Chapter 1: The Meeting
Part 3
'What the fuck is going on?' She hurriedly stumbled back and found herself in the powder room, staring intently back at the mirror. A young face, much alike in the colour and built of her own, was looking at her encircled by the long midnight tresses falling just below her shoulder. She only came up to maybe half-length in the mirror and looked to be of the age six or seven. The expression in her eyes were those of a trickster who just caught their victim, changed to that of a wounded animal, all frightened and worried about what will happen next. Nia, slowly turning away found herself realizing that the girl resembles her when she was young. 'Emotionally anyway.' Stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door she began to take off her clothes revealing skin covered by goose bumps. Taking off her silver chained belt she placed it on the counter with her bracelet, necklace and graduation ring. Undoing the front of the skirt, it slid off of her and fell onto the floor and soon followed her shirt and bra and boy shorts. Crossing the cold, bare floor she stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water. She let the steam fill up the shower until she could no longer see through the frosted glass that encircled her. Stepping under the shower and letting the hot enticing water sweep over her, she felt her goose bumps finally disappear, for they now had no choice. Leaning against the shower wall, she slid down it until she reached the bottom and sat hunched, letting the water cascade over her. Her mind wandered to her childhood, with her father and mother. Before he died. Before they separated. When he never deserved the title father. When he was still alive.
A young round-faced chubby girl came running up the stairs to greet her father who had just come home from work. To this day she does not know how, but she remembered waking up at the bottom of the stairs. 'He threw me. Why? What did I do? Why did he?' Her mom finally summoned up all he courage to serve him with the divorce papers. She remembers stepping off that bus and her mom having her and her two younger sisters bags packed and in the car. They left right after the bus had pulled away from their house. Dozens of memories flooded back to her, more similar to this and others happier. Then he was killed due to his drunk driving. He was drinking that night because Nia confronted her father about her past and what he had done to her physically, emotionally but above all psychologically. He went to a bar after that. She believed that she might actually accept him as the idea of her father.
Standing up, she shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. The cooler air touched her skin making the goose bumps reappear, but this time for a different reason not due to fear. Water droplets formed paths across her body and descended to the ground reluctantly. Grabbing a towel she dried off herself and slipped into the bathrobe that was hanging on some hooks adjacent of the shower. Picking up her clothes, she put them in the hamper in the closet and proceeded back to the powder room. Placing her jewellery in the little carved box, she found herself, once again transfixed in the mirror. No longer was she wanting to see the little black haired girl, for she was seeing her own childlike reflection of a chubby faced kid encircled in the most muted brown of curls. Picking up her blow dryer she ran the brush through it and as she was drying her hair, became lost in her own thoughts once more.
'Why? Why? Why! Dammit Nia. Who cares why? I do. 'Who cares? It could have been worse he could of beat you. He did. No he could have BEAT you. Raped you. Molested you. He didn't. There you go. See it could always be worse, besides, would you really give those memories up? Yes. Are you sure? No. No, that you would give up those memories or, no that you wouldn't. No that I wouldn't! Why is that pray tell? Because. Because why? Because they made me who I am! They have become a part of me for the better. At least I knew my father...at least I remember him.'