Let's Play a Game – Chapter 5
The smell of steaming hot coffee and sizzling bacon wafted throughout the kitchen.
While folding a cheese omelet, I heard the slight creaking of the stairs. I look up and see Dad in his morning ritual bath robe making his way down, already done with his morning shower.
"Good morning Dad! Breakfast's almost ready!"
I see him blearily stare at me with surprise, before muttering a quiet "Morning" with a slight smile.
He walks over to give me a kiss on my forehead, before sitting down at the table. I hand him his coffee, then I'm back to the counter and finishing up with his plate.
My cooking skill even at level one was showing its worth. I always preferred making scrambled eggs in the mornings since they were easier. Now, I was handling an omelet with much more ease then I ever had before.
I heard the ding of the toaster, and make my way over to it. A spread of butter and jelly later, and breakfast is ready to be served.
As I set his plate down in front of him, a few blue boxes pop up. I ignore them for right now while I'm so close to Dad.
"Thanks." He took a slow sip of his coffee. "You're up early. You didn't want to sleep in?"
I take my seat across from him, while I do my best not to smirk. "I didn't really feel the need to."
He nodded slightly, before his face scrunched up in confusion. He looked back into the kitchen, and then back to me. "Where's your food?"
I shrugged. "I'm just not that hungry right now." I frowned as I thought about it. I couldn't actually remember eating breakfast at all in the past week. "I haven't been up this early since the hospital, have I?"
Dad shook his head. "No, you haven't. Not since before…" He cut off awkwardly.
"Yeah…" I unhelpfully add.
"Mm." He takes a bite of food and lets out a grunt of satisfaction.
A minute passes in silence.
Stupid, stupid; why did I have to bring the damn hospital up?
Slowly, Dad puts the fork down. "You know, I could have taken care of my own breakfast. You didn't have to worry about it."
I just raise one eyebrow. "Dad, relax. It's just breakfast."
He put his hands up in a warding gesture. "I know. I know. I just…worry." He looks back at the half eaten omelet. "Even when I can clearly see you're doing better…" He looks up at me with a sad expression "…I still worry."
I sigh and give him a sad smile. "You always do, don't you?"
He nods with his own melancholy expression. "It's a father's job to worry about their daughter. Even when they…" Again, I see that face mixed with sadness, a touch of anger, and guilt. Slowly, he looks back down at his food and continues eating.
How was he going to end that sentence I wonder? Probably another lead-in to 'Who put you in that locker Taylor?' A question I still wasn't comfortable answering…
Yeah, this morning's off to a perfect start.
I really shouldn't have mentioned the hospital. God and we were doing so great yesterday too.
I stare at him for a second, before coming to a decision. I mutter a quiet observe under my breath.
I skim the boxes I have up.
Your "Cooking" skill has increased by 1!
Quest Completed!
You have successfully completed the quest "Cooking Breakfast!"
Reward: +500 EXP, Increased closeness with father
Your level has increased by 1!
I pause. As soon as Dad leaves, I'm checking my status again.
Name: Daniel Hebert
Title: DU Head of Hiring
Sex: Male
Level: 20 EXP: N/A
Age: 42 Race: Human
HP: 500/500 MP: N/A
STR: 18
VIT: 15
DEX: 6
INT: 14
WIS: 19
LUK: 4
History: A single dad grieving the loss of his wife nearly two and half years previously. He has put most of his energy into his work to provide for his daughter.
I let out a soft sigh. There's plenty of information to go over in my notebook later, but nothing to help me with Dad right now. The skill description wasn't kidding when it said brief history.
Yeah, I'm going to need to level 'Observe' some more before I can get anything that might help me understand what Dad's feeling.
I know I'm going to eventually tell him everything, but I have no idea when. Just thinking about doing it…makes me uncomfortable.
I take a deep breath. This whole thing with Dad was about taking small steps to change our relationship for the better. If I focus on the small steps now, rather than the whole picture, it won't be so daunting later on when I can tell him about everything.
If I feel closer to him…I'll naturally be more open to talking, right?
…
I look around for any boxes I missed. Huh. I was kind of hoping for a 'Congrats! You're wise!' prompt there…
I did not pout.
Oh well.
I still have the rest of this week before school even matters. So I can put the talk we'll have about it off for just a few more days.
Besides…I'm actually more uncomfortable talking to Dad about the bullying than I am going back to Winslow now…
My powers clearly have affected me mentally…and…yeah, that's slightly scary and concerning now that I put it like that.
My powers pretty much mastered me. Even if it is a good thing that I'm not depressed anymore and I feel confident in myself again…
It's a little creepy.
It's like I got powers that said "Hey, stop being depressed" and my brain went "Okay." That is not how therapy is supposed to work.
Do other people's powers do things like this?
