Home is Where You Are

Chapter 9

I should've gone with her. She left at seven.

It's midnight.

She lost her phone in the ocean today.

Mom and Dad sat us down and yelled at us for three hours straight. I got yelled at for fighting blood.

Zeke got yelled at for everything else.

I can't call her.

I'm worried.

"Should I look for her?" I ask them quietly.

"Give it until one." Mom says. "She's upset. She probably went to the mall."

I sigh.

"Maybe, but-"

My phone vibrates.

I look down.

Abs: I'm not coming home tonight. I got a new phone, btw.

Me: why? Where are you staying?

Abs: in the storage unit.

Me: you're staying the night in the storage unit?

Abs: precisely.

Me: Abby, come home to me

Abs: no.

I want to kill Zeke.

She was so happy.

She was smiling and laughing.

Me: how am I supposed to sleep when you're not here?

Abs: the way you have been for the past twenty two years.

Abs: im not actually at the storage unit. I WAS at the storage unit. I got a place though. I'm at my place

Me: you're lying

A minute later, I get a photo.

Of Abby.

She looks fine. She hasn't been crying.

She's sitting in an empty apartment.

Me: which apartments. I wanna come

Abs: no, I wanna be alone.

I'm so frustrated with myself for falls asleep.

I'm so frustrated with Zeke and my cousins for doing what they did.

And I'm so frustrated, not at Abby, but about Abby, because she's sad and doesn't want to come home.

Me: what does shutting me out accomplish?

Abs: I don't want to fight

Me: okay, night

It's a few minutes before I get a reply.

Abs: please try to understand

Me: I understand why you're upset but I don't understand why you're shutting me out.

Abs: one fucking night without me is not going to kill you Liam. I'm not shutting you out because I won't come share a bed with you. You know exactly what's wrong.

Me: k.

She doesn't reply.

<><>

I didn't sleep that night. I fell asleep on and off and woke up at one in the afternoon.

"Has Abby been here yet?" I ask Mom