The mystery man

Chapter Four

Harley

He is alive but it doesn't seem like he is.

Does that even make any sense?

I haven't seen the man in front of me in a year and now I see him and know the reason why he is back. the reason why they deployed him back.

When dad said he was going back to the army.

I rebelled.

I fought with him.

I begged him not to go and he calmy convinced me. he got me on his side because that is just the man that he is. I knew it was something that he had to do but now, all I have is anger.

I am angry to see him because this is not the man that I said goodbye to. He said he was going to come back to us. He kept his promise but everything is different.

The light in his eyes is gone.

They are hollow and not the eyes of my father.

"Hey little rascal,'' he calls me by the nickname I haven't heard in a long time. I take a step closer to him, the mother grabs his arm. The only good arm. One has is gone.

He lost his arm.

They didn't return him to me whole and it might be selfish to say that because a lot of people die. I should be glad that he is alive and standing here—and I am all those things but I am also sad. Sad that something is broken.

Something that I don't think can be fixed.

"Hey dad,'' I call him out. he smiles but it is not his smile. my father always smiled with his eyes. now, he is smiling on the outside but it doesn't seem like a genuine one.

"Come here,'' he tells me, slowly as he lets go of mom. I take a step to him but Char beats me to it and she is in his arms. He welcomes her, even though he is still watching me. Dad worries about me and I am sure even through whatever he has been through, he is worried about me again.

I don't know what mom told him. it wouldn't make sense for her to bombard him with the things he left behind. He just got here but I am so sure that she has already told him everything.

I watch him embrace my sister.

I listen to their conversation like I am not in the room with them. I want to be invisible in this room because I can't stop thinking about all the pain he must have gone through. There is a scar on his face, one that was not there when he left.

A battle scar.

"Are you ready to say hello to the man that has missed you the most?'' I hear his voice and suddenly everyone is looking at me. watching me. mom has a scowl on her face.

It is almost like she is angry with me when I haven't even done anything to her today. I have been trying. I have been good.

I am here now.

I walk over to him and he holds me in his arms. Everything about him is different. He smells different, his hug is different. He is different but somehow, the moment I am in his arms, nothing matters anymore. all I want to do is hold him and never let him go again. I thought I was going to lose him and now he is here. In my arms and everything is right with the world.

************

"How is studying going? How long do you have left before the exam?'' dad asks me as I play around with my food. I had a whole apple pie in the café. I am not really hungry but I am glad to be at this table with the man I admire most in the world.

I look at my plate because I don't want to tell him that I have been doing everything but studying.

I have tried but like I said. I just get so distracted and now my latest distraction seems to be the mystery man. in the span of a couple of hours, I have thought about what his name could be. I have been calling him Dean. He seems like a Dean.

I know this is all far-fetched and frankly obsessive but I like finding new things to obsess over. I like being in a new world and concocting stories. I like being away from reality.

"It's going good,'' I lie.

I hate lying to him and most times, he is always able to see through my lies. right now, I want to know if he can.

He raises a brow.

There is a smile on his face.

He is trying to be happy for us. I love that he is trying but it feels so different. I feel like the man I know is gone and I will have to get to know this new person all over again.

"When is the exam? Your mother tells me that you have been going to the library.''

I lied about that but there is no point in saying the truth now. Char knows where I have been going and I know that she isn't going to expose my lie. I trust her more than I even trust myself.

"Next month, on the fifteenth.''

At least I have said one truth on this table.

He smiles and I watch him as he eats a piece of broccoli. The table gets quiet as I focus on my food.

"Charlotte, how is Brock, I should meet this man that your mother has been ranting on about?'' he smiles and I release a sigh of relief now that the conversation is not about me anymore.

Charlotte tells him about Brock. Her boyfriend from college. The guy that is perfect in Mom's eyes.

Will mystery man be perfect enough for me?

I doubt she would even let him into the house.

There is something about him that screams bad boy.

He has the face that would make a mother scared.

The face that would make someone panic and worry.

I want that face all over me.

I want him to make me do things that I haven't thought about until now. I want to meet him so badly.

I want him to take all the things that have been a burden to me. The things that have made me hated, things that have made my life spiral.