Homecoming

Chapter 1

A car alarm was blaring right outside the second-story window, agitating the downstairs neighbor's dog. It's barking was heard by all, continuing on the chain reaction with a baby crying from upstairs. Nayeli Lamb groaned as she turned up the volume on her phone. Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me" scrolled across her screen, the vocals blaring into her earphones to the point she wondered if it would have lasting damage. The pain was worth blocking out the distractions around her. A sound price to pay.

She had her final dissertation due first thing in the morning and it was already past 10 pm. She had spent more time in the evenings staring at her computer screen than anything else. The city moved on without her as she sat in her little hole - wondering if the paper she was writing even mattered. If she perhaps was still distracted by memories many had told her to bury.

Ten years had passed since she moved away from Hope County, trading in the mountains and rivers for the fast paced life that came with the City of Angels at the behest of her father. Or rather, sperm donor as she preferred to call him. His presence was tolerable, but there was no connection. They were more like roommates than father-daughter. Two strangers passing each other with empty nods and forced smiles. Perhaps it had to do with the way he treated her like a show-dog. Pouring money into her hoping to benefit. He provided the finances to send her back to school, changed her wardrobe from rough looking jeans and flannel to pencil skirts and six-inch heels with earrings that were so large she feared they'd tear through her lobes.

It was not all so bad though. She had completed her G.E.D. upon arriving to California, worked her way to a bachelor's in psychology and sociology in record time, and was now just a month away from graduating with her Master's in Counseling. Once she had settled in with her bachelor's and moved in with a man suitable to her father's taste, he took up residence across the globe in Hong Kong.

How easy it must be to just pick up and leave for him, Nayeli once thought. To leave behind his family and past. Again.

Nayeli could not let go so easily. Following the death of her mother, her anxiety began to rule her everyday life, running every possible worst-case scenario in her head, inhibiting the most mundane of tasks. Not to mention the night terrors. Though Nayeli had not seen her mother's actual body, she let her imagination do its work. Daniel, the man her father had placed into her lap, did his best to be patient with her but she knew his patience at times wore thin, especially when she began with her theories that her mother's suicide was more than it appeared to be. That it made no sense to be anything else but murder. When she would reach that point they'd begin to argue, with Nayeli being made out to be obsessed and being told to move on.

Could anyone else move on so easily if it was their own mother?

Nayeli continued on with her paper for another hour or so, lost in thought when a tap on the shoulder caused her to jump in her chair. She whirled around, startled to see Daniel standing there with flowers. Daniel was a tall man with no notable features aside from the baby fat that surrounded the belly area and some areas around his face. He had been trying to grow out his facial hair for the last few months but it came in patches, causing an uneven look. Like a brown creature had set up shop above his top lip and left a little of itself behind on his chin. His eyes were a dark-brown that lacked the hidden gold often associated with them, the hair atop of his head matching with them. And yet, he stood there, back straightened and posture proud as though he had found the cure for the common cold.

"Happy anniversary." He cheered.

Nayeli gasped, not in surprise but more of a realization as her hands clasped over her mouth. Daniel's expression shifted from an enthused grin to a disappointed one. Funny, a majority of the time the roles were reversed.