And Then She Was Gone

A Long Day

Jason returned to the pack house and immediately went to his bed. He would not be able to sleep, but he had no desire to do anything else. He just layed there with his arm tucked behind his head and his eyes focused on the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Of course, Elizabeth was the primary subject of thought as he laid there idly, barely blinking and taking slow deep breaths.

He ignored several knocks at the door, and did not respond to any communications sent to his phone, regardless of who it was trying to reach him. Had she chosen to text or call him, it would have been a different case, and he would have responded immediately. However, it was now at the halfway mark of the middle of the day, meaning in a few hours it would soon be time for dinner, he had resolved himself that she would not be reaching out and he would just have to wait until then to see her.

At 3:47pm his phone illuminated with the slightest vibration of another notification, his hand lifted the phone lazily as his eyes glazed over a gray pop screen.

Parent Notification: Your child Elizabeth Stone is requesting permission to download Scrabble, would you like to deny or approve this request? If approving request, please enter passcode for verification.

He was initially excited to see a notification concerning her, but slightly annoyed that she was trying to download an application in place of utilizing the phone to talk with him.

He approved the request, typing in 0-6-1-3 to confirm, and then proceeded to download the application himself. Even though he had literally no interest in the game, much preferring first person shooters or strategy styled games. He sought out her scrabble account through search of her phone number and then sent a request to start a game with her, before dropping it down on the bed with a roll of his eyes still finding frustration at not receiving any other type of communication from her.

Over the course of the next half an hour there was a back and forth as they both placed tiles down on the digital board, Jason immediately responding the second she took her turn. Despite it not being a game that would typically hold his interest, he was inherently competitive and made sure each word placement was carefully calculated and would accrue the most points. He won the first game with 354 points and her only garnering 254 points. She immediately requested for a rematch and he accepted with a light smirk.

He played for another twenty minutes before deciding that it was close enough to dinner time to head over to the house, it being close to 5pm meaning dinner would be in the next hour or so. The only thing he did to clean up his appearance was to tighten up his bun. It had been thoroughly disheveled and in combination with the deep circles beneath his eyes and the growing stubble on his chin, leaving his hair unattended would have only highlighted his unkempt appearance. He was in need of a shower, but he had wasted his time laying in wait, sulking on his bed and did not want to cause a delay in getting there because he would have to leave once again at 9pm.

When he arrived outside the red door he sighed as he knocked for entry, finding it ridiculous that he had to have permission to enter his parents home that he had bought and paid for.

"Jason, its good to see you at such a reasonable time." Adolphus said opening the door with a laugh and grin.

"What time is dinner?" he asked blankly, as he walked in trying to pick up where her scent was most potent in the house.

"The lasagna is in the oven, should be a little less than an hour. And she's not here." his father said answering his next question before he asked it, watching Jason's shoulders immediately tense at his last few words.

"Where is she?" he turned around quickly and his words held a light panic in his tone.

"Relax, she's on a walk with your mother. She should be back soon. Consider it a blessing, you need a shower." Adolphus said taking in his sons rough appearance, knowing in certainty he wasn't eating or sleeping with the new living arrangements. "Go, you still have some clothes in your room."