Insanity

Chapter 5- Soren

          Soren clicked end call and sat back in his seat. He was pretty sure his eyes would burst from their eye sockets and his heart would collapse if one more surprise were presented to him today. Eliza had had another fit, but this one had started out differently. She'd had no recollection of anything before choking. She probably hadn't known what was going on and was already scared enough before being told she'd been brought food and choked on it, only to realize she didn't remember any of it. Soren hated that she had to go through these things, and she had no idea why. He wished she weren't ill. Aside from that, his mother was in a panic mode worse than normal and strangers with baseball bats were showing up at his house for no obvious reason and-
          Crap. He hadn't even started driving in the direction of their former campsite. He turned on the car and started heading towards the campsite. All the while, his head was filled with unrelenting questions. Who was this man? How did his mother know him? Was he some former high school friend or lover? Maybe he knew something about Soren's dad.
          When Soren was smaller, he had had a phase where he would stop at nothing until he found his father, so he could bring him back and force him to take care of them. He didn't eat for a week. He only went to sleep after staying up for 3 or more days. He never stopped moving. He was always trying to find new leads. Some hidden link that would build a trail leading directly to his father. He never found anything or anyone. His father had seemingly secluded himself from the world. Soren had quit, finally deciding that a man who didn't want to be found would not be found. Especially not by a twelve-year-old boy.
          Soren's heart leapt out of his chest when a deer ran out directly in front of his car. He slammed his foot on the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt. He sat for a few seconds, his breathing coming out in ragged gasps. Once he finally calmed down enough to think clearly, he realized he hadn't even thought of checking on Eliza to make sure she was really ok. He laid his head against the steering wheel. Where should he go? Eliza or his mother and siblings? He let out a frustrated groan and slammed his hands against the steering wheel. Why did this have to be so difficult? Suddenly a thought entered his mind. What if the strange man was following him? It wouldn't have been hard to deduce where Soren was going, even in the man's most likely inebriated state. Soren might be leading the man directly to his target: Soren's mother. But if he turned around, the man might think he was giving up, and might give up himself. An unlikely solution to an unfortunate problem.
          Soren decided to leave his emotions out of it and think logically. Who had more protection? Eliza lived at a mental hospital, where the people who work there are trained to handle and deal with insane people who throw chairs. His family, on the other hand, were alone in the dark, probably huddled together trying to fend off the incoming cold. Soren knew exactly where he had to go, but he didn't necessarily like it.
          He turned the car back onto rgw street and began to head toward their former campsite.