Fiction.

We were sitting outside of Diana’s house, having gotten her to sleep on the couch without mentioning the corpse (and yes indeed, it was a corpse) occupying her bed upstairs. Everyone was so exhausted that nobody even wanted to speculate on how Jack Arrow had gotten to Dan. So it was just silence all around, except for a driver on the street who I noticed had been trying to parallel park for about ten minutes too long.

“Leave her alone, asshole,” I said to James.

“Women drivers,” he said grimly, watching the car. “You know how they are.”

“Yeah, I know how they are when you’re making them want to redo their parking job over and over again,” I could feel my voice rising, furious again. “I hate you.”

“Whoa, whoa,” He turned around and looked at me. “That’s a strong word for someone so into being a ‘team’. What’s the matter? You got a crush on me or something?”

“Please!” I was shouting now. “This is not some romantic comedy. I’m not going to just decide that some fuckhole isn’t a fuckhole anymore and run away with them…”

“Stop it!” shouted Lauren, her chin on her knees. “Diana’s trying to sleep. And frankly, it’s getting a little old. You’re not helping anyone with all this fighting.”

James looked back out at the street, where the woman was trying for the fiftieth time to park her Subaru Outback. “Who said I was trying to help anybody,” he muttered under his breath.

“Amelia, what does your father do?” asked Kaiser quietly.

I was caught off guard. “He used to work for the army. He was a…a dentist. But he retired early when my mom died.” What the hell did that have to do with anything?

He looked up at me from his seat at the top of the steps. “I can’t see him much in your memories or in your future.”

I was completely bewildered. “We don’t see each other much – I guess we kind of avoid each other. I’m working most of the time anyway.” Fuck. Work. I hadn’t even thought about Grandma’s this entire time. Oh well, I can always get another job at another place with another dick bartender. A thought occurred to me. “So what DO you see in my future then?”

Kaiser seemed to be putting his words together carefully. “You know, it’s weird. With Lauren I can see a couple things, and with James a couple more, you know, normal stuff. Driving a car, talking on the phone. But all I see with you is…” He stopped and looked baffled.

I sighed impatiently. “Is what? What?”

“I just see darkness, I don’t know. Nothing clear, anyway.”

James had moved onto controlling the actions of a stray cat that had blundered into his field of vision. “Hey, maybe you die and Kaiser’s seeing the inside of a coffin.”

I always wonder if that thing that happens when you’re so angry you can’t speak is actually your body’s defense mechanism, preventing you from saying something completely irrevocable. I turned my attention back to Kaiser.

“No, we need to go back to your house,” he said with determination.

“What?” said Lauren. “Why? Do we have, like, an objective here that I don’t know about?”

Kaiser brushed her off. “The bum told me to ask about your father. I don’t know what for, or what any of this means, but I can’t shake the feeing that it’s important. I mean, how would he know your father?”

I was completely dumbfounded. “I have no idea.”

Lauren looked back and forth from me to him. Even James was paying attention. Lauren blurted, “You don’t think Amelia’s dad has something to do with all of this do you?”

“Well, I don’t know! I mean what am I supposed to think! I’m not saying he and Jack Arrow are in league together or something, I’m just saying that he might be some sort of clue to all of this.” Kaiser was getting flustered now.

And he wasn’t the only one. I had to sit down. “Seriously, I can guarantee you that my dad has zero clue about any of this. All he does is sit upstairs in his room, reading novels and putting together jigsaw puzzles. The man has barely left the house in years!”

“I still think we should talk to him. Let’s just talk to him, OK? Can we walk to your place from here?” He was interrupted by the sound of broken glass.

“Let’s go!” shouted James, who was becoming a natural at stealing cars, I’ll give him that. He brushed some glass shards from the driver’s seat before getting in and ripping off a panel under the steering wheel. “Everybody jump in. As soon as I figure out how to hotwire this bitch, we are out of here.”

“On the move again, I guess,” Lauren looked at me sympathetically, but obediently went down the steps and got into the backseat of the car.

Kaiser moved in that direction as well. “I’m sorry, Amelia. I’m not trying to be an asshole. I just need to talk to him. I just need to figure this whole thing out.”

The car engine growled with life. “Kids!” yelled James. “The Nancy Drew Express is leaving in thirty seconds. Let’s move it!”

And before I knew it, we were on our way back to the house I just couldn’t seem to escape today.