Simon awoke with a jolt, sitting up in bed as fast as he could as the sound of his daughter screaming for him finally reached his ears.
He was still half asleep, his hair was sticking up in all directions and his t shirt was somehow
twisted right around, basically cutting his air supply off. But despite all that he was scrambling out of bed at the speed of light, his daughter needed him and that was all that mattered.
As he stumbled into the kitchen of their small flat, he found the little girl stood
near their front door, perfectly fine. She looked as if she had just woken up as well, her own blonde hair mimicking her fathers.
“Bellie, you can’t do that.” Simon groaned, rubbing his eyes as he finally sorted himself out.
“Dad.” Annabelle whispered, her eyes wide as
she clutched her rather old, stuffed rabbit to her chest. “There are people outside.”
“We live in an apartment complex.” Simon explained as he walked over, plucking the girl up off the ground. “There are always people outside.”
“No but it’s different!” The five year old
whined as her dad placed her in her chair at the small dinner table they had. “They are right outside the door! Then they leave! And come back again! It’s the same people!”
“Probably just someone moving in.” Simon yawned, wandering over to the fridge to see if he could
salvage something for breakfast.
“We should go say hello.” The little girl mumbled, kicking her legs happily. “They might need our help!”
“I don’t think so.” The older man hummed as he started to fix them their breakfast of cereal. “I think they’re fine.”
“Dad!”
The girl shouted, a pout riddled on her face. “Pop-pop says we should help people when we can!”
“That’s gold coming from Price.” Simon scoffed under his breath as he joined the girl at the table. “That’s sweet Bellie, but I don’t think they want us to bother them.”
“No fair.”
The little girl pouted, angrily poking her cereal with her spoon. “What if they want to be our friends.”
“Making friends with neighbours is never a good idea.” Simon warned his daughter jokingly, but he would take it back almost immediately as
their new neighbours decided to greet everyone by playing the beastie boys as loud as they could.
“Oh you got to be kidding me.” Simon groaned, putting his head in his hands. “They couldn’t have picked a better song?!”
“I like this song.” Annabelle declared, grinning at her
father.
“Sure you do.” Simon rolled his eyes, getting up from the table to put their breakfast dishes away.
Doing his best to ignore the loud music and what he assumed was hammering next door, he got his daughter ready for the day. She was always easy in the morning,
which he was thankful for because if she wasn’t his life would be infinitely harder.
“You stay here until Dad’s ready, okay?” Simon said, placing the girl in her play corner. Their space was small and cramped, but he did his best to provide anything he could for her.
“Kay!” The girl chimed happily, grabbing her dolls out of the basket.
Simon heaved a sigh as he got up and wandered off to the bathroom, finally climbing in the shower.
Almost as soon as Annabelle heard the shower turn on, there was a soft knock at the door.
Now the five year old knew better than to answer the door, especially when she was alone.
But curiosity had gotten the better of her today.
She climbed to her feet, wandering over to the
front door.
Standing on her tippy toes, she managed to grab the handle, proceeded to pull the door open ever so slightly.
Out in the hallway stood two unfamiliar men, both of whom looked rather scary.
Annabelle knew better than to talk to strangers!
But one of them was
holding a cake…
“HI!” She chirped loudly. She had never been one to shy away from things and people she didn’t know, even if her dad told her it was bad. She was just a friendly kid.
“Hiya.” The first one said. He had a weird hair cut, Annabelle did not like it AT ALL.
“Any parents around kiddo?”
“No, dads in the shower.” Annabelle nodded sincerely. “Do you want something?”
The two men looked at each other and shared a rather amused grin before the one with the weird haircut crouched down to her height.
“Well, we are your new
neighbours. We just thought we might bring this as a peace offering.” He said, offering the cake to her.
“Oh you’re the loud ones!” The five year old exclaimed happily. “Dad does not like your music. He says you’re annoying.” She nodded sincerely.
The two men held back
their laughter again, letting the girl take the cake from them.
