Rampage - Patrick Hockstetter

Chapter 11

"Jay... Jay!"

"What?" Jay asked peering through her eyelids. "What are you doing? Are you sleeping, it's seven in the evening."

Looking around Jay looked to her dad, standing above her, his hand on her shoulder. "I might've fallen asleep when I got home I don't know I forgot." Jay spoke, her voice groggy and strained. Her eyes sore as the light from outside beamed into her room.

"Are you feeling okay?" Dexter asked. Jay looked at him, his face cleanly shaven and his breath smelled of mint. He wore a grey suit and black blazer with a leather belt. "Y-Yeah I'm fine, what happened to you."

Dexter glanced to his suit and back to her smiling, "Oh- um I wanted to talk to you about something actually that's why I came up here." Jay quirked an eyebrow, sitting on the edge of her bed as her dad sat next to her.

"What did you want to tell me?" Jay asked, running a hand through her hair. Dexter folded his hands together, "Jay, honey, I was offered a job. In Bangor."

Jay's eyes widened as she placed her hands on her knees, "Wow that's - uh - that's great, Dad." Dexter looked at her and smiled before looking to his newly polished black shoes planted on the floor. "It's in Surry."

"Surry?" Jay asked. Dexter nodded. Surry was a small town, smaller than Bangor. Compared to Derry, Surry was a grain of sand. To drive to Surry from Derry and back was about two hours round trip.

"Yeah, they need me at the Police Department over in Surry. All these kids going missing, they don't have enough detectives so Butch - you remember Butch right?" Dexter asked. Jay nodded, "Y-Yeah he came to talk to my Law Enforcement class a couple days ago."

"Butch put in a word about me to Surry PD, the word was spread and before I knew it, I was getting a call from the sheriff down there saying that he needed someone with the experience and skill."

Jay looked at him and then to the door, "But you haven't worked on a case in almost ten years let alone a case a big as the missing kids." Dexter looked to his shoes again, "Yeah I know but they need anything and anyone they can get."

"So what are you going to do, drive two hours a day come home and sleep then get up and leave again?" Jay asked. Dexter cleared his throat as he blinked, "No actually, I'll be staying with an old colleague, he has a house on the bay."

"So you'll be away longer?" Jay asked. Dexter scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Jay, honey, I didn't want to do this you know that but it's what mom would've--"

"No it's what you want Dad." Jay barked. Dexter looked at her, a piece of gray falling from his hair. Sweeping his hair out of his face, Dexter let out a breath, "Yes, it's what I want but if it's the only thing that can keep us both a float then so be it."

Jay didn't respond. "We can do all the stuff you wanted to do on the weekends, we can go to dinner and we can go to the movies, whatever you like."

Shifting her gaze to his, Jay explored his eyes smiling, "Okay. Okay Dad." Dexter smiled, pulling her into his shoulder. "I trust you to understand why I'm doing this."

Jay nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. The smell of alcohol substituted by colon. "Yeah I understand, Dad."

Rubbing his hand on her shoulder, Dexter smiled, "Okay, honey." The two separated, Dexter standing and walking back to the door. "I start tomorrow so if you want you can skip school tomorrow so we can do whatever you want."

"I can't tomorrow, I told Mr. Gonzales that I would talk to him about a chapter in the book." Dexter nodded, "Oh okay, we can do some stuff after school then."