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^^^^^^
" BABE...WHAT? "
alexa, play MR. SANDMAN by syml
^^^^^^
"Dad! I'm home!" I called out as I closed both the screen door and the actual door, but there wasn't a true reason for me to raise my voice at all. "Dad?"
He usually replied or came running within five seconds of hearing me come through the door. Maybe he's sleeping, I thought to myself, despite how unlikely that thought was. Something didn't feel right; I put down the grocery bags and tried to ignore that terrible feeling in my stomach. He was okay. He had to be okay-nothing bad had happened in so long, so he was probably sleeping. I was getting in my head about everything again.
I speed-walked down the small hallway, peeking into my unorganized bedroom before heading all the way down the hall, where Dad's bedroom was. Knocking softly on the partially closed door, I waited for all of thirty seconds of silence before deciding to just peek in. To my not-so-pleasant surprise, Dad wasn't in his room. Hell, I didn't know what was more unsettling-the fact that his bed was made, or the fact that he wasn't home and didn't leave a note.
"That's normal," I invalidated my own feelings, walking back out to the kitchen and beginning to put away the assorted groceries that had been on a list on our fridge for about a week and a half.
I opened the fridge, noticing the two week old box of donuts at the same time my phone rang. Just throw those away after you hang up, I urged myself as I picked up the phone. Maybe you should write a list of things to do while you're on the phone. Maybe then you'll actually do the stuff you need to do when you need to do it. It was an unknown number; I counted the days and months to myself before pressing my lips into a thin line.
"Hello? Who is this?" I would play along with whoever this fucker was, because as long as they were calling me, they wouldn't call Dad. I could live with that.
"H-hello?" There was definitely a voice changer being used. "I'm sorry for stuttering, I wasn't quite sure if I heard anybody. This is Simon." Generic name? Check. Gosh, can they ever try to be creative? "I'm looking for Dewey? Is this the wrong number? I met him-"
"Where'd you meet him?" I couldn't take this bullshit. They need to just get to the point, honestly.
"At a bar the other night, we hit off really well." The lie was see through. "He gave me his number, but I'm assuming you're his daughter?"
