

And still, if I answered truthfully again, who knows what could happen, for sure it would be nothing good. So I never answered truthfully, no, I responded with a simple.

"Yeah." My wandering thoughts cleared out as I blinked back into reality. I had no doubt it took me more than a few seconds to reply. So blankly, my eyes traveled over to Adrian who had a tint of worry over his eyes.

But Adrian was never one to be deterred by some monotone reply. He managed to quirk up the corners of his lips into a half-hearted smile and turn completely towards me, forgetting the man inhaling his food beside him.

"Are you excited about your last day of high school? I remember my last day, " he sighed dramatically as he reminisced, " I can remember it now-getting my bike tossed in the river and swirlies-the good ole days." He groaned with sarcasm and ended up with his head resting in the palm of his hand.

I pitied the young man for a second before realizing I had to get to school in a little bit, I was so thrown off by my father's abhorrent table manners that the time completely passed me up. I looked down at my watch to see that the timing felt right, I was about to be late to leave.

"I have to be at that hell hole in a little bit, so I'll talk to you both later." I excused myself, briefly showing them my watch as if they could read it from where I was sitting.

At my words, my father hastily swallowed his remaining food and wiped his mouth. He even stood up with me and walked over to my side of the table. "Are you okay? You seem a little closed off this morning." My father asked, clear distress in his voice and his furrowed eyebrows creating wrinkles around his forehead.

"I'm fine, Papa. I just need to get through this last day of school." My eyes couldn't meet his, but I knew they showed just how worried he was.

"We can drop you off at school, it's starting to get a little too cold for you to be riding that bike through town." He tempted, placing his large hand on my shoulder that emitted a warmth that felt so protective I was going to say yes. Then I remembered I needed this time alone.

I shook my head, disagreeing with my father's attempt to spend just a fraction of time with me. "I'll be okay, it doesn't bother me," I said simply, removing his hand from my shoulder but sending him a painted smile that only made his face look more worried.

"Okay, Effie. Before you go, I want you to make sure your room is clean, there is supposed to be an inspector coming to make sure our house is up to date." His request was very last minute because at this point I would be late.