Broken Promises

Emily awoke in the dead of night in her soft pink bedroom to the feeling of big hands shaking her by the shoulders.

“Get up, sweetheart. We have to go out. Come on now, it’s time to wake up.”

It was her daddy. She looked around, her eyes trying to adjust to the dark. She was having a hard time trying to understand what was happening. It didn’t seem like a school day – no, she remembered, it was the weekend.

“Daddy, what’s wrong? Why do I have to get up?”

“I’ll tell you all about it in the car, baby. Here, Daddy has your jacket. Put it on, it’s chilly out.” He swung the coat around her little body, covering her thin nightie and then took her by the hand, leading her out of her room and towards the front door.

When father and daughter were safely buckled into their seats and on their way, Emily asked again.
“Where are we going?”

“Do you remember the man that was at the house this afternoon? He was there to have a meeting with Daddy. Well, honey, that man was sort of mad at me for not keeping a promise I made to him. And he came by to give me a chance to make it up to him.”

“What do you have to do?” Emily asked, not sure what this had to do with her or why they were driving on the highway at this time of night.

“Well, see…I don’t have any more money to give to him right now but the man said that if I came to visit him and brought you with me, he might be able to forgive me. He saw you swimming in the pool and playing with your friends today and he told me how sweet he thought you were. You reminded him of his granddaughter and he thought it would be fun if you could come over and play for a little while.”

“But it’s so late, Daddy. Why can’t we go visit him tomorrow?”

“Because he’s very busy in the daytime, he has lots of meetings and clients. He just doesn’t have the time for visits. So I told him it would be alright, just this time, for you to stay up late and play.” Daddy reached over and stroked his daughter’s knee lovingly.

Emily looked towards her father and gave him a little smile, as though this all made perfect sense. She really didn’t mind being woken up if it meant that her daddy wouldn’t get into trouble with his work friend.

So they drove for a little while before pulling into the manicured, circular drive of a very large, elegant house. It was even bigger than their own house. Emily’s father told her that the man owned horses and even had a tennis court out back. This made Emily very happy. She knew she was going to love coming over here to play, who cares that it’s nighttime!

As they got out of the car, the man Emily had seen at their house earlier was standing in the front door. He was wearing different clothes than before. These ones looked comfy, like pajamas.

Hand-in-hand, Emily and her dad approached the front porch, said hello to the man and entered the house. The man, who her father had formally introduced to her as Mr. Ellis, ushered them right away up the stairs and into a gigantic room with a king sized bed, a whirlpool bathtub, two long, velvet couches, the biggest television Emily had ever seen, and pillows everywhere – every colour and size you could imagine. No toys or games though. It didn’t really seem like a fun place to play but maybe Mr. Ellis kept the games in the big cupboard by the bed.

She looked at Mr. Ellis as if to question him about the night’s activities and she saw him direct her father’s gaze to the end of the big bed. Her daddy led her by the hand and told her to sit down and be a good girl, to do everything that Mr. Ellis told her to do. She wasn’t exactly sure what this meant but she would go along…

Mr. Ellis then told her father to take a seat on one of the overstuffed chairs in either corner of the room, which he promptly did. He seemed a little bit nervous to Emily, trying to smile at her but not quite coming across as happy.

As she sat quietly on the end of the bed, trying not to fidget too much, Mr. Ellis crossed the room to a row of cameras that were set up on tripods. He angled one of them towards Emily and moved the others to different spots around the room. She could now see that all of them were glowing red. This is when Emily began to feel somewhat uncomfortable, like something just wasn’t right.

And then the real panic began.

Mr. Ellis walked slowly over to the bed and stood in front of her. He reached out his hand and stroked the side of her face. He then took her by the chin and forced her face up to look at him. Emily attempted a smile, tried to look past the man to find her daddy but the man turned her head back and held her face there. As he brushed her cheek with his thumb, Emily saw him slide his own hand over the front of his cotton pants. Her eyes were fixed on the bulge that was clear as day and though she was young, she knew what was causing the growing tent in the older man’s pajamas. Emily was trembling now.

“It’s alright, sweetheart. We’re going to have so much fun, you and I. You don’t have to be scared, your daddy is right over there and he says it’s ok.” Emily nodded slightly but couldn’t stop a single tear from escaping and falling down her cheek.

The man dropped his hand from her face and began unbuttoning his shirt.