Ryan:
Hey, it’s been a few hours. You still good?
I waited, watching the conversation carefully to see if he would read my message or respond. He didn’t.
Mr. Renfew cleared his throat, and I glanced up at the spirit. He was looking at me with something close to sympathy in his eyes, but he glanced meaningfully at his body on the table and then back up at me.
‘You going to get to work, son? My body’s not getting any colder.’
I sighed, glancing down at my phone one last time before nodding.
“Right. Sorry.” I muttered. I fired off one more text before getting back to work.
Ryan:
Just make sure you eat something if you’re not coming back for dinner.
I paused, staring at my text and feeling like it wasn’t enough. Without letting myself overthink it, I followed up with one more, even though I wasn’t double texting anymore… I was shamelessly moving into triple-text territory.
Buzz buzz, mother fucker. Answer me!
Ryan:
Be safe. Xx
Then I slipped my phone in my pocket and snapped on my gloves.
He was fine.
He was just really busy.
Everything was fine.
Cal didn’t come backthe next day either.
Or the next.
I would have convinced myself that I had just made him up completely if it weren’t for the fact that he sent me some variation of the same text each day. Every morning, I woke up to a confirmation that he was‘ok,’just, ‘busy.’It was driving me fucking insane.
By the fourth day, I wasn’t even worried anymore. Just pissed off.
I never asked for him to come into my life and make me care about him, but hehad,and now I was waiting around for him to come back like some sort of bored housewife.
On the fourth day, I finally caved and texted Naomi.
Ryan:
Hey, Gnomes. Heard from your brother at all?
Naomi:
Oh god. Not you, too! I’m doomed to be a gnome forever.
Ryan:
Haha, you don’t like being called Gnomes?
Naomi:
