by Silver, Ruth
“Olivia?” His voice was soft, almost kind. If he hadn't left us, I would have been relieved to see him. I had thought he was dead. A part of me had died finding out he was alive. Maybe it was a terrible thing to think but it was the truth. I'd put the man on a pedestal. Believed he was bigger than he was, greater and more important. I idolized him, until I learned the truth.
He didn't come into the small room, and I was thankful for the space. I faced him, crossing my arms against my chest. “What do you want?” I tried to look tough. I wanted to feel tough, strong, unbreakable.
“To explain.” He stared at me with soft eyes, and I felt my insides want to melt. I wouldn't let it happen. “Everything has been a misunderstanding.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” I muttered. “Go on.” I waved for him to continue.
He sighed heavily, taking a step closer towards me but still not reaching past my door. “You were just a child of five when I left. I wanted to tell you the truth that you were not part of 'The Day of the Chosen.’” He elaborated, “I thought you deserved to know the truth. Your mother didn't agree with me. She felt you were too young to keep such a secret. She worried it would have endangered your life. She may have been right but I was stubborn, Olivia. I didn't want you to grow up and resent us for lying to you.”
“So what? You faked your death and ran off to Torv to marry Chloe and have a new daughter?” I spat back.
He grimaced. “I see how it could look that way, but that's not how it happened. Your mother and I fought about it constantly. One night I gave her an ultimatum. I tell you the truth, or I leave. I didn't think she'd tell me to go but she did. She pointed towards the door. She kicked me out.” He shook his head. “You know Genesis forbade divorce. Marriage was deemed the perfect system because the government determined one’s match. If I left your mother, they would have banished me. It was better I left without causing a big scene. Trust me.” He emphasized, “It was safer for you.”
“You could have come back for me.” I stared at him, appalled that he was acting as if he'd done the right thing in all of this. “It still doesn't explain the fire, your funeral, any of it.”
“No,” he sighed, hanging his head. “I was a coward and I left during the night. Climbed over the stone walls and made it into the Gravelands. I walked for days until someone from Torv found me and brought me in, looked after me. It was only after I reached Torv that I heard there had been a fire back in Genesis and I was presumed dead. I thought you were better off believing that, Olivia. I thought it was better than knowing I abandoned you and your mother.” He hung his head in shame.
I wasn't convinced he told the entire truth. “I saw Mom.”
He sighed, glancing up at me. “How is she?”
“Fine.” I didn’t elaborate.
Gavin nodded slowly. “Fair enough.” He didn't push and I was glad he left it alone. “I've always missed you,” he admitted, glancing down the hallway at Chloe as she waited for us to finish conversing. “She was there for me. As a friend first and foremost. The rest with time just happened. We hit it off and her daughter Zarrah reminded me so much of you.”
“So you replaced me,” I muttered.
“I didn't, I hadn't meant to.” He shook his head. “I'm sorry. I know you probably hate me, I just wanted closure before you left.”
I shifted anxiously on my feet. “Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean I won't come back to visit.” Though I didn't feel any desire to come to Torv to visit him, I was still welcome in town. “I'm sure you did what you thought was for the best. Maybe it was, for you,” I acknowledged.
“I am sorry, Olivia. You deserved a better father.”
“I deserved a father,” I answered, staring sadly at him. I couldn't easily forgive him, but at least I understood a small part of what had happened.
I turned around, zipping my bag and slipping on my shoes. I grabbed my duffel, sliding it over my arm before heading out of my room. I shook Gavin's hand. It was all I could do. A small gesture, a sign of almost being able to move forward. I refused to hug him. He still wasn't a father to me. At least not more than biologically. He and Chloe walked down the hallway together. I stopped by the next door and gave a prominent knock. Joshua should have been packed and ready to go by now.
“Josh, you ready?” I called to him as I knocked again. There was no answer. I tried the door and felt the handle loose, broken. I pushed it open and saw that the contents of his bag had been scattered on the bed along with a note. It was definitely not his handwriting.
The honeymoon is over. - Craynor
I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. I grabbed the note, left my bag in his room, and took off for the elevator. Repeatedly, I hit the button, pounding on it for it to come faster. “Damn it!” I screamed, growing frustrated with every passing second. I hadn't heard a fight when Joshua had been taken. He wouldn't have gone willingly. I knew that about Josh, and he hadn't so much as tried to contact me telepathically. I knew if he was alive and conscious he would have tried.
Just as I turned to head for the stairs, the elevator dinged. I jumped in, pushing the button for the lobby. I paced nervously until the doors opened yet again and I ran from the building as fast as I could to where the meeting with the representatives of each city had met. I knew chances were slim they were still conversing. What other choice did I have? I didn't know how to call an emergency meeting, and this was important!
Running through the tiled floors, I slipped, but caught my balance before pushing open the heavy wooden doors. I was surprised to see about half the members still in session.
“Olivia?” They nodded at me, taking a momentary pause to see what the rush was about.
“Joshua's gone missing,” I gasped between breaths, shoving the note on the wooden table in front of them. “The former governor of Genesis has taken him.”
About the Author
Ruth Silver attended Northern Illinois University and graduated with a Bachelor's in Communication in the spring of 2005. While in college, she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004. Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love of writing led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia. Silver enjoys reading, photography, traveling and most of all writing. She loves dystopian and fantasy young adult stories. Her debut novel published by Lazy Day Publishing, ABERRANT, was released April 2013. The second novel in the series, MOIRAI, continues the saga. Ruth has been actively writing since she was a teenager. She currently resides in Plainfield, Illinois.
You can visit her online at http://writeawaybliss.com.
