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Post by strizzy on Jul 29, 2006 7:06:39 GMT 10
Chapter Fifteen – Finding Out
September came around and I was finally able to go back to school, let me tell you that being at home all the time gets boring after a while, so ten weeks were a drag. On this particular day I got home earlier than usual because I had a free period last thing and it was Mum’s day off so I thought she would be at home. As it turns out she wasn’t, and I had nothing better to do, do I decided I would walk round to Dad’s house to pick up a book that I had left in my bedroom the last time I had been there, then I would call in on my friend on my way back home, as he had been off school ill and I had his homework. As far as I knew, Dad should have been at work, which was no problem as I had my own door key and I knew the alarm code.
It was so weird; I remember turning the corner and seeing Dad’s car on his drive. I didn’t think much of it, he could have caught the bus or train, or someone could have picked him up. Everything was so normal, I walked up the garden path, and the dog next door stuck its head out of the cat flap and barked at me, that happened all of the time, and there were cats asleep on the bonnets of cars. Trust me, my Dad lived in a strange neighbourhood! I opened the door, and that’s where the ‘normality’ ended.
As I walked through the door I looked down to where I would usually leave my shoes, only to find a handbag. Now what would Dad have been doing with one of those? But then I looked closer and realised, to my horror, that it wasn’t just any old handbag, it was Mum’s. So then I felt confused, I was trying to think why the hell my Mum’s handbag would be at my Dad’s, and coming up with nothing.
I ended up passing it off as weird, and headed towards my bedroom on the middle floor so that I could grab my book and get out of there. As I climbed the stairs I got the feeling that I wasn’t alone in the house as I had originally thought, which was strange because Dad should have been at work, it was only 3pm, and I knew that he shouldn’t have got off until 6pm at the earliest; its usually later than that though. I reached the landing, retrieved my book and turned to leave my room, glancing as I did up the second flight of stairs that led to my Dad’s bedroom. What I saw then shocked me even more!
There were random pieces of clothing strewn all over the place, forming a trail up to Dad’s bedroom door. At the bottom were a pair of female shoes, which I picked up and inspected; I recognised these too, Mum had a pair exactly the same. I knew then the reason for Mum’s handbag being by the door, but I didn’t want to believe what my head was telling me was going on, so I blocked out those thoughts, replacing them with ‘please no, please God no’ and tried to tell myself that it was a huge coincidence.
But come on, what was coincidental about that situation, though I knew the only way to know for sure would be to climb that staircase and see for myself, not that I wanted to. There hadn’t actually been any noises from upstairs to indicate that there was anyone there, but it was obvious that someone was because no women lived there, so someone would have had to have come wearing clothes and left wearing none for any other story to be plausible.
I decided that I had to do what I had to do, and slowly began to ascend the staircase. It was still so quiet, eerily so, as I reached the top and pushed open the door. The silence was immediately broken as I screamed, for laying in the bed, intertwined in each other and fast asleep were Mum and Dad…
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Post by Rach :) on Jul 29, 2006 7:18:34 GMT 10
oh dear wats bin goin on heer lol gd upd8!!
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Post by strizzy on Jul 30, 2006 5:46:36 GMT 10
I just thought that I’d let you know that I’m going away tomorrow, so I won’t be online until next Saturday. I’ll give you this chapter, and maybe the next depending on whether anyone replies or not. Charlotte
Chapter Sixteen – Running Away
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, which was why I screamed, but of course my scream woke them up. They both looked at me, but I didn’t give either of them chance to speak as I turned and ran down both flights of stairs and out of the front door. I could hear them both shouting after me, but I couldn’t stop, I had to keep running. I was in tears. I couldn’t visit my ill friend in that state, and besides it was too obvious, that would have been the first place other than Mum’s house where my parents would have looked, and I couldn’t face either of them just then.
So I continued to run until I could run no further, and then I called my other best friend, who is older than me, and had passed his driving test, and asked him to come and find me. By the time he found me, I had been outside in the pouring rain for almost an hour, but that was my fault, not his. I was a state, my clothes were soaked through, I was shivering, and I had been crying ever since I had left my Dad’s house so I had black mascara running down my cheeks.
He told me that he would take me home, but I refused to go back there, so he took me home with him. I have always liked his mum; I have known her for longer than I have known him as she has worked at my old primary school since I was there. Anyway, once she saw me she took charge of the situation. She found me some of her clothes to put on and put mine in the washing machine. I was also given a face wipe so that I could remove my make-up, and a cup of tea to warm me up.
Then my friend took over again, and we sat down together so that I could explain to him why I had got myself into such a state. I told him everything that had happened at my Dad’s house, and he listened without interrupting. When I was done he looked completely shocked, and since I tell him everything, he already knew about the events that had happened over the previous year or so, and he understood why I had reacted in the way that I did.
