Dark secrets come to light (self)
As she slipped her key into the front door lock, she heard some commotion coming from the inside of the house. "Mom?" she called out when she stepped inside. Her mother came from the living room, her eyes puffy and red from crying, but a grin so huge it boarded painful plastered across her face. Jas frowned in confusion,but that quickly disolved into a wide smile once she saw the figure coming right behind her mom. "Dad.." she finally choked out after several stunned seconds, the tears finding their way to her eyes, slowly dripping from them like drops of water through a leaky tap. She stood motionless for a while, looking at the man standing in front of her. He looked ragged and worn out. H'd also grown a beard on a once spotless, smooth face, ad his hair was longer. But his eyes were the same. As blue as hers, with flakes of gold and green sprinkled all over them.
Her father smiled and said, "Hey, bear." That completely broke her. She walked up to him, dropping her bag on the floor in the process, and slung her arms around his neck, sobbing violently. He hugged her back tightly, chuckling. "I'm here, bear... I'm here."
It took her a long time before she could let go. "W-What are you doing here?" she stammered out, the sobs still assaulting her body periodically.
"They let me come back for the month." he replied. He looked so different in his uniform. So serious. But his grin still held that boyish quality she remembered oh so well.
"Really?" she asked incredulously. "You're staying for Christmas?" She turned to her mother. "Did you know about this?"
"Does it look like I knew?" her mother motioned to her own face. Point taken. "He just showed up at the door shortly before you came in, wearing this ragged thing like a homeless man." she told her, ginning wider than she ever though was humanly possible.
"I was afraid she wouldn't recognize me and kick me in the balls." her father added in his heavy Texan accent.
"Not that that would've stopped you, now would it?" her mom nudged him on the ribs before planting a kiss on his lips.
"Please don't start making out again!" Jas yelped; it'd happened before. Her parents laughed.
"I' have to go to the bathroom." her father announced and walked away. "If I still remember where it is..."
Jasmine and her mother laughed and turned to each other. "Neither of us saw that coming." her mother stated.
"I sure didn't..." Jas agreed.
"Take his bag upstairs, will you? I'll start with dinner."
"Sure." Jas took the camouflaged duffel bag that was set on the floor,as well as her own, and climbed up the stairs. She threw hers carelessly into her bedroom and carefully placed her dad's on the bed in her parents'. She was turning to leave when something caught her eye. Turning back around, she noticed a paper peeking out of one of the outside pockets. She grabbed the corner and slipped it out. It turned out to be a photograph, of her father and a woman she did not recognize. She flipped it and saw a message scribbled onto the back. So you don't forget me on your little date. Date? Date?! Who the fuck was this woman to call this a date?!
Right in that moment, her father walked in. Jasmine spun on her heels, the picture still in her hand. He was about to say something when his eyes landed on it. "What's that?" he asked, his posture stiffening.
"I could ask you the exact same thing." Jas said, shaking the photograph. "What is this, dad?"
Her father took the picture from her and examined it. "I didn't-- How did this get here?"
"Apparently your lady friend is scared yo'll forget here while you're here, with your family." Jas remarked, her voice soaked in poison.
"It's not what it looks like--"
"Oh, do you even know what it looks like? There must be something about it, seeing to that little message."
"I do not want to hear it. You've been gone for nine bloody months," she said accusingly, the classic British curse slipping naturally, "and now you come home and there's this? Who is she?"
"She's a comrade of mine."
"She looks more than just a comrade to me. Are you cheating on mom?"
"I don't know! She gets all flirty around me, and I've told her I'm a married man and I have a daughter, but she won't back off!"
"And you let her hit on you like that?" Jasmine was crying now. "I can't handle this." And she stormed out. Out of the room and out of the house. To the one place where she felt safe. James wasn't here, and she didn't want to be clingy, so she didn't send the SOS. She just ran through the woods behind her house to the cave.