Coexist: Keegan's Chronicles

Chapter 12

Her mother was silent a moment. “Perhaps I overreacted. I just don’t want you to take things for granted.” 

Keegan smiled and gave her a hug, then slid into the seat next to her. “You won’t believe what happened at the concert.” 

“What happened?” Looking at her daughter, Emerald felt a rush of warmth mixed with relief. Of course, Katrina had already filled her in on what happened. She was just grateful that her daughter was unharmed. Katrina did not believe the boy was Rourk so when Keegan got to that part of the story, Emerald was surprised to hear her describe Rourk in detail.

“Mother, I know it was him, it had to be.” 

Her mom looked thoughtful and answered slowly. “I hope it was him. Then you’ll have a wonderful story to tell your children at bedtime.” 

Emerald dropped Keegan off at school and then called her husband. Richard was sitting over some paperwork at his desk with an intense headache when heard his phone ring.  He was surprised to see it was his wife. She never called. 

“Will you be coming home for lunch?” 

He sighed, “You know I would love to, but I am very busy today.”

In a calm tone she said, “I think it would be a good idea if you made time to see me. If you would like I can come to your camp or we can meet somewhere.”

He knew he was in trouble. His wife had the quickest temper of anyone he had ever met, so he knew to be worried when she was eerily calm. “On second thought, of course I have time to come home and have lunch with my beautiful wife. I will be there before noon.” 

She hung up the phone without saying goodbye. 

Richard didn’t have time to dissect what his wife was angry about. He would deal with it when he got there. He knew he would never understand the way her mind worked. She had always been a mystery to him. He thought of a quote from one of his favorite books: Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. ~Francisco d’Anconia. 

Smiling Richard thought, Francisco, you have not met my wife.

***

At school, Keegan could not stop thinking of Rourk. Usually she was loud and bubbly. Today, she didn’t even have the patience for Donald and his crew. They seemed so childish. She knew Rourk would never act like them. They were running around the halls, trying to catch and attack one another. Normally, she would join them, but now it just seemed lame. She felt like yelling at them to grow up.

Keegan sent a text to her mom that said: Can I come home early?

Of course her mom wanted to know why. How could she explain she just suddenly felt like she didn’t belong there anymore? 

I have a headache, Keegan wrote. 

The quick response: Motrin. Ugh!

Please mom, I just don’t want to be here. Everyone’s getting on my nerves, they seem so childish. 

There was a long break before Keegan received a response: No, I will pick you up at the normal time.

***

Emerald slammed her phone on the counter. What was Richard thinking? She decided to go to the gym. She needed to burn off some of her frustration. It was going to be hard enough to control herself when she talked to her husband. He once told her if he could change one thing about her it would be her temper. She tried to control it, but it didn’t always work. She had her father to thank for passing down the trait.