I've never been scared of the dark. NEVER. Not even as a little girl. There was a time when Brynn and I used to share a room, before we moved to Florida, and I hated that she needed a night-light to sleep. I prefered the darkness, even then. But, something about being consumed in the shadows, like this, in this place, made me feel very uneasy.

It wasn't the fact that it was dark; if that was it, I could handle it. No, the issue was, the storm probably caused the outage, which meant it was stronger than I thought. So, where the hell was Dad at? I didn't care what kind of call he got, if things were getting worse, he should have dropped it and came back to me.

Are you hurt? Don't ask me why, but the image of my father trapped under a house somehow wormed its way into my mind, and now all I could think about was him drowning because he couldn't get out from under it. 'Police Chief Drowned By Suburban House' would be the headlines, and then it'd proceed to list me along with Brynn as his grieving daughters.

There was no way I could cope with losing him. 

"Woah, Bryce, it's okay," Matty said, reminding me I, unfortunately, was not alone. "The generators will kick in any minute now. Just calm down."

Confused on why he was talking like that, I realized thatl, somehow, in the midst of everything, I grabbed hold of his hoodie, fisting it in my hand. Not only that, but my breathing was a bit all over the place and I was physically shaking. No wonder he's acting like I'm freaking out. I'm LITERALLY freaking out.

Letting him go, I stepped back, gathering myself by reiterating in my head that houses can't murder people, and that Dad wouldn't be dumb enough to get stuck under one. With that in mind, I slowly made my way back to the lounge. It was amazing how many times I'd come and gone back to that place in the past few hours.

"How can you see where you're going?" Matty asked as he followed the sound of my footsteps. 

"I can't," I shrugged, even though he couldn't see the gesture. "I'm just using the wall and retracing my steps."

My left hand skimmed the wall closest to me as I walked, the painted white cement blocks rough to the touch but much warmer than the cool metal of the lockers I felt as I continued on.

"Oh. You don't seem that scared anymore."

That earned him an eyeroll. Again, he couldn't see it. I never realized how much I relied on light to be myself. "I wasn't scared."

"Ha, sure you weren't," he scoffed. "Tell that to my wrinkled hoodie."

"Matty?"

"Yeah?" 

"Stop talking."

Besides grumbling something under his breath, he finally fell silent, giving me time to try and wrangle in all my lingering concerns and unrealistic imaginations in regards to what was holding my father up. Instead, I pictured Oli and I greedily devouring the M&M supply and falling under a sugar coma. That would be ideal. Unfortunately, subduing negative thoughts was a lot harder than I anticipated.

Pushing in the door to the lounge, I started walking in, only to hear someone that sounded a lot like Oli shout out, "Who's there?!"

"It's me, you goof," I replied, taking in how dark the room now was with all the lights off.

"Oh."

The only reason we weren't in complete darkness was because of the  few phone screens illuminating faces—one of those belonging to Naomi.

Attempting to pretend I was okay, I took a seat on the floor next to her. She was still sitting in the comfy chair I left her in, and gave me a look in seconds that told me I wasn't fooling her for a second. Thankfully, she knew me well enough to know I would tell her everything if I wanted to and didn't press me for any explanation. Resting my head on the side of the chair, I tried to relax, but a loud clang shook me and got my attention.

"What the," I muttered, sitting up and turning in the direction of the sound. 

Clang!

"Give me my dollar back, you dumbass machine!" Oli complained, kicking the vending machine filled with different drinks. 

"...uh, Oli?"

He kicked it again.

"Dude, the power's off. It's not giving you jack, so just chill," Cooper stated, his face tensing each time Oli kicked the machine, which he proceeded to do three more times.

Standing up, Naomi gently pulled our friend away from it before he did enough to warrant as vandalism. She pulled him to the floor where they sat together while he pouted. "I just wanted a Sprite. Was that too much to ask?"

Sending me a small smirk, showing how much she really wanted to burst out in laughter at his dramatic antics, Naomi just patted his shoulders and agreed with whatever he said. I could see how much Cooper appreciated it, as well as Reese and even Aimee. Sean had his headphones in which were, no doubt, sound proof since he was studying and didn't seem to be disturbed by Oliver James' little tantrum. 

With everyone off doing their own thing, whether it was conversating or eating food we really shouldn't have been touching, I pulled out my phone and tried calling my dad. It was no shocker when it went straight to voicemail. Dejected, I tried to distract myself by going on Instagram. The sound of heavy rain and strong winds easily became my own little version of background music as I scrolled through my feed, except they revved my anxiety versus calming it.

