Page 5 of Creed

Patrick gasped. “Your son is home and all you care about is that one time you forgot the condom?”

Dad laughed. “Oh shit, I thought you were with her. I forgot about the whole middle kid thing for a minute. Come on, give your old man a hand.”

“This family has no appreciation for my insanely good looks and charming personality.” Patrick stomped out of the house.

A few hours later, I had the guest room completely converted into a small closet. My old bedroom was right next door, so I’d be close to my things. Patrick leaned in the doorway as I stocked my vanity with a few of my favorite things. “You know, it really sucks having you as a sister. Last week, dad had totear down one of your posters from the bunk room. The teasing is endless and then you come home and completely ignore me.”

I acted like I heard something but didn’t know where it was coming from.

He stepped into my childhood bedroom. “Dammit Morgan!”

I laughed then jumped up to hug him. “Don’t call me a crisis and I’ll forget the whole middle kid thing.”

He squeezed me tightly. “You are a crisis for me and dad, Sis. Imagine going to work and the guys are playing one of your sex scenes on the television. They don’t pull that shit on dad but love to pull it on me.” He finally let go.

“I can’t help having a nice set of boobs, Patrick. Did you tell your friends they’re real?”

He scrunched his nose before he gagged. “Cut that shit out, dammit.”

I laughed. “I’m sure there’s plenty other firemen that do the same thing.” I added to his pain.

“Do you think it’s easy on dad? He has to go to work every damn day and hear that shit. We can’t even watch your movies because you’re always flaunting those damn things. It’s worse now than when we were kids. You need to cut that shit out. Its fucking disgusting.”

I gave him my best smile. “I might just do that, you never know.” I sat on my vanity chair and picked up my brush.

“What does that mean?” He sat on my bed and I could see him through my mirror. My little brother wasn’t so little anymore. He looked so much like my dad, except dad didn’t haveas many tattoos as Patrick. My brother and I looked more like dad, whereas my sister looked like my mom. She had her green eyes and blond hair.

“I’m considering some changes.” I left it at that for the moment.

He got a relieved look on his face. “Thank God, you’re signing a contract with Disney?” His eyes perked up.

I shook my head. “No, I’m considering retirement.”

He tilted his head and gave me a confused look through the mirror. “Retirement?”

I set my brush down and turned to face him. “I have no life outside of my work. I’m twenty nine and I’m not getting any younger. The Hollywood lifestyle was never really me, and I’m burned out. I’ve made enough money to settle down here at home, but don’t say anything to mom or dad. I just need to think about what I really want in life.”

Lost

Morgan

Patrick rode with me to find Callie. There was nobody home, so he took me to the bar and Pauline said Callie had been calling in sick for over a week. Patrick lived above the bar but said he just came off shift in Clarity and hadn’t been home in a few days to see Shane if he was hanging out at the bar lately. He then took me to see my uncle and he said as long as she had been calling into work she wasn’t a missing person. We drove around until after midnight looking for them. We drove into Clarity where Callie waitressed, and they also said she had been calling in sick. The gut feeling I had was only growing worse.

My dad was the fire chief in Clarity and my brother was a firefighter. He asked the paramedics if they had any calls concerning Callie and they hadn’t heard a thing. We checked the hospital and came up empty again. I even tried her mom once more, but she wasn’t concerned and said Callie would show up sooner than later. The next morning, I called all of our old friends and questioned whether or not any of them saw her in town lately. I knew Callie didn’t keep in touch with them, but I thought maybe she had been in the general store to buy Shane’s cigarettes and beer, but nobody had seen her in weeks. I needed to know if Addie had been to school, so I called my mom’s best friend, Arlene, who taught Kindergarten, and she said Addie hadnot been in school and Child Protection Services were notified two days prior. That was when I called my uncle and tried one more time to file a missing person’s report on both Callie and Addie.

“Maybe they took a short family vacation.” Mom offered as she set a muffin and cup of coffee in front of me.

I turned to look up at her. “A family vacation? Seriously, mom? Callie can barely afford to keep Shane in beer, let alone afford a vacation.”

Mom shook her head. “Its such a shame. Callie was always a sweet girl and had so much potential, despite a tough childhood.” She walked out of view and to the stove. I then looked at my dad who was scrolling on his phone and eating a muffin.

“Can you please talk with Uncle Darren? It’s not like Callie to ignore my calls, and he said he would keep an eye out for her. That’s not enough, we are talking a missing mother and child, not some random prostitute that’s on crack or something.”

My dad set his coffee cup down. “Crack in Cold Springs?” He chuckled sarcastically just a little. “More like meth, but yeah, I’ll talk to him under one condition.”

I rolled my eyes. “I already said I would visit with great grandpa.”

He shook his head. “Not that, but yes I’d appreciate it. I’d like you to have some respect. Just because someone has an addiction doesn’t mean their lives are worth less. You never know a person’s circumstances.”

---