Simon on the other hand was just enjoying his shower.
He had hoped his day would have been smooth sailing from there, but really what did he expect?
As soon as he shut the shower off and heard voices, he knew something was wrong.
Still half wet, he scrambled into his sweatpants, nearly falling face first onto his bathroom floor as he raced to get back to the living room and back to his daughter.
Best case scenario? It was
Price. He had a key to their flat and would often come over unannounced.
Worst case scenario? Someone has broken in.
He rushed into the main area of the flat as fast as he could, looking rather out of breath as he saw his daughter standing in the doorway talking to two
strange men.
Dad mode was enabled immediately.
“Bells get away from the door.” He demanded, walking over to them in a huff. The two men looked rather shocked to see him, immediately straightening up.
“Hey-“ one of the men started. “We’re you’re new neighbours, we just
wanted to say hello and make a peace offering.” He chuckled, holding a hand out for Simon to shake. “I’m Johnny, this is Kyle.”
Simon just watched the pair with a judgmental look before he spoke.
“What kind of weirdos offer cake to a child they don’t know when they’re alone?”
He spat out, not giving either of them a chance to reply before he slammed the door in their faces.
The child was unfazed by all of this.
“Look at the cake dad!” She chimed happily. “I like Mr. Soap! We should give him a cake as well!”
The air around him seemed thick and wet on his tongue as careful blue eyes tracked every single movement the saintly man made. His throat drying up along with any words he was about to speak.
Exposed knees pressed against roughened cobble, and reddened knuckles clasped above his heart. Every sign of obedient devotion to the outside eye, however on the inside, John was seething.
“Kneel here until you learn your lesson.” His father demanded,
his punishment for the young man’s outburst earlier that day. John didn’t believe he had done anything wrong, but apparently fighting the son of a lord was not becoming of a young man.
He was already the town pariah and an embarrassment to his family, so angering the lords of
the village was his fathers last straw.
“He deserved it.” John muttered under his breath, clasping his hands tighter in an attempt to quell his anger.
After a few moments, when he was sure he was alone, John looked up.
His blue eyes faltered for a moment, tracing the edges
“You know what? I think I should turn this into a business.”
“What? Crashing weddings and chasing off the guests so you can steal all their food and their venue?” Simon chuckled, nudging Valeria who was currently cutting
the cake that was supposed to be their wedding cake.
“Yeah. I bet it will make so much money.” Valeria grinned. “Especially if we steal from rich people.”
“I admire your ambition.” The man just grinned, using his fingers to swipe a bit of the icing off.
Buttercream.
His favourite.
“I’m glad to see you smiling again.” Valeria mused happily as she turned to look at the party around them. A once wedding reception now turned into a very lively break up party.
“It feels good to smile again.” Simon nodded at her. She looked as if she was
The young man felt his breath catch in his throat as that statement reverberated around the half empty church. Suddenly he felt all his senses come back to him and he was back in his body again, a hopeful feeling
“And rainbows have nothing to hide.” The lyrics from his childhood lullaby barely audible as the young man sat in front of the mirror, unsteady hands attempting to tie the tie around his neck.
Surely it should have sparked some kind of excitement or happiness within him, but it didn’t. Not today. It felt more like a noose today, it’s heavy weight hanging around his shoulders, waiting for him to step off that ledge and sign his life away.
but in his mind he didn’t believe he deserved anything else.
He had such a hard time after his first failed wedding. Simon believed it was his fault that John had left him, that he wasn’t good enough. Wasn’t loveable enough.
Gary had barely slept that night, not even moving as he stared at the ceiling. He lay there, as catatonic as a corpse, as he played through the last few days events in his mind.
John was here to ruin his life, as he always did, ever since they were kids.
Gary was Simon’s first friend.
Gary was the one who had been there for Simon his entire life.
Gary was the one who picked up the pieces when they needed to be picked up.
He was there first.
And then that snivelling little boy came along and suddenly Simon’s eyes were no