Depths (18 page)

“
The chicken-fried steak please.
French fries on the side and I'll stick with water to
drink.
”

Coming right up
…

“
Coming right up!
”
She said in her far-too-cheerful
voice.

“
So what did you want to talk
about?
”
Charles asked me.

I fidgeted with the napkin on my
table. It wouldn
’
t be easy swallowing my
pride to talk to this guy. I've never liked laying all my cards out
on the table, so to speak, and this was definitely all of my
cards.

“
Well,
”
I started,
“your
daughter is back in town,
”
I couldn't look
him in the eye as I spoke,
“
and we didn't
exactly end on the best of terms.
”

He was expressionless as I spoke. I already knew how
he would respond.

I continued,
“
And I just want to talk to her. I was kinda hoping we could
pick up where we left off. I feel horrible for what was said and
done before she left. I was just hurt, scared, and I didn't want to
even try being without her. And she didn't let me know she was
planning on leaving or anything and... I don't know, I just didn't
understand why. And I just want to talk to her. Get some
closure.
”

“
Well here ya
’
go, enjoy your meals
guys!
”

The waitress set our plates in front of us and
cheerfully bounced away. Charles began cutting into his steak and
looked over the rim of his glasses at me. I just stared at my own
food. I didn't have much of an appetite to begin with and the
uncomfortable silence was starting to get to me. I went to speak
but he cut me short.

“
So why are you telling me
this?
”

Good question.

“
She listens to you. She respects
your word. I know you guys haven't always gotten along the
best.
”
That was an understatement. I could
recall several occasions when she would tell me stories that would
make my blood boil and the only thing I wanted to do was strangle
him.
“But, she
does
listen to you. And I was
hoping that maybe if you could mention me to her, just that I want
to talk, that maybe she would give me a chance. I know that if I
tried talking to her on my own she wouldn't listen.
”

Charles chewed on his food
agonizingly slow.
Intentionally
. At least it seemed
like it was. He looked from his food and up to me again. He was
studying me.

Those damn eyes. I hated them. The
way they seemed to look
through
me instead of
at
me.

“
Are you gonna eat? You don't want
to waste your food.
”

I hadn't touched my plate yet and he was over
halfway done.

Nice way to avoid the subject.

I cut a piece of my chicken-fried heart attack and
put it in my mouth. Deep fried grease. Delicious. He probably knew
it was horrible and still suggested it.

You know how much he hates you.

“
So... What do you
say?
”

He finished chewing, wiped his hands and mouth on
his napkin delicately. He paused for a second, still studying me,
before folding his hands on the table and intimidatingly leaning in
closer.

“
You don't seem like a stupid guy.
You have a stupid job
—”

Not anymore...

“—
but I don't think
you're
stupid. Maybe a little unmotivated though. And to be honest
with you, I hate that even more than I hate stupidity. She's
brought home some stupid-ass boyfriends before, but she's never
brought home someone wasting as many brain cells as you on some
bullshit job when you could be doing so much better. Now, that
being said, I don't particularly like you as a person. But I've
also never seen anyone treat my daughter as well as you. Which is
the most any man could hope for his daughter.
”

Not quite the answer I was hoping for. I bit my
tongue, the personal attacks were making my cheeks red but lashing
back wouldn't help.

“
So
I
’
m in a very
strange position as a father. On one hand, I have a guy who appears
to not be going anywhere in life who I wouldn't want sapping my
daughter dry. But on the other, I have someone who I can tell
obviously cares about her. You wouldn't be sitting here if you
didn't. So if you were me, what would you do?
”

Great.

Tell him what you'd do.

“
To be perfectly honest,
”
I fidgeted around in my seat
uncomfortably,
“I couldn't say what I'd
do. I don't have a child and I won't ever know your stance until I
do. I can't say. All I'm asking is for you to get her to talk to
me. That's it. We didn't end on good terms and she probably doesn't
even want to see me. I just know I'd regret not taking this chance
when I have it. I hope you can understand that.
”

Oh that was good.

Charles sat back in his chair, both confused and
impressed. He folded his arms and furrowed his brow, drilling his
piercing eyes right through me.

“
Like I said earlier, you aren't
dumb,
”
he paused,
“which is why I don't know if I can believe you.
”

You've got to be kidding me. I would have had better
luck asking the chicken-fried steak, that was far too cold by now,
for help.

I was frustrated and clenching my fists underneath
the table.

“
Alright look, I get it. I'm outta
here. Thanks.
”

What a disaster.

So what? That doesn't prove anything. It was a bad
meeting, what's your point?

My point is that he's almost out of the parking lot,
are you going to follow him or not?

He was right. The little red car was about to turn
out onto the street.

You want to know where he's going with all that
hardware, don't you?

I did.

I turned the car on and squealed
my tires as I sped out of the parking space. I raced in and out of
the aisles trying to keep my eyes on the little red car. He was
already on the street and I couldn
’
t lose him. I weaved through the
parking lot trying to avoid the various shoppers getting in and out
of their cars, unloading shopping carts and children. I got to the
driveway and turned right onto the street. He was a couple cars
ahead of me but I could still see him.

So why did you have me remember that? Nothing
happened.

You don't pay attention to people very much do
you?

