Part IX

Hunter's feet thundered loudly as he stormed into the library. Keesha was there with Asia, talking. But when he entered so loudly, so angrily, they stopped instantly and the silence practically echoed through out the room as he stared coldly at Asia.

"You bitch!" He seethed harshly through tightly clenched teeth.

Asia cowered lowly in her seat. Shifting uneasily. She knew it; it was the look in his eyes. She knew that he knew about her white lies that had grown dark and horrid.

"Father." Keesha said standing up. She felt weird saying the word to him. The name and word both foreign to her tongue.

She saw that cold anger look in his eyes and she stepped back away from him. Scared. Not knowing what he would do, nor what he was capable of doing.

As soon as Hunter saw the frightened look in his daughter's eyes he quickly softened and took two steps back. "Keesha, I would never harm you." He whispered with difficulty.

He said it so softly, so honestly that Keesha had to believe him. She couldn't escape the way his voice cracked slightly under the weight of his words. The way his eyes grew softer and more rational.

Keesha nodded her head. Acknowledging that she knew he was telling her the utter truth. Shame stained her cheeks as she thought of all the doubts and criticism that she had had about him.

Turning towards Asia, anger again sparked from Hunter as he saw her trying to slyly sneak her way out of the room with the walls closing in on her. She knew it was over, her lies were over; she, herself, was over.

"Asia, I think it's time we have a nice long talk with our daughter Keesha." Hunter said sternly as he gripped her elbow and helped her to her original chair and then forced her to sit up straight.

Keesha was startled at her father's behavior and turned to Taylor for the answers. He simply gave her a weak smile and led her over to the leather couch. Comfortably they sat close together, wrapping their arms around each other.

"Would you like to start, Asia? Or should I?" Hunter asked icily.

Asia shrugged her shoulders and stared at the ground. After a few moments of eternity for Keesha, she spoke up. "Keesh, your father never beat you, nor did he try and kill you, and he's never done any type of drugs." She stated it so simply as if it were merely words that had no meaning. No context. No consequence.

Keesha leaned back even more into Taylor and the soft couch. The words hit her fast and hard. Yet she knew them to be true. These last few days she knew that something was not quite right with her mother's story from a few short months ago. The visions told her different stories of her life. Her father's presence proved the visions and her feelings. Now all she needed was to fill the missing gaps. Everything before she went into the hospital, before she went deaf. Before everything went wrong.

E-mail Me Shann