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Mr Gordon clutches tight at his head, running down the stairs like he’s being spurred by hunting hounds. “Ahh,” he groans, pulling at his hair as a wave of neuralgia hit him. His head hurts badly and he needs something to make him stop reckoning about her.
He sights Archie ascending the stairs, nodding his head to the song he’s playing with his headphone. Mr Gordon shove him out of his way without caring to take a look if he had hurt the boy. He groans in pain as he makes his way down the stairs.
He heads straight to the bar and plunges onto the stools, his eyes search the collection of drinks and randomly grabs a bottle of intoxicating liquor he didn’t bother to check the brand. He flicks the lid open and moves the bottle to his lips, gulping the liquor mindlessly without hanging back to catch his breath.
He abruptly stops drinking from the bottle and moves the liquor away from his mouth; gasping for breath; he hasn’t noticed how much breath he had held in until he moves the bottle away from his mouth. However, he keeps staring into space as his mind wanders around when he was inside Melanie’s room.
Those words he overheard replay in his mind, troubling his inner mind.
‘Okay, I love you, baby!’ Melanie’s alleviating voice echoes in his mind, smiling at whomever she is putting a call across to. He grips tightly at the bottle in his hand and thrashes it against the wall. The bottle hit the rail of the bar and it crashes on the floor; shattering everywhere on the floor; with the liquor splashing everywhere.
“Get out of my head!” he cries, banging his fist heavily on the counter.
‘Andy! You call again?!’ Melanie’s voice chants in his head, chuckling loud making his head hurt a lot from hearing her voice echo despite him not being anywhere around her.
“Stop mentioning that name to me, stop saying that name!” He shrieked, panting heavily as he grasp his ears in both hands.
The woman he considered he, had been fooling him all along? She’s seeing another man, right under his nose? While staying under his roof?
“I thought we love each other! I thought we fucking love each other!” he smile sadly, water dribbling down his lids. “Is that your definition of love?” he yells out angrily, pushing away all the beers in the rack.
“Dad?” Archie yells, rushing up to get a grip of his father but getting pushed away by his father, he falls on his back; his hand land on a broken bottle and it split his flesh which makes him cry out in pain.
*
Archie had shrugged off his shoulders when his father pushed past him. He wonder what was the deal with him, noticing his odd attitude since he had got back from his so-called business symposium.
Not wanting to intrude on his privacy, he shakes his head and continues his walk back to his room with the thought of ‘he is an adult, he can take care of himself. Must have been wearied from all that works.’ the journeyed back to his room and plunged into his bed.
To made to turn on his side, in an attempt to change the song playing on his phone when he realised, he wasn’t with his phone.
‘Darn it,’ he had cursed in his mind, he stood up from the bed, making his way out of the room to search for his phone in the only place he thought it would be. The living room is downstairs.
He groaned, not thinking he would have to head back downstairs since he was already feeling sleepy. He was halfway through the stairs when he heard crashing sounds, emerging from the bar. With his heart thumping heavily, he raced to where the smashing sounds is coming from.
Remembering that his father had gone towards the direction of where the sounds is coming from earlier, he let the thought of going for his phone slide and ran off to check if his father hadn’t gotten hurt; considering not knowing what the issue was.
He got to the bar, seeing his father screaming at the top of his voice; he ran up to him to check if he was okay.
“Dad?” He had yelled, rushing up to get a grip of his father but getting pushed away by his father, he fell on his back; his hand dropped anchor on a broken bottle and it split his flesh which makes him cry out in pain.
*
Melanie hears a crashing sound, followed by the muffle cries of Archie, she scampers up to her feet, knowing that it’s just the two of them at home and it’s her responsibility to watch over the boy since his father is not at home.
She’s still his babysitter after all; dating his father or not, she still has every right to watch over and care for the young boy.
She rashly slides her feet into the flip-flop that lay below the bed and sprints out of her room. “Archie! Archie! Are you okay?” she yells, rushing down the stairs with a heavy heart.
‘Did something happen to him? Why was he screaming? Did he fall from the staircase?’ she panic as different weird thoughts run through her mind.
She check around the spacious living room but couldn’t catch a glimpse of him. She made to turn but her gaze darted to the couch and she found his cell phone lying helplessly on the couch.
With her brows arching above her beak, she picks the phone up and glances at it with her mouth falling open. “This is his phone. Where exactly is he?” she gasps when a thought flashes through her mind. “Couch it is that he got kidnapped by some…”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
She is still saying when she hears another crashing sound, this time, it sounds very boisterous and ear-blasting.
She turns towards the direction and gasps when she hears Archie grunt out a word ‘Dad!’
“Dad?” she chorused, staring confusedly at the phone in her hand to the noise from the upper side of the stairs. “Could it be…?” she drop the phone back on the couch and rush up to have a look.
She enters the messy bar and her gaze instantly goes to the floor which is filled with broken bottles and liquid on the floor. She had been there at the bar once and she know how tidy the place used to be. So, what happened? Not that robbers broke in, did they?
She grabs the tips of her long green armless dress and takes a few steps backwards, watching each step keenly, not wanting to step on the broken bottles that littered the floor.
“Archie are you…” Melanie pause her gaze on a pair of long legs clad in a pair of navy blue tuxedos. “Alfred?” she calls out to him, almost in a whisper.
Hearing Melanie’s frightening voice, Mr Gordon’s heart leaps with joy. He turns around, hoping to pull her in for a warm hug. But, as soon as their gaze meets, all he could see is a betrayal; a cheater that needs to be sent away from him.
“Don’t call my name! I don’t want to hear my name from your filthy mouth.” he spat in annoyance, turning away from her. No, he won’t allow her decisive gaze to fool him for the second time.
He runs his hand through his head, standing away from her with his heart threatening to thump out of his chest.
“Dad,” Archie sniffed, moving a bit closer to his father, it has been a while since he had last acted this way, and he wondered what could be wrong that sent him back to his former self.
Melanie doesn’t know what happened to him that’s making him act out of character. She kicks off the bottle that stands sharply at her front with her feet. She strides towards him and stops right behind him, she grips his shoulder, trying to get his attention.
“Baby!” that’s the only thing she says that enraged him.
‘Baby? Seriously, she’s calling him baby now, after he heard her call someone else that name a while ago.’
Mr Gordon turn around to face her. “I’ll slit your throat open if I ever hear you call me that name again.” Mr Gordon yells he titters dryly. He grabs the last bottle on the counter and throws it towards her direction. It hit the wall behind her which makes her jump in fright.
He glares hard at her with a disgusting look, plaster on his face. His eyes shift to her neck, and a thought tells him to check if she still has the necklace.
‘Yes, the necklace.’ he grins wildly, marching towards her, caring less about the broken bottle that is scattered everywhere.
Melanie move back in fear, she didn’t do anything wrong with him but she never can tell.