The Missing Link (Book 1: Outcast) [CURRENTLY EDITING]

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE: DOWN BY THE LAKE

Traffic started to build up. Lines of red lights moved up Lake Shore Drive, meeting up with the incoming headlights from the other side of the expressway. Both lanes barely reached the speed limit, and due to the bitter complaints and continuous honking, I gathered the situation wouldn't get any better.

Despite the gridlock, the world around me looked rather peaceful. People rode their bikes and strolled up and down the lakefront sidewalk, all of them lost deep in self-contained universes that probably didn't involve a magic wall crumpling into pieces in about eight hours.

Or perhaps they did know, and they were anxiously waiting to spread their wings, drag their tails on the street, wield fire, and play with everyone's mind... They were waiting for their world to be set free and showcase all the hidden secrets that had been kept from everyone else for all these years.

The act seemed poetical at first hand, but its implications had torn my dreams into nightmares the entire night.

I huddled in my jacket as a waft of wind swept by and held the phone closer to my ear. "So, what happened with Lyn and Gavin?"

"They made out on top of the washing machine...again." Jared sighed. "It was bad enough the other day when Mom told me she wanted me to start commuting with Gav-Wart more so we could have a nice family environment in front of Patricia. You should have seen the look on her face when he showed her his collection of parking tickets."

"He still brags about that?"

"Oh, no, he not only brags about it now," Jared mused. "He color-codes it."

Another gust of wind stirred the leaves on the ground, and my face scrunched at the pins-and-needles sensation from the cold. "I really think you should talk to Lyn, Jared. If you keep on pretending it doesn't bother you, the next thing you'll hear in the washing machine room won't be smooching but—"

"Okay, okay, Rhodes. I get it," he said. "But with everyone talking about new Sheriff McCall, she's not been in the mood for talking. She's drowning her unsolved problems with her boyfriend instead of the therapist I suggested."

"Understanding parents and their lack of judgement is probably not on my still-yet-to-work powers," I admitted, a sour taste in the back of my throat. "I really wish I could just make it better."

"You can always start a GoFundMe and raise money to get me an apartment," he suggested humorously. "Or I could move in with you. Nora would love the idea."

"She would be delighted to have a new babysitter for Emilia. You would be the official nappy-changer."

"Emilia likes me, you know." He paused for a moment, and I could hear voices carrying out on the other side of the phone. "And I would be an amazing babysitter. At least I don't forget to feed her like you do."

My mouth shaped an 'O'. "Did not."

"Did too."

Jared went on to exemplify the numerous times I'd accidentally forgotten to follow Mom's tight Feed-Emilia-Schedule to perfection, but my mind drifted to the lake next to me. It looked like a turmoiled mirror. The ripples in the silver-blue water scintillated and reflected the receding orange hues in the sky. Each one of them battled the stretching blackness that threatened to dip the sun behind the outline of the downtown buildings.