Lost Blood

Chapter Two: A Call To The Family

A week has passed since Nova met her father at the bus station. She never did catch a bus, she only found herself sleeping in her old art studio that got shut down and has been abandoned for two years. Before she went to college, this was the place where she spent her time practicing her skill. It was shut down due to the lack of funding and no one has bought the building since. She hasn't shown up to work since she was kicked out from her apartment, mainly because she hasn't felt like she needed to work if she has no bills to pay.

The only things that Nova still has are her clothes, her computer, and the photograph that the man, her father, gave her. After living like this she's been playing with her imagination of how her life could have been if her father came back sooner. Maybe when she was a young girl, he would have came back and they would have had been a happy family, or even when she was growing as a teenager she could have had her dad to help her with her ex-boyfriend problems, or even just five months ago before her mother passed, maybe he could have saved her. Maybe in any scenario her life could have been better and her mother would have still been alive.

Nova then stands up from the floor and heads out of the art studio. She walks down the sidewalk for a little more than a mile. With the photograph in her hand, she finds herself at the graveyard where her mother was buried. She sits on the ground across from the headstone with her mother's name on it.

"Hey, mom." Nova starts out very awkwardly. "I miss you. Every day. Like crazy." She pauses. "I feel like you would be very disappointed in me. Since you left, my life has just kind of fallen apart. Without you, I'm lost." She pauses again. "This man stopped by looking for you. He gave me this photograph of you and him holding me in front of our old home. He says he is my father and that he came back to keep his promise." Nova pauses again as a tear starts to roll down her cheek. "I'm so confused. He looks not a day older than he did in this photograph and he just came back only months after you died. I don't understand why he couldn't come back sooner. Maybe you wouldn't have died if he did." She begins to cry.

In the sound of the wind, Nova hears a voice telling her to trust him. Nova wipes away her tears and without even trying, she takes the wind's advice. She pulls out her phone and dials the number on the back of the photograph. It wasn't long until he answered her call.

"It's Nova."

"Hello, may I ask why you have called today?"

Nova sighs as she looks around the graveyard. The breeze blows her short blonde hair out of her face. "You deserve a chance to keep some of your promise, mom would want you to."

The happiness of the smile on her father's face can be felt through the phone, it warms Nova up inside.

"I will be there in an hour, where will I find you?"

"Elkmare graveyard. There is something I want to show you."

"I'll see you there."

Nova hangs up the phone and sighs. She looks up into the blue cloudy sky debating if she made the right decision. Maybe her father had a good reason for what he did and maybe he didn't. Maybe he can provide her the life that she may desire or the life that will set her out on her feet. At this point, Nova has nothing to lose.

An hour has passed, and her father arrives at the gate right on the dot. Nova walks over to him to see him dressed in an even nicer attire than the other day while she is wearing an oversized gray hoodie and ripped jeans.

"I'm so glad that you are giving me this chance, Nova."

"Don't make me regret it." She snarks.

A brief moment of silence is shared between them as a slight breeze blows through the tension of the air.