Coal Part 6: 1st Draft

Zene drove the horses hard until they made it back to Ciara's estate. Ciara got out of the carriage, shaking a little.

"What's wrong?" asked Zene. "You've been crying. Did something happen at the ball? Why was that man chasing you?" Ciara dissolved into a fresh round of tears. "You can tell me. Whatever it was, I know it's not your fault."

Ciara wiped her tears away messily and smiled nervously. "I really don't know why I'm crying. I made a big smash at the part. Everyone wanted to know who I was. But when Dom mentioned his parents, I couldn't-" She walked away, holding her mouth closed so she wouldn't cry. Large tears spilled over her hands.

Zene assumed her natural appearance and followed her. "Tell me. Explain to me what happened."

"My father has never really...I mean I can't remember him ever hugging me, or even asking me how I am. He won't even look me in the eye. I can't help thinking it's me. I know everyone takes pity on me because they know what's wrong with me, and I don't know. I don't know!" She cried.

Zene hugged Ciara. "There's nothing wrong with you. Why do you think that? What's happened to you?"

"I did it! It was my fault Mom died! If she would've never had me, she and Father would still be happy." Choked Ciara, now hysterical.

"Ciara, you shouldn't think that. Your mother and father wanted you very much. Parents know the risks of having children. You had no control over any of it." Zene wiped Ciara's tears away. "Do you think he blames you?"

Ciara sniffled, like a kid with a boo-boo. "I-I don't know. He won't talk to me."

"Then let's go talk to him together."

"What? No! Then he'd know I was going away. He'd try to stop me. He doesn't like Swaziland you know."

"He knows me. I want to see him."

Ciara took one look at her aunt's impassive expression and knew she wasn't going to change her mind. "He's probably just waking up now. He's in his study." Ciara's dress fell off and reformed into Marta, who promptly flew away. "Wait!" Ciara called after the bird. "How's he going to listen to me unless I look beautiful?"

Zene laughed. "You need Marta less than you think."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Ciara wanted to know.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." said Zene mysteriously, already walking into the mansion. Ciara wrinkled her brow in puzzlement, but lead her aunt to her father's door.

Ciara knocked. "Dad?"

"Go away, Coal. You know I'm just getting up." said a drowsy voice.

Ciara shrugged and started walking off, but Zene grasped her shoulder firmly. "Um...I really have to talk to you-"

"Not now, damn it!"

Ciara jumped and tried to run off, but Zene held her hand. "Adrian, if that's the way you treat everyone, then maybe I'll come back in another eighteen years and see if you're in a better mood."

"Zene?!" A great commmotion was heard as Adrian rushed to the door. "Zene, it's been a long time! What brought you all the way here?" Adrian looked like he hadn't bathed in days. He was unshaved, and smelled as if he had taken a bath in a tub of whiskey.

"Adrian...are you all right? You look a mess. I heard about Amara, my sister. Why didn't you send word to us?"

At that Adrian face contorted, twisted, shook. "I wish I had never met her! I wish I had took a trip into that damned Swaziland place!" As soon as he said it, he immediately bit his lip. "I just don't want to feel anymore. I just want to go one day without thinking about her. I just want her out of my head so I can stop hurting."

"Dad..." Ciara reached out to touch him, but he pulled away.

"Don't touch me, please. You look so much like her. You have her eyes, those dark dark eyes." Adrian slumped to the floor and curled up like a baby. "I just can't take it. I can't."

"But I'm not Mom, Dad. My name is Ciara." she said.

Adrian raised his head, and looked at her. Really looked at her. "I guess you're right."

Ciara grinned. "I'm glad I could finally tell you that. Can I ask you something?"

He lowered his head again. "Shoot."

"Do you blame me? I mean, do you wish Mom had never had me?" asked Ciara.

Adrian once again raised his bleary eyes to hers. "I blame your mother for dying. She never told me she had sickle cell anemia. She never told me there was that big of a risk!"

" She wanted to make you happy more than anything. Amara knew how the magic made you nervous, so she left Swaziland and her title without so much as a forwarding address. She knew you wanted a child with her, so she didn't refuse you. " said Zene.

"We could have adopted! We could have our pick of any baby in the country!"

"But would it have been the same as your child?"