I stayed there that night because I still couldn’t face either Mum or Dad. Luckily I had my medication in my bag, and I had left all of my school stuff in my locker at school, so I didn’t have to go home for any of that. I had been wearing my uniform at the time, so it only needed washing. I managed fine, and I was grateful for the hospitality.
However, despite the new problems in my life, I still had to go to school the next day. It was awful, my face was still tear-stained, and so everyone was staring at me. I had been in no fit state to complete my homework the night before, and despite a note from my friend’s mum, I was reprimanded by all of my teachers, as was my other friend who had been ill and I was supposed to pass on his homework. I felt really guilty then as well because I had never delivered it. I blamed myself, but when he was also told of the events of the previous evening, he understood and told me that it wasn’t my fault.
I knew that I still had to face my parents when I got home, but I hadn’t been able to come up with anything to say, so when my friends dropped me off, I went straight upstairs to my bedroom, locked the door, put my headphones on and settled down to completing two nights worth of homework. I would face my parents at some point, but not just then.
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Post by Caffy on Jul 30, 2006 6:05:35 GMT 10
Your story is so different. It's really good and I live really close you Manchester so I have been fond of this all the way through (well I only just read it but STILL!) You also display emotions really well, I am 16 and have just done GCSE's too so it's just awsomeness *stares at the awsomeness of the fanfic* Most certainly one of my very very faves
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Post by Rach :) on Jul 30, 2006 6:43:38 GMT 10
gr8 upd8
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Post by luby2534 on Jul 30, 2006 7:13:31 GMT 10
Please update !!
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Post by strizzy on Jul 30, 2006 8:20:51 GMT 10
Thank you cernik. This is the last update that you will get for the week (unless I'm able to connect to a random wireless network, which I've done before when ours has broken, but there isn't much chance of it happening in the Lake District is there!!)
Chapter Seventeen – The Fallout
I didn’t ‘find time’ to talk to my parents until the next weekend, I used my classic distraction – schoolwork – to prevent me from having to talk about what I had seen. I knew that we would have had to have talked everything over because I hadn’t said a word to either of them since I caught them together, I didn’t know how long it had been going on for, but I couldn’t feel happy just then, I only felt anger and hurt because they were acting as though the year before hadn’t happened, but it had and I couldn’t just forget that.
I had been hurt badly when Dad walked out, and was uncertain whether I was able trust him again or not. I remember feeling very scared, and telling both Mum and Dad so. They didn’t understand what I could possibly be scared of, and wasn’t them getting back together what Will and I had always wanted? Will said yes of course, straight away, but I couldn’t.
Will was happy that enough had been said, so he left the room, just leaving me, Mum and Dad to talk over my concerns. They asked me what my problem was, so I was honest with them. I told them about my lack of trust towards Dad; that was there because I was scared that he would leave again. My other issue was that I was scared to let myself feel happy at the prospect of the two of them being back together again, in case it was all destroyed again, sending me back down to rock bottom; where I ended up the first time.
It was important to me that they gave me time to adjust to the idea. It was just so typical; I had only just got used to the idea that they had separated; yet I had to start again with them being back together. There was only so much that my mind could take, and I was trying to study for four A Levels at the same time. They really did have a good sense of time, my parents, always as inconvenient as hell for me.
I didn’t want to hurt either of them, but they had to accept that I wasn’t ready to feel happy for them, and they had to understand my reasons why.
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Post by Rach :) on Jul 30, 2006 22:21:52 GMT 10
gr8 upd8
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Post by Maryna on Aug 2, 2006 19:40:10 GMT 10
your story is so different! update soon!
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Post by strizzy on Aug 6, 2006 8:34:45 GMT 10
I'm home, so here's your update! Charlotte
Chapter Eighteen – Coming to Terms
There were several questions that I needed to be answered. When they had started seeing each other again, where, how and, most importantly why. So much had happened over the previous year, and there had been so much hurt and heartbreak, that I felt incredibly surprised that Mum had forgotten all of the things that Dad had done without a second thought. That was hard for me to accept because I continued to have trust issues, and therefore couldn’t forgive and forget as quickly as Mum did.
My questions were answered though, despite the misgivings that I had with their renewed relationship. Anyway, as it turns out, they got back together about two months before I caught them together in late September, so July time. Where? Well obviously Will and I would have caught them a lot earlier had it been at Mum’s house, but as it happens, it was actually at Dad’s. How? Why? It seems to be that Mum had a bad day at work one day in early July; she lost a few patients that she had become attached to, and on top of all that Will was being a pain in the arse, and I had been doing a lot of thinking, crying and I wasn’t really speaking to her whilst I was doing this, so she was missing being able to talk to me, apparently.
So that morning, instead of coming straight home after her night shift, she went to see Dad. From what they have told me, I would guess that she was both upset and angry, and work that day had just pushed her over the edge. I can’t really blame her for that because when Dad left, she lost a part of herself, I could tell because she got depressed and was always upset, although she tried to put up a strong front whenever Will was around, she openly broke down when I was there to comfort her.
