"Oh no, it's Ike." she thought to herself.
DingDong, the doorbell rang again.
"He's a very persistant guy, isn't he?" Lynn opened the door halfway, just enough for her to be able to see him. "Oh hey Ike. What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to see if you were alright. You sounded kind of troubled when I called earlier."
"Oh well, like I told you on the phone, I'm fine. Anything else?" Lynn asked, hoping he would get the hint and leave.
"Um, no, I guess that's it. Hey do you want to go somewhere?"
"I can't. Family stuff, remember."
"Well, hey I never met your family, other than your dad. Are they home? I'd love to meet them."
"Ah, no. There not here."
"Oh, well how are you going to do family stuff without your family?"
"Um.. they'll be home any minute."
"OK, well, I'll wait here till they get home."
"You really don't have t do that. I'm fine on my own."
"I don't mind waiting." Ike knew something was up and he wasn't going to stop till he found out what that was.
"OK, fine. Come in." Lynn sighed. Her attemps to get rid of him were not working. She opened the door wide enough for him to fit in, while she made a mad dash for the stairs. "I'll be down in a sec. Make yourself comfortable." She ran into the bathroom, scavenging through her makeup bag. She found the consealler(sp?) she was looking for and put it on the red, swelled eye. "There, that should do it."
She ran downstairs, and took a deep breath before entering the family room. She gathered her thoughts and out on the best smile she could.
"Hey Ike!" she greeted him, smiling.
"Hey. Is this your family?" he asked pointing to a picture on the fireplace.
"Umm.. yeah. That's my mom and dad, and the baby is my little sister Becca. Oh yeah, that's me sitting by mom."
"You sure look happy in that picture."
"Yeah, I was. I remember my mom had just bought me a new bike that day. A pink one, with purple streamers coming oit of the handle bars. My mom always used to buy me nice stuff.
"Does she still?"
"Um, she can't. She was murdered when I was 7. That pink bike was the last thing she bought me."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"That's ok. It happens all the time." Her mind drifted back to her childhood. "I remember when mom was trying to teach me to ride it. She kept holding onto the seat while I tried to keep my balance. I told her to let go, that I could do it on my own, but she still wouldn't let go. When I fianlly convinced her to, I ended up falling into the bushes. It seems she was so busy trying to teach me how to keep my balance, she forgot to tell me how to brake! She came rushing over to me to see if I was ok, and I stood up, with a bunch of twigs and dirt all over me, and said Mommy, can I do that again?! She just smiled and laughed at me. Whenever she smiled it was magical. Her whole face just seemed to light up."
Lynn looked over at the icture and started to cry.
"It's ok, I'm here." Ike said softly while puting his arm around her. She satyed there safely in his arms for about 10 minutes.
"I'm sorry. You come here to check on me and I end up telling you my whole life story."
"Hey, you don't have to appoligize for anything." Ike looked deeply into her tear stained eyes. "Lynn, what happened to your eye?"
"What?!"
"Your eye. It looks all red and swelled."
"I'll be right back." she said while starting to get up.
"Let me look at it. It might be infected or something."
"NO! Really, it's ok."
"What happened to it?"
I just... you see I ... um, well, my da.. Ike did you hear something?"
"Yeah, it sounded like a car door. Why?"
"Oh my god, my dad's home. Ike you have to leave. NOW!"
"What? Why?"
"Look, I don't have time to explain, just get out!"
"Um, ok." Ike got up and headed for the door.
"NO! Not that door! Go out the back." She led him down the hall, into her room, to the patio doors. "I'll call you later." she said while practicly shoving him out the door.
" OK, that was weird." he thought to himself, as he walked from the back of the house into the woods.