Gabriella Hart
My stomach was churning inside out as I felt a sickness to my body. However, I hadn't yet eaten this morning, so nothing I could attempt to expel would actually come out.
In matter of twenty minutes, I would be meeting Matthew for the first time since he left our family. It was the last time I looked him in the eyes, and I didn't even feel old enough to remember the feeling.
He didn't deserve to be called my father. And that was because he was never a father figure to me. A father wouldn't threaten causing pain to their family, and he wouldn't treat us like this.
I think he made it pretty clear that he also wasn't a Father to me when he threatened me. His blood was running through my veins, but he was just a toxic excuse for something that was somehow related to me.
I still felt terrible that I hadn't told anyone where I was going. I could only imagine how worried Katherine and Mike would be at losing one of their girls they had intended to take responsibility of.
But the less people that knew about this, the better. I'm sure Matthew would somehow find a way to them, and he would destroy their lives like he is slowly doing with mine.
You always hear about a father protecting their daughter and holding their hearts forever, no matter what, but Matthew would never be that for me. He was an evil man and I wanted nothing to do with him after whatever he wanted today.
"Just meet him, talk and leave," I told myself as my words stuttered as I felt my voice shake. I swallowed back hard and began to walk towards the cafe we planned to meet, my legs growing increasingly unsteady the closer I got.
The town we were in was quaint and small but there were luckily enough witnesses if anything were to happen to me. The cafe logo was a deep, dark blue but fading as it had been here for a while.
I stumbled towards it and swung open the rusty door, receiving a ding of the bell as I entered. I couldn't help but breath in the slight smell of bacon and eggs in the air, distracting me slightly from what was about to happen.
"Hiya darlin, can I get you a seat?" A tall woman asked in a slight accent, she was seeming to be in her late forties and had short, blonde, curly hair.
"Table for two please," I said scanning the room but not seeing anyone who was male, looking remotely like me and who was around the age i suspected Matthew to be at this moment.
I breathed out a sigh of relief when I realised that he wasn't at the café yet, giving me time for composure and to prepare myself for what was about to happen.
I didn't even know what he wanted, I just knew that I wanted to get it over and done with before today was finished.
Staring across the street, my heart began beating frantically when I spotted a man crossing the road, looking stern in his expression and seemingly with a direction in mind.
As I was sitting by the window, I had a clear view of him and he had a clear view of me. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted me on the other side of the glass.
It was a smirk, but it wasn't like anything I had seen in anyone before. His was evil and he looked as if he was laughing at something. Therefore, I swallowed hard and looked back down at my hands, waiting to him to walk in.
There was no denying that this man was my father.
He had the same look in his eyes that I had seen in Kylie's one too many times when she knew she had done something wrong. His hair was a similar colour to mine, making me squirm slightly.
My mind finished it's daydream as I spotted the man now walking towards my table.
Only now was I able to get a closer look at him. He looked as if he hadn't showered or shaved in weeks, and it was definitely obvious by the rusty smell that followed when he walked over.
He was wearing tattered clothing, including some old jeans and a ripped flannel shirt.
"Gabriella?" His scratchy voice asked, making me wince. Hearing his voice sent goosebumps up the sides of my arms, and I wasn't sure whether to keep the eye contact or look away.
I nodded as he sat down opposite me and smiled, revealing his unclean, yellowed teeth.
"Hi sweetie," he said softly reaching his hands forwards toward mine already sitting on the table. He seemed to be acting as a completely different person to how he was portrayed in the letter and on the phone to me.
"Please don't bring out the innocent card now, Matthew," his name sounded like a curse word when it had escaped my mouth. "Do you even realise what you have done to this family?" I shouted in a hushed tone, trying not to attract too much attention towards us.
"Can you call me dad?" He asked, smiling and acting as if I hadn't just snapped at him. I felt my body drop at how much he had ignored what I had just said to him.
"I'm not sure why you think you'd deserve that title," I simply replied and sat back in my seat, feeling a lot better than I had been when he first walked in.
"Gabriella—
He grabbed onto my hands but I quickly pulled them back and listened for what he had to say. "I'm a changed man," he told me with a pleading look now in his eyes, "I've served my time."
"Can I get you guys anything?" A waitress asked brightly as she interrupted and stood at the end of our table. I smiled back at her as I was about to ask for a few more minutes until Matthew beat me to it.
"Can't you see we're having a conversation!" Matthew shouted and banged his hand on the table, "just give us a minute!" The blonde waitress seemed apologetic as she stepped away from our table. Not before I mouthed a sorry and turned back to Matthew.
