• • • • •
For the first time in weeks, my dad is home. He’d been lost in the woods. He’d been stuck at the hospital. But now he’s situated in his bed.
Ted is the last friend still in the house. He pats my dad’s shoulder. “Glad to get you out of there. I’ll check on you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Ted.”
“Charlie, you need anything?” Ted asks.
“I’m good.”
The front door closes and we’re alone. No friends. No Seth. No nurses or doctors.
“You look tired,” I say, standing by his bedroom door. “Why don’t you get some sleep?”
“Charlie?”
I stand there looking at him.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. You’ve been mad ever since your mom left.”
“That’s not true.”
“You’re mad at me. You’re mad at your mother. And I think you’re mad at yourself.”
I shake my head. “What are you talking about? I’m not mad. I know she’s out there. And she’s coming back. Someday. Her and—” Shit. I didn’t want to go there with my dad.
“And? Aliens? Is that what you were going to say?” My dad shakes his head with his jaw clenched. “Charlie Dickens, you’re a stubborn pain in my ass. You’re going to be a sophomore in a few short weeks. It’s time you grow up. And accept the truth.”
“I know the truth. Mom was targeted by—”
“Enough!” My dad scoots himself up in his bed. “Enough of this bullshit, Charli. You know your mom wasn’t abducted by aliens. You know it. Your mom had—has—some major issues. But she wasn’t taken. Look me in the eye and tell me that much. She left us. She did.”
“No. Not by choice.”
“It was only her choice. I let this alien thing go on for a while because I thought it was some weird coping thing. But it’s gotten out of hand—it has been out of hand for some time, and that’s my fault. I think you truly believe your mother was taken by aliens, and that scares me, because she truly believed they were coming for her.”
“I need to go.”
“No, you need to listen to me. I’ve kept this from you because I didn’t see the point in sharing it—especially after she left. And she never wanted you to know—”
“What?”
“Your mother is schizophrenic. She was told that by a doctor shortly before she left us. Now she’s in Indiana. With her mother.”
Schizophrenic? What in the actual fuck is he talking about?
“Your mother left us in the middle of the night, Charlie, and I can only assume she kissed you good-bye; for her sake I hope she did. But she didn’t so much as come near me.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“I was hoping you’d leave the past behind you and move on—forget the nonsense, especially when you started high school. But I don’t think that’s working. So grab my phone.”
“Why?”
“Come on.” He holds out his hand. I walk over to his nightstand and hand him his phone. He types something and presses send. “Check your phone. Maybe it’d do you good to call that number.”
“I gotta go.” I close the door to my dad’s room and run outside to stare at the sky. It’s the only thing I think I know.
What the hell is my dad talking about?
I want to quickly forget that entire conversation, except I don’t think I can.