Carly

“Stop,” I said as I grab her hand. She looked at me with anger in her eyes and then pulled her arm away and I let go.
“Here you are sir,” said the baker handing me the bread. I thank him and left the store with Carly, my daughter.
“Don’t,” I said to her as she almost pick pocketed a man who walked passed us. I grab her hand and we walked to our very old house.
As we got home, someone was waiting for us, an old friend of mine who I have not seen in five years.
“Peter! How are you doing?” asked my old friend who I was shock to find on my doorstep.
“It’s been awhile Shawn, how’s everything out in the west?”
“Just as bad as here. Many people can’t find jobs or work for the black market and gangs. I came back here to find work. I heard it’s better than the west,” Shawn then looked at my daughter.
“Hello miss,” he said with a smile. Carly ignored him and walked into the house and I caught her taking his wallet.
“Carly!” I snapped and I took the wallet from her hand and before I could scold her she ran into the house and into her room.
“I’m sorry about her,” I told Shawn.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. How old is she? Thirteen?”
“Actually sixteen, I know, she looks young for her age,”
“And short,”
Dinner that night was quiet and Carly could not help but stare at Shawn, with no emotion on her face.
“Carly, you shouldn’t stare,” Carly was quieted and did not respond to me. She kept staring at Shawn with a pale and emotionless face.
“Carly,” I said with a clam voice and slowly made her face look at mine, but she wouldn’t look at me in the eye.
“Carly, I need eye contact. We have gone over this. I want to see your eyes when I speak to you and when you speak to me, please,” and she stared at me with eye contact and I told her to stop staring at Shawn since he was a guest.
“I’m full,” was the only thing Carly said and she got up from her seat and walked away.
“Carly, you need to clean up,” I told her, but she was already gone as if she did not hear me. I grab her plate, got up, and placed it in the sink along with her glass.
“Don’t mind her,” I told Shawn.
“Kids will be kids. Do you remember all those times we had together. Playing baseball, video games, and playing at the lake?”
“Of course. Summers were so hot we slept out on the porch or in the backyard in a tent. I remember everything when we were young. Before all this,”
“Yes, things were much simple and calm back then. The majority of the people in this country had a job but now, almost no one can find one. Children as young as ten turn to the gangs for money and food. I’ve met many kids who had been abandoned by their parents and even siblings. Those kids can’t trust anyone with all those abandonment,”
“Yeah, I’m aware. The young adults these days turn to the gangs and black markets, while us ‘old’ people have to scrap for food and are trying to hang on to our job. Almost everyone at the factory I work in are fill with old people who can’t retired because they don’t have enough to settle down,”
“Everything was better ten years ago before the revolution. When the skies were blue and not this dirty brownish color. When the grass was green and not brown. I remember flowers, but even the flowers are gone now. There is no life in this country and there is no escaping it,” Shawn and I sat there in quiet for a while. I felt a surge of pain in my heart because I could never imagine Carly on the streets, alone with no one. Without me. I’m not sure how long she would survive on the streets alone and I promised her that I would never let anything happen to her.
“Where did you find the kid?” Shawn asked.
“Her mother was a friend of mine from work. I didn’t really know her that well; we talked every now and then. I only met Carly once while her mother was alive,”
“Was?”
“Her mother got sick. She got very ill when Carly was six years old, ten years ago, right after the revolution. Her mother had no other family and I didn’t think she would do well in foster care, so I took her in. I became her foster father,”
“She calls you father?”
“Yes, her real father is unknown. I don’t know whom he is and I’m not sure her mother knew either. Even though I’m twelve years older then her and old enough to be her big brother, I’m proud to be called her father. She’s very smart and kind. She’s not the type who would join a gang or turn to violence,”
“What about her pick pocket skills?”
“Another child taught her but he’s not around anymore. He was here one day and left the next. By now he’s probably in a gang or dead. Who knows?”
All of a sudden there was a scream coming from Carly’s room. I jumped out of my seat and ran to her room, yelling her name. When I got there, she was sitting up on her bed and crying. I hugged her and whispered, “it was a bad dream. It was only a bad dream. It’s okay, I’m here. I’m here,”
“I thought you left,” she said quietly.
“No, I’m right here. I would never leave you. We’re a family remember? I’m your father and I will always be there for you. I made that promise and I’m not going to break it,” I stayed in Carly’s room until she calmed down and I returned to my friend to talk to him.
“Aspergers,”
“What?” I asked.
“Carly. She has aspergers doesn’t she?” I nodded to him. Carly had trouble with behavior and making eye contact, along with being obsessed with taking weird objects from random places but ever since her mother died she was also fascinated with the stars in the sky. She also had the inability to hug another person although she didn’t mind to be hugged.
“Someone with a PhD in psychology would easily figure that out,” I told Shawn.
“Can you find me a job?” he asked.

“Carly? Carly? Time to wake up,” I said knocking on her door. I thought that she might had overslept again so I walked in, but she wasn’t there. The bed was made and everything was still in its place.
“Carly!” I yelled and went looking around the house.
“What’s wrong?” asked Shawn.
“Carly’s gone. I can’t find her. Carly! Kiddo! This game isn’t funny! Carly!” I kept yelling but nothing happened. Carly was nowhere in site. I started to get a panic attack. Shawn ran towards me when he saw me huffing and puffing.
“Peter, Peter, don’t worry. We’ll find her. I’ll help you find her,” Shawn said.
“I need my daughter back. Her medicine is here and she needs it and she’ll basically talk to anyone. She’s has trouble adjusting to the world. She won’t survive long,” I said.
Shawn and I went out into the town to look for her and even went into the city and her favorite places, but we just couldn’t find her. I skipped my job, hoping my boss would understand why I skipped but I needed to find my daughter. I was going crazy after every second that she was missing. After raising her for ten years, I made a connection to her and she made a connection with me. When she was scared, I hugged her. When she was happy, I smiled with her. When she was angry, I helped her calm down. Now, I was worried of who would take care of her because she cannot take care of herself. Shawn and I met back at the house with no success.
“Anything?” I asked Shawn but he shook his head.
“Where can she be? It’s almost night time!” I said putting my hands on my head and sweating like a pig.
“Can you think of something else?” asked Shawn but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
“What did I miss?” I heard a voice and I turned around to see Carly.
“Carly! Honey!” I exclaimed as I put my arms around her. I started to shed a few tears but I was so happy that she was all right and not hurt.
“You made me worry,” I said.
“I had to leave early for the bus,” she said.
“The bus? Where did you go?”
“Mom’s grave. Don’t you remember, today was the day she died,” I was silent. How could I have forgotten her mother’s death? Her mother was very important since it was the two of them and I’m sure her mother’s death must had been very hard on her, even after ten years.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you,”
“It’s alright if you wake me up. It’s okay, I would had wanted to go with you.”
“Why are you sad, dad?”
“I’m just happy that you are okay,” I said as I put my arms around her and held her in my arms.
“Dad, you will always be there for me, right?” asked Carly.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Then I want to be there for you too. Because I love you dad.” And for the first time, Carly hugged me back without kicking or screaming.
“You’re really amazing,” Shawn said and he began to cry because Shawn finally saw something that he hasn’t seen in a long time. That if one person cared about another maybe this cruel world could change and the love of a family could one day be strong as it was ten years ago.