“Dad,” she said, her voice hollow.
It had taken her three calls to get through. And now, she was back in her apartment, in the dark, standing by a window overlooking the moon-bated city scape.
“Hey…” came her father’s croaking, cigarette-stained voice.
She felt a strange well of emotion. Neither positive or negative… just… feeling. A strong wave of something.
How long since they’d talked? Years?
She swallowed. “Hey…”
“Mhmm.”
They drifted off into silence. He blamed her for Sammy’s death. She still hadn’t forgiven him for that. The two of them hadn’t spoken… had it really been years?
“Look…” she paused.
“You calling about that article?”
She hesitated. “S-sorry, what?”
“That article. I saw it too.”
She frowned. “W-what article?”
A pause. “Why you calling?” He seemed to realize this sounded harsh. He cleared his throat and amended. “Good hearing from ya.”
Tori hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. Her father's gruff demeanor was a shield she had grown accustomed to, but now, with the weight of recent events pressing down on her, she felt a sudden surge of vulnerability.
"Actually, I wasn't calling about an article," she began, her voice steady despite the emotions churning within her. "I just... wanted to talk.” About Sammy, she wanted to add. But she couldn’t bring herself to it.
There was a beat of silence on the line, so profound that Tori could almost hear the old clock ticking in the background of her father's apartment.
Finally, his voice came through, rough with emotion. “Talk… Yeah. Yeah, it’s good hearing your voice.”
She swallowed. Tense. And then, quietly, she said, “Wh-what article.”
“The one about that kid.”
“Excuse me?”
“You didn’t see?”
“No.”
“He died in a Tornado. Just like Sammy.”
Tori froze. “W-what?”
“They’re saying someone was involved. Someone wanted the kid dead. Dunno. Didn’t read the whole thing.”
Tori stared at the phone. Was she hearing him correctly? Someone wanted a kid to die? In a tornado? She shivered. if she hadn’t just encountered Arty, she wasn’t sure she would’ve believed the claim.
Her breath caught. “A—are you sure?”
“I’ll send you the article.”
“Link it to me. Please.”
“Mhmm. Good hearing from you, Tori.”
And then he hung up. A second later, her phone buzzed. A text message. With a link.
Her thumb hovered over the screen, her heart pounding a million miles a minute.
She released a slow breath… and then she clicked the link.