Notification: Mav - Got a job for you.
FruitPhone Pay: Your payment has been received.
News8: BREAKING early summer cool down on the way
Missed calls: Mav-6.Unknown-2.Detective Dipshit-1.
Notification: Karson - Hey ol’ man, you alive or we doin’ this without you?
Notification: Mav - Emailing you details.LMK when you’re en route.
Email: Kace Patton RE: For Your Eyes Only
About damn time.
Shifting in my seat, the shopping cart disappears once I hitPurchase, and scan my fingerprint.My credit card details auto-populate in the required fields before “Success” crawls across the screen.
Luckily, I found what I was looking for from a local security company who has an in-store pick up, which means I don’t have to sit here with my thumbs stuck up my ass.
I’ll look at the rest of the notifications once I get to my location.First, I need to see what Kace said, and if there’s anything else he needs before I busy myself with shopping.I have an inherent need to get back to work and move the hell on, but first, securing Sadie.
Pulling up the email, I sigh.
Kace Patton
To Elias Sullivan
09:35
RE: For Your Eyes Only
Two hours.I waited two fucking hours for a response and all I get is a damn thumbs up.No questions, no grilling me for more, just a damn emote.
Throwing my phone into the center console, I jam the truck into reverse and ease into the roadway when a gap in traffic allows.My order confirmation said the gear would be ready in an hour—they work quickly—and with the second morning rush hour, I could be there right as it’s ready.
Sadie has an appointment today with her shit-for-brains psychiatrist.Perfect timing, really.I have about three hours total before she’s back at the apartment.Plenty of time to do what I need.
Before I left and took my walk of shame, I might or might not have invaded what was left of her privacy.
Court martial me, I don’t give a shit.
Right now, I made the right call since her dad can’t be assed to worry beyond the use of a thumbs up.
I’m going to be pissed all day over that damn emote.
I had plenty of opportunities to search her things, I just never did.Her space was important.Well…the idea of giving her autonomy when that’s been a major struggle for most of her life was important.When I started opening drawers and doors she kept shut tight, the concept of autonomy flew out the window.
Beginning with her refrigerator, I saw her food supply has depleted since my last overnight stay.It's hard enough getting her to eat, so when I saw empty containers and the bare bones inside?I knew something’s been off but fuck.Captain obvious, I know, but Sadie switches it up sometimes.She has two modes, starvation or meal prepping for three weeks straight.She gives me a coronary.
There'sno'normal'forher.
I take that back; the only thing normal about Sadie is the fact that she's abnormal.
I went through her backpack next, looking at the notebooks she hasn't touched since graduation.Her tablet was dead as a doornail too.She put her all into classwork, busted her ass, and the second it was all over it stopped existing.
At one point, she tried to pick up drawing—a hobby suggested by her psychiatrist.Doesn't require much, self-taught, no human contact, and a means to expel the demons.She said putting them on paper helped but it was short lived.
After searching for her sketchbook, which took me longer than necessary, I opened page after page of black scrawlings.Endless circles spiraled down to tight centers, in ominous tunnels.On the paper's edge, she scratched her pen tip so hard into the sheet it tore through to the next page.What caught my attention was how some pages had white doodles slicing through the embedded strokes.She drew small clusters of flowers springing from the dark with what I assumed was a whiteout marker.They were simple, beautiful, and striking.
