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Hannah Tayla

Unbidden

Writer: Hannah Tayla


 

She closed the door behind her. The passage was dimly lit. He stood at the end of it, holding baby Rue, scarcely twelve months old.

“Hi,” she said impassively.

The circles under his eyes were darker than she remembered and there was something about his posture that looked defeated. His eyes, glazed, were mingled with relief.

She dropped her bags in the living room and walked past them. She grabbed the Sunlight soap that was in the kitchen and shut the bathroom door behind her. Her hands were chapped, and dirt buried itself deep in the inside of her nails.

*

When did her hair become so grimey? Was it last week she washed her hair, or last month? It must have been a month ago. She heard silent crying from behind the door, and a few moments later the revving of a car. She scrubbed her scalp harder, before lathering her body and shaving her legs with an old razer she found in the cupboard. She lay in the bath until her fingers looked like shrivelled prunes and her head felt heavy. Then, she got up, wrapped a towel around herself and opened the door. The house was quiet. Khai must have gone shopping for supper. She stepped out and walked down the passage, gazing at the photos on the walls. When had she changed?


She sat down at the kitchen table, found some cigarettes in a drawer, and lit one. Her headache returned and so did Khai. He placed the keys on the table.


“Where’s Rue?” she managed.

“I took her to your mother.”

“Why?”

“I thought it best for her, while we…” his voiced trailed into an uncomfortable silence. The silence rested like a pall, until she stabbed the silence with the words, “Where can I sleep?”


Both of them held their breath.


Then, “It’s your house. You can sleep where you like.”


Khai turned to go.


“Thank you for taking care of her… while I-”


“I’m her father. It’s what I’m supposed to do.” Something inside her bled. He walked out of the kitchen.


Her wedding band remained untouched where she left it beside the sugar jar. The weight of it around her finger was still too heavy to put on again, but at least she was back home.

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