Adrian lowered his head. "No. She knew me better than anyone. I was so stupid back then! So hard-headed. I wouldn't have been satisfied." He started shaking and crying. "She thought she was doing the right thing! Oh my god! Oh!" He hugged Ciara impulsively. "I am so sorry! She gave up her life so I could have you, and I ran away from you. My wife has been more of a mother to you then I've been a father." Ciara shot a look at Zene. "Please forgive me. You're my little girl now. The only thing I have left."

"But I turn eighteen tommorrow. You don't want me to leave?" asked Ciara hopefully.

Adrian held her out at armslength. "This your home. When I die, you will inherit my title and everything I have. I'll never send you away. Not even if you curse out the king himself."

Ciara bit her lip. "What about a prince?"

Adrian started laughing. "That's the first joke I've ever heard you crack. That's a good one!" All three of them laughed.

"I was going to tell you I was going away to Swaziland, and that I wasn't coming back, Dad." Ciara said suddenly. "I thought you blamed me-"
She burst into tears again, but her father hushed her and rocked her in his arms like he never did before.

"Take all the time you need to make up your mind, Ciara. I'll be back in the morning." Zene whispered in her ear. Then the mystical woman left them alone.

Ciara and her father talked so long, they didn't realize it was morning until Debra walked up behind Ciara.

"What are the two of you doing here, talking in the middle of the hallway like that? Get up,the both of you!" Debra barked at them.

Ciara started to get up, but her father motioned for her to stay where she was. "I'm talking with my daughter." he told her.

"About what? Her horrible grades? Her lack of respect for me? It's about damn time!" she said smugly.

"I've never seen her openly disrespect you, and after talking to her, I wonder if she ever has." he said stonily. All of the color drained out of Debra's face. "Now, I wonder about a lot of things."

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight Dad." Ciara made her escape, realizing the air was about to get very, very cold.

She slept dreamlessly, and woke up sometime before tweleve to see her aunt looking down on her. "Do you have an answer for me?"

"What? Oh...no. Not yet. But to be honest, I'd rather stay with my Dad, if he gets rid of The Vicks."

Zene suddenly got an agitated expression on her face. "After all I've done for you, you're not coming back with me?"

"I'm thankful for what you've done for me, Aunt Zene, you've done the impossible, but my home is here. I want to get to know my Dad."

"You have to fufill the responsibilities your mother had. As princess, it is your duty to rule."

"I'm not going back. My dad needs me. And I'm going to college so I can be needed by my country too. This country. I don't know anything about Swaziland. It can't be perfect, where I'll never have to worry about anything. Besides, I can't let anything happen to Dom-" Ciara put her hands over mouth, but it ws already too late.

Zene pretended not to notice Ciara's little slip of the tounge, and smiled confidently. "Touche. Swaziland is not paradise. I was wondering when you were going to correct me about what I said earlier."

"So you aren't going to make me go with you?"

"No. But I will stay for a few days if you change your mind." Zene got up and walked out.

Ciara lay back down, and was about to drift off again when Ashford and Ashton burst in. "Wake up, Coal!" exclaimed Ashton, taking off her pointy hat and tossing it. "We know how you were dying to go to the ball, so we had to come and tell you everything about last night!"

Ciara got up. "So how many times did the prince avoid you? Five, ten times?" Ashton and Ashford's mouth opened their mouths wide, but they couldn't say anything. Ciara had never talked back to them before. "That's what I thought."

Ciara showered and put on her best rags, then went and knocked on her dad's door. "Dad? I was wondering if you wanted to go out. You usually stay inside so much, I bet you haven't seen the sun in five years!"

Her father, dressed in his best country club clothes, was not pleased to see what his daughter was wearing. "You call that being ready to go? Maybe if you were homeless, and were going to the slums, you could get away with that-"

"Remember every year when you give me fifty bucks for my birthday?"

"Yes?"

"I buy as many clothes as I can." She didn't say it accusingly, just the facts.

"WHAT! Debra hasn't been buying you clothes?" Adrian looked like he had to sit down.

"No. She hasn't. Not since you married her."

"Oh my god. Ciara..."

"Nothing you say will change what I went through. But you can take me clothes shopping today with Aunt Zene."

Adrian smiled weakly. "I'd like that."

Not what you expected huh? "Coal Part 7: 1st Draft"