Challenge #3: If You Really Knew Me...
It was Olivia’s first day in her job at Charles’ office. Working with her father didn’t look like the best idea in the world but as soon as she entered the place, she knew that she had made the right choice. She had been there so many times before and there was nothing aesthetically different about it but something had changed, something inside her. Liv felt like she belonged to that place, like she finally had some kind of specific goal. It wasn’t like she didn’t have an objective before, but now she knew exactly from where to start and how to act to actually make some kind of difference in Chicago and maybe in the world someday. Walking through that brownish room was surprisingly not scary at all. The Abshire girl did worry about people thinking that she was only there because of her father, what wasn’t exactly a lie, but she then remembered that she knew most of the people who worked with him since she was like… four. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that she recognized everyone there. Since the two tall securities at the office’s front door named Paul and Joe until Shirley, her father’s secretary who smiled at her before opening the door of the mayor’s room where Charles and Tyler were looking at some kind of map together and seeing her dad and brother together would never not bring a smile to Olivia’s face.
“Don’t call me that, little lady!” The older man replied with a smile on his face while pointing his finger at Olivia in a reproachful way. “It doesn’t matter that you’re now my employee, you must always call me dad and that’s an order.” He then approached his daughter and gave her a kiss on her forehead like he usually did. “Why do I feel like I will get into trouble really soon in this job?” The blond girl replied, frowning like she didn’t like the fact of her father treating her like a child before finally hearing Tyler’s voice. “That’s because you will.” He said while leaving the room after giving his sister a quick hug. Liv wouldn’t admit but she was loving this whole homelike vibe even though she was in her work. This was something that she always wanted but had only realized on that exact moment.
“So, dad, where should I go? What should I do?…” She asked since her father said that her job was a surprise, the only thing he revealed about it was that she would love it and she obviously trusted him. Instead of answering the question, Charles just took Olivia’s hand and leaded her trough the place until a desk right in front of the office’s window. “Take your sit, please.” The man ordered in a polite way while the blond girl obviously obeyed right away, not just because he was his father but also because he was her boss now. “Papa! Are you really going to keep this silly mystery for too long?” Liv asked after one minute of silence where her dad just stared at her with a grin. “I’m sorry, princess. I just wanted to observe this scene for a moment. It makes me even more proud of you.” The last sentence that Charles said made his daughter’s heart beat a little faster and open the biggest smile ever. Hearing your father saying that he was proud was probably every son’s dream after all. “So, sweetie, here’s the thing. All you have to do is answer calls with complaints of Chicago’s people and direct them to the right places. It’s an small thing but it’s just a training for you to get used with the city’s problems and you will do what you always did best, help others.” The mayor finally explained what the girl should do and for more simple that the task was, she took it really seriously. “Ok, dad. I can handle that.” She affirmed before hugging her dad’s waist since he was on his foot, and replacing an “see you soon” with just a nod when the man leaved her side.
It was around 6 p.m. when Olivia’s shift at the office ended. She had almost forgotten how chaotic a day in a politician’s office could be. It was people running from side to side and phones ringing all the time, specially the one who was over her table. Most of the people were really rude and calling that number for simple, to not say “useless”, situations to be solved. Luckily to them and to Liv as well, she was used to stay calm and kind in the most stressful situations so she managed it just fine… except for the headache that was bothering at a point where she couldn’t pretend anymore when she met her father at the place’s exit door. “Are you alright, princess?” Charles asked, removing her daughter’s hand from her forehead. “Yeah, yeah. Just a little headache. It will pass.” She answered frowning a bit and hugged the older man, sighing duo her soft tiredness. “Well, if it’s just that, I have aspirin in the car.” The mayor then hugged her tighter and for the blonde girl it was the closer that she would get of feeling secure in a place like Chicago. “But next time you should call me. You know that whenever you aren’t feeling good or in trouble, I will always be there for you, right?” He finalized the conversation when Tyler came along so they could come back home. Even though Liv didn’t reply to her father, thinking that he would always be there for her was enough to make her headache get a little better. “I love you,dad… and you too, Ty.” She almost whispered after entering the family’s limo and lying over one of the seats. “I love you too, sweetheart. Now get some rest before we get home.” That was the last thing she heard coming from her father after falling sleep. In that very moment, Olivia felt like she was on heaven since that it was the first time in a long time that her family, that meant everything to her, was united and over all, happy.
