Chapter 13 - celebrating the beauty of the naked truth
Keely stood outside the door, pacing up and down. "Phil, why won't she tell me?"
"Well it sounds like she promised your dad. Maybe she doesn't want to disrespect their promise," Phil said, leaning against the wall.
Keely shook her head. "That's rubbish, and you know it. My mom hadn't spoken to my dad in 13 years. Why would she make a promise to him now?"
Phil sighed. "Who said it was made now? She could have promised him, 3 years ago, but they were just renewing their promises. She's only trying to protect you."
"Well if she was trying to protect me, she'd give me some clue, as to who exactly might be trying to kill me!" Keely almost yelled, but remembering where they were, she swung her voice to a low whisper just in time.
"Well, there's one way to find out what they're saying in there. I'm not sure if it's right, but you can be the judge of that," Phil shrugged, pulling out the Wizrd.
Keely smiled, and grabbed it, and pressed a red button in the middle of it. A hole in the wall appeared, and both Keely and Phil could hear what was going on. The occupants of the room however, had no idea.
"In your own time Mrs. Teslow," the policeman was encouraging her.
Keely stood and watched, suddenly not so sure she wanted to do this.
"Okay. David was…a drug addict. He always used to come in, really out of it, and sometimes he'd hit me. Hurt me. Never that much, because he hardly had any strength. He left no marks or anything, and it didn't really ache. But he still did it," Mandy gabbled.
Keely gasped. "He hit mom?"
Phil wanted to stop this. He wanted to turn back time, and never give Keely the option to look at this. He could tell from the first sentence, that it was going to hurt her. "Keely, give me the Wizrd."
She ignored him, and carried on listening.
"He used to spend most of his time out, probably at clubs where you could get your hands on drugs. I begged him to stop taking them, and usually he promised he would. Until he went out again. Then things started getting hard. He lost his job, and suddenly all the money to pay for the drugs was gone. I was pregnant by now, with Keely and Rebecca."
Keely's eyes widened. "Rebecca? Who the heck is Rebecca?"
"Keels, please give me the Wizrd. I can't let you listen to anymore of this."
Keely turned round to Phil. "Phil, I'm trying to find out the truth. The truth that my mother won't tell me. How else am I going to find this out?"
"You won't. But maybe that's for the best," Phil said, trying to prise the Wizrd from her grip.
"Best for who? My mom? You? Because it sure as heck isn't best for me," Keely argued, and snatched her hand out of his, and focussed on the scene in the living room once more.
"Rebecca?" the policewoman asked.
Mandy nodded, her eyes full of tears. "Keely actually had a twin. One day, David came in, and he hit me. Hard. I fell, and I paid the price with one of my babies. Thank goodness Keely was okay. I left him for a few days then. But something kept pulling me back. I don't know why I kept returning. I was young, and stupid."
"Why didn't she tell me?" Keel whispered, and Phil was clever enough to know that she didn't want an answer.
"Anyway. Keely was born, and for a few months it looked like he really was giving up. Anyway, she was about 15 months old and he went out, and he was really late returning. I was really worried, and rung everyone I knew, trying to figure out where he was. Eventually he came back, beaten up and looking really out of it. Apparently, the police officer who brought him back told me, he had been fighting with another person at the club. He didn't mention any drugs, so I pushed it to the back of my mind; thought that maybe it wasn't drugs, maybe he was just drunk," Mandy sniffed.
The hallway outside was silent, Keely in shock and Phil wishing he hadn't let her look.
"Keely was two years old. She was so cute, and I guess I thought she was the answer to all of our problems. She was the answer to mine anyway. I told myself, if David got drunk, or high on drugs again, I'd take Keely away. I wanted her to have the best life possible. And then he came back. Out of it. Both drunk and full up on drugs I think. And that was it. I told him I was leaving, but he didn't try to stop me. I think he understood why. We moved here, to Pickford. But now he had no money coming in. He didn't have my money, and he wasn't making any money. One day, he rung me up, telling me that he was in debt, but I couldn't help him. I hardly had any money, and I had two mouths to feed. That was the last time I spoke to David. Up until the other day. I know he went into rehab, got himself clean. His mom told me. And that's when I decided to let him see Keely. Because he was her father, and I knew, that if he was over the drugs, he'd be able to see what he had caused. A life without his amazing daughter," Mandy finished. "I don't know who killed him, but I just thought that might help…"
The police officers nodded, and the policeman got up and began walking toward the door.
"Keely! Turn it off!" Phil hissed, as they watched the policeman getting closer.
Keely was frozen in shock though. Her dad had been a drug addict. He had killed her twin sister. He had hit her mother. He had got himself in debt.
"Keely!" Phil lunged at the Wizrd, and managed to hit the red button, just as the policeman opened the door, and beckoned them back in.
Keely walked in, in silence. She looked at her mother, who was crying. At the police officers who looked grim. At Phil who was looking at her. And she cracked.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she screamed at Mandy.
