Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter seven: just part of your girlish charm.
episode four: aftermath
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
BROOKE WALKS INTO HER KITCHEN with sad look on her face. Her dad notices this and asks what is going on. "Hey, kitten. You okay?"
Brooke slumps down on one of the chairs in front of him. "My friends are all dying one by one and I'm constantly terrified that I'll be next, other than that I'm perfect." She studies her father's face for a moment before asking the question she really came in to talk about. "Hey, did you talk to Mom today? I keep trying her cell and it just goes straight to voicemail."
"Well, I don't think the Ashram allows phones." Her father answers.
Brooke tries to keep a poker face, trying not to show she doesn't believe him. "Does she even know what's going on here?"
Her father sighs and looks his daughter in the eye. "Brooke, your mom has perfected the art of avoidance. I, on the other hand, have to handle the press, the grieving parents, and a departmental screw-up of Darwin Award proportions."
He sees the look on Brooke's face, realizing how insensitive he's been. "I'm sorry. I know you miss her. So do I. But, um— you can talk to me."
"Forget it." Brooke gets up and walks out of the kitchen. She pulls out her cell phone, calling the person she wants to talk to the most and praying that she'd pick up.
Carla, in the car with her mom on her way back home, hears her phone ring. She looks down at the caller ID and sees Brooke's name. "Hello?"
"Hey, so I did what you suggested and just asked my dad what's going on. I swear he lied straight to my face. I still have my bad feeling." Brooke explains.
Carla looks over at her mother who was driving the car, not paying attention to her at all. She shifts away slightly and thinks of what to respond back to Brooke that isn't just repeating what she said to her last night, when she came over and told Carla everything. Her concerns over maybe something bad maybe happened to her mother and that her father was covering it up. "Did you ever think you were just over reacting? Maybe nothing really is going on."
