Step, Step, Run

Chapter Two

Mallory nodded. "Yeah, it was scary."

I wasn't so convinced.

"It is what it is," he said, rising to his feet. "All we can do now is wait."

"I'm going to wait inside with Maeve," Mallory said, swatting away insects. Mosquitoes always loved her. When she was gone, it dawned on me that I was alone with my father. I tried to never be alone with him because he always tried to have deep conversations with me. Our relationship had never been like that. It was my mother who I always had those conversations with.

"Madrina," my father said, leaning against the RV. I didn't bother correcting him on my name. "Why were you on the other side of town that night?"

I knew this was coming. "I won't do it again."

"Do you need to talk with someone?" he asked, taking me by surprise. I hadn't expected him to be so blunt. "We can find you a good therapist and -- "

"No," I interrupted. "I'm fine."

"You never used to behave like this," he replied. "Not before your mother's death."

The words got stuck in my throat.

"I love you girls so much," he told me, his voice soft. Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes, but I blinked them away. "I know that I'm hard on you, but it's only because I care. I was so scared when I got a call from the police station. I thought something horrible had happened to you -- and ever since, you've had this look in your eye. You won't tell me what happened. Do you think I'll be angry? Why won't you tell me?"

I cleared my throat. "You were right."

His eyebrows raised.

"It was a boy," I said, folding my arms across my chest. "I'm going inside the RV now."

I could feel his gaze on me as I turned and walked around the front, entering up the stairs. Maeve was sprawled out on the couch again, grumbling to her phone. Mallory was eating her Skittles in silence. Both of them looked at me -- one of them scoffed and the other one grinned -- and I re-positioned the recliner, taking a seat. I picked up my book and started to read from the beginning, having no recollection of what I had already read.

I wasn't sure how long we stayed like that, long enough for me to reach chapter six.

Mallory was the one who said what I was thinking, "Haven't it been taking a while? Where's Dad?"

"Of course it's taking a while," Maeve said, clicking through the photos on her phone. "It's just our luck, after all."

"I'm going to go check on him," I stated, closing my book and rising to my feet. I was beginning to feel a little guilty about how our conversation had ended earlier. I jogged down the steps and walked around the front, expecting him to be seated near the flat tire -- except he was nowhere to be seen. "Dad?"

The worst thoughts rushed through my mind. I hurried around, desperately searching for him. I even sprinted a little ways down both ends of the street, wondering if he had strayed from the RV in search of someone. "Dad!"

"What's going on?" Mallory asked, approaching me. "Where is he?"

"He's gone," I breathed out, my heart racing. "I can't find him."

Her gaze shook. "He didn't get taken by a bear, did he?"

"A bear?" I repeated in disbelief, although it wasn't entirely impossible. We were in a dense forest, after all. "There would be blood. I don't see any. I-I don't know where he went, Mallory."

"Maybe he started walking --"

"He wouldn't leave us," I told her, adamantly. "He would have said something!"