The Toy Soldiers Trilogy: Mockingbird

Chapter 7: The Ruby Necklace

It was the next morning, and I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted to. No matter what, I can find a way to fall asleep at Marcelline's house, but it was difficult. All I could think about was what that dream meant, or at least what I was translating it to. Even if I have girlfriends, and my aunts and uncles, I've just always grown up with my dad as my best friend. My brother and sister were that way too, because we clung to dad since we didn't have a mother.

I could lose it all and recover, but if I lost my dad, I'd never be able to to crawl out of my shell again. The hardest thing in life is thinking about your parents being gone, and I'm only sixteen! I shouldn't have to think about it yet, and my dead mother shouldn't have to tell me that my dad is slipping. It's my fault that I was thinking too much about how much Ashley was changing my life, and I wasn't paying attention to the way she changed dad's. He's just... different. He doesn't feel like my best friend anymore. 

Ashley and him were fighting pretty bad last night, so I guess it's time for moment of truth. Is the witch gone? My luck isn't that good. I was walking home, and my uncle Eddie insisted on tagging along so he could talk to my dad. About what, I didn't know. It could be a million different things. We got to the door, and I let him in. I told him I'd go find my dad, and that's when I noticed the house was abnormally quiet for this time of day.

I walked around the house, peeking in all the doorways. Maybe dad got a headache or something from last night, so he's probably still sleeping. I walked to his bedroom and very, very quietly opened the door. The walls of the master bedroom are white, with light blue curtains around the tall bay windows. Dad was asleep alright. He was shirtless, with an arm wrapped around Ashley's bare chest. Thank God there was a lot of blankets, because I did not want to see either of them nude!

When I got back downstairs, uncle Eddie was preoccupying himself with his phone. Curiously, I opened the trash can only to see enough beer bottles for frat house! That whore thinks she can just fight with my dad, then liquor him up and have makeup sex? That's not the way love works!

"My dad is still asleep, so you'll have to come back. Sorry." I mumbled. 

He walked over to our window and looked out to Cher's backyard. Her and her sister, along with Taylor and one of Arianna's friends, were all on the deck talking and hanging out. 

"It's okay, I need to check up on some things around the house for your dad, so why don't you go join the girls?" He asked. 

I nodded, with suspicion rising in the pit of my stomach. What's he up to? Well, it's not that hard to find out. Since dad is paranoid about literally everything, we have security camera's that I can access with my phone. I told uncle Eddie goodbye, then walked out to the fence and rested my arms on the posts.

"We've been wondering where you've been!" Taylor said as she joined me at the fence line. 

"I was a Marcelline's last night, and you know aunt Natalie. She'll let you sleep until you're dead, plus their house is really comfy."

"I know how that goes. Come join us!" 

I hopped the fence and followed her to Cher's patio. The girls were pretty mellow, like a typical day. Before my ass even hit the deck chair, uncle James was telling us it was getting too cold to be outside. Arianna and her friend bolted to her room, and us calm girls slowly walked to Cher's room. We sat on the floor, like normal, and I pulled out my phone. I plugged my headphones in the socket and opened up the security app thing. There was a password to enter and crap, but once I was past that, I was watching my house. 

Dad was still asleep, and so was Ashley. I flipped through the angles and camera's until I found the room uncle Eddie was in. It was our guest bedroom, where Ashley's shit is. Uncle Eddie was going through her bags, looking through the dresser and things. What the fuck is he doing? Then he looked under the bed and grabbed Ashley's pink and black bag. He was only in the bag two seconds before I watched him sigh and sit down on the bed's edge to pull his phone out.