Go Away, I Miss You

Miss Parker pulls the car into her drive way. She walks into the big house. Her phone rings when she sits down. "What?"

"Cheery as always I see."

"Jarod, what do you want?"

"Quick to the point."

"Why don't you turn yourself in or disappear and leave me alone?"

"Is that what you want?"

"Yeah."

"Fine," he said and hung up the phone. She hung up the phone and decided to get the best nights sleep in a long time.

A week went by. Miss Parker was at her office. There was a knock at her door. "Come in," she yelled. She looked up. "Syd? What do you need?"

"I wanted to make sure you're okay and ask if you heard from Jarod."

"I'm fine and no I haven't. Have you?"

"No," he answered worriedly.

"Don't worry; I'm sure he's okay." Sydney nodded and left.

"Miss Parker!" Broots hurried into her office.

"Don't you know how to know?"

"Sorry."

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't remember," he said trying to remember with no such luck.

Miss Parker rolled her eyes. "Come back when you do." He took the hint and left. She had nothing to do, so she found herself waiting for Jarod. She was becoming depressed just sitting there. She decided to go do stuff, but even that didn't help. She went back to her office and sat down by the phone and stared at the door waiting for a package to come for her. Her phone rang and she grabbed it before the ring finished. "Jarod!?!"

"No Angel."

"Sorry daddy, I thought it were Jarod."

"Why the hell would you think that?"

"He hasn't done anything."

"I'm sure you'll get him. Bye."

"Wait! Why did you call?"

"To make sure you're okay. You looked depressed. Take care of yourself."

"As always," she said after they hung up. Time passed very slowly. There was a knock at her door as her phone rang. "Come in." She answered the phone. "Yeah," she said exhaustedly.

"Miss me yet," he asked when she saw the package Broots was carrying. She gave him a look and he left.

She remained silent a moment. "Yeah," she said opening the box. "I've been bored doing nothing."

"And," Jarod pried.

"And what?" When he didn't say anything she sighed. "And I look like hell." She reluctantly continued. "Because I couldn't sleep. I was waiting for you to call alright," she yelled the last part.

"Yeah, bye."

"Jarod? Call me tonight."

"Maybe." They hung up the phone. She opened the box again and pulled out the stuff inside. There was a picture of Jarod. She also pulled out a DSA. It didn't have a label. She decided to watch it when she got home. She sat there awhile. Then she noticed the time and decided to go home.

The first thing she did was put the DSA in the player. She sat down and watched it. It was a type of them in the past and Jarod recently. She didn't listen to it, just watched the screen. Her phone rang. "Yeah," she asked memorized.

"Nice movie."

"Jarod," she asked coming out of her daze.

"Yeah, look behind you." She turned around and saw Jarod stepping from the shadows. Her mouth fell open and she dropped the phone. She quickly picked it up and was feeling stupid threw it across the room. He watched the phone hit the floor. "I decided to come visit." He put his phone away and put hers on the table. "You're not going to put a gun in my face, are you?"

She smiled. "No." They sat on the couch. They were on opposite sides.

There was an eerie moment of silence. "You really missed me," Jarod asked startling Miss Parker.

She looked at him. "Well, yeah." She paused. "Daily routine. I kind of got use to it." She looked at the clock. "Are you hungry? I can order something."

"I have a better idea."

"What's that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." He smiled. He walked into the kitchen and went through her cabinets and refrigerator. There was nothing to eat in the house. He snuck out the door. He hurried to the nearest store. He came back through the front door.

"Where have you been for the last 10 minutes?"

"Shopping," he replied. "You don't have any food. What do you eat?"

"Take out." She walked toward him. "What did you get," she asked trying to look inside.

"I'm not telling you. It's a surprise."

"Fine, I'll set the table."

"Oh, no you don't." He set the bags down and guided her over to the couch. "Sit down." She sat down. "Only if you could do as I say more often." He smiled.

"I could say the same about you." She sat there a minute. Boredom set in. "Hey! What am I suppose to do?"

"Guess what I'm making."

"How fun," she said sarcastically. She sighed, "Are you going to tell me if I'm right?"

"No. What's the fun in that?"

