The Names - Book 1

Chapter 9: Galen

Ἀχλύς's pov

        "Dad?" I walked from my room into dad's lab, "What are we doing now?"

        "Today you can have a break." Dad smiled.

        I sighed with relief, "Finally, it's been forever..."

        I looked at my dad as he put away his lab coat and he put on his winter coat.

        "Put on your coat." Dad handed me my coat that was hanging on the coat rack.

        "W-what? But..." I stuttered.

        "What?" Dad turned to look at me, "What's wrong, Ach? Is something bothering you?" Dad kept asking me.

        "N-no..." I paused then continued, "I thought we were taking a break," I said to my dad quietly.

        Dad didn't respond at all. He just kept staring at me with confused eyes as if he was still asking me what was going on. Great...I just created all this confusion.

        "I meant," I tried to clarify, "I thought we were just going to rest today."

        "Oh, no-no." Dad's confused expression vanished and he laughed loudly, "We're going somewhere. Don't worry about it Ach, just follow me."

        I slowly put on my coat and followed dad out the hospital door.

        "Galena! Make sure to take care of the lab for me, okay?!" Dad shouted into the hospital and waited for a response.

        "Of course!" a voice said from upstairs.

        I watched as dad closed the door and focused his attention on me. I met his gaze and waited for him to tell me what to do.

        "Let's go." Dad led me to the car, "Get in."

        "O-okay...." I answered, still extremely confused and clueless.

        During the drive, I saw many families playing together outside on their lawn. I turned to dad with a question in my head.

        "Hey, dad?" I asked.

        "What's up?" Dad responded quickly and didn't look at me.

        "How come," I paused for a second, "we don't have a house?" I asked dad.

        "What are you talking about?" Dad laughed loudly then looked at me through the rearview mirror, "What do you think you live in?"

        "No, I mean, a normal house..." I tried to be as specific as possible, but it was extremely hard to explain what I meant.

        "There are such things as a 'normal' house now?" Dad raised one eyebrow and then laughed again.

        "No, I mean-"

        "I know what you mean, Ach," Dad cut me off mid-sentence, "Don't worry." He took his eyes off the rearview mirror and looked at the road.

        "Then...?" I asked dad, still trying to get an answer.

        "Wow you sure are persistent, aren't you?" Dad laughed again then continued to drive as if my question was never asked.

        "Answer my question..." I said quietly.

        I began to get really skeptical of dad. It's as if he was trying to avoid my question. I've never seen dad act like this before...