Homebound

Chapter ThirtyEight

The last two days had been a blur; I focused on work and mum, everything else was just extra irritating stuff on the side. The daily phone calls from Hex broke everything up and gave me a break from everyday life.

I had taken today off work and Harley had filled in for me. I can't focus on anything other then Hex and the outcome of tomorrow. Harley's the same but she prefers to have the distraction of work to keep her mind off of things.

I have been sitting on the couch all morning, unable to function. My stomach is in knots and my mind is a mess. I had also been fighting off calls from dad all morning. I hadn't told mum, she has enough on her plate and seemed to be flourishing without dad; I didn't want to send her back into a spiral by telling her he's calling me.

Speaking of mum, she's not home at the moment, she had been trying to get out of the house as much as possible and I can only assume it's because of her new found freedom. Dad never kept her locked up in the house but she was always a housewife and spent the majority of her life in the house.

But each time he calls the more irritated I get, my call log shows the tens of calls he had made trying to contact me. I contemplate blocking him but I also have a strange feeling telling me not to do it. When my phone rings again I decide to answer and hope that he stops calling afterwards.

I answer and hold the phone to my ear without a word, waiting for him to speak.

"Poppy!" he demands "why haven't you been answering me?" his voice is angry but he's holding back on me, good thing he is otherwise I'd just hang up and not give him a second chance. This is the last thing I want to deal with at the moment.

"Didn't feel like it" I answer calmly as I chew on a fingernail. Its a habit I have to stop; my nails are getting too short.

He says nothing but I can hear his heavy breathing in the background as he holds back his anger. I imagine him looking red in the face and breathing like one of those bulls that chase the red flag.

"Where's your mother?" he asks after a final deep breath. The fact that he hadn't even asked why she left shows his guilt, he knows what he's done.

"With me" I keep my answers short and simple. The less information I give him the more chance that he won't call back for more details.

"You're not at your apartment, where are you?" he asks. It rubs me the wrong way that he had been to my apartment. He hadn't even mentioned the massive board in the window; he doesn't even care if I'm alright.

"I'm with mum and that's all you need to know. If she wants you to know where she is, she'll tell you" I speak slowly and clearly so that he doesn't mix up my words.

"Poppy, tell me where your mother is right now" I contemplate arguing with him but I don't have the energy. Instead of calming down and doing his best to get mum back, he's angry and not taking responsibility for his actions. He just wants mum back because he sees her as his possession, not his wife.

I hang up without another word and throw my phone onto the other end of the couch. I don't turn it off in case Hex or mum call me and need me but dad doesn't call back and that's all I wanted.

I lean back and sink into the couch, sighing as Teddy jumps up into my lap with a meow. I gaze at him as I think about how easy it would be to be a cat, sleeping all day and not having a worry in the world besides wondering when I'll be fed. I'm envious; I couldn't eat right now even if I tried.

I contemplate going to Darby's to sit and talk to Harley as she works, I also wanted to be there when she confronts Stevie about banning Banks but the thought of being in such a busy environment makes my head spin.