see me and spend time with me, but now I know more about the real him, the more everything makes sense and I feel better being around the real him.
The bar is crammed with men and women when we get back but my father doesn’t stop when they try to talk to us.
Following him back to my room, I deflate after feeling like we were getting somewhere. A little part of me thought I might not have to come straight back to my prison.
He doesn’t come into the room, he stands in the doorway and now I can see, now I am learning about him and his ways. I can see he is stalling.
“What is it?” I ask, to help him out.
“There’s a party downstairs tonight, if you want you can come. You’ll stick by me the whole time till you come back up here.”
Wow, I wasn’t expecting him to offer that.
“Sure, I’d like that.”
It sure would be nice to be a part of the party rather than listening to it from up here.
“I’ll come back for you in thirty minutes, be showered and presentable.”
The reflection staring back at me causes me to stumble back onto the bed. It’s me but it’s the old me, well sort off. My roots have grown out but my hair isn’t limp, it’s got a shine to it again. There’s pink in my cheeks and my face is fuller. Fifteen days has transformed me, not completely but I can see the difference in myself.
Righting myself, I stand and move closer to the mirror again. Clean jeans and one of the camisoles that one of the wives gave me the other day match nice enough but I’ve never been a denim kind of girl. I preferred to wear dresses and skirts. Looking at my reflection now, I miss how I used to look. I want it back.
The door opens behind me and my dad actually smiles when he sees me.
“Ready?” he grunts.
No you look nice or nothing.
“Yes.”
All of a sudden I feel nervous. The only time I’ve had interaction with these people is when they’ve brought me food and I wasn’t exactly at my best.
If it was possible the place is even more crowded when we reach the bottom of the stairs to the bar and one by one they all stop and stare at me like the freak show just rolled into town and I’m the main act. They’re not subtle about it either.
“Stay close,” my dad says close to my ear.
He must sense my apprehension. He doesn’t need to tell me though, I’m not planning on leaving his side.
The kind of parties I’ve been going to the last few years are nothing like this. Most party goers were too out of it to dance and usually they were wearing more clothes then the women here. My father’s eyes are on mine as I watch everything around us. Sitting at a table to the side of what can only be described as a make shift dance floor, I have a perfect view of the entire place.
“Your usual drink, Pope?”
He nods once to the kid hovering near our table.
“And what can I get you miss?”
“A bottle of water, please.”
“I didn’t think about alcohol,” my dad says, frowning, “Is it a problem for you?”
“No, I never really drank much, even before I got addicted to…” I can’t bring myself to say it and the kid scuttles off. A couple to our right gets my attention. In front of everyone they are kissing and pawing over each other, that’s not what caught my eye though. The guy who’s brought me my food sometimes is covered in colour like a box of crayons have thrown up on him and the woman on his lap is beautiful and a quarter of his size.
“That’s Sparky and Bonnie, he’s a good man and she’s hell of a woman,” my father tells me catching me staring at them.
Embarrassed, I pull my eyes away from them.
“And over by the bar is Cas, he’s my president and them two on the couch is Slade and his old lady is Kristen. If you’re serious about sticking around, you’ll get to know them all very well.”
The women he names are completely different to the other women hanging off the guys here. Not just their clothes, well the fact that they are wearing clothes but