My online valentine

2 - Text back

I walked downstairs and the first thing I noticed was my father sitting at the dining table.
This was unusual considering he was at the office by this time every day.

I wanted to avoid him but it was too late to go upstairs, he saw me , "Morning Erik.", he said without looking up from his newspaper.
I didn't understand why he still read from those. You could find whatever news you want in your phone.

"Morning dad.", I said and walked into the kitchen. My mom wasn't there, sometimes she went out for walks early in the morning.
I never understood her kind of people.
How can someone wake up early and just go 'you know what would be great? Having a nice stroll and drinking green tea'.
She was weird. But I liked that about her.

I noticed the plate of bacon and eggs infront of my dad, mom had made breakfast before she left.
I don't know why my dad couldn't make his own breakfast , my mom already did a lot of work around the house, and yet she never complained.
Every morning she'd wake up , spend a few minutes praying and then make whatever breakfast she wanted to make.
I didn't understand praying either.
I wasn't religious, and I didn't understand religious people.
I might have been a believer when I was young ,not anymore.
But my mom didn't mind my atheism, and I didn't mind her religiousness.

"I'm surprised you left your bed so early.", My dad took a bite of the bacon.

I didn't know what to reply to that, "Yeah.", I said.

He didn't say anything after that, and I went to the kitchen, grabbing some bacon and eggs for myself.

We sat at the table quietly eating, neither of us saying anything.
I didn't hate him. I am pretty sure he doesn't hate me either.
But I don't know if I love him.
I love my mom, that's easy. That's just how it is.
Dad was complicated. And maybe a little part of me was angry with him. He knew what had happened with my uncle and me. And he did nothing. I had told him. Talking to him changed nothing.

I think both of us preferred the silence.

Everything was so quiet you could hear the faint chewing sounds. And that was the only noise in the room until my phone tinged.

I grabbed it from my pocket and I could almost feel the annoyance from my dad.
He hated me using my phone.

I ignored his eye roll and unlocked my phone.

A nervous smile appeared on my face as I saw the same number I'd texted yesterday.
The stranger had texted me back.

'Hey there person who texted a strange number. I'm Castielle. You can call me Elle though. Nice to meet you.'

I read the text with a eyes curiousness in my eyes.
My first thought was what the fuck kind of name is that.
My second thought was this was probably a pedophile trying to get little boys through comic stores. And he'd try to meet me and murder me (maybe worse) as soon as he got me alone.
Dying sounded pretty tempting to be honest. Life sucks anyway.

Eh... maybe the pedophile murderer was a far fetched idea. Maybe it's just a lonely creep.
Either way , I was sure as hell not replying with my real name.

'Nice to meet you too, Elle. I'm Henrik.', I wrote back, 'So... how come you randomly give out your number in comic books?'
It wasn't exactly a lie , it was a half-truth.
Henrik still had Erik in it. And I was pretty okay with lying. I think I got good at it after all these years.