Fighting For What's Missing

50.

Five years later...

"Agnes!" I yell, moving to the bottom of the steps. I place my hand on the wall and lean into it. "You're going to be late!" I hear her door open, then a few seconds later, Caesar runs down the stairs and past me, trotting in the direction of the kitchen. The back door is open a crack so she's probably going to go outside before we leave.

"I don't feel good," Agnes mumbles, and I snap my head up. Frowning hard, Agnes drags her feet down the steps. How did I not hear her coming down?

"What's wrong?" I ask as she walks past me, but not before I get a glimpse of the bags under her eyes.

"I dunno," she shrugs. I follow her into the kitchen, and she drops into a seat at the table. "My knees are killing me. The pain kept me up most of the night."

I set the plate of French toast in front of her. "Do you want to stay home?"

"No."

"Medicine?"

"Daddy," she groans. I expected that. She refuses to stay home from school unless she's in the hospital-her words, not mine-and she doesn't take medication for any type of pain. They were both stupid questions.

"Go ahead," I sit down in the seat across from her. "Vent to me."

She shakes her head. "You're going to be late for work." I stare at my thirteen-year-old daughter and wonder how she would ever think work is more important than her. "Agh," she groans in frustration after a few beats of silence. Bowing her head, she picks at the bracelet I made her. I make her one every year for her birthday. She keeps the old ones tied on Night Fury-a large, stuffed white Tiger I got her when she was only eight. "Can you pick me up early?"

I feel my eyes slightly widen. It must be serious. "Y-y-yeah. What time?" I wish I could do more for her than pick her up from school early.

She shrugs. "After lunch?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, daddy."

Respectfully, I roll my eyes. She never has to thank me, I'll do anything for her and she knows this yet she continues to thank me. I get up, lean across the table, plant a kiss on her head, then hurry outside. On the other side of the backyard, Caesar is fighting a squirrel. "Caesar!" I shout, running over. I don't know a lot about cats but I know for sure that Caesar isn't a normal cat. She acts more like a dog than a cat should. I swear I've heard her bark before.

I grab Caesar seconds before she buries her teeth into the poor squirrel's neck. She fights back for a moment but stops when she sees it's me. "Damn cat," I mutter.

I hurry inside to find Agnes had eaten my breakfast too.

"Sorry," she pouts.

"It's okay," I smile at her. Her appetite's been off lately, I just glad she's eating right now. "I'll ask Rob to get me something." I drop Caesar and grab my keys off the counter.

"Daddy, your tie." Agnes fish out my tie from her back pocket. "You always forget."

"Thank you, sweetie." Charlie had prompted me a few years back, now I have to wear a monkey suit with a damn tie, and all I do is sit at a desk for half of the day. It's fucking annoying.

********

Agnes was huffing and puffing the whole ride to school, holding her knees to her chest. I don't know why she won't stay home. After talking about it for a while, Agnes had agreed to stay in her grade level. Missing a day of school won't hurt. But she's stubborn and considering we only had a few minutes to talk about it and not weeks, I wasn't going to win. It hurts when I can't help her.

I park in my spot and hurry out of my truck. I didn't see Robbie outside or in the main lobby but when I stepped into my office there was a McDonald's bag on my desk. Pancakes and a hash brown. Thank you, Robbie.

I take a seat behind my desk and open the bag. I take my time eating, looking over the work I have to do, and preparing myself for the rest of the boring morning.

Two hours later...

The agreement Charlie and I made is simple, a work an hour or two behind the desk then go outside and cut up some trees. I get paid extra as full-time for something I only do part-time, it's pretty cool. And now that my hours are up, I can take off my damn tie and swing an axe. I get up from my seat when the phone starts ringing. Normally I let Charlie handle the calls, but when I glance over and see it's Agnes' school-I memorized the number-I answer it.

"Hello?" I say.

"Daddy?" Agnes' whisper barely carries through the phone.

"Agnes-sweetie, what's wrong?" I rush out.

"You have to come pick me up."

"Y-you...yeah, I'm leaving now. Are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't feel good." She sounds distant, like she's miles away from her body.

"Okay, baby girl. I'm on my way."

With the little information I had, I told Charlie I had to leave, and he gave me the rest of the day off. He made me promise to call him when I find out anything new.

*********

I finally arrive at the school, and my heart sank when I see that Agnes isn't in the main office.

"Where's Agnes Granger?" I ask the woman behind the front desk. "I'm her father."

"I need you to sign in."

I roll my eyes but remain silent as I sign in and show her my license. Once that is done, she tells me that Agnes is in the nurse's office. I swallow the urge to snap at her. Why the hell didn't she tell me that from the beginning?!

Rushing out of the main office, I barge through the doors and into the hall. To my luck, the nurse's office is next door.

Agnes is slumped in a seat, her head bowed, and playing with her bracelet. Her long and thick hair covers her face completely. I speed-walk over to her and notice she's wearing different pants.

"Baby g-" Agnes' head snaps up before I could finish, and she jumps up and throws her arms around me, hugging me tightly and burying her face into my chest. I hold her in my arms and caress her hair. "I'm right here." All I want to do is ask her what happened-why the hell is she in the nurse's office and why is she in different clothes? But she needs a hug, not an interrogation.

We stay like this for a few minutes then Agnes pulls away and brushes her hair out of her face. What she says next punches a hole through my chest. "I got my period."