Desperate Lies

Chapter 3 (Trigger Warning)

A/N: Mild trigger warning for abuse towards the end of this chapter.

In the end of May, Eve finished her first "official" year of her Master's program. However, out of wanting to avoid being home for as much as possible - and admittedly, to distract herself from missing Chris - she had enrolled in summer classes as well. Summer classes would also push her progress further, so that hopefully she'd graduate sooner.

And get out sooner.

Eve walks into the house after her first day of summer classes, already with a mountain of work to do. Paul sat in his recliner, wearing his reading glasses, reading the newspaper for the day, barely giving Eve a passing glance despite the fact that she was clearly struggling to carry all of her books.

"Hi, Dad," Eve greets.

"Hi, honey. How was your first day of classes?"

Eve kicks the front door shut, "Good," She answers before going into her room and setting her things down.

"Hey, I want to ask you something!" Paul calls from the living room.

Eve sighs, then walks back out into the living room, "What is it?"

Paul removes his reading glasses and looks up at Eve, "Does your university have any sort of Bible study clubs or other Christian organizations?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Well, I'm trying to gather more young people for this protest - "

"Dad, please, no."

Paul chuckles, "I know, I know, you don't want me coming to your school and embarrassing you in front of your friends."

"I don't even HAVE friends because of you," Eve thinks to herself.

"I'll do it anonymously; there's bulletin boards in every building of that campus that I can pin flyers to. It won't have either of our names or even the name of the church on it; it will simply be a call to action to protest that show at The Ribordy on July 6th."

Eve gulps, "July 6th?" She asks.

"Yes, Motionless in White is playing there again. They just think they're so slick, don't they? Well, rest assured, this will be our biggest protest yet!" Paul declares, "I still don't understand why you don't come to the protests."

"School comes first."

"God comes first."

"Well, you know how I get panic attacks in crowds; you wouldn't be able to properly follow through with your mission if you were too busy soothing my anxiety."

"Hmmm..." Paul hums, narrowing his eyes at Eve, as if he were suspicious, "I suppose you're right."

"Trust me, it's better for everyone if I don't go."

Paul nods, then puts his reading glasses back on and resumes reading the paper. Eve takes this as her cue to walk out of the room and back into her bedroom. She closes the door and lets out a deep exhale.

"Shit," She whispers.

Eve regretted not getting Chris's phone number before he'd left. She didn't use social media, as she knew that, under Paul's watch, she'd never get to post anything that she'd want to post anyway. However, this left her with no way to get a hold of Chris. He'd invited her to that show on July 6th, and now Paul's biggest protest yet would be held on that date. Could Eve risk being seen by a crowd like that? Surely someone would recognize her, especially if she had people from the church and from her school there.