One year and a half later…
“TYLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!” All the neighbors of the Abshire mansion where being able of hearing Olivia calling from her brother. She was calling him for work, since that for her standards they were late, but they were actually 15 minutes early. “I’m coming!” He replied from upstairs to receive an answer from her sister right away. “I bet that you would be in the limo already if dad was here!” She referred to the fact that their father had spent the night in his office, saying that there were a lot of extra work to do, nothing that he or his children weren’t used to by now. Tyler got ready right on time and the duo left to work. Charles’ office was almost like a second home to them now since it was almost routine for the family to spent Saturdays working and having lunch over the mayor’s table. The two Abshires were apparently the first ones to arrive at the office since not even the two securities were waiting for them at the door and they didn’t mind it until the blonde girl noticed that the door was unlocked. She knew that her father was inside but no one would ever leave the mayor’s office open and without any security like that. The two siblings entered the place in silence, like something in their hearts didn’t allow them to speak, what some way should had warned the two of what was about to come but, at least in Liv’s mind, it was probably just useless worry, like many times before. “Dad? Dad?” The girl called him repeatedly while directing herself to the main room while Tyler checked if there were anyone around the other corners of the office. Her heart ached when she saw the room’s door half open and she had to take a deep breath to have courage to open it completely. In her most deep thoughts, she was still thinking and hoping that Charles wasn’t there and that once again he and her brothers would laugh at her duo her excessive preoccupation about everything, but she had this weird feeling that wouldn’t let this thoughts be confirmed just yet and, unfortunately, they would never be confirmed.
Opening that door was like opening the gates of Olivia’s worst nightmare. In that moment, everything seemed to be in slow motion for her like some kind of movie. Maybe it was just her brain trying to help her to process what she had just saw. The shock was just too big to handle at once. She made no sound, except for the one of her purse falling in the floor since the girl had no strength to anything. Charles was sitting on his table, with closed eyes and his face covered in blood that was coming from a hole in his forehead. That was a scene that Liv would never imagine to see. “Liv?” She heard her brother calling almost like an echo in an empty room when she fell on her knees with a blunt expression. Olivia was… elsewhere, somewhere that she would never be able to explain with her own words. It was like she wasn’t able to divert her eyes from her dad but she could hear everything around her with a clarity that she never had before. The Abshire youngest could hear her heart beating, Tyler’s steps coming at her and also his heart as he came closer, the problem was that she couldn’t hear her father’s heart and even if she was really close to him, she wouldn’t hear anything. In the same second that the young girl realized that, she finally came to her normal senses and all that she was capable of doing was screaming her lungs out.
“DAAAAD! DAAAAAD!” Olivia started calling for Charles after minutes screaming without a pause. Tyler was in the floor with her trying to push her away from that disturbing scene but she wanted to stay there, thinking that If she screamed loud enough, or if she wished it strongly enough, her dad would see the despair that was consuming her heart and come back to her to say that everything would be alright because he was there with her.
Everything after that was just blank. It was like time had skipped and the girl saw herself sitting over one of the office’s tables with her make up all blurred because of tears who had finally stopped slipping through her face. Her brother was still by her side, talking with the cops something that she didn’t make any question of paying attention to. She just stared at the door that she regretted to open some minutes sooner, somehow hoping that everything was just an illusion and Charles would go out of there like every ordinary day. He did get out of there but he was covered by a black sack over some kind of stretcher. It had no apparent effect on her, all that Liv did was follow that stretcher with her eyes, thinking on her first day on work where her dad said he would always be there for her and how he wouldn’t be able to do so anymore. Later that day, the Abshire family and Charles’ political friends came to the agreement that his murder should be kept out of the public eye. That wasn’t the only thing that was kept as a secret in that disgraceful evening. Olivia had died that day with her father or at least she had lost her soul. In fact, she could swear to herself that in the moment that stretcher reached the office’s front door, she saw herself, her innocence going along the way with it, probably to some kind of better place, leaving what remained of her alone in that hell of city.
Fortunately or unfortunately the Abshire girl, or what was left of her, found some comfort in the idea of revenge after her father’s funeral. In that very moment when someone shot on Charles’ head, this person wasn’t just killing an honest man, a loving father and a great politician, he or she was also killing Liv’s innocence and destroying a family. It wasn’t fair that this someone wouldn’t pay for it, at least it’s what the young woman started to believe with all her heart and she would capable of everything to make it happen. After all, she wasn’t that sweet, kind, and helpful Olivia anymore, now she was just a pretty girl with a heart filled with desire for vengeance.
