When the past knocks...

The seconds hand slowly moved across the clock, simultaneously the minutes hand moved on to 12. As the clock stuck 9, she heard the door open and close.

Nadia was lying on her bed , revising her dialogue for the audition tomorrow. She has been over it for almost an hour now. She was also aware of everything going on downstairs. Ten minutes later, she heard her father calling her downstairs. Time for dinner. Twenty minutes later , she was back on her bed, looking at script in her hand. It was a routine. It has been a routine for 4 years now. Four years ago, her mother left them , without any notice. There wasn't a place they haven't searched for her. Only when the police got involved, her father received a call. Since then, he was never the same.The only thing he told her was that her mother wanted some space and time away from everything. Two months later, a lawyer stood at their doorstep with divorce papers in hand. Her father signed them without a second thought. And just like that,she was left motherless. She never called ,never ever tried to come in touch with Nadia.

Four years. They were forever etched in her brain.She adored her mother. Unlike every kid her age, she never got angry with her mother for getting involved in her life. Wherever she went,she took her mother along. In return but, all she got was loneliness,depression and no goodbye.

She has done everything she can to cope up with her depression. She dyed her brown her blonde,put blue contact lens over her sea green eyes. Within months, she was the most popular girl in school. She bullied younger kids, talked back to teachers, and even sabotaged school property. She came very close to being expelled. Everything she did, she wished her mother would notice and come back for her, instead she turned into a monster . She barely slept at night,ate nothing and was horrible to her father. Only when she realized that she looked exactly like her mother except younger did she come back to her senses.

She still remembered hugging her father and crying uncontrollably. She never really thought about how much he was affected. After all, they were high school sweethearts and were married for 20 years. If it weren't for him, she didn't know what would have happened to her. That incident brought them closer than before but there was always a hint of sadness in him. All his relationships never lasted more than a month. Two, to state the maximum. He also started staying late in the office. Came back only at 9 , still unable to process that there was nobody to welcome him,like it had been the past 20 years.

Nadia felt a tear rolling down her cheek and quickly brushed it off.She glanced at the script she was holding. Ms. Wallace , the character she was auditioning for, somehow reminded her of her mother.