What do you mean?

He's never liked you as a person let alone with his
daughter. Did you even notice the look in his eye? Or were you too
busy fidgeting?

No, I didn't notice...

I didn't think so. Heads up, he's turning here.

Oh shit, I wasn't even paying attention. I glanced
behind me in my mirror and merged over two lanes to get into the
left lane. There was one car separating Charles and I.

The left-turn arrow changed yellow and I wasn't even
at the line yet.

Don't lose him...

I slammed on the gas and made it into the
intersection right as the light turned red. I almost smashed into a
car turning right onto the same street and had to hit the brakes
and swerve to avoid hitting him. The driver honked and flipped me
off but Charles was still in my sight.

“
Not bad,
”
a voice to my right said.

The Voice In My Head had a boyish grin on his face
as he leaned over the seat to look out the back window.

“
You almost caused some damage
back there, you should be more careful.
”

“
Hey, you told me not to lose him
so I didn't,
”
I retorted,
“where is he heading anyways?
”

“
You never were much for
navigating. If he turns left on this street
—”

He trailed off as Charles turned left just up
ahead.

“—
then he
’
s heading towards Sunny
Way.
”

I blinked.

I sank into the worn spot in my sofa and felt
instantly relaxed until I remembered what I was doing a second
ago.

I jumped from my seat, panicked. I needed to get to
her house before Charles did.

The Voice In My Head put his hands on my shoulders
and guided me back to my seat. I struggled against him but he was
somehow stronger than me so I gave up fighting and let him sit me
down.

“
Easy there pal,
”
he said gently.

I took a look around, it seemed like I was back in
the room but it looked just like my living room now. The walls
still pulsed unsteadily and changed, the ever-changing sickly gray
was now a little closer to the actual color of my walls, my end
table was next to the couch and even my coatrack was in the corner
near where the front door should be. Across from that was what
looked like the formation of the hallway that lead to my room, but
it stopped abruptly just past the entryway. The wall on my right
seemed to bulge outwards as if something were pushing on it and
stretching it which is right where my kitchen would be in my
house.

The Voice In My Head pulled a chair out from nowhere
and sat down on it to my left. He leaned forward, and folded his
arms, he seemed amused as he watched my confusion.

“
We need to get back there before
he gets to her house!
”

He chuckled a bit.

“
Shut
up!
”
I screamed as I jumped from my
seat and kicked the coffee table over,
“you don't tell me any
fucking
thing that's going on and
give me cryptic bullshit answers and I'm fucking sick of it! Now
get me back in there so I can save her!
”

“
Well look at you, all fired up!
That's what I like to see, get angry why don't you? Instead of
using your head..
”

“
Fuck this, I'm getting out of
here.
”

I stormed over to where my front door would be, it
was the only wall that wasn't bulging or in the process of shifting
into another section of my house.

“
You said anything I think will
happen in here, so how bout my fucking front door?
”

I put my hands on the wall, it
felt like putty. As soon as I touched the wall an outline of a door
formed and a second later the door knob appeared as well. The Voice
In My Head remained seated, studying me curiously. I flipped him
off and opened the door and stepped
—

—
into the same. Damn.
Room.

“
Are you done yet? You tried this
once before and it didn't work so why would it work the second
time?
”

“
Fuck!
”
I screamed, angrily
.
Frustrated and desperately, I beat my fist upon the putty-like
wall, every time my fist connected a pulse of colors and pictures
radiated outward, sending ripples across the entire
room.

“
Get me the fuck out of here! Let
me out!
”

I balled my fists up and glared at the Voice In My
Head. His cool, calm and collected demeanor had grated on my nerves
long enough and I was sick of it.

“
So go ahead and do something
about it,
”
he tapped his head with his
index finger,
“thoughts remember, I can
hear them.
”

“
I want you gone, I don't wanna
look at you anymore. So,
”
I wasn't really
sure how it was supposed to work,
“get
back in my head and leave me alone. There, I thought
it.
”

He just sat there with his arms crossed. He looked
sarcastically from side to side and shrugged his shoulders.

“
So what did you think was going
to happen?
”
He asked me with that same
smart-ass tone in his voice.

“
Get. Me. Out. Of.
Here.
”
I spat through gritted
teeth.

“
What do you think I've been
trying to do? You think this is fun for me? It's not my fault I'm
stuck in here with the dumbest motherfucker I've ever known. Sit
and listen and I'll explain this real slow for you.
”

He gestured for me to sit on the couch but I
remained where I was.

The hallway had almost finished forming, I could see
the door to my bedroom and it looked like the office was next. The
wall behind The Voice In My Head bulged and stretched until it
finally snapped, and behind it was my kitchen. Pieces of the putty
walls stuck to parts of the furniture and dripped off the ceiling,
plopping onto the floor. The pieces of putty moved and slithered,
combining together and speeding to the walls where they were
absorbed.

I watched in amazement, it had changed into my
living room in its entirety now. The wall colors, the carpet, the
windows, the window curtains, everything. The hallway had finished
morphing and I could see the open doors to my office down the
hall.

“
What the hell is going
on?
”
I asked as I began walking the
perimeter of the room, running my hand along the wall. It was no
longer putty, it was drywall and solid.

“
Sit.
”