Short Story
I’m Opal. I am 5’2”, and am 19 years old. My dad’s name is Axel, and my mom’s is Harmony. When I was young, my parents would fight a lot. My mom would always dissolve the fight when I was around, but sometimes I could hear them fighting in the bedroom. Because my parents own a big branch of casinos, I grew up in a very wealthy family and lived in a very big house.
When I was 5 years old, my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. She did a ton of treatment, but none of it was working. She lasted two years, until I was 7, but then her cancer spread to her heart, causing there to be fluid buildup in the sac. Shortly after, she died in her sleep. I grieved for a long time, but my dad didn’t seem too sad about it. My mom was my best friend, and favorite person in the world. I felt like I could go and talk to her whenever, I could never feel that way around my dad. Today is her death-iversary, you could say, she has been dead for 12 years. Two weeks after my mom’s death, my dad started to bring these models and movie stars home, with the occasional pop star. I was so mad at him. I mean, how could he move on from her so soon. That’s when I realized, I had seen these women before. I had seen them come inside, or leave, sometimes when mom was out of town. Once I was older, I realized what he had been doing. I was so mad at him. I would lock myself in my room and never leave. Once I was old enough to get a job, I left. I didn’t care that he was still my legal guardian, I was disgusted by him.
I never wanted to see him again. But here I am, standing in the doorway. My hand hovering over the doorbell. But, I decided against it and chose knocking. After a while, no answer. I decided that using the spare key was my best bet. I needed to know. I bent down and grabbed the rock that had the key taped to the underneath. Peeling the tape off, I grabbed the key and put it in the key hole. I slowly turned the knob and slid the door open. I walked around, noticing two figures on the patio. I walked over to the door and opened it hesitantly. My dad’s head turned sharply to me as the blonde woman sitting on his lap stopped laughing.
“Um dad…”
The blonde lady just stared at me as she continued to play with my dad’s hair.
Rolling his eyes, he replied sharply, “Oh hey… Opal, is it? This is Egypt. I don’t think you two have had the pleasure to meet yet. I was just in the middle of something, but what do YOU want?”
“So you know, today is twelve years since mom’s death, so I was wondering if I could see her will. I just wanted to see-”
“Why in the world would I have it?”
I just blinked at him. What did he mean? “What do you mean?”
“I got rid of that piece of garbage years ago.”
“But, I’m an adult now. Mom said on my nineteenth birthday, that you would give me my share of her will. She wanted to wait till I was nineteen so that I was responsible and knew how to take care of myself.”
“Well, your mommy's gone, so you can’t go crying to her like you used to.”
Tears started to swell up in my eyes.
“Look! She’s going to cry!” Egypt said, laughing and pointing at me. She smirked at me as I ran out of the house.
I guess I will be doing the same thing I do every year. Working an extra shift at the casino. Ironically, my dad owns it, yet I get paid barely anything.
Once I arrived at the casino, my boss, Zora, approached me. “Girl, what are you doing here? I’m giving you the night off. Instead of serving others here tonight, go be served. Go mingle. Meet a cute guy, or something. You know, there’s this really cute guy that’s been hanging around here lately. I think you’d like him.”
My cheeks flushed red. After a while of bickering, I accepted the night off.
I ran home, got dressed in my skin tight, red, knee-length dress, put on some makeup, and rushed to the casino. After grabbing my platinum card, of course.
After a couple of hours at the casino, I decided to go to the bar and see if Zora needed any help. Upon walking up, I accidentally bumped into a man.
“Oh, sorry!” I said, bumping into him.
“No problem. I’m Titus. And you are?”
“I looked up to meet his gaze, and was met with the bluest of eyes. “I-I’m Opal.”
“You have a beautiful name.” He said back to me. A kind smile on his face.
We hung out for the rest of the night, gambling, drinking, talking. We had the best of times. At the end of the night, we even exchanged numbers!
That night, as I laid in bed, I smiled as I thought of our time together.
