Dark Fantasy, Volume One

Chapter 2
Visitor

Chapter Description: On Richard's day off, he receives an unexpected visitor at the door.

The rain hadn’t let up. Richard was at the table early the next morning, staring at the rain as he brewed the morning coffee. Making the morning coffee was his self-proclaimed job. He greeted Jenna as she arrived at the table. "Looks like you had a rough night there, Jenna."

"How are you always this chipper in the morning?" Her eyes were still shut as she blindly reached for the cup her brother handed to her.

"I’m not married and I don’t have any kids."

Jenna sipped her coffee, which made keeping her eyes open a lot easier. "Yes, that would make things a lot easier," she paused to take a long sip, "any plans of settling down in the forseeable future?"

Richard shook his head. "Not at present... I was actually very surprised when you and Doug got together... but enough about all that. How’s research going?"

The expression on Jenna’s face changed from sleepy to serious, "I thought I told you not to bring that up out here," she hissed quietly, "We were only barely cleared of suspicion and don’t want to risk it again anytime soon. I’m half surprised that Doug didn’t even suspect anything."

"You seem like you really want to do it again though. I’m not saying you shouldn’t of course, just that you acted a lot like this last time we did it."

Jenna peeked around to make sure her husband wasn’t up yet, "We’ll talk more on the subject later, in private. Right now I have to get Samantha ready for school."

Richard turned his gaze back to the rain as Jenna left the kitchen to retrieve her daughter. His thoughts drifted back to about seven years ago when Doug had kicked out Rebecca. He thought Doug had really overstepped his bounds, considering that this was Richard’s own house they were all living in, but he never talked to Doug about it. In truth, he was sort of fond of Rebecca and thought it a shame that she went "missing", but there just wasn’t much he could have done about it. Doug had kicked her out and if he had overruled Doug’s decision, then they surely would have moved out. Jenna’s income alone could buy her a decent new house, so it’s not like they would have had any trouble moving out, but Richard would be alone again.

Richard’s mind went in circles as he considered the future moving forward, even as Jenna left with Samantha for school. He nodded at Doug as he left for work and remained at the table, lost in thought.

Suddenly, and without warning, there were five loud knocks at the door. Curious as to what would possess someone to be intruding his residence at this time of day, Richard slowly made his way towards the door, opening it with a slight bit of hesitation and found himself face to face with a young man who was dripping wet.

"Can I use your phone?" the boy asked abruptly. Dismissing the rude lack of introduction, Richard pulled his cell phone from his pocket and gave it to the stranger. The boy tried several numbers, but didn’t get a response from any of them. "Fuck!" he moaned, "Pick up the fuckin phone!"

Richard shook his head and took his phone away before the kid could throw it out of frustration, "Do your folks know where you are?"

The visitor looked at him, "No," he said, sounding very annoyed, "God, this sucks. I’m fucking lost."

Richard looked at how sopping wet the boy was then made his decision. "You can stay here till the rain stops or until you’re able to reach your folks."

The boy brushed past him, "Thanks," he muttered. Richard was already beginning to expect he’d regret his decision. He grabbed the boy’s arm and looked him in the eye, "I just want to make one thing perfectly clear; you’re not planting yourself on my couch."

The boy just rolled his eyes, "As if I’d want to stay here. It’s in the middle of fucking nowhere. Now where’s the TV?"

Richard laughed to himself bitterly, "Boy," he said, "If I have any problems from you I will literally throw you out. You’ve been very rude and that will not be tolerated in this house. Understood?"

The boy looked scared for a moment, then nodded, "I’m sorry," he said, looking away from Richard, "rough day in case you couldn’t tell."

Richard shook his head, "That’s no excuse for behaving as you have. Yes, I’ll make you comfortable, but you should consider thinking about what you say before you say it."

"I’m sorry sir, I just got kicked out of my friends’ apartment and have nowhere else to go."

Richard smacked his forehead. This was the last thing he wanted to hear. "We’ll get you settled in before you figure out your next move."

"Thanks," the kid said as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

Richard considered calling the police to report this, but ultimately decided against it. The rest of his morning was spent catering this uninvited guest as well as keeping him out of certain areas of the house.