The next few weeks were a drag. There was only one thing that made them worth it, and it was her occasional and far too short visits to Walker's house.
Her spark was back now that she saw him regularly again. Smiles appeared easily, laughter came more often, and she felt the self worth returning that she had missed so much.
Her dad had started to talk to her again, if you could even call it that.
"Good morning Sophia."
"Goodnight Sophia."
That was all. It was never anything fatherly, or smothering like he used to be. Instead he was distant and cold, to the point where she was practically running the apartment.
Sophia locked the doors at night. Sophia did all the laundry. Sophia took out the trash. Sophia made sure to buy groceries with the cash from her dad's wallet.
He would leave early in the morning for work, and come back late at night. She'd sneak out during the day while he was gone.
When he came home he was always a bit drunk, so the second he saw that she was in fact in her room and not off doing something against his rules, he'd turn heel and pass out on the couch.
A bit of pain shot through her heart to see him like that. Never pity or guilt, or a desire to help him. Just pain. He was so far gone from the man she grew up with. The man who would play dress up with her when she was little, and sit through her elaborate stuffed animal tea parties.
There were a few other things floating around her head at the moment too. Like the final pieces of puzzles, but they all formed different pictures. None fit together, but each were important.
The press tour starts in a week.
Who were the other mystery messages from?
What did her dad steal from her mom's house?
Who wrote the fake letter from Walker?
Actually, scratch that last one. It was painstakingly obvious to her now that her dad had done it, to isolate her. Make her feel more alone than she already was by having to live with him.
She added it to the constantly growing list of reasons she couldn't wait to get away from him.
It was Friday, and her dad had left for work early that morning. As the afternoon crept by, Sophia decided today was the day to do some digging.
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She started by shuffling through his nightstand, and then all of the cabinets in the apartment. There weren't many. She finally struck gold when she reached up onto her tip toes to feel around the top shelf of his closet.
A small stack of papers, and a ziplock bag. Its contents caught her eye immediately, and she murmured under her breath.
