I've always had nightmares. Flashes from my past , before I was adopted. Someone chasing me. Running as fast as my feet would allow me to. The monster. "You're my favourite doll. Come here baby girl." the monster would always say. Fire. Lots of fire. This was usually what my nightmare consisted of. When it gets bad , I always wake up screaming and shivering . My dad always comforts me. The nightmares don't occour very often. But when they do, they leave me shaken.
But sometimes , very very rarely, I dream. About a copper haired man. Holding me. Playing with me. " My little angel" he calls me. I sit in his lap and he feeds me .
This dream never makes any sense to me. But I always wake up feeling happy-ish.
"Annabeth" the man says. I come back to now. How is it possible? It's copper haired man from my dreams. He was the one banging on the door. He looks older than he did in my dreams. 40-45 maybe. He was very handsome . He looked like he hadn't slept for days. His eyes were bloodshot. He was staring at me with , I don't know, love? That was the only way to interpret it. "Annabeth" he whispered. How did he know my name? The copper haired man moved closer to me. Or tried to since my father pushed him back. "Excuse me, who are you? And what business do you have with my daughter?" my dad asks angrily. "Your daughter? YOUR DAUGHTER? HOW DARE YOU ? The gray eyed man growls. " You. I'm going to ruin you for what you have done. For what you have put me through. For what you've put my family through! I'm going to make sure that you pay for what you've done." He says coldly to my father. I'm petrified. He looks murderous. I wonder how he could look at me so adoringly and then the next moment, give my father such a cold look. "Are you out of your mind? Who the hell are you? " my dad is angry too. He pushes me further behind him. "You know bloody well who I am. I'm Christian Grey. Annabeth's father. Her biological father. You kidnapped her. You took her away from us when she was three." the man says. "I did no such thing and you , sir , are out of your mind !" my dad bellows. That makes the copper haired guy angrier. Actually,thats an understatement. He looks like he lost some sort of control and snapped. He charged towards my dad. Before my dad could react I jumped in between them ."Enough!"
I try to push the man away but he grabs my hand. He pulls it to his face. "Annabeth you were so small. So young when you were taken by this-" I interrupt him. "He did not kidnap me. He adopted me. He saved my life. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him. Please don't hurt my dad." I plead with him.
Mr Grey looks like he's trying very hard to calm himself. "Alright. Alright I'll take your word for it. But only on one condition." he stares at for a moment, his eyes suddenly hopefull. "What condition?" I ask him cautiously. "You will come home with me. Right now. Return home with me." as he says , almost pleadingly.
My dad suddenly snaps "what proof do you have that you're her biological father? What he's one of your stalkers Ana? What if he's some psycho?" Dad hasn't even finished his sentence and Mr Grey is pulling out some papers from his briefcase. "We've performed a DNA test. Here are the reports." he hands us the papers. I'm too shocked at first. " But how did you get my blood?" I ask him. He looks a bit embarassed as he explains. "You had donated your blood last month." . " But how-?"
"I'll explain it later. The point is that you are my daughter. Come home Ana .Your mother is waiting for you. Your brother and sister are waiting for you. " he pleads again. The pain in his voice is clear. I'm torn. I look at my dad. He stares back at me. I know he doesn't want me to go. He'd once told me that one of his biggest fears was that my biological parents would come looking for me and then I would have to leave him. I'd laughed and reassured him that the chances of that happening were almost nil. But it had happened. My dads worst fear had come true.
But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to go. Ofcourse I wanted to go. I'd spent my life feeling rejected. I'd always thought that I was an unwanted child. An accident.
That my parents were teenagers who didn't want anything to do with me. Now that I knew that that was not the case, I wanted to know my real parents. I was extremely curious about my family. At the same time I was worried that it would break my dad.
"Alright. I'll come with you. But I just need a minute with my dad" I told Mr Grey. His face broke into a devastating smile. He nodded. Me and my dad walked into the kitchen. I looked at him and it broke my heart , the expression on his face. He looked hurt. "Dad, listen to me. I'll go with him but only for some days. Not permenantly.
and anyways my finals start soon so I'll have to come back. I mean I have to prepare and make sheets and presentations and all. I mean ofcourse even if I didn't have all that I would have come back. " I keep on babbering. But my dad remains quite. "Dad please say something" I beg him. Finally he gives me a sad smile. "Ana love I won't stop you from going. It's your decision to it is also your right to get to know your family. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." I look at him and ask "really? You're not mad at me?". He put his hands on my shoulders and says "You're my daughter Annabeth. That will never change. No matter where you go or whom you go with." .
We walk out of the kitchen. Mr Grey immediatly grabs my hand again. "lets go" he says excitedly. He looks ectatic . Like he's won a lottery or something. He pulls me out but I grab my dads hand one last time and squeeze it and give him a reassuring look. Mr Grey pulls me into the car and gets in the back seat with me. As the car pulls away, I catch a glimpse of my dad and I see a tear running down his cheek. My heart breaks again.