Chapter 7
A whole day had gone past where Mark and Mandy had barely spoken to each other. Mandy was sitting on the couch in the den watching TV, eating her dinner, when Mark came in and sat beside her with his dinner. He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and switched the channel to the news.
"Mark! I was watching that!" Mandy snapped.
"Well I wanna watch the news." He replied.
"Ehh…why do you wanna watch the news for?" She asked giving him a pathetic look.
"Because it's important to know what's going on in this world at the moment, besides it's my house so we watch what I want." Mark explained.
"Whatever." She said and threw a cushion at him.
Mark jumped and dropped his dinner all over himself.
"Mandy!" He yelled.
Mandy shirked and ran out and down towards the long corridor.
Mandy was on the internet chatting to her friends when Mark came into the room.
"I'm going out again tonight; I'll be back around 11 o'clock ok?" He said leaning on the door.
"Yeah." She replied, while typing.
"Ok then." He replied and walked off.
A few hours had past since Mark left and Mandy was still continuing to talk on the net, but in the back of her mind something was bothering her, she kept thinking of that room next to his bedroom, she wanted to know what was inside. She had to know what was inside!
She logged off the internet and headed upstairs, towards the room. She turned the knob and strangely it wasn't locked. She opened the door and walked in. It was dark and she couldn't see much. She made out a lamp in the back corner and walked over to it and turned it on.
She gave a confused look when the lamp had teddy bears on it. She turned around and gasped at what she saw. It was a baby's room!
"What the hell!" She said out loud to herself.
There was a crib and a lullaby hanging above it and a shelf with a few pictures on it. She picked one up and had a closer look of it. It was picture of Mark with his ex-wife and a little girl was sitting on his lap. She couldn't believe what she saw seeing.
Meanwhile Mark had walked in through the front door with his date, Lacy.
"Want anything to drink?" He asked her as he shut the door.
"No I'm fine thanks." She smiled.
He smiled back and wrapped his arm around her and started to head upstairs with her.
"Is she home?" Lacy asked.
"Probably, but don't worry, she'll be on the computer." He replied.
Mark saw that the light was on in the room next to this bedroom.
Mark bit his lip and walked a little faster until he got to the room.
"Mandy!" He gasped.
Mandy jumped and dropped the picture she was holding; it fell on the ground and smashed into pieces.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" He yelled.
"What is going on here Mark?" Mandy yelled back.
"I'll go wait downstairs." Lacy said quietly walking away.
Mark watched her walked down the stairs then walked into the room and bent down and picked up the photo that Mandy had dropped.
"What's going on here Mark? Is there something I don't know?" Mandy asked again.
Mark sighed. "Nothing."
"What? It don't look like nothing!" Mandy said.
"I had a daughter." Mark said quietly, looking at the photo he held in his hands.
"A….what?" Mandy gasped. "Since when? Why haven't I seen her?"
"I don't know, you just didn't, she was sick." Mark said.
"Sick?" Mandy asked.
"Yes, she'd be ten years old now." Mark sighed, placing the photo back down on the shelf.
"I don't understand." Mandy said quietly.
"Well me and Sara got divorced and I got custody of her, she was about two when she became really ill, the doctors said there was nothing they could do….she died in my arms." Mark said emotionally.
Mandy couldn't say anything, her mouth was dry.
"She was so scared, she was clinging to me, thinking what's happening to me daddy? And I'm like, nothing you're gonna be ok, and then she was gone." Mark explained.
"That's why you get emotional whenever I joke about you not having any kids." Mandy said.
Mark looked at her. "The last words I said to her was, you're gonna be ok, but she died."
Mandy was trying to choke back the tears that were starting to form.
"I'm gonna go see Lacy." Mark said and walked out of the room.
Mandy tried to get herself together. She walked into the bathroom to wash her face.
She looked through the window and saw Mark down below in the driveway with his date.
She watched as he kissed her goodbye. Mandy stopped and stared. She couldn't find herself to turn away. The way he kissed and touched that woman made Mandy feel funny. She saw the woman hop into her car and drove off.
Mandy moved away from the window, weird she thought to herself.
She heard Mark coming back up the stairs. "Mark…" She said as he walked past her to his bedroom.
"What?" He asked.
"I'm really sorry about…" She began but was then cut off by Mark.
"Look Mandy I've already gotten enough sympathy and I don't need anymore, especially coming from you of all people." Mark replied and shut the door of his bedroom.
Mandy bit her lip and said quietly. "Well bad luck you're gonna get it."