"You were saying.." I sarcastically spoke, referring to how he had exaggerated how much he had changed. Yet here we were, his anger just as bad as it had been before. He had let his hands go weak as he stared straight at me.
He didn't understand that his anger was a problem. He got angry easily and he did stupid things. His anger got in the way of his family and in the way of him living his life for the past few years he had been put away.
"I'm sorry, I just—
He lowered his head into his hands for some type of sympathy that I knew I wouldn't be giving him. "I don't accept your apology." I replied, swallowing back any confidence I had remaining.
Tears were threatening to escape my eyes but luckily, I restrained them and sat back again, staring out of the window and noticing how quiet the streets had gotten.
"I just wanted to talk to you," he lifted his head.
It was as if he had switched in a matter of seconds. Right now, his expression was filled with anger and outrage. I felt my hands instinctively grip harder onto the chair beneath me as his eyes stared straight through mine.
"But you had to come in, all smart," I gulped hard as he continued, "thinking you could beat me." I was captured in his glare as he spoke. "I am your father after all, I have control over you."
"You're not my father, you're just some piece of shit that didn't get anything right in life. You have nothing going for you, you will never have your family back. Your family doesn't want you back. I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire!" I shouted, attracting attention from everyone in the café.
But right now I didn't care.
Suddenly, his hand was thrown back before flying forward and slapping me right across the face in an instant, hitting me harder than a hundred bullets to the chest.
My body shifted to the side as I held onto the table for support before I felt his hand grasp tightly onto various strands of my hair.
He pulled me down to the floor, causing my hip to ache in sudden pain. His voice suddenly fell down to my ear as he whispered closely, sending shivers throughout my whole body.
"You listen here bitch, this could have turned out better, but being the spoiled brat that you are, you had to make this the hard way." I swallowed hard as I attempted to get away, but every time I pulled, his hand would grip to my hair tighter, sending a shooting pain through my scalp.
It was now that I wondered why nobody was coming to my rescue or at least trying to get him off of me.
"Well done Gabriella, welcome to your own personal hell." He whispered sinisterly in my ear, making me shrivel up as he dropped me to the ground again, causing another unearthly pain to my side.
People suddenly surrounded us, pulling him off of me and helping me to my feet.
He escaped swiftly out of the doors as I could only hear the bell of the doors go off and like the last time I saw him in my life, he was gone.
Caleb Andrews
I followed the GPS on my phone until I reached the café I assumed Gabby would be at today, meeting someone I had no idea about. Thank god the person had text her the address, otherwise I would've had no hope of finding her.
It said noon and it was a little after noon. Therefore, I was currently standing across the street from the café, hoping to catch a sight of Gabby going in or coming out after she was finished.
Suddenly, a piercing scream escaped from the cafe, sounding a lot like Gabby's voice.
Everything in my body went into overdrive as I sprinted towards the cafe. "Gabby!" I shouted, banging solidly into a man as I ran to the door. I wasn't even bothering with who it was until he spoke to me.
"You know Gabby?" The man asked, his face almost hidden by the side of his jacket collar. I nodded without thinking and sprinted inside, seeing Gabby on the floor, holding the side of her face and head with an ice pack.
"Gabby!" I shouted again, pulling her into my embrace. "Thank god I found you," I said with a sigh of relief coming out with my words. She looked shocked to see me, but also in a small daze of what had probably just happened to her.
I sat down opposite her as waitresses were helping her. "Are you sure you're alright darlin?" A blonde woman asked, holding her still. "I'll be fine thanks," she replied quickly between laboured breaths.
"Do you want the cops to be called?" The girl asked as Gabby simply shook her head with enthusiasm. I nodded towards the waitress as if to say that we were ok.
After making sure she was definitely alright, the waitress walked off in the direction of the other staff, leaving us together.
"What happened?" I asked as she stared down at her feet instead of replying. I noticed her grip grow tougher on the ice pack she was holding to her head when I spoke.
"Nothing," she simply replied before I gave her a stern look, as if telling her that she needed to tell me and I wasn't going to let us leave until she did.
"He was my father," she spoke shortly after as I felt my stomach clench. I didn't get a good look at the man when he walked out, but I should've been suspicious just at the mention of Gabby's name.
"He just wanted to speak," her breathing was speeding up as she spoke. "But he got angry and he—
I grabbed onto her before she could finish and pulled her into a tight hug. I felt her chest rise and fall as I knew she was crying into my jacket.
My stomach hurt as I thought about if I wasn't here to take her home and if they had met in another less public place. The thought of him hurting her made my knuckles turn white. I could never let him hurt her again.
I never wanted to lose her.