Philips (Sequel to De Santa)

Chapter Forty One

MICHAEL

"Chels, come on," Jim called out over loud music. "Open the door!" I stormed my way out of my room and over to Jim's, finding him outside the closed, locked door.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked.

"She's locked herself in my room."

"Why your room?"

"How am I supposed to know? This is all your fault, Dad."

"My fault?"

"Yeah, Dad, your fault! If you'd let her live her life instead of trying to control every moment of it, we wouldn't be in this fucking situation!"

"Look, Jim, you're not a dad, so you wouldn't understand. See, people like Trevor don't fall in love. They think they're in love, but in all reality, it's just an unhealthy obsession, the thrill of the chase."

"They love each other, Dad."

"Trevor only loves three things: drugs, money, and s—" My heart instantly stopped at the thought of it. Did that sadistic psychopath touch my daughter? I instantly began to slam my fist against the door. "CHELS, OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

"Dad—"

"CHELS! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" Chelsea didn't respond. "I'M GIVING YOU TO THE COUNT OF THREE TO OPEN THIS DOOR AND TO GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE! ONE...TWO..." I raised my foot and kicked the door as hard as I could.

"Dad, stop!" I continued to kick the door and finally, after the fifth kick, the door flung open. I barged into the room and looked around, but the room was empty. I turned to the closet and opened it and began rifling through Jim's clothes, but it too was empty; Chelsea was gone. How did she get out? There's no windows in Jim's room, there's no way she could've—

"My door!" Jim exclaimed as he examined the door frame. No...Jim would never pull something like this...would he? "Mom was right, you're a fucking psychopath!" I walked over to Jim's stereo system, turned off the music, and turned to Jim, who kept his attention on the door frame's integrity. "There's a fucking crack in it! I can't fix this!"

"Jim," I grumbled. "Where is Chelsea?" Jim paused and looked at me.

"What?"

"Where is your sister, Jim?"

"She's not in here? Did you check under the bed?" I knelt down on the ground and checked under the bed but, to no surprise, Chelsea wasn't there.

"Jim, I am losing my fucking patience! Where is your fucking sister?"

"She—she's gone."

"WHAT?"

"S-She looked so miserable, Dad. I couldn't stand to see her like that."

"WHAT DID YOU DO, JIM?"

"I didn't do shit, you did! You fucking drove her away, Dad!"

"I drove her away, are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

"She's an adult and needs to make her own decisions, especially with who she dates! If she wants to date Trevor, who the fuck cares? I mean, Tracey and I weren't happy that you started dating that Angie chick, but we accepted that it wasn't our decision! Why can't you do the same for Chelsea?"

"I WILL NOT LET MY DAUGHTER DATE THAT FUCKING PSYCHO!"

"Well, she is! And now that she's gone, you can't control that anymore."