Alan hasn't come home. When he does, he receives news that may change him.
One Week, One Hope
"Mom was worried about you all night,"
Alan pressed a hand to his chest, frightened at the voice that spoke out from the darkness. Rae turned on the hallway light, her slippers and pajamas awfully crooked. Alan unbuttoned his jacket, thoughts of a warm bed coming into his mind. It was early morning, the sun was still sleeping in.
"I was up all night with her, until she finally let sleep silence her,"
Alan hadn't thought twice about his mother, but with Rae's hunched spine and dragged feet, he wondered what had been the cause for her quiet mood the last couple of days. He finally asked out of concern.
"Rae," he began, "you've been different lately,"
"And? You are never around anymore, maybe you forgot your sister's personality,"
He chuckled, yet felt as if she was truly affected by his recent absences, "That's not it, I'm around,"
"Only when you're not out cheating on Benni,"
He snapped from the last button. Now that he fixed his eyes on Rae's back as she poured cereal in a bowl, he was clearly convinced this was not a laughing matter. The feeling of a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders. He wondered, had Benni found out? It was only a week since he met Terra, although it seemed as if it went by in two days.
"She's been calling the house," Rae stored the cereal back in the cupboard, "haven't you heard?"
"No, I've heard nothing, no one has told me that she's been calling,"
"That's because this is the first time in five days that you've come back to the house," she set her cereal on the table, sitting down to dine before getting ready to go to an environment she hated more than ever.
"It hasn't...," his tongue strolled on a faint sound on for too long, realizing that he had been a mere ghost in his home. He threw his jacket over a chair and sat across from Rae. He needed to know why Benni had called, but he felt as if he knew the reason, "I'm sorry. I didn't know I was out for so long, just know I'm not cheating on Benni,"
"Everyone knows," she slurped, "even Benni,"
"What did she call about?"
"You know, I never thought you'd betray anyone," she swirled her spoon in her milk, "you're my role model and yet, you abandoned a woman who experienced pain out of love for you and gave you a daughter,"
Alan buried his head in his hands. Cheating felt so right. It gave him relief, it gave him air to breath. He wanted to live on feeling young. The responsibility of taking care of a mother and child was too much. Despite it all, he couldn't help the feeling of overwhelming joy that he was a father and that he had a baby girl.
Rae finished her cereal and exited with a whispered, "I know you'll do the right thing," before leaving Alan to sit alone.
In the silence, he went over his past with Benni. She was beautiful, honest, and unlike any other. He had truly felt something surreal within himself every moment he heard her voice, saw her face, touched her skin. Terra was no comparison. She was being used, while Benni, the woman Alan realized he truly wanted, was aware of his fidelity.
He set out in a path toward the phone. If he dialed her this early in the morning, would she hear him out, forgive him? And most of all, would she take him back?
