Invited

Seven - Timber

Once lunch was finished, I was sad to hear my parents say they were leaving. They had my golden retriever Katana to take care of, though. She was only a couple of years old, and she was a princess. Talia had my fluffy, black cat Shuriken. I almost asked them to just bring Katana back and then they could stay with me too. Being alone in the hotel room wasn't appealing to me in the slightest. At the same time, I could sense they needed some space to talk things over. There was a lot to think about and discuss. I had to respect that. It hurt all the same to think they might not want to be with me. I pushed that thought aside. Of course they wanted to spend more time with me. I'd see them again tomorrow, along with Talia.

So, reluctantly, I let them leave after tearful hugs and kisses were exchanged. I was back to being alone. I hated being alone. That was the worst part about being an actor sometimes. Sometimes I had to travel, and I usually did that on own. Sure, I had an entourage. We were pretty close, almost friends. I trusted them, but they were also still under my employment so it changed things. Our relationship was different. At the end of the night, I still had to sleep in my own room alone. Unless I wanted to find a random hook-up for the night, of course. There certainly wasn't a shortage of people offering. That had never been my thing, though. I liked connection.

Being alone was kind of a choice in that respect, but when I was at the hotel in whatever city I was staying in, I could call Lia, and then I would at least have her voice. Sometimes, we'd even use a webcam on a laptop. The whole night she stayed by my side which made me all kinds of pathetic, but I loved that she was willing to do it and not complain. It made being apart a little more bearable.

I lied down on my bed and glanced over at my phone. Did I dare call her? The phone number for her cellphone was permanently engraved into my brain. All I had to do was pick up and dial. Would she answer? The hotel probably had some kind of ID block on it. The clock said it was only about four in the evening. It's not like I would be interrupting anything important.

Time to take a risk. I reached over and grabbed the phone, sucking in a nervous breath as I punched in the numbers for my beloved. It rang and rang and rang, and I sighed. She wasn't going to pick up.

"This is Lia Anderson, leave a message." Even the recording of her voice was beautiful.

I twirled the cord of the phone around my index finger, anxiously waiting for the beep. When it came, my voice caught in my throat. "Hey, Lia, it's me. Timber. I'm...I'm back in town. Call me when you get a chance. There's a lot to talk about. I love you. I miss you. Please call soon. I'm at the Grand Hotel, room 622." I hung up, and prayed she got the message sooner rather than later.

With a sigh, I turned on my television. On Salvation, we got five channels. One was for weather and announcements, two were for cartoons, one was old sitcoms, and then the last was old black and white movies. Naturally, I wanted to catch up on what was going on in the world.

The national news was filled with the usual political commentary and latest world disaster. Nothing was being mentioned about the disappearances from when I was taken from the mall. After so long, I'm sure the story had lost steam and people were ready to move on. Soon, the news would be bubbling again. Once the world knew it was going to end, everything would change. In that regard, I was grateful to have a quick ticket off the planet. I wouldn't be around to watch the looting and overall freak out of an entire species.

I changed the channel, flipping through aimlessly. There was the usual reality television, some paid movie channel, and other basic cable stations to browse through. When I was bored, cooking channels were usually my go-to background noise. I was having a hard time finding one, but I was glad I didn't, because if I had, I would have missed seeing Talia.