Nope. Stop. That's off topic.
The question is…since my powers affected my mind; will it make the bullying have any real impact on me anymore? If I can just nap depression away, then it's pretty much impossible for them to tear me down anymore. They can't possibly break me now.
There's this other mental aspect of my powers too, where significant negative emotions feel…distant and muted. I still feel them, but I feel more in control of myself. It's like I can put heavy emotions aside while I deal with problems calmly and rationally.
If that affects Emma's emotional bullying at Winslow, it might just make all the difference.
I know I said I didn't want anything to do with that hell hole anymore…but now…things are different.
I glance at what boxes are still up. Things are very different…
My powers will keep growing over time, and I'll develop new ones as skills, but right now what I have is already enough to perfectly prevent them from really hurting me anymore.
I have the ability to literally become both wiser and more intelligent, so I should be able to pull my grades up.
I have this weird emotion power that seems to basically dilute negative feelings. Fuck you Emma.
I have an inventory, so all my homework and belongings are pretty much completely safe now while on my person. Fuck you Madison.
I can even regenerate, so even physical bullying wouldn't really do much long term harm. Fuck you Sophia.
Hell, if they tried something like the locker again…
I shiver a bit.
…and for whatever reason I couldn't stop them, I could probably easily survive it.
Then, an idea hits me.
I blink.
Huh.
There's this one burning question I always have had that I could never answer when my ex-best friend began this living nightmare.
I now have 'observe.'
If I level that up high enough, I can possibly find out why this whole thing even started. Why Emma started this bullying campaign to begin with…
Quest Alert:
Behind the Betrayal
Discover why your ex-best friend stabbed you in the back!
Time limit: Indefinite.
Reward: +5000 EXP
Failure Penalty: N/A
I nod slightly. Yes. I definitely have a reason to go back to Winslow now.
I look over to my Dad.
He's still a bit distracted with the last remains of breakfast, so I do have ample time to poke each box close…but why should I have to poke them?
My power seems to be focused on verbal commands. If I just whisper a command like exit or close, will the boxes go away?
I mutter again under my breath. "Exit."
All the boxes vanish.
Well, that's convenient.
I focus back on Dad.
Small steps. Small steps.
"Dad?"
He manages a slight "Hmm?" with his mouth full of toast.
"With all the time off you've used…" Don't mention the hospital. "…recently, are you back to a normal schedule?"
He swallows, thinks for a second, and shakes his hand in a neutral gesture. "Roughly. I've been trying to catch up on things a little recently. So, you know, I go in early as usual, but I've been leaving a little later then normal." He frowns. "Do you need me to take today off or something? Do you need me home early?"
I shake my head and give my best reproachful look. "No, it's nothing like that you workaholic." He chuckled at that. Okay, my reproachful look needs work. "I was wondering…remember how we used to do game night?"
He blinked, and then his eyes dulled slightly. "Yes, I do."
I knew it was a loaded question, considering who was here during the last Hebert family game night roughly two and a half years ago, but it was the only thing I could think of since I already planned to ask him about it.
"Do you think we could start having game night again, just the two of us on one of your days off?"
I see him smile just barely, the pain still on his face. "Sure thing, kiddo. Sure thing."
I frown to myself. That's a bit too small of a step. I even feel slightly guilty since I mainly thought of the idea for the purpose of building up my luck during those games. I definitely don't want to spend time with Dad just for that…I want it to be more meaningful.
I take a deep breath.
"Dad…"
Okay, small step.
"I know…I've been…distant…a lot lately. Even before the locker. I haven't…talked much about what's been going on with my life with you, but…I want to change that…"
All sense of Dad being tired has vanished. His attention is one-hundred percent focused on me. I nibble on my nervous lips a little, before starting again.
"I'm not…I'm not comfortable talking about things, but…but I want to let you know, I'm going to try to, okay?"
He nods slowly. I close my eyes.
"I don't know when I'll be able to, but I want you to know…I want to talk to you about it…I just…can't right now."
I stare at him with pleading eyes, hoping he understands.
"Does that make sense?"
I see him lean back in his chair and take a deep breath. There's this tension he had about him I didn't notice before, that I can now see slowly drain out of him. He looks back at me with the same relieved smile he gave me when I woke up in the hospital.
"Yes, Taylor. That makes perfect sense."
He starts getting out of his chair, and grabs his finished plate. Before heading to the kitchen, he looks at me with love, very much alive and happy.
"Take all the time you need. Tell me what's going on when you're comfortable, okay?" He frowns slightly. "I know I've…pushed a little here and there, and I'm sorry for it, but if you ever want to talk about anything, I'll always be here for you."
I nod. "Thanks Dad."
I inhale through my nose, and let it out through my mouth.
Now that's a good small step.
