Bonded To Thee Night

Cerina Ceril found herself in a ditch, blindfolded and tugged in a corner, she screams out for help but seems no one can hear her. Just then, the blindfolds come off, but everywhere around her remains dark, as she can barely see anything. Just then, she heard a voice calling out to her, a familiar voice her soul has long been yearning for. She turns around quickly and sees her father standing right in front of her. With arms wide open, he is calling out to her for an embrace.

"Cerina, daddy is here, don't be scared anymore", he calls out to her softly.

Cerina looks up to her dad, He is wearing his favorite gold rimmed glasses that makes him look like a modern professor, his lips wearing the sweetest smile.

"Dad!?", Cerina calls out as she takes a step forward to meet her dad.

"Cece!", he calls out softly again, still wearing his playful smile on his seemingly pale face. The fondness in his eyes, laced with his gentle expression, he seems really happy to see her, a beautiful smile appears on her face as she walks into his embrace.

But just then, two men emerge from the dark, and begin pulling him into the darkness with them. Cerina's steps come to a halt as she watches them pull him farther away from her, the look on her dad showing helplessness but he is unable to resist, just silently being pulled into the darkness as it engulfs them.

Cerina feels as though her feet has been stuck to one place, she only stretches her hand trying to reach out to her dad, uncontrollable tears streaming down her cheeks, as she watches her dad vanishing into the dark fog. Finally struggling to find her voice, she lets out a scream, "Dad!!"

And just then, Cece wakes up screaming, "Dad!", with her hands stretched out like she's grabbing something in the thin air. She sits still for a few seconds realizing it's just a nightmare, the same nightmare she's been experiencing for the past six months.

Slowly, she turns on the lamp by her bedside and reaches for a cup of water, she takes a glance at the wall clock sitting pretty on the wall, and it's just 4am in the morning. Feeling suffocated, she walks and sits by the window, peering into the darkness. The same darkness that was threatening to soak her whole being. Her mind dancing around, refusing to remain focused, she picks up a little frame of her dad and runs her finger on the smooth frame, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Dad! I miss you!", she said softly and brought the frame close to her heart. With this she drifted to sleep..

A gentle knock on the door woke Cerina up from her sleep, it was her mother Andrea Ceril, " Cece dear! Are you awake now?", her mother spoke softly from the other side of the door. " Cece dear! Get ready and come downstairs for breakfast. It's your first day in a new school, you don't want to arrive late on your first day."

Cece rolled her eyes and thought to herself " Who cares? I've been repeating this process consistently in the past few months "

"Cece! Are you awake?!", her mother called out

" Yes, I'm awake " Cerina finally replied her mother.

"Alright cupcake, I'll be waiting for you at the dining table. Hurry up!", she said before finally leaving.

Cece sitting up, took a glance at the neatly folded school uniform lying in her wardrobe. She now had different uniforms dumped in a corner of her room, soon it'll join them, she thought mockingly, her thoughts drifting further to the discussion she had with her mother the previous night...

"Cerina! Why have you chosen to stress your mother this way? Don't you want to graduate high school like your mates? I wonder what made you change so much?", her mother had scolded her. She only rolled her eyes, not giving her mother any response. "Cerina, please understand that I'm doing my best for you, I may not be as excellent as your dad but I really am doing my best Cece, what else do you want me to do?", her mother asked her with eyes full of concern.

Cerina's eyes teared up with the bare mention of her father, he was her weak spot. Her dad was the closest to her, despite all of his usual work and meetings, he would always still make out time for her, he was always there for her, emotionally, physically, financially and morally, as long as Cece needed him, he would be there. She was his only child after all, but her mum was always busy, work, work, work, and now her dad was no more, it only got worse, Cece let out a sigh.

" Cece!", her mother continued. " Do you think your father will be proud of you where he is? You used to be the topper of the class and even the whole school. But now, you've changed drastically, not only are your grades as bad as, you've been expelled from over eight schools in the past six months for misconduct, your father will be so disappointed in you"

Cece bowed her head in resignation, she really had changed, bad performance in school and worse more, expulsions were now part of her, she was continuously a nuisance. She recalled the previous last expulsion incident

" She leaned against the locker bank, picking at the scab on her knuckles. The fight had been worth it-some jerk from the wrestling team thought her lunch money was *donation money*. Now the guy was suspended, and the scab was her trophy.

*"Ceril."*

She turned.

The principal loomed like a storm cloud in a cheap suit. *"My office. Now!."*

He slapped a folder on his desk.

"Fight #3 this week!"

*"Expulsion's on the table."*

Cerina shrugged. *"He started it."*

*"You broke his nose."*

*"He *tripped*,"* She smirked. *"Into my fist. *Twice*."*

One time, she had cut off her classmate's long hair, because she had made mockery of her late dad's beard in a picture. Her dad doesn't keep much beards because the fewer it was, the younger he looked but that girl Mila had decided to be rude, Cece couldn't take it, her parents were influential and of course that led to her expulsion, other times, she had caused a fire in the school lab, ruining school equipments, removed a classmate's tooth cos he laughed at her, the more she got expelled, the more ruthless she became, and more nonchalant she was to studying,she had once gotten a teacher hospitalized because he used her as example of a bad student in front of the class, Cece definitely had quite a temper for tolerating insults. The more she got expelled, the more many schools were unwilling to keep her, Cece couldn't blame this recent behavior as influence of bad peers, Cece never kept friends, she was always ever alone, just her, she was lonely, extremely lonely! And maybe that was it. She felt empty, there was an empty vacuum in her soul, that one presence that was meant to bring life to her had long left her and was resting in the bossom of his Maker.

As Cece thought about it, tears flowed silently down her cheeks, dad used to be very proud of her academic success, she was the brightest in class and among the top students but now she had simply neglected her studies. Dad must be really disappointed.

She promised that from then on she would make a change, at least for the sake of her dad. She'd do all in her power to put her life back on track