Because of the weather, I had to practice patience quite a bit since my connection was running slow. With the power out, so was the wi-fi, so I was using my data and clearly the storm was interfering with the signal. Still, it worked well enough for me to stumble upon a new post from Brynn.

It was a picture of her sipping from a cup of what looked like lemonade. It was sunny where she was, and I could see Mom in the background mid-laugh, talking to her brother. The caption, "Sweet Home Alabama? More like Sweet Home-made Lemonade," was under it.

A frown came to my face when I thought of how I could have been there with her, instead of being stuck here. But, I wouldn't have changed my decision regardless of how things looked right now. If I was states away from Dad during this, I'd have probably worried myself into sickness. Especially if I found out he was out in the storm. Instead of dwelling on where I could have been, I liked her picture and sent her a message letting her know I was glad she was safe. As usual, she was quick to reply .

Brynn: If only you weren't so stupid, you could be, too. :P How's Dad?

Me: Busy working.

Brynn: I told you so. Tell him I said hi and that I love him. 

Completely aware that I couldn't do that even if I tried, I lied and told her I would so she wouldn't worry and then went offline. 

"What's wrong with you?" Aimee questioned with a raised brow. Her hair had dried up a significant amount from when she first came in. Instead of a sad ruddy brown, its naturally rich red color was coming back. 

Because her tone was one of ridicule and not genuine concern, which was to be expected, I promptly ignored her and closed my eyes.

"Rude," she muttered in response. Whatever. "What's her problem, Matty? You do something to her when you both were out there?"

"No," he answered nonchalantly. "I'm pretty sure she's just scared of the dark."

"For Christ's sake, I'm not scared of the dark, Matty!" I huffed, looking at him, exasperated. "I'm scared for my dad!"

Frustrated beyond belief, and overwhelmed with negative thoughts the louder the storm raged outside, I hid my face in my arms and tried my hardest not to cry.

That's right, I was one of those unfortunate souls that couldn't control their tearducts whenever they felt a certain emotion too strongly. The emotion plaguing me right now, besides fear? That would have to be anger. I just wanted to pummel Matty's face in, even though he really didn't do anything.

Maybe Brynn and Mom were right. Maybe I should have just gone with them.

Always there when I needed her, Naomi took a seat on the ground next to me and gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders, which helped calm me down.

"Her Dad got a call and had to leave to take care of it. She's been worrying about him since," she briefly explained. Since they all knew he was the police chief, they didn't need to hear much more.

"Oh," I heard Matty reply.

"You just need a distraction, Bee," she said softly to me. "To get your mind off of things you can't control."

"I can help with that," I heard Reese volunteer. "There are still plenty of empty classrooms we could sneak off to, Bryce."

Not the best time for jokes, bud.

I couldn't even dignify his words with a response.

"Ow! What the hell, bro?!" From the sounds of it, one of the guys must have hit him for his comment.

"Bloody 'ell, just piss off, why don't ya?" Oli spat out in an over-the-top british accent.

I guess it was him.

"Bryce is a lady," he continued, sounder more and more posh as he went on. "And you will address her with the utmost respect, you tasteless bugger."

Completely caught off guard by Oli's theatrics, I couldn't help but smile even though it was the last thing I felt like doing.

So, yeah, I could have done the sane thing and gone with Mom and Brynn. I could've been sipping down some of Aunt Fee's yummy home-made lemonade, feeling the sun on my back and breathing in fresh air. But, I still would be worried about Dad, probably ringing his cell every other hour, going crazy. And if I wasn't here? Well, I wouldn't have had my best friends around to keep my head up, or a 'free' supply of snacks.

Plus, you never know. Maybe the forecasts were wrong. Maybe Hurricane Lola wouldn't last as long as predicted. Maybe this was as bad as it'd get and I could just pretend it wasn't even happening—that the sun was shining bright outside.

Crack! Nope, that's lightning.

BOOM! And there's the thunder.

Dammit.

Mother Nature is a total bitch.

Well, this update has taken WAYYYY longer than it should have. I've just gotten a bit distracted by life, guys, and that's the honest reason as to why I didn't update sooner. Hopefully this chapter is a nice surprise/gift considering it is the season of giving and to be jolly and all that jazz.

Thoughts on Bryce's emotions in regards to her Dad?

Are any of you Daddy's Girls as well, (keep your minds out of the gutter 😑) or no?

I personally always have been, so I can relate to her worrying. I still probably would have gone with Brynn and her Mom tho, if I was her 😅.

Lastly...how 'bout that whole "Drowned by Suburban House" trip Bryce's mind went on? 😂 What is wrong with her? 🤦🏾

Until next time!