Time Is Nothing (John Frusciante)

Chapter 17

Bright sunrays were squeezing themselves in from the gaps between the curtains hanging in front of the room's window, falling perfectly onto Cecilia's still closed, tired eyes. She opened them slowly and reluctantly, trying to get a glimpse of the numbers flickering on the bedside table clock. 9:58 AM she softly read to herself, even a little surprised by how late in the morning it already was. Well, not exactly late, but a lot later than she had expected. She pushed herself up on her elbows, then to a sitting position, and took a look around the room – the clothes she had been wearing when she arrived were gently and neatly placed on a chair in front of the room's tiny desk while her suitcase had been moved to the room's corner, the belongings that were previously scattered around the floor nicely collected back inside. The sight made her smile for a bit, she knew her dad had been to her room to check on her as she was sleeping and didn't find it too much of a task to clean up the mess she had made while going through her suitcase, desperately looking for something proper to wear for bed.

Cecilia's whole body was still aching from the exhaustion she had been enduring, her eyes still swollen and puffy from crying and the lack of sleep. Getting from New York to Oklahoma had proven itself a mission a lot more difficult to complete than she had expected, having only made it to her dad's house yesterday, sometime around noon. She had left the hotel in New York already two days ago, but since there were no seats left on any of the day's direct flights and she couldn't force herself to stay in New York even a second longer, she opted for multiple connected flights, dragging her journey back home only a little less than 24 hours long. Cecilia had no idea that getting around the country on airplanes could actually take such a ridiculous amount of time, but of course, she was also extra fortunate with delays and long hours between her connecting flights since most of those were all booked as well.

She did have some luck once she made it to her dad's, though, arriving just a few minutes before her father made it home for a lunch break from work. As she exited the cab and paid the driver who hadn't been able to stop staring at her from his rear view mirror for the whole entirety of the car ride, she did realize that it was Friday and her dad was probably working for the whole day. Almost praying for a miracle of sorts as she knocked on the door and hoped for anybody to be at the house so that she wouldn't have to sit outside until her dad came back from work around 5 or 6 in the evening, she felt such relief she hadn't felt in a while when she heard a car pull up in the driveway and then recognized it as her dad's as she turned around.

She could already see her father stare at her with worry plastered all over his face, probably debating in his head whether he was imagining this or was his daughter really standing on his doorstep unannounced, looking like a complete mess. He quickly got out of the car as soon as he had parked it, and sprinted across the yard towards the door and Cecilia.

"Cecilia, honey! What.. What are you doing here?" Matt rambled in disbelief, pulling his daughter into his arms and then looking at her carefully once he released her from his embrace.

"Hi, daddy," was all that came out of Cecilia's mouth as she numbly accepted the hug, then smiled the most painful smile she had probably ever smiled in her entire life.

"Sweetie, is everything alright? Why are you here? I thought you were working and traveling with John and that band of his," Matt then questioned, knowing damn well that nothing seemed to be alright with his daughter. He could see her red and swollen eyes and could tell by the way she was carrying herself that she was in a feeble state, both physically and mentally. He had seen his daughter look like this once before in his life and had hoped to never see a sight like that ever again.

"I uh.. Can we.. Could we please go inside?" Cecilia weakly spoke, her dad then instantly unlocking the door and letting them inside the house.

"Please, honey. You need to tell me if something is wrong or if you're in need of some help. Seeing you show up like this really worries me, you need to understand that," Matt pleaded once he had sat Cecilia down behind the kitchen table, directly opposite of him.