‘I need to talk about it, Ken,’ Anya’s eyes began brimming with tears. ‘I’m bottling it all in.’
Kenneth remained silent. He stared at the roof, ignoring the rising heat building inside him. If he got mad he knew an argument would quickly follow.
‘Ken,’ Anya’s features were harsh now. ‘I don’t know how much longer I can handle this. It’s tearing the family apart.’
‘Well it’s hardly my fault, is it?’ Kenneth snapped. ‘I didn’t make her run away.’
Anya sat up quickly and glared at him, a sight that wrenched at Kenneth’s heartstrings.
‘We knew she wanted to leave. We should have known!’ Anya’s voice was getting louder now.
‘She snuck out in the middle of the night, Anya. We can’t keep blaming ourselves.’ Kenneth found his own voice rising now.
‘We should have done something,’ said Anya.
‘Like what?’ he snapped. ‘Watch her every second of the day?’
‘Anything.’ Anya’s bottom lip trembled. ‘I can’t bear this.’
‘Well you’re going to have to,’ he said sharply. ‘You think this doesn’t tear me up inside too Anya? I don’t have the luxury of sitting at home like you. I have to get up at the crack of dawn and continue working in order to put bread on the table for what is left of this family. I have to put on a straight face every time I see my co-workers and pretend that everything is okay. They don’t know my eldest daughter is missing. I can’t even hire someone to search for her, because they would want to know why she ran away in the first place!’
‘Ken-’ Anya began, her eyes widening, but Kenneth cut her off.
‘Not to mention I couldn’t even afford to hire someone to look for Avalon, because I’m the only bloody person in this house who earns a single cent.’
Anya tried to speak again. ‘Ken, just listen-’
‘I’m sick of all these guilt trips Anya.’ Kenneth was raising his voice now. He had bottled this all in for many weeks. ‘I think it is best if we just go on with our everyday lives. Avalon will come back when she sees fit. She’s a clever girl and she doesn’t trust easily. Not to mention, she is perfectly capable of protecting herself.’
‘Just stop for a-’ Anya grabbed Kenneth’s arm tightly.
‘I know what you’re going to say,’ Kenneth said. ‘You’re going to tell me ‘that’s not what you said when Avalon tried to leave the first time’.’ He put on a high pitch voice in mock of his wife’s. ‘But you know as well as I do that Avalon is a danger to others. If we weren’t Fire-Mages we would have been killed years ago because of all those blasted fires.’
‘Kenneth, shut up!’ Anya said, panicked. ‘For gods sake listen!’
Kenneth breathed heavily and waited for his wife to speak. ‘Well?’
‘Shhh!’ she closed her eyes and seemed to be waiting for something.
‘What is it?’ Kenneth was getting impatient now.
‘I … I think I heard something.’
‘What?’ Kenneth sighed and put his face in his hands.
‘In the hall,’ Anya whispered. ‘I heard the floorboards creaking.’
‘It’s probably Helena,’ Ken was highly irritated and just wanted to sleep. ‘She probably heard us arguing.’
‘Just check,’ Anya breathed.
‘It’s nothing,’ Kenneth insisted.
‘Please!’ she said, with her eyes wide.
But then Kenneth heard it, the unmistakable sound of floorboards creaking as though someone was moving around. He sighed.
‘Its just Helena wandering about,’ Kenneth reassured his wife, but he got out of bed nonetheless. He wrapped a robe around himself and turned back to the bed. ‘I’ll put her back to bed. She is probably upset too.’
Anya nodded but stayed in bed, watching as Kenneth left their bedroom. As he stepped into the hall he lit a large ball of flames within the palm of his right hand where it floated peacefully, lighting the entire space. He could see to the end of the hall, but beyond it was darkness. He noticed that Helena’s bedroom door was slightly ajar. He was sure he had closed it as he had left her room. Sighing he made his way to her bedroom to make sure that she was all right and not too upset from the argument he and his wife had just had. Perhaps they had been a little bit loud without realising. The door creaked as Kenneth pushed it open slowly and the ball of flames lit up the tiny room in full detail. Helena was fast asleep, curled up in a tight ball; her mousy hair sprawled around her head. Kenneth walked to her bedside and looked down at her. She stirred and looked up at him, blinking wearily.
‘Dad?’ she muttered sleepily, shielding her eyes from the light. ‘What is it? That’s bright, stop it.’
Kenneth reduced the size of the fireball by half and smiled at his daughter, ‘Sorry sweetheart. Are you okay?’
‘Yes,’ she said grumpily. ‘Apart from being woken up, I’m fine.’
‘Didn’t you get up?’ he asked.
‘I was asleep,’ Helena said. She did not enjoy her sleep being interrupted, clearly.