✓ DYING MOURNINGS, original

three : demanding answers

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𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 : 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒

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Dolion didn't let go of my arm until we reached the parking lot. I rubbed the spot he had been gripping, watching him as he strode to what must've been his car, throwing open the back seat door and sticking his head inside to dig around. When he emerged, he held up a pack of cigarettes and a lighter with a triumphant grin.

"Want one?" he asked.

I crossed my arms. "You brought me out here to smoke? Are you serious?"

He rolled his eyes, pulling one of the cigarettes out and placing it between his lips. He tossed the pack back inside his car and shut the door before lighting the little thing. The smell hit me instantly and I curled my fingers into the palms of my hands, pressing down hard.

Believe it or not, I was in the middle of trying to quit smoking. It had been a nasty little coping mechanism after my dad died, as if the smoke would somehow take away everything I had been feeling. As if it would heal what had been broken.

"You don't remember me at all, do you?" he asked, blowing smoke from his lips as he stuffed the lighter into his back pocket. I gave him a blanket look because where the hell was I supposed to remember him from? Surely I would've recognized him if I did, he was handsome enough for me not to forget. "Gotta say that hurts, just a little."

The clouds overhead looked darker than this morning, thick and moving slowly across the sky. We were going to get rained off if he didn't finish his little game and tell me what was going on.

"I'm guessing your dad wasn't one to bring you to the office much," he said with a shrug. "Just surprised he didn't mention me."

I took a step away from him, suddenly very cautious of what we were doing out here alone. "My dad? What's he got to do with anything?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"My father's dead, he didn't tell me what?"

He flicked the growing ash from his cig, dragging his eyes down my body. He gave me a surprised raise of his eyebrows and said, "He really didn't tell you? I'm shocked, I would've guessed he was the one to bring his work home with him."

"He worked in a church, part time," I said, heart thumping against my chest. Did he know something I didn't know about my father? About what happened?

"Yeah and my family did some work with him."

"And this pertains to me? How?"

"You were there, one of the days my parents and I came in," he murmured, taking another slow drag of his cigarette. The blow bellowed out from his nose and mouth as he said, "God, I'm starting to see how this might all sound insane to you."

"You have no idea," I snapped. I couldn't see how any of this mattered. I knew my father did business with all sorts of people, hell, Brown admitted to it when he said he'd done great things for the community. My father was a businessman, this wasn't new.

"We met briefly," Dolion continued his explanation. "Your dad was the one to introduce us, actually."

"Okay, so?"