Kim walked in the house, back from her friends early. She sauntered through the house but then stopped dead in her tracks as she saw her father. He was leant forward in his chair, elbows on his knees with his head resting in his hands. From the look of it he was crying, but that couldn't be right, could it? She slowly backed away and slipped unnoticed down the hallway. She quietly opened the door and slammed it shut again, a lot louder than she had the first time, so he would know she was home.
"Mom? Dad?" She yelled, taking her time as she walked down the hallway. If her father was crying she knew he would not want her to see him doing so. She had only ever seen him cry once, when she was a little girl, she couldn't even remember what it was over. She could remember, however, how embarrassed and angry he had been at himself for letting her see him that way.
She walked into the room a second time and saw her father 'reading' the newspaper, looking as though lost in some article. His eyes were red. She smiled to herself as she realised she was right - he was upset and was trying to hide it from here. Typical, she thought, keeping everything inside, hasn't he herd the old saying, "a problem shared is a problem halved?" ((Edit: LMAO! Had to put that in - I could just imagine her thinking such a thing - she's such an idiot!!))
"Hi daddy." She said, sitting down next to him, forcing him to discard the paper. Not that it mattered, they both knew he hadn't been reading it - only he didn't realise Kim knew this, despite the slight smirk forming on face, in triumph of her knowing something he didn't, it was a rare occurrence.
"Hi sweet." He said, his voice shaking slightly.
"Where's mom?" She asked, curious if she had told him something to make him so upset.
"Erm, I don't know, she went off somewhere, for a drive, I think."
"Oh." Kim said, understanding the situation a little better. "So did you two fall out or something?"
Jack looked at her, he didn't want to tell her about his problems, she was just a child. It would be cruel of him to put his problems on her, he would have to screw the cap on the bottle which was housing his worries and fears even tighter.
"It was nothing sweetie, I'm sure everything will be fine." He said, trying to reassure himself more than anything.
"Are you okay?" She asked, seeing through his week attempt to get her off the subject.
"I'm fine." He said, adding a fake smile.
All right." She said, finally believing him as she snuggled up to his arm for a moment before getting up to go into the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee?"
"No thanks. I think I'm going to go for a run, clear my head some."
Now she knew something was wrong - he hadn't even busted her for trying to have some coffee when she knew full well she wasn't allowed it.
He turned to leave but Kim called out to him before he could do so. He turned around, the smile still plastered on his face.
"Your not moving out again are you?" She was scared of the answer. She had secretly feared this happening ever since her and her mom had been kidnapped. Her mom had seemed angered at him about it - so she had thought her mom would tell him to get lost again like she had last time.
Jack sighed and sat down again, motioning for her to join him.
"Me and your mom had a fight, that's all. But no, I'm not moving out." 'At least not yet,' he thought.
"What was it about?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Jack started to laugh as he answered, "I don't know."
Kim pulled her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"Then it can't have been a bad argument then."
She had the best intentions in the world, but her words were making everything seem worse to him. Should he know what was wrong? Had he missed something or not noticed something he was supposed to have?
Kim got up and sauntered into her room, Jack watched her as his eyes flooded with tears again - though this time they didn't not spill over the brim. What he would give to be a carefree teenager again, without a worry in the world.