God's Lonely Man

Room for One More

Carmilla frowns as she turns the corner to head to Laura's house. She thought they had agreed to meet at Carmilla's house before heading out for lunch, but it was nearing an hour and Laura hadn't said anything about being late, so Carmilla thought maybe they got their wires crossed.

But that doesn't explain why Laura hasn't responded to any of Carmilla's texts or answered any of her calls.

Carmilla checks her phone again. Nope, still nothing.

Maybe she overslept?

She knocks on the front door, but there's no response. She tries a few more times before trying to call Laura's home phone. It rings and rings.

A sudden thought hits her and almost knocks her off her feet. My mother.

What if more thugs had gotten to Laura?

Carmilla quickly scrolls through their conversation. The last text from Laura was sent early last night, when Laura said she was coming home from her dad's. But there was no text after that saying she ever got home safe, or––

No.

She quickly dials her mother, but it goes to voice mail. She tries calling Will and Mattie as well, to no avail.

"Wow, Laura's so popular," a voice says from behind her, making her jump.

Carmilla turns and finds herself face-to-face with Laura's father. "Uh, hi, chief."

Maybe he knows where Laura is.

"Relax, I'm not here to awkwardly third-wheel on your lunch date," he says with a small smile. "Laura just left her jacket at the house last night so I was returning it. Except she hasn't answered any of my texts or calls this morning, so I thought I'd just walk it over."

Carmilla swallows hard. "Y-You haven't heard from her, either?"

"No." He cocks his head to the side. "Is she not home?"

"I tried calling her home phone," Carmilla explains, trying to keep her voice even. "But there's no answer in there, and my texts and calls have also gone unanswered since last night."

"Well, she texted to say she was almost home," he says slowly.

'Almost home' and actually being home are two entirely different things, Carmilla frets. Once again, her mind wanders to wondering if her mother, or Will, went after Laura again.

"Is there something I should know?" Charles asks, his tone shifting from hesitantly warm to a slightly harsher one.

Carmilla stares up at him. Lying to him was easier when Laura was by her side. Now all she wanted to do was spill everything to him–– about the alibi being a lie, about Laura getting captured and beaten–– all of it. Especially if keeping the truth from him was wasting time that could be spent finding Laura.

"There's something you should know..." Charles looks at her expectantly. "Well––"

A car pulls up and Laura steps out, followed by Danny from the driver's side.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting," Laura says, kissing Carmilla on the cheek.

Carmilla tries to force a smile onto her face. "Where were you?" she asks, too cheerfully.

Laura laughs nervously. "Well, last night, right as I was getting home, I tripped on the curb and fell and my phone broke."

Danny rolls her eyes. "I get a call from this dweeb on her home phone saying, 'The curb and gravity broke my phone. Come with me to get a new one tomorrow?'"