Catch Me

Chapter 13- Homecoming

I had to figure out a way to simultaneously keep Walter safe and also keep this from him. This was my fight. We were just messing around, he wouldn't want to be involved in my freaky issues. I needed to figure out how to deal with my father, alone. 

I went into the living room, leaving Walter to sleep. I grabbed a bottle of water and my work papers to try and distract my mind and regain focus. I went through around four cases and realized something. I had my dad's number. I knew he didn't change it since he was paranoid someone would text his old number some shit about his daughter and he would miss it. 

I knew how to get in touch with him by email and phone. I didn't know where he lived anymore but maybe...just maybe he hadn't moved. 

Only one way to find out. 

I went into the bedroom and Walter was awake, stretching his arms above his head like he had just woken up while I had walked in. 

"Hi sleepy." I said with a smile, trying to expel any nervous energy from my voice. 

"Hey, I just realized something." He said grinning back at me. 

I had begun to gather some clothes together, black jeans with a grey oversized sweater. 

"What's that?" I said while I got dressed, shimmying my way into the skinny jeans. 

"I didn't even take you on a proper date before not only staying at your house, but...engaging with you sexually..." He trailed off while giving me a quiet laugh. 

I snorted a laugh back at him "Well we had some extenuating circumstances that made that first date kind of impossible. I have to run to a...doctors appointment but I'll let you know when that date can happen." I said leaning over him while pulling on my sweater, kissing him on the lips.

"Fair enough. Is everything okay?" He had a hint of concern about the doctors. He was pulling on his clothes and grabbed his gun from the side table, clipping it to his belt. 

"Yes, just a routine thing! No need to worry." I hated lying to the one person who cared about me but the alternative was telling him I had a psychotic father who had stalked both of us and that he was in danger and pretty much should go into witness protection to escape my ex-army father. 

Hey men love women with daddy issues...right?

"Okay well I will call you later okay?" Walter said squeezing my upper arm while kissing the top of my head. He grabbed his jacket and headed toward the front door. 

"Okay. I'll be waiting in suspense." I said smiling at him as he waved goodbye and left the apartment. 

I went over and locked the door once I was sure he was down the hallway and took a deep breath. 

What I was about to do was stupid as fuck. I was about to confront the house of my nightmares with no mental preparation before hand. I didn't even know if he was living there or not. And if he was living there if he was at the house or not. I didn't know anything. But this was the only thing I could think of to get some clue on what was going on in my father's head and what I could do to try and save Walter from danger and my life from being stolen again. 

I grabbed my gun from under the kitchen sink. It was a weird place to put it but I didn't have a safe in the apartment yet so that was the first place I stuck the thing. I had gotten my license as soon as I had turned 18. I never planned on using it just never wanted to be stuck in my apartment alone without something to at least try and protect myself. It's funny the only thing I was afraid of was my father. I didn't fear burglars or break-ins...just my father. 

He was chilling in a way that went straight to my core. He knew just how to petrify me in a way that no one else could. I used to think it was me being afraid of his authority. But now I knew as an adult, that it was because he was truly evil. His intentions were to destroy. He destroyed my mother, destroyed my childhood, my innocence and my very being. He broke me into a million pieces and I had put myself back together one by one. I had reinvented myself to fix what he ruined. 

And yet he still found you.

I was scared as I gathered a bag together. My cell, my gun, my notebook and lastly my rosary. It had been mothers... she gave it to me on her death bed saying that she had prayed for me every night while I was small, and that she had put the prayers into the rosary to keep me safe. It hadn't worked obviously but for some reason I felt like there was a small piece of her spirit inside the little metal cross. The black beads clinked together as I slipped the rosary around my neck and under my sweater. I was hardly ready to face this but I didn't have a choice if I wanted to live free from this monster that lingered in my shadow.