Jarod was making a meal with all the trimmings. There was chicken, turkey, mixed vegetables, salad, everything that many families have had on holiday dinners. He set the table and put two candles on top. When the food was done, he put pizza as a backup and put the food on the table. He lighted the candles and said, "Ready."

Miss Parker turned around and saw everything her mouth fell open. "It's beautiful. The foods interesting." He pulled out a chair for her. She pulled it from his hand. She looked at him. "Jarod," she began.

"I know, I know, you can take care of yourself." They sat down. She took a bite of the food. "You don't like it."

"It's good, but it's not my type of food." The timer went off. "What's that?"

"My backup plan." He came back with pizza. He set it down on the coffee table in the living room.

"Got anything else to drink?" He came back with bottles of pop. They ate in silence. Miss Parker was truly happy.

Jarod broke the silence. "I better go prepare for tomorrow."

"What are you going to do?"
"You'll find out soon." He left her wondering.

Work came fast the next morning. She walked into the centre. She walked to Sydney's office. She walked in and seen Sydney and Broots talking. Neither noticed her. "I can't believe he's doing this," Broots exclaimed.

"Who and what," asked Miss Parker.

"Jarod and um…" Broots started.

"And what," Miss Parker interrupted.

Sydney broke in. "Jarod came in this morning and offered to turn himself in on certain conditions.

"What's that? Is he holding hostages and threatening to kill them if they break any promises? Like the centre would care."

"I'm not sure about that." The phone rang and Miss Parker grabbed it.

"What?"

"Miss Parker! What a surprise, I was wondering if you were here yet. Congratulations on bringing Jarod in. He wishes to see you in his room." There was a click. Miss Parker hung up the phone.

"What was that about," asked Sydney and Broots. There was a knock.

"Come in."

"This letter came for you," a sweeper gave it to her and left.

"What is it," asked both of them again.

Miss Parker just left without saying a word. She walked down the hall a little ways and opened the envelope. She stopped when she read what it said. "When I didn't call, I missed you too." She smiled and hurried to Jarod's room. She hid the letter and walked in.

"You wanted to see me."

"News travels fast." He smiled. "You got my letter."

"Damn! What gave me away?"

"That," he grinned. She grabbed the letter and threw it at him. He caught it.

She sat down next to him. "Why did you turn yourself in? And on what terms are you doing this?"

"Why? I'm not sure. The terms I'm still debating."

"Jarod don't lie. You're like an open book."

He kissed her. "That's why. Guess you don't know me as much as you thought."

"What about the cameras?" He walked over and disconnected them.

Mr. Parker and Mr. Lyle watched until the screen went black. "Aw sis," Mr. Lyle sighed. "Looks like you just lost a daughter."

"I never had her," Mr. Parker said. "Oh, well. She can be used some other way."

"Like what? Jarod's little girlfriend."

"Whatever works."

Jarod and Miss Parker walked down the silent hallways with sweepers leading them. They took the elevator up to the tower. They sat down in chairs in the dark room. The sweepers went back down in the elevator. It was silent for a little time. It seemed like hours passed. Finally someone said, "Welcome back to the centre, Jarod."

"I'd say it would be good to be back, but then I'd be lying."

"What do you want in return for…"

Jarod interrupted. "First of all, Sydney works with me. Miss Parker visits me everyday as long as we want. It'll be better than when we were kids. I get to walk around the centre and if things aren't busy I get a trip to the outside."

"Fine."

"That's it?"

"As long as you do what we want within reason, of course. You start tomorrow. Better get some rest." They were guided back down. There was complete silence as they walked back to Jarod's room.

They stopped and looked at each other. It felt like forever. "You're probably tired. We can talk tomorrow."

"No, actually I'm not." He ushered her into the room.

She looked around. "Damn! What did you do? Television, movies, computer, a miniature kitchen. Damn!"

"What the centre will do to keep me here," he smiled. "I get to wear anything I want, instead of uniforms. I think I'm going to like it." He smiled. "What did you want to talk about?"

She sat on the bed. "Can I spend the night," she asked trying to change the subject.

"Sure. Is it going to take that long to talk," he smiled.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"All this. You had options."

"Yeah, but there's a saying, 'Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.'"

"Am I a friend or enemy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," he smiled. They fell asleep. They were back were it all began. This time would all be different.