Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 41

At dawn, she was woken up by a violent pull on the curtains of her bedroom. She got up only to find her father tugging hard on the creases of the curtains. The darkness was quickly chased away by the pale light of the brand new sunlight that shone into the room and she felt exposed rather than being set free from the bounding chains of the dense darkness. "Morning, sunshine", her dad complimented not minding the fact that his broad back was facing his daughter after he was done widening the curtains at equal length. Then he turned around to look at her lying feebly on the bed. "Dad, when....did you get back?" Lori questioned wriggling her eyes to avoid being blinded by the sun.

"I came home last night after patrol and you were still sleeping when I came to your room", "I guess... I must have slept off after thinking too much", Lori said, taking hold of her forehead. Lori's dad shifted closer and sat on the left flank of the bed "Do you feel any pain or is something else the problem?", "I can see that you are ready for work", "Very funny, don't try to change the subject", "Come on, Dad... There's nothing wrong with me...I just feel a lot exhausted that's all", "You haven't been sleeping enough lately so...", "Dad.. It's nothing... I'm totally fine", Lori retorted, cutting him short

"But you don't look fine", "I said I'm okay. I'm kind of fatigued right now from yesterday's game", "Yesterday's game?" he asked, pulling himself closer to her while Lori's hands fell feebly on the bed.

"Yes, Dad, the game I told you about two days ago", Lori replied looking distraught and point-blank. He paused to think of what his daughter told her but Lori soon realized from his silence that he had forgotten, "Have you forgotten?", "Sadly, yes", "You know what, forget about it. It doesn't matter anyway", Lori said, tossing herself back on the head. She covered her face with her two hands to hide away her tears but her dad wasn't finished with her. It caught her father by surprise to see that Lori was putting on something else instead of her nightgown she often wore before bedtime.

"Why are you still wearing those?", "Wearing what?" Lori replied with a question and uncovered her face. Then she sat upright and saw that she was still wearing her cheerleading outfit. It became clear to her that she had slept on it without taking it off last night.

"You wore this to the game yesterday, didn't you?", "I guess I did..." Lori replied feeling as guilty as a criminal caught by a cop. She tried to gather her thoughts and In an instant, everything that occurred the previous day returned back to her including the painful memories she had forgotten which in fact was the real reason she didn't eat anything the other day.

"Tell me what happened", he inquired. Lori didn't say anything and withdrew further away from him into the bed.

"I don't want to talk about it", Lori replied evasively. Her countenance suddenly became pale and her dad was quick to notice that she was upset about something. Her dad knew it would be difficult for him to pester her about the truth and from the way she withdrew herself from him, he suspected she must have been depressed about something that got to do with the games.

He knew he was running late for his job at the precinct but his instincts that something was wrong with his daughter were way too strong for him to abandon her. Lori's silence was hurting him and it didn't take quite long enough for him to notice that she was about to start to cry.

She began with a low moan followed by high-pitched sobs but she refused to let it all out till her eyes were filled with tears. Unwilling to let her dad know the cause of her pain, Lori lowered her head and turned to face the other way with her long messy hair shrouding a whole part of her eyes away from him.

It hurt her father to see her cry knowing the fact that his daughter grew up without a mother and he had tried filling that void which they presently have in the family of two.

"Lori, for heaven's sake, I need some answers. Please tell me what's making you cry?" he demanded again, this time, shifting himself closer in order to emphasize his demands. Adamantly, Lori shook her head in sharp refusal but her incessant sobbing betrayed her gesture. He became fed up with her silence and stood up with his two hands on his waist.

"As your father, I have the damn right to know what's going on, why the hell are you crying?!", He barked impatiently.

"No reason", she moaned and wiped her face clean with her right palm. She boldly looked at him in the face but her fragile eyes were too weak to hold his stare and he could see that they were as red as crimson. Once more, she looked tearfully away from him and started whimpering as she fought hard to suppress the pain she felt inside.

"Darn it, I've had enough of this. You're gonna tell me what's wrong, right now, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me the truth",

Lori remained undeterred by his threats but it was only a matter of time before she broke down in tears. Her dad's temper cooled down at the sight of Lori crying. Then he came close to her and embraced her. Lori cried heavily on his left shoulder, so much that her tears completely soiled his police uniform.

"It's gonna be okay", he said to her as he fondled the back of her head. She cried her eyes so much that it lasted over an hour before they broke free from embracing each other. It took quite a while before Lori could regain her composure and after she did, she took her bath quickly before changing her outfit into a blue jean and light gray sweater and ate breakfast with her dad. Her dad kept asking her questions but she refused to tell him anything that had happened at the game. Her dad came to know that she went to bed without having supper and thought it best to spend some time with her.