Heart's Games

Heart's Game|Chapter 40: Dr. Houston

Chapter 40: Dr. Houston

Recap: Katherine is now in Florida to meet with Tyler's family but the only one she wants to meet is Dr. Houston, who was supposed to be Lorena's psychologist but that was fake info since he was retired since before. Also, he is a close friend of the Stevens. Seth and her brother Josh are going with her. The police had told Katherine they would make sure Lorena will get out of the mental hospital. And speaking about hospitals, a long, long time ago, Katherine was in the hospital and she had a suspicious talk with Tanner about what happened the night that Bryan was shot. Tanner had saved her, but because he was trying to stop Jerome from risking his life. Now you're all caught up for this chapter!

List of people I got to meet that afternoon:

-Tyler's Dad
-Aunt Tiffany
-Uncle Stan
-Cousin Richie

-Cousin Emily
-Cousin Fred (whose resemblance to Tyler was simply creepy)
-Mrs. Silvers (their next-door neighbor)
-Mr. Silvers (pretty sure you can figure that one out on your own)
-Some-random-lady-who-spoke-too-much-and-I-successfully-avoided

And still I didn't manage to exchange more than two sentences with any of them. It wasn't my fault, though, so I didn't feel like a total loser- yet. However, they were so interested on hearing about how the boys were holding up with the entire 'horrifying cases' in their school. Needless to say, I had no interest on being a participant in that conversation.

After dinner, Seth told us we were going to leave in a hour or so. So, where was the so-expected Dr. Houston, you ask? That was a question I was so patiently waiting to be answered. But no. According to Tyler, he was going to come. Finally, after two hours of my constant Don't worry about it's and Tyler's He'll be here's, he sighed and told me to step out to the porch with him.

No one noticed us standing up from the couch. The living room was too crowded. And everyone was too involved in their own conversations. The cousins might have noticed, but they didn't really mind. Apparently, Tanner was telling the story of the century.

Once outside, we sat on the porch swing, not leaving much space between us, but enough just to be cautious.

Sorry about this random commentary, but Tyler's house- or, better said, the Harness house- was pretty awesome. I hate to admit it considering that the biggest bitches in the century live there, but I have to hand it to them. Kind of see why her family is one of the main incomes the school gets. Almost looks as fancy as the Wentzler's Academy. Almost. It was too big; I'd get dizzy by simply staring at it. But it wasn't welcoming. You felt like if one wrong movement was going to make you drop something or worse- break it and owe these people money. In conclusion, this house didn't look anything like Tyler.

"So," he finally said, "I think it is fair to say that he isn't showing up."

He let out a dried chuckle, but then he looked kind of confused; or afraid. It is always hard to tell with him.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

I didn't even hesitate. I was looking up at the sky, admiring its color. Not too dark. Not too bright. "Go."

"How come you didn't feel suspicious when I blurted out his phone number?"

Slowly- and maybe it was a bit too slow- I blinked from the sky to Tyler's face. He looked genuinely confused; this time it was easy to tell. So that question was eating him up. What made it even harder for me was that he didn't even have to give me a name. Just by having said his, I was sure we were still talking about Dr. Houston.

"What?"

Yes, that was all I could bring myself to say.

"Come on, Storm. You didn't even ask yourself why I didn't question anything you said?" I didn't say anything, just stared at him. "I know you asked Tommy. About him. You were a bit skeptical about me, weren't you?"