Chapter 3

"What letters? I only got one birthday card a year from you until that one year you got out. That's how I knew you were released when I didn't get one for my thirteenth birthday." She wiped her face and tried to see if he was lying, any tell all sign she could see.

"I sent a letter everyday I was in there for the first three years. After three years of not hearing anything back, I just assumed you wanted nothing to do with me. I thought you hated me for leaving you behind and disappearing." He was broken, he knew exactly who got his letters and that his children suffered at her hands too. He just had no proof.

After a moment of silence, Renae began rubbing the back of her arm and chewing the inside of her cheek. "I never got any letters... Just the birthday cards... I'm not saying you didn't write them, I just know I didn't get them. What about the letters I wrote to you?" Guilt flushed her nervous system.

"I know... I didn't get any letters from you. I didn't get letters from anybody." He looked out to the shattered glass behind her and took a deep breath. "If you're willing to look past our issues for now, I have a house on campus, I'd like for you to come live with me. You have a few options. You can come live with me, you can stay in one of the dorms possibly with a roommate or you can go back to your moms. Whatever you decide, I'll support you, but I won't stop trying to get our relationship on track. I know I didn't keep my promise before but this promise, I will keep it." He looked at her and stood up.

Shock initially filled her. She never wanted to go back to the train wreck she was in before. She thought about living with him, would it be weird? Awkward? Then she thought about living with a total stanger and having to share a bathroom with multiple strangers. Then her mind went back to living with her dad, at least she'd be able to have a chance at fixing their relationship better if she lived with him. Thinking of living with him was the only plausable comfortable option for her.

"Not that I'm forgiving you... but I'll come and live with you. I have one parent that doesn't give a damn about me, I'd like to have at least one parent in my life that I can care about too." She mumbled as she stepped forward.

"Great!" He yelled with excitement. "Let's go unpack your stuff and show you around then!" He grinned from ear to ear as he walked over and guided her to the door, acting as if nothing bad had happened between them. "Oh, watch the glass. I'll have someone come in and fix that." He pulled her away from the window and picked up his phone on his desk.

---

Conviently located on the back of the main building, Jarrods three bedroom and three bathroom home was attatched. Jarrod dragged his daughter with her bag on his shoulder to the front door of his home. The extension that was his home had been a new addition to the schools recent construction. It showed a depiction of an old fashioned colonial home in brick and stone to match the school.

Inside, you entered the main living area which was complimented by leather lazy boy furniture. 'Clearly a mans pick of furniture... Still comfy looking tho.' Renae thought to herself. A large screen covered a fraction of the wall. The kitchen consisted of granite countertops, dark cherry wood cabinets, stainless steel appliances and a table and chairs that matched the cabinetry, the chairs having white cushions to highlight the dark wood.

Relief filled Renae as she realized she wouldn't have to worry about having an income. She was satisfied knowing she wouldn't have to search for spare change to afford half a decent meal.

"Right this way sunflower." Jarrod smiled walking down the short hallway leading to the three seperate bedrooms and one bathroom off the hall.

In the bedroom he led her to, the room had a queen size bed with black sheets and a folded red doublet on the foot of the bed. Two large red pillows sat at the head of the bed with one stuffed panda sitting tucked between. On each side of the bed, two white nightstands help two black lamps. A cherry wood dresser next to a cherry wood desk sitting beneath one of the windows with a leather desk chair. A floor length mirror stood tall in the corner of the room next to the closet.

Renae opened the closet door to see a walk-in closet that was already filled with uniforms. "I was hoping you'd choose to stay with me." Jarrod smirked as he came in behind her and placed the bag on the bed.

"So, you assumed I'd come stay with you?" She crossed her arms trying to hide her smirk.

"Again, I hoped." He closed the closet door and walked to the other closed door in the room. He watched her face morph into shock as he opened the door to her own bathroom.

Renaes eyes darted from her dad to the black and white tile flooring, the gold framed walk in shower, and the white vanity. Her brain became blank as she just stared in awh.

"With that expression, I'm going to go ahead and presume you're happy?" He asked letting go of the door and stepped back.

She could only nod her head as a smile spread across her face. Jarrod snuck behind her and walked to the door leading to the hall. "Oh, we're having corn goulash for dinner. You remember that dish right?"

She turned around and stared at him. "You remembered my favorite meal?"

"Not just your favorite. It's mine too." He laughed. "Seeing as how uncle David and aunt Raeven already left, it'll just be the two of us for dinner tonight. So hopefully your appetite is still just as bad as mine." He laughed till he remembered her tongue lashing from earlier. "Ah..." He whispered.

