The Light and Dark

“Kali! Get up!” Phoebe shouted up at Kali, who only moaned at her mother and rolled over to fall back asleep once more.

“C’mon, honey! I know it’s hard.” Her voice was much closer now. Kali knew that she was in her room, most likely right by her. Suddenly, the light flicked on. Kali instinctively had darkness surround her eyes. It wasn’t until she was much more awake that she discovered that she didn’t do that herself.

“No.” Kali said simply, finding no need to bury her head in her pillow for the room was still dark to her. She felt Phoebe’s warm hands shake her gently.

“Kali, you have to go. I let you miss a day before Spring Break. It’s time to go back. The year is almost over. Just one more quarter and then you’re done. Please, honey?” Phoebe begged. Kali could hear the misery in her voice, and next thing she knew she was walking down the stairs to eat breakfast. The only thing on her mind was not Meira, it was not that girl Luna, it was not even those two guys that threatened their lives everyday. It was the happiness level of her mother who suffered from another visit from her ex-husband.

Seven Hours Earlier, 11:00pm-
Kali was drawing in her bed when she heard a knock on the door. Her eyes shot to her clock the second before she heard her mother’s bedroom door open. Kali didn’t leave her bed, she was listening intently to what was going on in her small house. She heard Phoebe’s feet run to the door, and a loud slap echoing throughout the house.

“Leave us alone!” She sobbed. Kali could feel the breeze outside enter her room. The front door was open, and she was just beginning to crawl out of bed.

“Just hear me out, please!” Kali heard an all too familiar voice answer. The man she once called ‘dad’. She threw herself out of bed and ran to the hallway, listening.

“NO! Do you know what you’ve done to us!? I’m not letting you come back! When you closed that door you closed the door to this life and you’re not allowed back in! Get out!” Kali heard her mother shout. Kali still felt a breeze, for the front door was most likely still open.

“God, damn it I apologized! I said I was sorry a thousand times, what will it take for you to see that I’m telling the truth?” Kali’s ex-dad, Brian, shouted/screamed at her mother Phoebe (who Kali could easily hear was beginning to cry).

“Nothing. There is nothing you can do. Now get the hell out of my house!” Phoebe shouted in return. Kali listened intently, waiting for the right moment to enter if there was one.

“You’re house!? The last time I checked I was the one who was making the money to pay for the bills. Now looks what it’s turning into! A dump, that’s what. If anything, this house is mine! You won’t make it without my help. You need me!” He said.

Kali turned around the corner, showing herself. She stared into Brian’s eyes, and he stared back. This moment lasted for about three seconds, but that was enough to get Kali’s heart pumping like mad.

“We need you?” She gasped.

“Kali this is NONE of your-”

“Don’t interrupt me.” Kali said through her teeth. Her voice was as sharp as a razor. Brian waited patiently. Well… sort of. He folded his arms and tapped his foot.

“Stop it.” Kali snapped. She sounded so grown up… so involved, so serious, that he instantly obeyed.

“I remember you forcing me to work at McDonalds to help mom pay for the bills while you took what pathetic amount of money you ‘earned’ to go an get drunk late at night. I remember talking mom through so many of the nights that you came home drunk. I remember-”

“Now Kali-”

“I REMEMBER you slapping me across the face when I muttered something under my breath that wasn’t even about you. I remember you tossing over the furniture when mom tried to get you to see what your drinking was doing. I-”

“Kali-!”

“I REMEMBER AND I WON’T FORGET ANYTIME SOON when you hit my mom and she ended it. I remember you giving me my scar that day and walking away with a beer bottle in hand. I remember so many things than just what I’ve mentioned on this God damned night that I will never forget. Now I would appreciate it if you would take you, and your drinking, and get out of our house or so help I’ll call the police and land you in the jail cell that you so deserve to rot your ugly face away in.” When Kali was done, she her breath caught in her throat silently. When she was done, she realized her face was wet with tears at all the memories. When she was done, she felt as if the pain of her scar on her cheek that she hid every day by her hair suddenly burned anew once again. When she was done, she realized she really was done. She had nothing more to do with this man. Nothing more to say. She felt no need to look at or hear him again. Kali quickly looked away from him, looked away from her horrid past and stared at the ground, her tears still falling like rain from the clouds.

Kali never once laid eyes on Brian again. She never saw him glance up at her mother. She only heard Phoebe hiss ‘get out’. She didn’t hear him leave. She only heard her mother close the door.

Close the door.

And just like that, he was gone. Kali never once saw Brian again in her life. She never once heard from him. Never got a letter. Never even talked about him to her family.

He was gone.