The Darkest Eternities

VIII. Half Answers

Cara

AS EXPECTED, the door was unlocked. In fact he had left it half way open as if he was expecting somebody, probably me. I went right in. The house was cold. Dad must have left a window open overnight.

I heard someone talking ... shouting.

" As I have told you before, she has been missing for nearly 18 hours...don't you think I would have called her by now if she had it...yes, I filed the fucking report," the shouting was coming from the kitchen. " Yesterday in the evening at around six thirty..."

Going into the kitchen I found my father standing by the counter, a landline in his hand. He had a look of worry mixed in with annoyance on his face ...with a hint of desperation.

All this time I was 'missing' I had never really thought about what effect it would have on my father. As I stood there watching him on the phone - with the police probably - , I remember just how much he loved and cared about me.

I should go missing more often.

He didn't see me till I spoke." Dad..."

The phone slipped off his hand with the person on the other side of the call still talking, landing on the kitchen counter. Dad stared at me as if I were not real, just a mirage.

"Cara?" I smiled at him in response. Wasting no time he ran to me and hugged me tightly, making sure I was real and not a phantom of his imagination. "Oh my God..."

Dad was never really an emotional person but I saw tears in his eyes as he looked at me.

He scanned me up and down then hugged me again. "Where have you been? I have been worried sick...I went to search for you but I didn't find you....Oh God...I should have just told you about the letter and..."

"Dad. I'm fine." We stood there for nearly ten minutes, with him hugging me warmly. I felt sad that I put him through all that. As far as I could tell from the bags under his that were so thick they formed little hammocks, he had not slept all night.

He made me sit on the couch and explain what happened and why I was in different clothing.All I wanted to talk about was the letter and why he had been lying to me for all these years.

"...I passed out in the woods but was rescued and woke up in someone's house. They called a doctor and fed me. There. Nothing too bad happened" I left out the part about the wolves.

"Now you have to tell me the truth. You can't keep lying to me. I am eighteen years old and I deserve to know the truth," I told him sternly. I had never been so stern with him. He was usually the stern one.

He pursed his lips and moved to sit next to me on the couch. He was tense. It was clear.

"Your mother loved you, Cara. She still does very much. But something happened. Something that changed her. It changed her in many ways...ways we didn't understand. But it put us in danger. It puts you in danger. She had to leave." I listen, my heart breaking with each word he uttered.

He continued," Cara, she didn't want to... but she had to leave, for your sake. With the help of a few others... she went to the only place where she could get help...in greenland. Now she's in Europe. "

"What was wrong with her? Before, you said she was sick."

"This was not something treatable but it wasn't fatal...Not at all. Cara...all I can tell you is that she wants to see you. I kept that for you to protect you. My job is to protect you, Cara."

"Protect me by lying to me. That is not how you protect someone, dad."

"I know. I didn't know what else to do...if you'd like, I can tell her you want to see her..." I saw the sincerity in his eyes.