• Susan's Journal Entry #1

    tab Bad things always start slowly. I knew that. I knew that with what happened to me. It felt like so many years ago when that happened. The dispute between my dad and I seemed so non-existant now, now that he was doing this.
    tab Like I said, it started off slow. I had no idea how I was going to pay my rent. I worked for minimum wage at a small dry cleaner business, which, as you can imagine, hardly gives me enough money to take care of myself. So, when I got a raise, calling my emotion "excited" would've been an understatement. But I didn't doubt it. There was nothing incredibly strange or noteworthy about getting a raise.
    tab But then I kept getting them. Time and time again, the boss would just look at me with this kind of forced face, and would say the same thing every time:
    tab "You're doing a good job. Good job equals raise." It didn't make sense. But for awhile, I just took it with a smile. I wouldn't reject a raise. How could I?
    tab Until I started to make up scenarios in my head.
    tab I had called my dad upon all the good news, and when he answered, he sounded tired and breathless. I decided to pay him a surprise visit. Maybe he was sick. Maybe he needed my encouragement. He was getting old. Being tireless and breathless made sense.
    tab Until I got there, that was what I thought.
    tab The door was strangely unlocked, so I just stepped in. At first, I thought the apartment was empty. It sounded like it. It looked like it. There wasn't a peep, and everything was completely in dark.
    tab That's when I heard a grunt to my left. I turned around, and there my dad was, sitting on the couch rubbing his shoulder, not even noticing me until I turned on the lights. He suddenly jumped, but fell back onto the couch, rubbing his shoulder in pain again.
    tab "Ugh. What are you doing here?" I didn't know what to say. Obviously, he wasn't happy at my presense there.
    tab "You sounded sick on the phone."
    tab "Well, I'm not," he forced out. "Now, go. Now." I didn't, of course. I rushed up to him, and tried to find the reason for the pain in his shoulder. And I was utterly shocked when I found out what it was.
    tab "You were..." I stared at the blood dripping out of the shoulder. "You were shot?"
    tab "Get away from me!" He jumped up, and shoved me aside with his other arm, and I just stared at him, dumbfounded. A bullet wound...Lodged into my father's shoulder...
    tab Why?
    tab "Dad, what's going on?" He snorted, and fell back to the sofa.
    tab "Nothing. Now go home." I didn't. I refused to back down. I needed to know what was going on with my dad.
    tab "'Nothing'?" I mocked sarcastically. "So I guess that bullet wound is 'nothing', huh?" I slapped, it then, pretending it didn't exist, mocking my own father. He recoiled back and winced in pain, and I knew then that what I did wasn't funny.
    tab "Yeah, nothing," he retorted in that same, tireless voice. "Don't worry your pretty head over it. What I do is my own business."
    tab "Your own business? Dad, you could've gotten killed!"
    tab "Hmph. Like I said, don't worry your pretty head over it." How'd he expect me to do that? He almost got killed, and he expected me not to worry?
    tab "You expect me not to worry?"
    tab "I expect you..." he seethed inbetween his teeth, "to get out of here! This is my house! You can't just go barging into it whenever you please!" And this time, I obeyed. I knew when I had taken things too far. But it didn't stop me from wondering what my dad was up to.
    tab And that was when I had to tell Jack. Jack, the only other person in the world I could trust. I had to tell him what was going on, because he'd understand. He'd help.
    tab And I had to warn him...I had to warn him about a theory I had. The money...My shot dad...I was certainly stretching, but what if they were related?
    tab Constant raises, almost killed dad...
    :tab biggrin id the moods really have to conflict like that?