A Family Once Again

         The soft giggle of a little girl filled up the playground, the girl was sitting on the swing while she demanded her father push her higher

“Higher Daddy!” She squealed as the giggles exploded out of her. “Higher!”

The father only replied by pushing her higher and chuckling as he did, other kids watched jealously as their parents had refused to push them on the swing.



         Rain began to pour down on her as she sat on the swing alone in the darkening playground, this is where she spent most of her time when she wasn't home and every time she was there, she found herself fondly remembering the day her father had taken off from work to take her to the park as a special treat. Eva sat on the swing, a half eaten slim jim in one hand and a mnt dew in the other as her messenger back hugged tightly to her shoulder. Her clothes started sticking to her as she looked over at the empty swings beside her, there in her imagination stood her father, pushing her on the swing. The sun seemed to shine on only that spot as if that memory would forever play out there just to be a constant reminder that he had left her with her mother, a week after their special Saturday together.



         Eva stood up and spit at the memory as she walked away from that playground, from that hell that would forever haunt her. Her father if that is what you could call him would never return and he would never know the pain that he had caused her the day he didn't come home from work. Eva paced herself as she walked home, sipping from the bottle and tossing it to the side once it was empty. The last place in the world she wanted to go was to her house, she knew that if she were to go home her mother was there waiting to bother her with questions of where she was and why she didn't come home with the drinks she wanted. Eva’s mother had issues, she was a little bit on the off side, her mind as the doctors said had stopped aging at the age of 15 and that made Eva feel that she had to be the adult most of the time. Her mother would beg to differ but that didn't change how Eva felt. As she walked through the door her mother greeted her with a snarky.



         “ Didn't your mother ever teach you to come in out of the rain?” Eva sighed and smirked “No but she did teach me how to be as annoying as humanly possible.” Eva scowled and walked to her room slamming the door, her wall covered in dark paint and posters that she had bought off friends or had stolen from the store. Ever since her father left, she didn't care much what people thought of her. She didn’t care what would happen to her in the future but she was sure that eventually she was going to kill herself, she was just plotting it perfectly. She had rented and owned tons of movies where people had killed themselves and she found the ice water and the cut wrist would be to expected. The bottle of pills would take to long, the gun to the head thing was over done and she was not prepared to hang herself, no matter how interesting she thought the gallows were. She was soaked to the bone as she changed into a black t-shirt and sweatpants, she laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling the thoughts of her father started to swell up in her mind as she screamed and shoved a pillow over her face, she hated the thoughts of him because all she could remember was the good times that they had together and then all the time that had past since she was just the five year old little girl who had to console her mother when her father decided to leave them.



         Her father was a strong man and he had taken on the baking business, he owned his own shop called Nana’s Delicious Pastries, he had named it that because the special name her mother and father had for her was Nanook and for short Nana. He was a busy man and most of his time was spent sitting in that bakery and filling out orders, it was nothing for him to be there for hours on end, but one day he took off and surprised her with a visit to the playground and then a week later, everything seemed normal till he was gone. Eva was unable to grasp the idea that he was gone until she got older, as the years passed the more she learned that it wasn't her mother that her father had left, it was her. No matter what anyone said it was all about HER, he didn't want her though he always said he only ever wanted a girl. One of her main arguments when her and her mother got into it was “I was the girl, I was supposed to be special, If i was so special why didn't he love me or want to stay with me.” Just these thoughts made tears well into her eyes and she found it hard to breath when she was thinking about it.



         No argument in the world could change her feelings and no ones love was going to make it any better, her plans were final and had been set in stone. After and hour or so of crying, her tear stained pillow was left on the edge of the bed as she walked to her small window and pulled it open, on dark nights like this she could swear she heard his voice calling to her and she could swear, she saw him staring in through her window, looking at her and smiling, mouthing the words “I love you.” Every night she would look out the window and watch for him for hours, only to find herself staring at the darkness and below the busy street filled with cars. That was another way she had thought to kill herself was to leap from that window that seemed to bring her the most pain at night, to fall to the ground below and have the only memory of her be the blood splatter of her dead body on the pavement below.



         Many nights she would lean very far out the window until it felt like she was going to fall and like she had lost her grip but something would stop her, maybe it was the gripping force of her mother that made her feel like she couldn't do it. Even though she hated the life she had would so be able to leave her mother behind. Unlike most nights a soft knock came to the door as Eva quickly shut the window and walked over yanking the door open.

         “We need to talk.” Her mother said in a solemn voice

         “About?”

         “I think maybe you should go away for a while.” She coughed “I think we should move and start a new life somewhere far away from the memory of your father. It seems to be eating you alive Nana.”

Eva froze as her throat closed and she felt that strange inability to breath like she felt when thinking about him.

“We can’t leave.” Eva whispered and then looked at her mother “Well, you can, but I can’t.” She said grabbing her black leather jacket and putting her shoes back on. She quickly scooped the messenger bag off the chair and flung it over her shoulder.

With tear filled eyes she looked back at her mother and smiled, waving “I’ll be back..” She walked out the front door and ran down the front stairs as she ran to make sure her mother wouldn’t be able to keep up with her.





         She had told her mother many lies but this is the first one she knew was going to hurt her. She never wanted to leave this place because if they did the only memories Eva would have would be the ones in her head and those were foggy. Her mother had planned to make her leave, so she didn't have much time left to finish off her plans. She walked towards the arterial and she heard all the cars rushing past, she watched as they zipped past. Then it dawned on her, she would walk in front of the traffic, no one would be able to stop the speeds they go rushing down that road, it was the most used road in the entire city. As she stepped up the cross walk a car was approaching from behind her, she turned and faced it smiling, tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared at it’s head lights.



         “Daddy, I will be with you soon.” She closed her eyes and spread her arms out looking up to the sky and smiling “I will be with you forever.”

The car horn sounded as she didn’t move, she looked down and watched the head lights they were blinding, she teared up and strangely enough she smiled. The car horn sounded louder as she felt a quick jolt she knew this was it, in a flash she was knocked out and she thought she was dead. It was strange though, she didn’t feel the hard impact of the car, she didn’t feel the cold pavement on her back, she didn’t hear the sound of screams as the person who just hit her was looking down at her dead body. What she did feel was warm, and comfortable, she thought for a moment as she realized that dead people....don’t think.



         Moments later her eyes were open, she looked at him and smiled, she then believed she was dead. Her father was standing above her, tears running down his cheek as he watched her and they hugged for the first time in twelve years.

“Daddy, I killed myself to be with yo..” He cut her off, placing his finger over her lips and sighing.

“You aren’t dead Nana, I have been watching you and I...I just couldn’t lose you again.” He whispered as he lifted her up some.

“Does that mean you are going to leave me again?” She asked in a dream like state.

“No Nana, Never...But I have to do something.” He leaned down and placed his lips to her cheek, kissing it softly, then he moved his lips down and whispered “I promise this will hurt but you won’t remember it.”

And with that, he sunk his fangs in, with a sharp squeal she was finally to be with her Father forever. The Vampire. The Venture. The Dead. The Family once again.