Disclaimer.. The characters and the song are not mine. The characters' names and a little bit of their background info belongs to the creator of Switched at Birth, one of my favorite TV series on ABC Family. The title of my story and the plot belongs to one of my favorite bands, Paramore.
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Chapter 2:
My bedroom became darker as the night progressed. It was almost pitch-black now. I set down my yellow crayon that I was using to color Belle's dress and walked to the light switch next to my door. I flicked the switch up, turning on the light attached to my ceiling fan, and took a couple steps back towards my table, but I heard Mom sniffling and breathing heavily and the stairs creaked as she took each step. I turned around, walked out my door, and into the hallway. She walked towards me holding a tissue in her left hand up to her nose and stared down at me with her blue eyes as if pleading for me to save her. Her eyelashes were wet and clumped together and the tips of her strawberry blonde bangs were wet from where the tears had dripped onto them where they rested below and slightly to the sides of her eyes. I knew that she had been crying. She cradled my cheek with her right hand and brushed it gently with her thumb. Then she dropped her hand back down to her side, walked down the hallway to her bedroom, and closed the door behind her. Almost immediately after, she began crying.
I took a deep breath and yawned. I walked to my closet and opened the drawer with my pajamas, grabbed my black ones with red hearts on them, and changed. I put my dirty clothes on a pile that I had started a couple days before next to the foot of my bed. I walked back to my light-switch and turned on my panda bear night-light and turned off my big light. I walked to my bed, grabbing Polly the Polar Bear from my tea party table on the way, and climbed in. Normally Mom tucks me in "as snug as a bug in a rug" but I figured that night I could live without it. It was kind of hot anyways.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early. I was always the first one up in my family.
I hopped out of bed and ran down the stairs. When I reached the bottom, I noticed Dad sleeping on the tan couch in the living room. I quietly walked down the hallway. Every time I stepped, my foot stuck to the wooden panels. I reached the kitchen and walked around to the opposite side of the island and washed my hands. I took a few steps to my right and opened the fridge. I lifted the milk carton out of the door and took it to the kitchen table on the other side of the island. Then, I took a couple steps to the left and opened the cabinet. My mom always kept my two favorite cereals stocked. Lucky Charms and Cocoa Pebbles. I grabbed the Cocoa Pebbles box and set it next to the milk. I got a bowl and spoon and sat at the table.
When I finished eating, I put my bowl and spoon in the sink and as I was putting the milk back in the fridge, Dad walked into the kitchen and said, "Good morning, Bay."
"Good morning, Daddy," I replied as I hugged his leg.
I let go of his leg and he asked, "How'd you sleep?"
"Good. I didn't have any dreams though. Why did you sleep on the couch?"
He paused before answering, "I fell asleep on it last night watching a movie and decided to stay there."
"Ok. Wanna see my drawings now? I've colored seven more."
He smiled and said, "Sure."
"Ok! Wait one second!" I exclaimed as I ran down the hallway, up the stairs, down that hallway, and into my room. I grabbed my princess coloring book from the table and ran back downstairs to my dad. He had sat down at the table and began eating his Grape Nuts cereal. I set the book to the right of his bowl. I grabbed the scissors from the drawer to the left of the fridge and set them next to my coloring book so that he could cut out the pages to put on the fridge. He opened the book and cut out the three pages of pictures that I had colored on the front and back. Since there were three new pages, I had to take down three older ones from the fridge to clear space and free up some magnets. Then, I hung up the pictures of Ariel, Jasmine, and Belle.
Mom appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.
"Hi, Mommy!" I exclaimed as she crouched down and hugged me.
"Good morning, Bay. Did you eat breakfast yet?"
"Yup, I had Cocoa Pebbles."
She let go of me and stood back up. Then she said, "Ok. Why don't you go upstairs and get dressed? I need to talk to Daddy," as she stared down at me forcefully.
I said, "Ok," and grabbed my coloring book from the table and went up to my room.
I put on a pair of blue jean shorts and a pink t-shirt with white flowers on it that Mom had laid out for me on my bed. I put my pajamas on my pillow and walked over to my tea party table and sat down in a chair.
Mom walked past my door and Dad followed behind her saying, "Kathryn, please? I'm sorry. You know how sorry I…" his voice trailed off and became inaudible as they walked farther from my room and into theirs.
I flipped open the book to the next blank page and began to color Cinderella.
A little while later, Mom walked by pulling a black suitcase. My dad followed behind her again saying, "Please don't do this. It was a mistake. I feel terrible. I regret what I did." I got up from the table and followed behind them. My mom walked to the front door, opened it, and set the suitcase outside. She stepped back inside, holding the door open, and stared at my dad.
"Who's leaving?" I asked. My parents stared at me, then to each other, and back to me.
Dad said, "No one, Bay. Your –"
"Your dad is going on vacation for a little while." My dad, shocked, whipped his head around and looked at Mom. She avoided eye contact with him and continued to stare at me.
"Where are you going Daddy?"
He looked back at me and said, "I don't really know yet." He had a dejected look on his face and I could tell that he didn't want to go.
I walked over to my dad and he picked me up, hugging me. "I love you Daddy. Stay safe."
"I love you more. And I will."
"I love you most!" I kissed his cheek and he lowered me back down to the ground.
My dad turned and walked to the front door. He paused when he stood next to my mom and he looked at her, but she was staring at me still, doing her best not to look at him. I could tell that she was trying not to cry. Dad walked through the doorway and grabbed his suitcase. He took only a couple steps away before Mom closed the door. She locked it and leaned her back up against the door and began to let out all of her tears. She slid down the door so that she was squatting right above the floor. I walked over to her and hugged her. She stood up lifting me with her and carried me into the living room.