Anyway, she shouted and screamed at Dad, and got herself all worked up, and started crying. Dad told me that it was then that he realised how selfish he had been, before then he hadn’t seen just how much him having walked out was affecting Mum, how hurt she was. He said that he couldn’t just stand there and watch her fall to bits, she needed comfort; so he embraced her. Apparently he only initiated the hug, it had been Mum who had taken control from there. She told me that she took the opportunity that had presented itself to find out whether he had missed her; she kissed him, and him having responded to it told her all that she needed to know, and so she forgave him there and then, and they moved on together by making love.
It seems that afterwards they talked for hours about what had happened, and why those events had occurred, so they were able to answer my questions. What had happened to cause Dad to get depressed? He said that one day at work there was a multiple trauma from an MVA, and despite the best efforts of him and everyone else on shift, the mother and her two children hadn’t survived. The husband/father had been called, and when he found out about his family he was devastated. Dad had tried to comfort him, but the man pushed him away, telling him that he could never understand. So Dad had told him that he was wrong, and insisted that he did understand because the same thing had happened to him, he had lost his family. The man had asked if he’d ever get over the loss, so Dad told him truthfully that he would, because he had and had a new family. The man told Dad that he was disgusted that he could forget the family he lost and replace them with another, and walked out. Dad was left feeling guilty because although it had been over twenty-five years since he had lost his family, he had moved on and he had replaced them. He said that he had needed time and space to think things over, and clear up in his own mind the issue of whether or not he had done the right thing, and he couldn’t do that with me, Mum and Will around the whole time.
Was the same thing ever going to happen again? Well, they both said that it wouldn’t because they had both realised how strong their feelings for each other were, and that as soon as they had slept together for the first time in over a year, they knew that they couldn’t be without each other. They were both adamant that their love for each other had grown while they were apart, and once they were back together their relationship had strengthened. They said that they could never split again because it would hurt too much.
What would happen next? Dad said that he would put his house on the market, and he would move back in with us, though it would probably take a while for us to get back to where we were before. Other than that it was said that anything could happen; we would all live life one day at a time and wait to see what the future may have brought.
I also asked them why they would risk me reacting in the way that I did by catching them together, when they both knew my school timetable, and therefore knew when I would get home. Mum said that they lost track of time; she had shouted at Dad, then they made love, then they talked, then they fell asleep since neither had slept as they had both been working all night. And I understood this then.
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Post by zelda on Aug 6, 2006 9:14:27 GMT 10
Strizzi, hope you had fun during your vacation , I was really looking forward to reading your next chapter. It's incredible: this fic is one of the most original ones I have read. Your explanation for Luka's weird behaviour with his family is so beautifully explained, and we understand his guilt and his pain... even after 25 years. It's very late in Paris,(1.12 am) but I wanted to tell you how much I have been amazed by your MATURITY. You found the right words to describe Louisa's unhappiness and confusion. GREAT WORK! Bisous . Zelda.
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Post by <3 LubyII <3 on Aug 6, 2006 9:29:26 GMT 10
Just caught up! Great story, cant wait for the next update!!
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Post by rorygilmore on Aug 6, 2006 16:35:12 GMT 10
Your explanation for Luka's weird behaviour with his family is so beautifully explained, and we understand his guilt and his pain... Yeah, tall your fic is so well detailed, you've explained everything so nice, the characters feelings, the way how Louisa had to deal with everything. It's really, a good job.!
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Post by Maryna on Aug 7, 2006 5:34:13 GMT 10
keeep going!
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Post by strizzy on Aug 8, 2006 2:04:39 GMT 10
Chapter Nineteen – Getting Back On Track
As Mum and Dad didn’t want to rush things, progress was slow; Dad put his house up on the market, and continued to live there until he sold it, which took a few months. Then once that had been completed successfully, he moved back home, and we were all lived as a family for the first time in over a year and a half.
There were so many advantages to our family being ‘back to normal’. Firstly, Will stopped acting up, both at home and at school; he would actually listen to what Mum told him to do, which he hadn’t being doing before, and there were less calls home from school about his unsatisfactory behaviour. Secondly, there was finally a happy atmosphere, which had been missing during the difficult times we had just been through; I didn’t think that I had ever seen Mum so happy, she was looking more radiant than ever, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. My friends also commented that I was back to my old self; I had also got happier, and so much so that people realised almost immediately; I smiled more than I had done before.
My life slowly got better and better, despite little issues like my schoolwork getting progressively more difficult. I found that I no longer wanted to complain about anything, not that there was particularly anything to complain about in the first place. Everything was going great, and I couldn’t believe just how much I had changed since when things started to go wrong; I was more self-confident, optimistic, and generally more cheery. I realised how much I had missed out on socially whilst there were problems at home, and started going out more with my friends and winding down after long weeks at school, just like any regular seventeen year old. I started driving after my birthday and soon passed my test. It was great to not have to rely on other people to take me to places all of the time; I became more independent and I loved it!
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