A Father’s Daughter
One side. Done. Melina carefully switched the mascara wand to the other eye. She remembered as a little girl, how she would watch her mother, before she died that was, precisely coating each lash. She snapped back to reality and twisted open her peach lipgloss. The previous night she dreamed about living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and being free from this life.
Today was important. She was going to see the forbidden love of her life, Will. He said he had a special surprise for her. They had been secretly together for 6 months now and today was their anniversary. Their love had to be kept quiet because of her father.
After her mother died, he had gone almost insane. Every night after work, he stopped at a bar or liquor store to buy alcohol. Month after month, he got worse, not letting Melina go to friends house, or even talk to boys, saying they were nothing but trouble. He knew about Will. But he just thought he had a crush on his daughter, not knowing how involved they were together.
Will lived a couple blocks down away from them. He used to come to her house all the time and sit with her in the huge tree in the front yard. They could climb up to the top and sneak in her window to talk for hours at night. But 2 months ago her father found out that he was sneaking into her room, he banned Will from seeing his daughter.
“Melina! Dinner’s ready,” her father yelled from down the stairs.
“Kay, be there in a second.” She draped the heart-shaped locket her mother had gotten her for her tenth birthday around her neck and ran downstairs. Her father was sitting at the table eating a chicken sandwich. She pulled up a chair and grabbed the other sandwich on the table.
Her father looked at her strangely, “Are you wearing lipgloss?”She took her sleeve and scrunched it in her hand.
“What? No,” she replied wiping her mouth and taking a big bite out of the chicken. “Look, I don’t really feel good so I think I’m gonna head to bed early tonight. I think its just my sinuses.” She threw the uneaten half of her sandwich and threw it away.
He grabbed her arm, “Melina. I’m sorry that I…”
“Dad, don’t,” she cut him off, taking her arm back. “Not tonight.” She ran into the bathroom and brushed teeth then reapplied lipgloss. After reading on her bed until the clock read 12:37, she heard a knock outside her window. Melina jumped off her bed and opened the window. It was Will. She hugged him tightly, “Happy anniversary.”
“Happy anniversary. Sorry I’m late. I had little trouble getting out of the house.”
“It’s fine. My dad is passed out on the couch downstairs.”
He took her hand, “You ready Mel?” She loved that name. He called her that ever since the first day they met. She smiled. Will grabbed the branch outside and swung on the the tree. Then, Melina. She turned to close the window while Will hopped down but it was stuck. Finally, with a loud bang it closed. Little did they know, had woken up her father. She jumped down and they ran across the road to Will’s car.
Almost there, Melina turned down the music and asked, “where are we going?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise. You’ll see in a minute. Oh and this also counts as you 18th birthday present,” he said with a grin. “Now close your eyes.” She heard him open and close his door. Then, he opened her door and she got out of the car. Will grabbed her waist to guide her. She heard gravel under their feet. Then she almost tripped on a rock and giggled.
“Sorry.” Will unwrapped his hands, “Now open your eyes. Happy birthaversary!”
She opened her eyes to the lights of her town reflecting on lake tahoe. In front of her was basket and blanket on top of a huge rock.“Will! its beautiful!” She sat down as he draped the blanket over the two of them. “I can’t believe you remembered that I wanted to come here.” She kissed him on the cheek.
They ate, talked and looked at the stars for two hours. After they cleaned up and drove back to her house, her dad was waiting for her. They climbed to the top of the tree and stood where they would always sit at night. The branches were situated so that it almost seemed as if the couple was being pushed together.
“Thank you for my present.” Melina laced her hand with his, almost twice as big as hers.
He grabbed onto her waist and kissed her. She felt the heat from him radiating everywhere. It felt like time had stopped. Then, all of a sudden, started again at the sound of a gunshot. It was her father, as drunk as could be, standing in the lawn with his gun in one hand and bottle in the other.
“Oh hey silly Willy. Thought I didn’t know what was going on, huh? Well someone was a little too loud leaving,” he said taking another drink.
Melina dropped down on to the ground trying to calm him, “ Daddy it’s not what it looks like.” Will followed her.
He pointed the gun at Will, “Stay right there! Melina get away from him.”
“But I love him!”
No you don’t, get away!”
While he was looking at Melina, Will sprinted at him and pushed him to the ground. His gun and bottle flew across the yard. The two started punching each other in the face and wrestling.
“Dad get off of him,” she started to cry. He was now choking Will, his face turning redder every second. Melina ran to the bottle and smashed it across her father’s head. He rolled off Will, unconcious. “Will! Are you hurt?”
He sat up, “I’m okay.” He put his hand on her face and looked in her eyes. “Melina.”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
“What?”
“I bought two plane tickets to LA. You’re turning 18 in a couple days and it’s our dream to move there. I can’t stand seeing you live with this jerk anymore. You don’t deserve this. So, will you marry me?”
“Of course.”
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