"I told you mom, I'm not going back." the deep voice of a male spoke up. His irritation evident at his mother's constant pestering.
"For how long will you keep doing this? Why are you torturing your mother when I have done nothing to you?" the delicate voice a woman came, her indignation would make anyone feel for her.
Edison scowled, he hated it when his mom used the emotional blackmail card only because it did affect him. He said with mild anger laced with his words, "I had said before I won't step into that house ever again. Not with your husband staying there."
The woman signed helplessly. Something happened that caused the father and son to be at odds ever since. Something she knew was more then she was made aware of. She was hoping it would get better with time but Edison's father's selfishness and her own carelessness drove their son further and further away.
His father was the typical self-centred politician. The fragrance of power had induced him completely. All he saw was his own benefit and along the way he lost sight of the only family he had. Edison's mother still couldn't let go of the man she had loved with everything though she could no more see that man in her husband.
She started softly, "He is your fathe_"
"He is not my father!" Edison said sharply and slammed his hand violently on his desk. The word 'father' felt like a curse to him now- it was unbelievable how he once thought his father to be a hero but he turned out to be anything but that.
"He lost the right to be my father a long time ago," he
spoke slowly for emphasize. Everything he knew about his father made him clench his jaw- a vein of his forehead throbbing. He continued while controlling his rage with much difficulty, "If it were on me I would make him lose all his rights on you, mom, but it's you who needs to decide. How do you live with that man? Don't you feel any disgust after knowing what he did?" that was something he really was curious about.
"When you have seen the best and most glorious of someone's days, you won't want to leave him even in his worst...that's what love is. I have loved your father for years even if I don't love him now, I have to be with him to honour that love."
Edison knew what his mother meant though he was unwilling to accept her reasons. He knew because that kind of love, he had been holding on to for a long time now.
"Speaking of love, where is that lover of yours now a days. Few weeks of relation and what she already forgot her boyfriend's mother!" His expression softened at the woman's enthusiasm yet he couldn't remove the uneasy feeling he had when his mom related Dorrie Knightly with love. There was anything but love between Dorrie and him- at least from his part.
"She's in Austria right now, busy with shooting." that much information he had about all the artists under his company.
"Okay, then," she sighed in dismay, "tell her to meet me as soon as she is back." She quite liked the girl, not that she had any other company to compare with her.
"Don't worry, I will tell her. Mom, I will hang up first, there's some pending work so..." he just didn't want to continue this topic anymore. And nothing could be a better way out than business.
"Go then, don't delay your work for this old woman." her pout could be felt even from the phone.
"Bye, mom." Edison hung up and let out a deep sigh. He leaned back on his leather chair, easing his back. The white vintage decor of the office didn't bring any peace to his mind rather, it began wandering around the things he had kept locked up for sometimes now...
It was a sunny day. The birds were happily chirping away, the leafs of the pine trees rustled in the morning air- the nature seemed to be humming a tune of its own.
Edison was waiting for his friend. They have been meeting each other in the park for two years and it had long since became a routine of theirs.
A girl came in running towards him. The sight of her made him smile which diminished slowly as she came closer. The little girl was crying- her nose red and cheeks flushed, wet with tears that wouldn't stop pouring out of her eyes.
"Dorrie, what happened? Why are you crying!" Edison was panicking, he didn't know how to handle a crying Dorrie because she never cried.
"S-something h-happened to ma, Ed. I-i heard a crash and t-tyres. What happened to her, Ed!" Dorrie was hysteric. She was afraid something happened to her mother and Edison didn't know how to console her.
"Don't cry, Dorrie. Nothing will happ_"
Edison shook himself out of the moment, the memory was too painful to continue... just like the one of when he left her behind. No matter how painful that one was, it never left him alone- always haunting him, looming over him like a death sentence...
They were sitting together at the lakeside, holding each others hands, their legs dangling from the small bamboo bridge that ran over the lake.
"Ed, why does your father never come here?"
"Because he is busy"
"What does he do?"
"He works in the government." Edison said while looking at anything but Dorrie.
"I heard they have a lot of work to do. Is that why we never see him around?" Dorrie looked at Edison with her big bright eyes that held a universe in them, 'a universe of questions'- thought Edison to himself.
"Something like that." he said as if his father's absence made no difference to him.
Dorrie made a thoughtful face which turned sad as she asked, "Everyone leaves the town for college. Will you do that as well?" her face spoke of all her disagreements.
Edison gave a short laugh and said, "That's a long way from now. We have a lot of time to decide besides if I ever leave I will be going with you."
"You won't leave me, right?" her uncertainty made his heart ache, "Promise that. That you will never leave me." the desperation in her eyes could make anyone do anything for her, and he was merely Edison George who loved the girl without even knowing how deep.
"I will never leave my Dorrie behind." he uttered every syllable slowly as if afraid she wouldn't believe it.
Edison closed his red-rimmed eyes shut, thinking to himself- 'but I left you alone. I had to. All because of my powerlessness in front of the man whom I can't bare to call father anymore. I looked for you everywhere and still I can't find you.'
Edison has been trying to find Dorrie for years only to end up with nothing. There is no profile for Dorrie Davidson in the national database. It's like every memory of her was a fabrication of his mind. It's like Dorrie never existed but he knew she was there somewhere and he would find her.
"Where are you Dorrie? You have no idea how much I miss you. Come to me, please. Please, come to me."