Dear: Who Now?!

Chapter 20

We stop at a light and turn right. Mom stops in the middle of the road and pulls out her phone, types a bit and then places it down again before driving as slow as humanly possible - I'm pretty sure a snail could WALK faster if it had legs at the rate we're going. Mom checks her phone again and goes a normal speed. I look out the window and start getting scared. We're in a very run down looking neighborhood - I'm pretty sure this is a troubled area if I've ever seen one. We come to a stop outside a big white house full of cars and no parking. We park out on the street and mom is texting away again. Mom's head turns my way and she looks past me, I follow her gaze and that's when I see it. A SUPER tall man with black hair and a dog. "Come on." She says almost in a trance. Slowly, she gets out of the car and walks around the front of it to the guy who I'm pretty certain is Joey unless I'm mistaken. Once she's on my side, I get out too. Together, we walk to the waiting guy and his dog. 

A few steps forward, the dog notices us and comes running and barking. Mom stops suddenly and I follow suit. "Hey Baby!" She coos at the dog. "Hey! It's just me - you know who I am. Hush now." She says to the dog who's still barking and running around us excitedly. "Bear!" The man whistles at the dog. "Come on!" He pats his leg and calls for his dog again. Finally the dog obeys and goes running to him. Without the distraction of the dog, mom and Joey finally focus on eachother. They look at eachother and finally say hello. "Hey." Mom says quietly. "Heyyy! How are you?" He asks. "Come inside." He turns and starts to head inside. I let mom go ahead of me. "Well?" He presses as she walks by him. She seems shocked that he spoke and turns around in a circle to look at him. "What? Oh! I'm good - we're good! How are you? How've you been?" She says all in one breath seeming nervous. He laughs and closes the door behind me. Mom holds me back and lets him go up the stairs before us. That's when I finally realize this isn't a house - they're apartments! 

Up the stairs we go. "I've been good, busy with work but nothing new." Joey answers mom's previous question. We go up a shorter flight of stairs. Mom points at a railing and quickly says "Don't touch that!" and continues up. Joey opens the door at the top and we file in. I close the door behind me and turn around to face the room. 

The smell is what hits me first and I almost gag! It smells like wet dog, poo, and something else I can't distinguish - DIS-GUS-TING! I take in my surroundings and almost jump when an old man says hello to me. I smile awkwardly and follow my mom and Joey across the room and then realize there's no room for me on the small couch and I'm going to have to sit with the old man. Swallowing my fear, I backtrack to the other small couch the man is sitting on and I stop in front of him. "C-can I sit with you?" I ask nervously. He quickly stands up and towers over me and gestures for me to scoot by him. "Oh of course!" With that, I scoot by and sit. A moment later he sits down next to me - a little too close for my liking but I guess it'll have to do. 

Once everyone's sitting and situated mom starts the introductions. "You guys know me." She starts with a laugh then points across Joey to me. "That's my daughter Ophelia; Ophelia, this is Joey." She points to the guy next to her on my left. "And that's his dad Lou." She says pointing to the old man on my right. I look at both of them quickly and say hi while they do the same. I'm not sure why mom HAD to sit next to Joey and make me sit next to Lou but here we are I guess. As much as I hate my mom I'd much rather be sitting next to her than some strange old man I don't know. I sigh mentally and try my hardest not to shake in fear. I look and see mom and Joey are staring straight ahead watching something on the BIGGEST tv I have EVER seen! I glance at Lou and see he's doing the same. Too nervous to tune in, I look around the room and take in my surroundings. 

The walls are white with dirt streaked on them. The floor is a hardwood that needs washing. I look past Lou and see two windows and the tops tiers of other apartments outside. Above the window I see what looks like a family photo of what I assume is Joey and Lou's family. There's what looks to be a comic book tacked on the wall above the other half of the window. I notice a full of junk coffee table in front of me full of grime. I pretend to watch tv a bit before looking around some more. The tv is on top of a big square black folding table with movies and some kind of gaming console on the floor underneath it. Looking past mom and Joey is a big, wide room that's completely dark. It looks like everything in that room is made out of hardwood. From where I'm sitting, I can't see much else. I try again to watch what's on the tv but I just CAN'T!!! I see mom and Joey talking quietly. It looks like she's whispering in his ear. They both smile and laugh a bit before looking over at me and quickly sobering up. They face back towards the tv and I do too. 

Half an hour goes by and I'm half heartedly watching whatever the tv program is. I get startled when Joey stands up and towers over me. I see mom standing too. She looks at me. "I'll be RIGHT back! I have to talk to Joey about something." Before I can even nod my head, the two of them are gone, leaving me stuck with the one and only Lou. I look over at him sadly - this is NOT what I want to be doing - or - who I want to be stuck with for any amount of time. He looks back at me and grabs the remote before turning it up like fifteen notches and changes the channel to come horror movie. Smiling, he sets the remote down and goes back to watching. I pull out my phone and text Khalya. 

Me: I'm stuck sitting in a living room with some weird old man named Lou. He has a long beard. Mom ditched me and I'm scared.. I wish you were here! <3 

A second later she replies. 

LOMFL: Aww :( Babe I'm sorry! I wish I was there too! :* <3

Before I can respond back, a scream from the movie makes me jump and look up. Some lady is running down a hallway away from a man in a white mask. Intrigued, I pocket my phone and watch what's going on. I'm quickly drawn into the movie and soon learn - thanks to Lou - this is called "Halloween". I watch fascinated and soon forget the world around me as I'm drawn into the movie more and more.