Blakemore

Ch. 8

"Jia, I'm home!" Jia hears her dad come in downstairs. She goes downstairs to meet him, "Hey dad." He gives her a hug and Jia embraces him dryly. He looks at her, "You okay, darling?" She smiles sheepishly, "Yea, I'm fine. It's just been a long day." "Okay, well you rest and I'll start dinner. I'm making my famous turkey burgers. " Jia heads upstairs to her room.

"Jia, dinner's ready!" Jia's dad calls her downstairs. Jia gets up and goes downstairs to sit at the dinner table. The two sit in silence as James notices Jia isn't eating her burger, "Ahem, honey you okay?" She looks at him, "Yea, yea I'm fine. I just had a bit of a long day." Her dad puts his burger down, "You wanna talk about it?" "No, it's fine." He looks at her for a moment, "Okay, I'm here if you change your mind." She nods.

James begins putting away the dishes and turns to hand Jia a plate to dry, "You sure you're okay sweetie?" Jia looks down as she dries the plate, "Yea, I'm okay." She decides to see if he'll tell her anything about Henri, "Did you hear about that guy who was killed in town?" He pauses, "Uh, yea. That's, um, that was very sad." Jia decides to keep probing, "Did you know him?" James continues washing the dishes without looking at Jia, "No, can't say I did." Jia turns to him, "Dad, do you believe in monsters?" He looks taken aback, "What? Why- uh why would you ask that?" "Just curious. Do you think there's such a thing as, I don't know, vampires?" James looks worried, "Uh, why would you ask something like that?" Jia puts the plate down, "Just wondering, that's all. I mean-" James interrupts her and places his hands on Jia's shoulders, "Hey, how about you go in the living room and turn on your favorite show and I'll be in soon with some ice cream, huh?" Jia sighs, "Okay, dad." James kisses her on the forehead. As Jia goes into the living room, James takes a deep breath before finishing up the dishes. He takes a deep breath, "Lord, what am I gonna do?"