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09/11/08(Thu)20:28 No.2554428After dinner, you help her with her homework before telling Ork-Chan to go get dressed for bed. You take the dishes to the sink and wash them, stacking them in the cupboard once they are dry. From firing two hundred rounds with the shoota you counted twelve hits she had made on the targets. For an Ork that's pretty good. After bullseyeing three shots with the lasrifle you brought blue cave fungus with white growths for her, like you promised. Watching her happily gorge the food, it is hard not to imagine what it would have been like if her mother had been there too, to see how well she had grown up.
After the dishes, you walk down the hallway into her room to find her already tucked into bed, wearing her old white nightgown. She hasn't showered, but Orks don't really shower so it's alright. You are used to her smell now. Sitting on her bedside, you kiss her on the forehead. "Sleep tight, don't let the Gnasher squigs bite." you tell her like always, crossing to the door. As you are about to leave, she stops you. "Daddy... you fink mummy will kome home from da foightin' tomorra?" You pause, exhaling softly. You never had the heart to tell her what had happened. Maybe you could never fully deal with it yourself. "Maybe." you say, wishing you could believe it yourself. "If she doez, kan we all go ta da trukk races together?" Your heart is breaking, but you manage to smile back at her, your voice hoarse. "Sure. We can do that." Satisfied, she closes her red eyes. "Kay. Nite, daddy."
You switch off the light and walk back to the fridge, pulling out a beer and sitting at the table, opening it on the corner. It hurts so much to lie to her, but the truth would break her heart. And she is all you have left...
Tomorrow while she's at school, you'll go price cheap Warbikes. Her mother would like that. |