The police officers looked confused. "Keely, what are you talking about?"
"I heard every second of that conversation. Every single second. And I want to know why you kept it from me!" Keely yelled.
Mandy was sobbing uncontrollably now. "I just wanted to protect you. I wanted you to love your father, and telling you that would have turned you against him."
"Why couldn't you have left the decision up to me? Why did you have to be so self-obsessed, and only think of you? What about me? Don't you think I deserved to know that I had a twin sister? Don't you think I deserved to know that my dad was a drug addict? Don't you think I deserved to know all that?"
Mandy tried to wipe the thousands of tears that were running down her cheeks. "I thought you deserved to know, but I couldn't spoil your life. You had great friends, and you thought you had a perfect mom and dad. What was wrong with you having that? I promised myself, and your dad that I would never tell you, because I wanted you to love your father."
"Mom, I wouldn't care if dad was in the Mafia, or a hit-man. He would still be my dad, and I'd still love him. More than anything," Keely explained, the tears getting the better of her as well.
Mandy nodded. "I realise that. But I just thought…"
"Can you do me a favour mom?" Keely asked.
Mandy nodded. "Anything."
"Can you stop thinking about things, and do what feels right?"
---
The police officers left at about midnight. "We'd strongly advise that you don't leave the house tomorrow. If the murderer was the person in charge of David's debt, he might decide that he hasn't got it all back yet. He may decide that he needs to kill one of you to repay him. Maybe even all of you."
"Great way to reassure us it'll all be alright," Keely croaked, sarcastically.
"If you remember anything else, please do not hesitate to call us," the police woman mentioned before leaving. "Oh, and there will be a patrol car outside. They're making sure no one sneaks in at night."
"That's going to help me sleep. Two middle-aged guys drinking coffee and eating doughnuts watching over us. You sure you don't want me to leave the house key under the doormat?"
Phil bit his lip. As unfunny as this situation was, Keely's sarcasm was going to make him laugh.
"Good luck," the policeman said, and then they left the house.
Keely wrinkled her nose. "Good luck. As if I'm going to be playing a football game or something. Good luck to you too!"
"Guys, do you want to watch some TV? I think we can safely say that none of us are sleeping tonight," Mandy said, and pulled some blankets out of the airing cupboard.
Keely took them and sighed. "Mom, tell me the truth. Did you still love dad? Even after all he did to you?"
Mandy was silent for a minute, and then turned to Keely and looked her in the eye. "Yes. I did. Because, like you, I didn't care if he was in the Mafia or a hit-man. He was still my husband."
"So why did you leave him?"
Mandy was silent again. "Because when you love someone, you have their best interests in mind. I had two people's best interests in mind. David's. If he had hurt you in any way, he would have been guilt-ridden forever. So taking you away, meant that he could see what he'd lost. And yours. If he had hurt you, then I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. It was in your best interest to take you away."
"Mom?" Keely asked.
Mandy turned back to her and smiled. "Yes?"
"Thanks for the truth."
---
The TV was still on. The end credits of Titanic faded, and the light went out. Mandy sniffled once more.
Titanic was her favourite movie, and the events of this past week, made her need to cry.
She turned of the TV, and walked over to the window of the living room. The patrol car was outside, as promised. The street lamps were on, and the whole street was silent. There was nothing suspicious around. Mandy felt strangely calm.
Maybe it was the weight of the truth being lifted off her shoulders.
She turned back to where her daughter and Phil had been, and smiled. Keely had her head on Phil's shoulder, and his head, was rested on her head.
"Night you guys," she whispered, as she threw a blanket around them.
Keely smiled, but whether it was in response to her mom, or in her dream it wasn't clear.
Mandy spent a few more minutes looking at Phil and Keely, wishing she could go back to that age. Her and David, best friends, but also childhood sweethearts. She smiled at the fact that history was repeating itself. Although she was pretty sure that Phil would treat her daughter better than David had treated her. Phil wasn't the type of person to become a drug-addict. She didn't know how she knew, it just didn't seem the type of thing he would do.
She tilted her head, and smiled. Keely always came back with more stories to tell, and it became more painstakingly obvious each day that they both loved each other. And it was only a matter of time. Because if an incident like this couldn't bring them together, she didn't know what would.
It was only a matter of time…
Thank you alotlikelove for your Mafia idea. I did put the word Mafia in the story…;-D
I gave you a little bit of Pheely. Not much however, but I gave you as much as this chapter could take. Because if it had Pheely, and drama in it, I think the world might implode.
Not as big on the cliff-hanger here. But there will be one in the next chapter. A colossal one! So watch out for that!
So now you know David's secret. But not who killed him. Hmm…I would say I take guesses, but I don't think you'd get it…because they're not actually in the show, so…
Must be the longest chapter I've ever written. Over 2000 words. Go me!
Not much else to say, except: REVIEW! NOW!
Thank you.
