The Unknown *Chapter 1*

"I’m ready!" the little girl called. Her dad observed her shabby clothes. They didn’t have much money, but they did once. He was hurting for his paycheck already, and it only had been a week since his last one. The girl sensed the worry on her dad’s face. A look of stress, maybe even a little fear. Of course the girl didn’t understand, she was only seven, but her dad knew all to well.

"What’s wrong daddy?" Lea asked.

She never calls me daddy,

"Nothing honey," he answered distantly, as if in a dream. "Didn’t get much sleep last night, that’s all."

They hopped in the car. "Where are we going?" Lea stated.

So many damn questions!

"Just running some errands. Post office, grocery store."

"Oh, okay."

"You look like you want to say something." Collin observed.

"Can we go to the library? Please?"

"Not today. Sorry."

He wanted to go to the gravesite, yet he didn’t tell his daughter that. For good reasons too. Ever since Linda died, she was hysterical. Not so much Collin, although he has loved Linda once. Towards the last three years, out of nine, that spark had gone out. The fire that once burned feverishly was put out, by some unknown being. He himself was out for a while, (gone fishing, he thought, chuckling to himself quietly) walked out the back door, and sprinted to the front door, dragged along by his conscience, his lifeline, his daughter. The burial was the most horrible. It brought tears to his eyes just thinking about it.

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As he lay in bed, Collin thought back…Collin had always felt bad about not loving Linda as much as he should have, and she sensed that the last year of her life. She kept a journal, unlike most people he knew, and she left it on the side table next to the bed. Collin didn’t know at the time, but that journal held all the solutions to his problems. Collin and Linda had promised each other not to look at each other’s personal things, not because they had never married, but because they both had learned early on not to trust anybody. Collin didn’t really know the reason they never did marry, but he knew Linda had her own problems. Collin remembered the night like it was hours ago:

"Will you marry me?" Collin asked wistfully.

Now he thought about Lea, their beautiful daughter. Poor, poor Lea. Linda and Lea , two peas in a pod. And the pod was the thing that held them together, their connection. Linda was so happy when she found out she was pregnant, her life seemed whole again. This feeling carried on, until Lea was six, before Linda died. Linda read to Lea all the time. They both loved reading. Especially fantasy. Collin just held back. He didn’t want to interfere. Maybe he was jealous. Maybe that’s why he stopped loving Linda. Collin didn’t even know himself. The only thing that kept them together was, in fact, Lea. Lea was everything. Collin felt so bad for her. He felt bad because he couldn’t buy her nice clothes. He felt bad that he couldn’t give Lea everything she wanted. He also felt bad that he knew, and Lea didn’t, his secret. Hell, it was Lea’s secret too. She would live forever.

Lea sat up in bed. She had that dream again. The dream of the unknown.