Midday Clouds - The Charlie Swan Story

Chapter 22 (New Moon 11)

Work that day went by in a blur. I kept replaying the conversation I'd had with Bella in my head, scrutinizing every little detail, trying to figure out where I could have done better.

I probably should have pushed therapy a little harder, but it was clear that she'd mistakenly take that as an insult. Maybe if I went with her, if I booked a family therapy session... I'd have to talk with Rose about it the next time I was in.

While my mind was preoccupied with worries about my daughter's mental well-being, more troubling news came flooding in; another missing hiker, the sixth of the month. The disappearances had been consistent ever since the end of summer, and though the park rangers had orchestrated a thorough search and investigation, there was no good news to come of it.

Hikers and campers had been encouraged to avoid the entire national park – something that hadn't been implemented since the last serial killer was making headlines back in '02, and the entire situation had my officers on edge over the past few months. I had to admit; troubles with Bella had taken my mind off of work matters, especially ones that didn't specifically concern my town.

But there was some recent local trouble, as well. A few resident hunters had come across what they described as "the biggest damn paw prints they'd ever seen," and though they didn't have a camera on them to get evidence, I believed what the Harrison brothers had to say. They were good men, and had spent many a season in the woods around Forks. Twice as big as a bear's, they'd said, and in the shape of a dog's paw.

All's I could do was put out an alert to hunters, hikers, and campers in the area to keep an eye out and have their bear spray handy – something that anyone from around here would already be doing.

Still, it was hard not to feel helpless in the face of all the strangeness. Gigantic animals. An unprecedented number of disappearances. In all my years on the force, we'd never seen such reports, and now they were coming in on a weekly basis. Just one more reason why I felt that Bella might be better off getting away from here, as sad as it may be.

She wasn't home when I got off work, so I stayed up waiting. She didn't call, and I didn't try to reach out to her; this was the first time she was out with friends in what felt like forever, so I figured that sticking to those boundaries we'd established all that time ago would be for the best.

Bells got home around 10 pm. I stood up and waited in the hallway for her. She looked flustered when she walked in the door, which was more expression than I'd seen on her face in months.

"Hey, Dad," she said, heading straight for the stairs.

"Where have ya been?" I asked, wondering if she'd ended up hanging out with Jess as she'd said. It was hard not to be suspicious, given how much she'd lied to me about Edward in the past.

"I went to a movie in Port Angeles with Jessica. Like I told you this morning."

Well, she'd said she might do something like that, but I didn't get any sort of confirmation from her. "Humph," was all I responded back, seeing if she'd offer more information in lieu of a response.

"Is that okay?" she asked. She seemed... annoyed. I realized then that she was acting like the teenage daughter I'd come to know all those months ago. It wasn't perfect, but it definitely wasn't the lifeless robot who had left this house in a huff that very morning. Progress.

"Yeah, that's fine," I said. "Did you have fun?"

Sure. We watched zombies eat people. It was great. Night Dad," she said, darting around me.

I watched her rush up the stairs – a quicker step than she'd had in ages. An actual eagerness to get into her room.

It looked like some semblance of my daughter was back.

Maybe she wouldn't have to leave Forks, after all. 

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