Dysfunctional

Chapter 9

"You are the boy she has been keeping a secret. I am Leah Bernard, Paige's Mother." She put her hand out to me and I shook it.

"Do you know where my daughter is? I have been trying to call her since yesterday and I haven't been getting her and she did not come to the apartment last night." Leah took a key from her bag and pushed it into the lock. She then turned to me. "Was she with you last night?"

I shook my head. "No Mam, I have been trying to call her too, she has been ignoring me."

Leah let out a depressing sigh, "Sarah's death hit her hard. I wish I could make it all better for her. Try to let her understand that it is ok to grieve, but Paige is a girl that bottles things up, and it is devastating when she blows. I don't want that to happen to her. If she contacts you tell her that I am at her apartment and she needs to come home." She turned the key and opened the door.

I tried to follow her in but she blocked my entrance. "What are you doing?"

"I want to wait and see if she will come back." I said as a means of explaining my impudent behaviour.

She looked at me for a moment, seeming to contemplate her decision. "Don't you think she would go to your dorm, or wherever you live? Considering that her best friend just died, maybe she does not want to be here."

I never thought of that. "It's a possibility."

"How long have you been dating my daughter?" Her eyes were curious.

Hadn't Paige told her anything about me? "Nearly two years."

"And she never told us anything about you, classic Paige." She shook her head disappointingly. "Is the relationship serious?"

"I should think so; we've been dating for over a year."

"You seem like a good person Adam and Dr Bernard and I would love to have you over for dinner, just to get to know you more. Hopefully when this tragedy is all sorted through and everyone is in a better space."

I nodded my head. "That would be great."

"When you get home, if she is at your place, tell her I am here. I really wish we had met at a better time." She said before she closed the door.

***

She was not at my apartment. I settled down on my brown, musky couch with a glass of vodka. I wanted to stop worrying about her, because it made me feel powerless. I turned on my small LG flat screen TV. The missing report came on. Five girls have gone missing again. It was like every week another person went missing.

There was a persistent knock on my door. I jumped up off my couch and turned off the TV, hoping it was Paige. I dragged the door open to see Marcus standing there his hands in his pockets, a knapsack on his back.

Disappointment weighed heavy in my stomach, "What do you want?" I asked less than pleased to see him.

"Why aren't you at school?" he stepped pass me, walked over to my couch and dropped himself down on it, took up my unfinished glass of vodka and downed it. He then propped his feet up on my rustic iron glass topped coffee table.

"I don't feel like it."

"Great because we need to talk business."

"I am not in the mood."

"I do not care if you are in the mood. Demand is increasing since midterms are coming up, course works are due and people just need to release stress. The streets are begging for our product. Market is booming right now Adman and we need to increase production."