ferox | f. castle | 2

III.

"Sometimes we miss things. It happens."

III.

"You what?" I frantically shout at Frank as he sits across from my dining table. It was lunch time so he came over to eat, I hadn't seen him in two days and now I know why.

"It's not a big deal."

"Really? Because torturing David to get answers doesn't exactly scream 'not a big deal'."

"I didn't torture him." He says as he brings the bottle of beer up to his lips. I had made burgers for lunch considering I missed cooking, I've been so out of it lately between working at the diner and working out with Colin, I just order food by the time I get home because I'm too tired to make anything.

"I think tying him to a chair naked and splashing cold water on him repeatedly every time he falls asleep is considered torture."

"He's fine. I got what I wanted and he got what he wanted."

"So what is it that he wanted?"

"You don't know what happened to him do you?"

"After Colin died I pretty much ignored David and all of Colin's other friends. Didn't want the reminder." I bite my lip and play with the label on my bottle.

"He leaked that video I told you about to an agent at homeland. He knew it wasn't right and he wanted someone to see it, the same people who killed my family tried to kill him for it. They shot him thinking they killed him, but they didn't. Ever since then he's been hiding." As Frank explained to me David's story I couldn't help but start to feel guilty.

"This whole time...the rest of the world thought he was dead. Meanwhile I managed to push everyone out of my life because of Colin so much so that I didn't even know this was going on. How fucked up is that? Jesus, I didn't even go to his funeral." All of Colin's friends treated me like I was a friend too, I spent time with them and shared laughs with them and then they offered me anything I needed after he died and how do I repay them? By shutting them out and erasing them from my life like they never existed in the first place.

"Em, he's not dead. You can't blame yourself for making these kind of choices when you were hurting."

"What else do I not know? About him? About any of them?" I run my hands down my face.

"He has two kids and a wife." I look at Frank with wide eyes.

"I knew about his wife, well at the time they were just dating. Jesus Christ. But kids?" I shake my head, I really knew nothing.

"His kids are around twelve years old, I think he had them when Colin was still alive."

"Oh, even better. I knew none of this stuff even when I did talk to him." Is this what I do? Am I not aware of my surroundings? Am I the kind of person who doesn't actually listen?

"Sometimes we miss things. It happens."

I shake out of my thoughts and sigh. My shit isn't important right now.

"Okay, so what did he want?"

"Ill take you to him."

"A little heads up you're coming next time. I didn't recognize the car." David says as me and Frank get out of my car. We were in some sort of abandoned building that was so run down I could barely tell what he was before. There were computers in a circle in the middle and off to the side there were a few chairs and a bed. Jesus, this is where he lived.