Living Life in a Downward Spiral

The next morning was awkward to say the least. I had managed to stay up in the guest room, hoping they would just think I was tired. I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I knew there wasn’t any avoiding them.
When I got down to the kitchen, they were practically having sex with their clothes on. I cleared my throat, and Dad quickly pulled away from her. “You’re up,” he said, obviously trying to hide his sudden discomfort.
“I can give you two-“
“No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I’m going to go take a shower. You girls just get to know each other.”
Why the hell would I want to get to know the skank that tore our family apart?
After he left, you could practically cut the tension with a knife. She clearly didn’t want to get to know me just as much as I didn’t want to get to know her. This was going to be fun…
“Is there anything to make breakfast with?” I asked, thinking I’ll at least try to work on things; for Uncle Johnny if no one else.
She gave me a bothered look. “Does it look like I know?” She spat.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “So you basically are just here long enough for sex, the you’re gone. How nice.”
She turned so she was fully looking at me. “For your information, Zack wants me to stay here, unlike you! You’re nothing but a burden and a pain.”
Even though the words stung, I wasn’t going to show here the gratification of knowing that. “Wow, that’s the best you can do? You’re still just here as an easy piece of ass. As soon as he gets tired of you, you’ll be out of here.”
“At least I’m not an illegitimate daughter!”
I just looked at her, confused. “Savannah!” Dad’s voice made her jump, and she turned around to give him the deer in the headlights look. “Leave,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Zack, I-“
“Out!” She jumped up and was gone.
I turned to Dad and gave him a questioning look. “What is she talking about?”
“Nothing, she’s just being petty and jealous.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, giving him a look that told him I obviously didn’t believe him. “I might still be young, but I’m not stupid. “
He ran his hands down his face, sighing heavily. “It’s not the right time to talk about this, Steph. Just drop it, please.”
“Oh, it’s not the right time?” I scoffed. “Just how it was never the right time to have a family, right? Instead you needed to go out and fuck some whore, ripping our family apart!” I knew that was a low blow, but he needed to know how I felt.
“Sit down,” he said softly, pulling a chair from the table. I did so, slowly becoming anxious about what he had to say. “When Dean was just about to turn one, Mom and I had a huge fight and ended up splitting. We had already been having a hard time, and different things were making it worse. When we decided to finally work things out after almost a year, I had come to find out we had a new addition to the family.”
I gave him a confused look. “Mom didn’t tell you about me from the beginning? Why?” I was suddenly hurt by that piece of information.
“She said she had found out a few weeks after we had split, and we weren’t on talking terms then. She had gone to stay with her sister in northern California, so none of us ever heard from her or saw her. She said that my life style wasn’t suitable for Dean, so she kept him away.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Mom would never do that… Would she?
“Well, we ended up working things out in the end. Over the next few years, I kept noticing little things about you. Of course I first noticed our eyes weren’t the same color. Your mom said you got them from her side of the family. I brushed it off, because it sounded right. But then other traits didn’t seem familiar.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I finally confronted your mom about it.” He looked into my eyes and my gut tightened. I could see the sadness in his eyes.
“Dad…” I said softly, scared of what he was about to say.
“You’re not my biological daughter, Stephanie. Your mother’s sister died in a car accident while she was up there during our split… You’re her daughter, and Gena is really your aunt.”
I shook my head, not wanting to believe what he was saying. “No,” I whimpered, shaking my head, wanting to make it all go away.
“Baby, don’t cry,” he whispered, trying to wipe the tears away.
“Don’t touch me,” I snapped, yanking away from him.
“Steph,” he gave me a hurt look.
“No! Don’t pull that shit.” So many thoughts were running through my head. Everything made sense now. “That’s why you’ve been so distant. Ever since you found out, you didn’t want anything to do with me.”
“That’s not true,” he tried arguing.
“It is!” I stood up, not wanting to be around him right now. It was too much to take in.
I headed for the front door, not being able to stand it anymore. “Steph, where are you going?!” He called after me.
“Away from you!” I shouted, before taking off.
I made it down to the park a few blocks away from his house before collapsing. It felt like my world was crashing down around me again, but there was no one around to save me.