Young Writers Society

(Ronnie still)

I am awoken by the sound of ringing. I have one of those mini-heart attacks where the lump in your throat nearly sinks into your chest, thinking something must be wrong inside of the facility, but then I realize it’s something from beneath my pillow.

“Ron?”

I’m curled up in a giant fleece throw, barely coherent at this time of morning. It’s six a.m.

I bring the receiver to my mouth. “Yeah?”

“Where have you been?” there’s an edge to Sarah’s voice, but she genuinely sounds sad. That’ not typical of her. Usually, Sarah could care less about where I am, what I’m doing or if I’m even alive.

“At Peyton’s,” I lie.

“All this time?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose and let out a breath.

“Yes, all this time. It’s only been a week, Sarah. What do you care? I’ve been a no show for weeks at a time before, and as long as the bills were paid you had no complaints.”

“It’s different this time, Ron. Dad has been gone for over two months. Something is wrong- something has to be wrong.”

“Who are you and what have you done to my sister?”

“Oh, c’mon. Give me a break- I’m not that heartless of a bitch.”

“Yeah, okay. Seriously though, what makes you say that?”

“No phone calls, no texts? That’s not like him. He’ll drop off the face of the earth once in a while, but he’ll at least tell us where he’s headed. Supposedly, anyway. I mean, there’s been no cash sent in the mail, no sign of Dad anywhere.”

“Why does that surprise you?” I stifle a yawn.

“It shouldn’t…I just…there’s this feeling in the pit of my stomach I can’t shake.”

“Did you eat anything yesterday?”

Sarah has always struggled with, what I would call, an undiagnosed eating disorder. It’s not like she’s anorexic, because she’s not skin and bones. She eats. Sporadically. I worry sometimes, because one day she’ll skip meals for the entire day, and the next day she’ll be gorging on an entire sheet cake from the bakery down the street. I’ve never known what to think of it, and whenever I try to approach her, she’s wasps it away. I suppose all I can do is keep an eye out for Sarah.

”Yeah…”

“Yeah?”

“No, actually…I didn’t. But I’m telling you, something is wrong. He may be a total flake of a father at times, but he’s not this far gone.”

“I think,” I mull over as I hear a knock at my door, “that it’s all in your head. Eat some food. Get some rest. Tomorrow it will be like you never felt this way, trust me.”

I cover the phone with my hand and tell Landon to come in.

“Shhh,” I urge as I pick the phone back up.

“Who is it?” Landon speaks just above a whisper.

“Is that a boy with you?”

I smack my forehead and give Landon the stink eye.

What have you done? I mouth.

“No, it’s the TV,” I try to smooth over this little blip.

“No it’s not. You’re lying,” I can picture Sarah’s goofy smile dancing on her lips as we speak. “You’re staying with a guy, aren’t you?”

“I’ll see you,” I try to dodge her accusations.

“But what about Dad-“

“-It’s all in your head. Food deprivation can really be bad for your health. I tookboth Psychology and Honors Health last year, and I know it for a fact. Eat something and you’ll be fine.”

“But, Ron-“

“Bye, Sarah.”

I cut off our conversation and turn on Landon.

“You just popped open the biggest can of worms for me you could possibly imagine,” I bury my head in my hands, defeated.

“Who was that?”

“My sister.”

“Since when do you have a sister?”

“Since God wanted me to suffer,” I mumble into my pillow.

“What’s she like?” he asks.

“Sarah? She’s a royal pain in the ass. But I still love her, somehow.”

Landon grins and plops down onto the bed, taking my hand in his.

“Of course you do. Because you’re such an all-around people-person.”

I smack him in the shoulder, and he fake-grimaces.

“She’s the only family I have, really. I don’t have much of a choice. I have to look after her, or else I’d feel like a complete scumbag of a sister.”

“She’s younger than you?”

“I wish,” I snort, “then it wouldn’t be as big of problems I’d have to deal with. She’s always screwing up something, but this time…it’s weird. She’s actually concerned about our father.”

“What happened to your dad?” Landon asks.

“It’s a long story,” I sigh, “but in a nutshell, my mom was a whore, he left her, and now he’s a total no-show. I mean, my dad takes care of us financially and everything. He puts a roof over our heads, he leaves us more than enough cash, but sometimes he goes MIA. He’ll just leave without a trace, just a text or two a week and that’s it.”

“I’m sorry,” Landon circles his thumb around my wrist.

“It’s not your fault,” I kiss his cheek, “but- I just don’t know. What Sarah’s said is bothering me now. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from my dad in a few weeks. My attention’s been elsewhere…”

I wink, and Landon shakes his head.

“We’ve got a long day ahead of us,” Landon moves away from the bed and says, “get dressed and ready so we can get started. You don’t know half of what goes down here yet.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”