"I'm Charles Toronto, and I'm your father's parole officer." The man said as he brushed past me, tugging my father along with him. I didn't notice it until now, but my dad had his wrists cuffed together behind his back.
"Come in, please." I muttered sarcastically under my breath. In an instant, Toronto stopped and turned on his heels, now facing me.
"What was that, miss?" Toronto asked sternly, glaring at me, even though I knew he heard me. When the death stare was over, he shoved my dead onto the couch and sat down next to him. He gestured for me to sat down.
No, I'm just going to stand her all night. I thought to myself, trying not to look like an idiot as I glared at the man in the black suit and my father. Without further ado, I sat down on the couch across from the pair. There was about three minutes of silence before Toronto spoke up again.
"So here's the deal; your father here has been showing excellent behavior and his lawyer suggested being released a few months early for it." Toronto said in a matter-of-factly attitude. So far, I couldn't believe it. "But, of course, we need your permission before we can do anything like that."
My father looked up at me, giving me a sorrowful look. For a second, I almost felt kind of sorry for him. But only almost. It was as if the rest of his life weighed on my shoulders. My choice would determine how he would life for the next couple of months. I almost told him to leave and never come back, but then I started thinking again. I thought about my memory of the Halloween movie night all those years ago, and in the moment, it was as if I had forgiven him for everything. As if I could maybe just channel that inner him, to see if I can bring out the father that I had that night.
Maybe, with enough work, I could even convince my mother and brother to come back. Maybe if I could just fix my father up, back to his old self. Well, not exactly his old self. Better than his old self. A version of him that would acknowledge his daughters existence, maybe even love her. All it would take would be some family therapy sessions and maybe a few heart to hearts with each other. Of course, Jade would have to be apart of this, considering she lives here now.
Maybe this could work out.
From upstairs, I could hear Jade stomping around. The noises went on for a good five minutes before they started to travel towards the staircase. My heart nearly stopped; I didn't want her to see Charles Toronto here with my father. Especially not at this time of night. Things could go very wrong very fast. A few seconds later, I heard her clomping down the stairs.
"Cat! Have you seen my-" Jade said as she appeared from the stairs. "Cat… what's going on here? Who is that?" she asked with a noticeable hint of shakiness in her usually strong, stable voice.
AN I'm not exactly all that familiar with how parole works and everything, so if I get something wrong, would you please (kindly) correct me? Any advice on how it works would be much appreciated, as well.
Thank you :]