Sandstorm {Discontinued}{Rewritten}

Interlude #5

Getting ambushed by questions and hugs as soon as she walked through the door was not the way Anita had been expecting to be greeted when she walked in her front door. But that was exactly what happened. 

She had barely put one foot in the door, before her brother was pouncing on her, practically squeezing the life out of her. Her dad wasn't far behind. He looked frantic. "Anita! Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick! Are you alright?" 

Anita pushed her brother off of her, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I was just staying after school. What's with you guys? I've stayed gone for three hours before!" 

Daren and Dad stared at her as if she had grown three heads in addition to the one she already had. "Anita, what are you talking about?" Dad asked, looking worried. He placed the palm of his hand over her forehead, checking to see that she didn't have a temperature. Anita scoffed and pushed him off. What the heck was wrong with them? 

"You've been gone for a lot longer than just three hours," Daren told her. 

Anita stared back at him, shaking her head. That couldn't be. Oculus had said three hours. He said he had brought her back the same day that he had taken her from. She was about to call her brother crazy and insist that he was wrong, but before she could Oculus burst through the door looking rather flustered, like he had run all the way here. He glanced at Anita, apparently not noticing her family yet. Trying to catch his breath and speak at the same time, Oculus said, "I was wrong. It's three days, not three hours." 

Antia's eyes widened, and she screamed, "What?! But you said --" 

"I know what I said! I was there!" Oculus said. 

Anita's father glared harshly at Oculus. He stepped in front of his daughter, putting a protective hand up to shield her from the strange man. "Who the fuck are you?" he demanded, his voice booming, threatening. 

Oculus flinched at his tone. This is what he had been so afraid of when he'd taken Anita on that little time jump. Parents could be so protective of their young. It's why he preferred not to be around them. Just to avoid confrontation and danger. "Erm...I, uh..." 

"Dad! It's okay, he's harmless," Anita said. She moved around her father's tense form, as he looked like he might be about to deck Oculus in the nose. She really didn't need that. Anita stood in front of her father, knowing he wouldn't dare hurt her to get to the other man. "He's not some creepy. I promise. We just went traveling." 

"What?" Dad hissed, glaring daggers at Oculus. Everything in his mind was being twisted so that it was much more inappropriate than it actually was. "Where?" 

"It's...actually more of a when really," Oculus mumbled quietly. He flinched again, as Darryl's glare intensified. The father didn't really seem to care about where or when the duo had gone, he only cared that his daughter had run off with some stranger who was several years older than her; and in his mind she was probably coerced into it. 

Daren's eyes lit up as he heard Oculus though. His young mind hadn't picked up on anything that could be potentially dangerous, as he was a bit naive for an eleven year old boy. "Wait, when? Like time travel?" He paused, then pointed at his sister, jealous. "Hold on, why does she get to go time traveling?" 

Anita rolled her eyes. Darryl shook his head vigorously. "She doesn't! No one does. Whatever this is, it stops now." 

Anita scoffed, throwing her arms out in protest. She stomped her foot childishly. "That is so not fair, Dad! He's not even a bad person!" 

Oculus shrank away, as Darryl kept his death stare fixed on him. He looked very small under the other man's glare, but that didn't make Anita's father go any easier on him. Darryl would have chewed him out and then tossed him to the streets, but before he could they were interrupted for the second time.