FATHER ALWAYS SMILING

Chapter 05 ~~~~~~

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Alright, if something comes up that you need to change the date, let us know."

Elain left the room shortly after. She felt uncomfortable, really uncomfortable. Elain could see that the woman was trying to help, but she wasn't a therapist, nor someone she was willing to talk to. Not to mention from the sounds of it, it might have been a group therapy thing, something she was not ready to do. At all.

Her Mom mentioned therapy at least twice during everything. But her mind felt too cluttered, a chaotic mess that she wanted to sort out herself first before anyone went poking around inside her head. That's probably not a healthy way to think... she thought, but it was the only thing that made sense to her. At least for now, it could change at some point.

"El?" her Dad's voice drew Elain from her thoughts. How long had he been standing there? "Are you okay?"

"No," she admitted. "I'm tired, Dad."

Her father glanced at the office that Elian came from before asking. "Alright, on the way back, would you like to buy something that might be easy on your stomach?"

She shook her head. "Not right now," then glanced out the window, watching everything go by quickly.

Her Dad offered a smile but said nothing further.

When back at home, Elain went straight to her room and fell on her bed. Only to then get up and headed to her bookshelf, nabbed one of the many books that she enjoyed and left her room and headed out to the front door to sit on a bench set up on the porch.

Lately, Elain found that reading a book helped her get her mind off things for at least a while to forget the horrible events that plagued her thoughts.

She continued to read until much later in the afternoon, though she wasn't aware of the time until someone approached and drew her attention.

"Good afternoon, Miss Ortiz," Alastor spoke with a cheery smile. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but there was something I wished to speak with you."

"Oh, no, that shouldn't..." she stopped and did another look at his face, seeing a noticeable red mark on his left cheek. "Mr. Hilmarsson, what happened to your face!?"

"Hmm?" he touched his cheek. "Oh, this? It's dissipated by now."

Elain immediately stood up, trying to get a better look. "Dissipate? Mr. Hilmarsson, it's super red. Did you use ice?"

"Oh, no, it's fine, I---" only to be cut off by Elain.

"No, it's not; you need to reduce the swelling no matter if you think it's fine, or it'll take longer for it to heal. Just hold on one second. I'm going to get some ice." She said as she quickly ran into the house, leaving the door wide open.

Goodness, Alastor mused. Though I've already used some ice for it, she is still a very kind young lady. His silver-grey glancing at the open door, as he took a single step towards it as he glanced inside. The setup was slightly different from his home, though this was far more modern, with the kitchen and presumably the dining room all in one and the living room and TV being closest to the front door. He could even see the stairs that would lead up to the bedrooms and the back door to the backyard.

A relatively simple layout and one easy to memorize, for it was one he knew rather well. One that came as a shock to this home's previous owner before she died. It was a shame. Had she not been so rude towards his daughter, nothing would have happened.

Elain then came back soon after. "Here," she said as she looked over his face as he took the baggie of ice wrapped in a cloth. Then as if something struck her, Elain quickly asked. "Wait, what about Amalie! Is she okay?"