The Five Dimensions Part 1: Shadow World

Chapter 3

"Are you sure you're okay? If you want to cry, you can. You have to understand that I don't know what goes through seventeen-year-old girls' minds, it's always different than what their fathers think." Her dad was genuinely worried, and she appreciated that, but she knew he was also joking a bit. He couldn't stay worried about her for long, Hailey knew that. Her dad had very little energy and worry sucked it all out. There were bigger problems he needed his focus set on.

"I'm not like most seventeen-year-olds, dad. I promise you I'm fine." While she said this, she put a hand on her father's upper arm. He sighed and nodded.

"Okay. Let's go make that supper then," he said, and this time with a fuller, more genuine smile than before.

Hailey took two steps towards their kitchen, opened the fridge and looked inside.

"We have..." she began, studying the contents. "Half a pack of spaghetti which doesn't smell perfect, and there are a couple things we could use to make some kind of pasta sauce."

"Good enough for me." He winked at her. She tossed the ingredients on the kitchen counter and put a pan on the stove. They had long ago accepted the fact that they had very little money. They were lucky to have dinner at all. Her dad put up a good show, but Hailey knew he was often stressed. But what could they do but go on? "How was school today, before Julia came along?"

Hailey could tell her dad wasn't feeling well. She could see it in his eyes. They were light brown, so much like Hailey's own except for the wrinkles around them. His dark hair fell down to cover them slightly, as he kept his gaze downwards. But she didn't ask him what was on his mind. If he wanted to talk to her about it, he would. If he needed her to distract him from his worries, she could do that too. They weren't the kind of people to endlessly badger each other. If either of them needed anything, they'd say so.

"The same as always, I guess," she answered. Hailey smiled at him because she hoped her happiness would cheer him up, but he didn't see it. "I think studying with Taliyah really helped me. I knew practically all the answers on the math test this morning."

"That's good," he said dryly. His mind was somewhere else, and it clearly bothered him much. Maybe she should ask him about it. If he didn't want to discuss it anyway, he would tell her so.

"Dad, are you okay?" Trying to make him happy by being ― or slightly pretending to be ― happy hadn't helped, she hoped this option worked. He sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"It's no big deal. I was just distracted at work and that didn't please my colleagues," he explained, his eyes still focused on his hands. "It was just that I forgot to hand in some important papers. I feel so stupid about it."

"Why..." she started to ask but then the answer already came to her. Hailey put her hands over her mouth and her eyes grew wide. "Of course. I'm so sorry, dad, I don't know why I forgot. It's your anniversary." He nodded. "I should've said something."

"I wasn't planning on mentioning it at all but since you asked... You don't have to apologize. I understand she is not really a mother to you as much as she was my wife. I know how you feel about it," he said this very quietly. He had turned his focus back on preparing the pasta sauce or at least tried to.

"She was still your wife." Hailey wasn't even sure he had heard her. Either way, she turned away from him and quietly continued making dinner. She was quickly lost in thought about her mother, her dad, their anniversary... She tried to force these thoughts out of her mind, but she wasn't very successful.

"Hailey!" her dad suddenly yelled. With shock, she looked at him and then at what he was pointing at, the pan.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" she yelled. "No, please don't be burned." She snatched the pan and opened the window to let the smoke out. Half of the contents were still burned though, and there wasn't anything she could do about it. "Sorry, dad, I feel so dumb right now."