CHANGLING

CHANGLING
Chapter 183

Claudia's pov:

It was going to be a long journey back to the seaside, I felt a bit nostalgic heading back there, and also disappointed as I didn't have the one thing they all waited for.

While I bounded down the walkways of the castle, I asked around for Warren or Keto, but apparently, none had been seen for a while.

Where could they have possibly gone?

The palace was enormous, they could have been anywhere, I left a message with one of the workers to pass along to them before making my way back to the room I had woken up in.

When I arrived however, there was already an unexpected visitor which made me pause, fingers still grasping the door knob.

“Hey kiddo,” with a warm smile, the man I should call my father greeted, his lips stretched against the light stubble on his cheek as well as the moustache.

I pressed my lips firmly against each other and offered him a smile, “Hi,” closing the door behind me.

“Ah yes, sorry, I must be intruding,” he apologized before placing down a book he was holding.

I rushed to disagree, “no, no, not at all,” this room wasn't even mine to begin with so I had no attachments to it, “It's fine actually,” 

I stared at him, watching and observing his movements, he wrung his hands against each other as if he was nervous, his eyes darting everywhere but my face and I didn't know how to feel about this.

“I…uh…I heard from your mother that you would be leaving,” finally his eyes met mine.

How was my mother so fast with spreading this news? I entered into the room fully with my hands crossed behind me, “Yeah, but only for a little while,” 

My father hummed, “I…I thought that we should….talk, before you leave, if that's okay with you that is,” 

My mother wanted this to happen, I didn't fight against it though, nodding my head as we both took a seat on the bed. My hands settled on my lap.

This was weird, I wondered if it was the same for the others who had their father's with them, or was this just the aftereffects of not growing up with him.

It was quite different with my mother however.

“Uhmm,” my father didn't know what to say, and neither did I.

Time moved slowly and I felt awkward sitting there, making out the little details of the room.

“I'm sorry!” 

It came as a surprise to me, causing me to glance slowly in his direction, what exactly was he sorry for? He didn't do anything.

“I know this is awkward for you, me being here after all these years of my absence,” 

He wasn't wrong about the awkward part, however, “It's not your fault that you were absent,”

This was all as a result of the twisted minds, the selfishness and the greed of our species, the hatred for one another that had bred for years.

The need for revenge instead of forgiveness.

“It actually is,” he disagreed.

The silence filled the room like a thick blanket, “if I had a finally fought harder, perhaps I could have been in your life, watched you grow, watch you take your first steps, your first words,”

The corners of my eyes stung as I realised I wasn't the only one that missed out of a family experience, he had also missed out on his daughter in a much worse way, being caged up all these years.

I wanted to tell him that it was fine but the words felt stuck in my throat.

The damage that had been done as well as casualties affected a lot of people, including us and there was nothing we could do about it, we had scars that were not visible but they hurt the most.

“I'm sorry you had to go through that ordeal as well, no body should go through that type of torture,”

We remained in silence but it wasn't as uncomfortable as it was earlier.

A smile crept onto my lips though as I sniffled, wiping the tear that had escaped the corner of my eyes, “we are not dead though,” 

“Huh,”

“We are not dead,” I repeated, “all three of us. No matter how much of the terrible things have happened in the past, no matter how much we have lost, the one thing we can still be grateful for is that we still have each other,”

I chuckled, I didn't realise how lucky I was despite how my life had started, the journey had taught me a valuable lesson indeed.

“Yeah, we are not dead,” my father cheated as well, a soft smile crept onto his lips.

“It means we can set things right, live and love as we want to with the moments we have and forget about everything else,” I turned towards him now, finding the courage to slip my hands into his, “we can create our memories, start over,” 

The light in his eyes were visible as they shine brightly, a wide grin on his face and his hands squeezed mine tightly but I didn't mind, “Yes, yes we can,” he agreed tearfully.

My father proceeded to pull me into a deep hug, his hands winding around my shoulders and while I didn't hesitate to wrap mine around his waist and bury my face at the crook of his neck.

Although we had hugged a few times but this was different, the tears which I had been reeling in couldn't be held back any longer and we're let loose.

So this was what it felt like to be hugged by your father, an experience I had longed for so long.

Finally!

The tears came streaming down as I felt his heart beat, he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead and parted jg back, whispering words of encouragement and how proud he was of the woman I had become.

I was also proud of the woman I had become, a far cry from the little girl I was started from.