"About that..." She whispered to herself as she turned around.

"What was that?" He asked, hoping she was changing the subject.

"Oh uh, nothing. I'm sure I could still manage to beat you in an eating contest." She smiled looking at him as he smiled back before disappeared into the kitchen.

She looked around the room with her heart full. A feeling she had not remembered feeling before. Her smile vanished as her eyes traveled to her closet, she had to unpack. Ashamed of the clothes she possessed, she quickly unpacked them into two of the drawers in her new dresser.

After everything was put away, Between her room and her bathroom, she made her way into the kitchen. Jarrod was standing at the stove getting everything ready to cook dinner. He snapped his head around hearing her footsteps approach. "Unpacked already?"

"Oh, yeah... I didn't really have all that much stuff anyways. Never really got the money to get anything so... what you see is what you get." She mentally slapped herself for thinking out loud.

Seeing her struggle, he shook it off and tried to change the subject. "Did your mother ever teach you how to make this?" He motioned her to come closer.

"Oh uh, no. We kind of had to do it on our own and it never turned out quite right." She bit her bottom lip trying to stop herself from thinking out loud again.

"Well, you'll learn now." He turned to the pot of water boiling on the stove and showed her how to make their family dish.

As she watched him cook she became aware of all the little details that desguised him from her memory. He lost weight, grew a beard, and started sporting white hairs. As she examined him, he too noticed the differences in her appearance. She was taller, but still just as slim as she used to be. Her eyes grew to be a dull hazel. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. His heart broke thinkng of the struggle she must have gone through.

"So..." He spoke awkwardly as he filled his bowl with food.

"Yes?" She tried to moke his voice.

"Nice impression." He grinned and rolled his eyes. "So you're going to be attending school here, I don't expect your grades to be perfect but I do hope they'll get better then what they currently are. Also, since your unlce is generous enough to help pay for your enrollment and tuition, I pulled a few strings to lighten the bill on him. You're going to have a... kind of a job here." He handed her a bowl filled with food and grabbed his own while walking towards the table.

"What? Not to sound entitled, but you seem to be living pretty good and you are my dad so... why aren't you paying for my schooling?" She was happy to be able to try and help pull her own weight but her curiosity got the better of her.

"I'm paying as much as I'm able but my salary isnt the greatest since I'm still paying for the construction of this house being added on. I had to dock my pay in order for this to work. I used to lived an hour out before I got this place up." He sighed.

"Oh... so what will I be doing anyways?" She grabbed two forks and sat at the table with him, handing him one of the forks.

"In a sense, you're going to be part of campus patrol. See, the students are split into two main groups. The school isn't big enough to have everyone in the building during the day and enrollment has just been rising since I took the job so we split classes. Day classes and night classes. You'll be going to school during the day and you'll be patrolling campus during the night classes. There's a bit of a rivalry between the two classes, just the night class needs to have campus patrol active since the day class is so..."

"Woah, wait." She interrupted. "Why don't they just stop accepting students then? Or, construct more buildings. They added your house pretty easy back here."

"Well, that's why tuition is so expensive. We're getting the money to add some buildings but it's taking a bit longer then planned. Until then, we're seperating the classes. We just recently started it so the campus patrol unit is pretty small. We can't just not accept students, this school is... well, it's a special school. No other school is as well eppuiped as we are for another four thousand miles."

"Alright.. so wait, I'm going to be a body gaurd for a students who go to class at night?" She was more confused as she spoke.

"To put it the easy way, yes. It's more partol to make sure no one's skipping class and no day students are out of their respective dorm buildings. You, of course, will be carrying a weapon of sorts. I'll teach you how to use it and once you've got the hang of it and your used to your new sleeping schedule, You'll start working. I hope that's alright with you?" He lifted his fork filled with food to his mouth as he watched her think.

"I mean, yeah. I'm just happy I'll have something to do. When do I start school anyways?"

"Tomorrow." He smiled before stuffing his mouth with more food.

---

She tossed and turned in her new bed. It was softer then what she was used to. Her thoughts were running, fear leading them. She never told her mom she was leaving, it wasn't uncommon for Renae to disappear for a few days at a time but, what if Lisa came looking for her when she wouldn't come back? How would she be able to get her grades up and would she continue not making any friends?

In her maze of thoughts, eventually her mind finally drifted off to sleep. With each tick of the clock, her dreams used it as a way to torture her dreams. Mind only seeing black, she had no idea what was in the darkness. Her consciousness was wide awake as she heard the clock go by and the snores of her father in the other room.