Universal Life

Chapter 10

     "Thanks, sorry for coming so randomly."

     "It's fine, I'll be right back." Carissa runs off and into her living room. "Can I go for a walk with my friend? I'll take the phone and leave location on."

     "Just don't be out too late. And stay warm, we don't want you getting sick." Her father replies, standing up and into my view. He sees me and smiles, kindly. "And grab your friend a sweater."

     "Okay, thanks!" She runs off to her room, I'm assuming and returns to me with 2 sweaters and her phone. "Here you go, if I can't get sick, neither can you."

     I take the purple hoodie and slip it on over my t-shirt.

     "So, what's up?"

     "Didn't Laiya send you a link?"

     "Oh, yeah, but I didn't open it. Why?"

     "It's an article about my father. Er, his company, really. They're trying to sue him for murder."

     "W-what?" Carissa laughs a little, looking at me with wide eyes.

     "I'm serious. I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen. So, here I am." I sigh, looking down at Dusty.

     "But he didn't do it, right? Right?"

     "I..." I start talking but don't finish. I don't know if he did it or not. For all I know he could've! "I don't know anymore. I just needed some fresh air and someone to talk to."

     "Well, here I am. Why don't we try and figure out reasons why he didn't do it. Uh, do you know who they were?"

     "Yeah...he said she didn't know how to keep her nose out of other people's business."

     "Well that's not good."

     We walk in silence, trying to think of something good about the situation. There really isn't anything. I couldn't think of anything.

     "How about we see if Laiya and Lauren want to come over tomorrow and we'll figure this out more." Carissa offers, looking up at me.

     "Sure." I look down at my hoodie and frown. Carissa never travels so why would she have a hoodie from Calaway Park in Calgary? "When'd you get this hoodie?"

     "Oh! I got it this summer! We went to visit my auntie and uncle in Calgary and they took us there! Have you ever tried deep fried pickles?"

     "What?!" I laugh, loosing a bit of the tension I had from before.

     "Yeah, they're not very good." Carissa makes a disgusted face and starts laughing, too.
We continue to talk and laugh throughout the walk. Until I have to head back home.

     It is now about 10 minutes after school on Friday. Laiya, Lauren, Carissa and I just finished walking to Carissa's house. Tomorrow I have to go to my dad's 'party'. I'm trying to keep it out of my mind, but it's really hard!

     "So, what did you want to talk about?" Lauren asks once we all get inside Carissa's house.

     "Huh?"

     "You told me Deline and you needed to talk to us about something." Lauren explained.

     "Oh yeah! Well, Laiya sent out that article thing and-"

     "Right, how's your dad taking that?" Laiya questions, focused for once.

     "I wanted to talk to you all so we could try and see if he is guilty." I reply.

      "Well, do you think he did it?" Lauren continues, walking down the stairs leading to the basement.

      "I dunno...maybe? He didn't really like that girl, so I guess it's possible." I flinch away at my words. How could he ever love me as a daughter if I am able to see him like that?!

     "Woah now, we don't know anything for sure except that lady died. Do you know anything about the rest of her family? Siblings, children, parents?" Carissa tries to calm me, following Lauren.

     "Someone that's in our class has the same last name. Thomas, I think." Laiya adds.

     "Doesn't he have an older brother or something that graduated last year? I heard their family isn't the best, either."

     "Really?" Carissa asks, flicking on some extra lights.

     "Yeah, his brother used to talk to Jasper a bit. Thomas has a personality thingy though."

     "A personality thingy? Do you mean a personality disorder, Laiya?" Carissa asks, confused.

     "Yeah!"

     "That's not that hard to remember, Laiya." Lauren scolds.

     "Okay, so we know her family wasn't in a good place to start with. How can this help my father?"

     "Well, his brother wasn't doing too well either. He was very violent." Laiya thinks out loud.

     "What?"

     "Well, when my brother and him drifted apart he got into fights with him. They started out verbal but got intense quickly. It wasn't long before fists were thrown."

     "Okay, this would still in no way help Deline's dad." Lauren tries to bring us all back on focus like I did.

     "How are they related to each other?" Carissa wonders.

     "Hold on." I pull out my phone and open Google. Once it loads, I type in 'Melanie Sanders'. A funeral page loads and I open the link. "Okay...it says she was the eldest of 3. Thomas being the youngest and Damian being the middle child."

     "There's our relation to each other. What were you thinking of, Carissa?" Lauren inquires.

     "Well, don't judge me, but what if she got in a fight with Damian and he got really, really upset and...you know."

     "He wouldn't..."

     "We don't know that he would do that but we also don't know if he wouldn't." Laiya agrees.

     "So we're pinning this on a high school graduate now? Something doesn't feel right..." I reply. I still don't fully believe my dad would kill someone, but I also don't believe him innocent.

     "I know it's wild. For all I know, he could've loved his sister dearly. I mean, Thomas wasn't at school today, as long as the guy I'm thinking about is actually Thomas." Carissa sighs in defeat.

     "Do you guys wanna play Minecraft?" Laiya suggests.

     "Father?" I walk into my home, hoping to be able to talk to my father.

     "Sweetheart, I'm busy right now." He replies from his study. It's just off the living room, so I walk over and open the door.

     "Did you..." Just ask him! "Did you see the article from last night?"

     "What?"

     "There's an article going around saying you...you killed someone. Is it true?" I feel tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

     He sighs. "I have heard. I'm hoping my party tomorrow will smooth things over a bit. Don't worry about it, sweetheart, okay?"

     "Yes, father." I resign and back out of his office. I hear his phone ring and linger by the door, just out of his view and listen.

     "Daniel, what the hell? Can you see what you've done? I told you to make it take effect the next day! Not an hour after!" My father rages as quietly as he can.

     I hold a hand over my mouth to muffle my ragged breathing. He really did it. He killed her. He poisoned her, hoping to get away with it.