12: Scars

It was a long night. Sleep was scarce. Partially on account of the excitement for the coming days and partially for the awkwardness and guilt from the falling out with her father. All these years in constant pampering had scarred her personality. The first signs of dawn started to emerge. There was a knock on her door. She hadn’t locked it so she said, “Come in”. She was surprised to see her mother at this hour. Sleep seemed to have evaded Grace as well. She looked more sad than anxious. Sophie realized it. Grace ambled to Sophie’s bed and sat there. Sophie was sure it was something serious. She felt a surge of rage well up inside her and who better than her father to aim it on.
“Did he say something to you?!”, she exclaimed ready to wage a war.
“No! For god’s sake Sophie!”
Sophie stopped speaking but she rolled her eyes and walked out to get a glass of water. Her anger wasn’t extinguished. When she returned, she found her mother weeping. She had never seen her that distraught. She rushed to her and held her hand. Now Sophie was genuinely worried. She was sure Grace had something to say and it was obviously taking a toll on her.
“Sophie, your grandpa named you a decade before you were born”, Grace abruptly started. “Yet you were almost never born”. Sophie stared at her, puzzled.
“A father is assigned many responsibilities of his child but the one he takes on personally is his child’s safety. Failing there breaks a father beyond all repair”.
Sophie expected a lecture on how her father was only trying to protect her. She was getting irritated already.
Grace went on. “Apparently even twenty four years are not enough to heal those wounds”. Sophie’s expressions drastically changed.
“If fate had allowed it, you would have had a lovely big brother”, Grace broke down sobbing. Sophie sprang up to her feet in shock. Her mouth wide open. Her brain barely keeping up.
“Jack was the best thing that had ever happened to us. He had your laugh, your cry and even your appetite. I don’t know why God keeps doing this!”. Grace was depleted. She put her face in her palms. She was trembling as she cried her heart out. Sophie couldn’t hold herself. She dropped on her mother’s lap and shed river of her own. They both ended up comforting one another.
An hour later, Sophie was laying with her head on her mother’s lap as she caressed her hair. The tears had dried up. Both lacked words.
“He was crushed. He blamed himself for losing him. He had started drinking. All the doctors suggested that another child could heal him. It took me years to convince him and here you are”.
Sophie was out of responses. Her mother understood that Mike’s overprotective steps had brewed a lot of negative feeling in their daughter. She also realized that he wasn’t solely responsible. She had supported him in that and in some cases, even suggested some of it.
“Your dad isn’t the villain, you know. He knows how much you have grown to dislike him. He still wouldn’t want me to tell you all this. But I saw the sorrow in his eyes that I only saw once in my life. The day we lost Jack. Now I realize that he’s had enough”.
Sophie felt her eyes well up again. “Can I make it right?”, she desperately asked. The conversation was interrupted by her phone’s ringtone. She already had it in her hands. It was Chloe. She silenced it and threw it away on the bed.
“It’s okay. We can’t mourn forever”, her mother comforted her. Sophie halfheartedly answered the phone. Chloe was ecstatic. Sophie could almost hear her jumping around.
“Chloe! What the heck!?”, Sophie exclaimed, trying to pull her friend into her senses. It took some effort but she was eventually stable enough to talk.
“I just got hired!”, she finally blurted. Sophie, on the other end, contemplated which among the numerous questions that popped up should she ask. She decided to go with, “Congrats, where?”
“Funny story! I got an email that requested my resume. They said that they had found me on social media and were desperate for an employee just like me”, Chloe went on. Sophie was flabbergasted because her best friend’s credentials were pitiful. She was convinced that Chloe was being scammed. She was finding words to tell her that without hurting her feelings.
“I sent them my resume. Fifteen minutes later, they invited me to an online interview. An hour later, they interviewed me and offered me the job. They must be really fuckin desperate”, Chloe added, “I barely got the time to google them. It’s a big-ass corporation with their office in NYC”.
“What did they offer?”, Sophie couldn’t help but ask.
“Thrice what I’m getting right now”
“Holy shit! It must be the Nigerian prince. Chloe, you stupid fuck!”, she thought to herself. Grace closely spectated the exchange.
Sophie controlled her emotions. “Just watch out for any hidden fees or payments”, she managed to say.
“They didn’t ask for shit. And I shit you not! A guy arrived at my doorstep at three in the morning and handed me the air ticket to NYC, business class!”, Chloe expressed her shock. Sophie wasn’t too far away from her friend’s emotions. “I don’t even know what to believe no more!”, she added. “Me neither, girl”, Sophie responded. There was a long silence between them.
“What did you say the name of the company was again?”
“Scribeland Paper Products”
It almost rang a bell in Sophie’s head. “I think I’ve heard of them”, she said. “So, when are you leaving?”
“Thursday. They wanna meet on Friday”
“I’m sorry I asked too many questions. I really am happy for you”, Sophie realized she had asked too much. “I understand Soph. I was having those doubts myself”, Chloe comforted her. “I’ll keep in touch if anything moves”, she added and hung up.
Sophie put the phone down, her eyes still clinging onto the nothingness. “Everything alright?”, Grace stepped in.
“Chloe just got the job of her life”
“Are you not happy for her?”
“No! It’s just… Does Scribeland Paper ring a bell?”, she asked. Grace stared at her funny.
“Good thing you didn’t ask your father. It would have given him a valid reason to be pissed”
Sophie was puzzled.
“Oh for God’s sake! It’s your father’s third most profitable company”
That birthed more questions than answers for Sophie.
“I don’t get it”
Her mother offered a wide grin, “But I do and that’s why I love your father”.