AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Lies and Light
Dad’s gruff voice oozed concern. “Another man was reported missing today.”
“Hey, Dad. How’s it going?” I murmured into the phone, attempting to start the conversation like a normal person.
“Did you know two more men went missing this month?”
“No. I stopped watching the news.” It was just too damn depressing.
“Oh, honey, you should definitely watch the news. I feel like you’re not even in touch with reality anymore.”
Shots fired, in typical Dad fashion.
“That’s a little hypocritical coming from the man who moved to the middle of nowhere, Texas, whose closest friends are three goats and a pig.”
“Better than three sheep and a donkey,” he said.
“Not by much. Why don’t you have something normal, like a dog?” I asked.
“Why don’t you have a dog? I’d feel better if you had a dog, for protection.”
I don’t need a guardian, or worse, something to take care of.
“Eh, it’s a lot of commitment keeping a living thing alive. Maybe I could make a goldfish work.”
“A goldfish won’t wake you up when someone is breaking into your apartment,” he snapped.
“Who is breaking into my apartment? I have nothing to steal! You really need to stop watching Dateline. It’s perfectly safe here, despite everything you’ve heard.”
“You go hiking by yourself all the time, and I think it’s too much of a risk.”
“Dad, if I didn’t leave the house alone, I’d never leave the house. Besides, I’m always cautious when I go out.”
“Really, how?”
“I have a stun gun thing.” I think, somewhere, in a drawer that I store the batteries in, maybe. “And I also only go to well-populated areas.” Sort of. Most of the time. If I didn’t go at odd hours when I couldn’t sleep.
With the amount of lies that had spewed from my mouth over the past few years, you’d think I would be able to make it sound a little more believable.
“Well, that makes me feel better. I guess. Do you still hang out with those girls you used to surf with?” His optimism was occasional and brief. I couldn’t take it from him.
“Yeah, I see them now and then. They aren’t in my doctoral program, but we go to lunch together sometimes,” I wheezed out and took another sip of water.
I didn’t even know which girls my dad referred to. I hadn’t been out to lunch with another soul in two years. The last time was because it felt like an obligation to my overly-generous landlord. She let me rent this garage apartment for half the price it should have gone for, and she promised it was mine for as long as I wanted it.
“Are you eating enough? Last time I was there, I barely recognized you.”
“I know, Dad, but really, I’m fine,” I said with a little too much gusto to be my normal tone of voice. Crap. “Listen, I gotta go finish the rest of these readings.”
“Okay, please be careful, and, for the love of God, Charlie, pick up your phone once in a while,” he pleaded, with enough force that I started unconsciously nodding.
“I’ll start being better about that,” I promised. “I don’t want you to worry about me anymore. I can handle it. Bye, Dad.”
I hit the disconnect button and dusted the breadcrumbs off my shirt, scouring my plate for remnants of lunch meat. Nothing. I wiped my hands and returned to my oversized chair.
The keys of my laptop tapped underneath my fingers without pause to note an interesting passage I needed to investigate further. I had missed a few on the last read-through of the chapter. The light from the afternoon sun streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of my cozy room, alerting me it was already well into the afternoon. Once the entire passage analysis was documented, the pinpricks and tingling of my crossed legs forced me to stand, stiffly.
