Part 4: The Search for Albert Manning
A/N: In Part 4-B, Craig finds a home in the streets while he searches for his father…
Craig ran far away from Joey's. He was not going to stay there with him. Fortunately, he had his cell phone so he could make phone calls if he needed to. He stopped when he got behind The Dot. He leaned against the wall and breathed heavily for about a minute, and then his breathing settled.
Someone rounded the corner, obviously following him. It was Jay.
"What're you running from?" Jay asked suspiciously. 'As if you care,' Craig thought coldly.
"Why aren't you in school?" Craig shot back.
"I was on my way there, and then I saw you running, and followed you here in the car. Again, what are you running from?" Jay said, his voice louder this time.
"It was…my…my stepdad…when I was fourteen…my dad died…" Craig said slowly, trying to find the right words.
"Yeah, we all know that. So you're running because…?"
"My dad's not dead. He was…in…jail the whole time…and Joey…he lied to me…" Craig thought about the words again and shook his head. He turned away from Jay and left. Jay shrugged the matter off and went to school.
Meanwhile, Craig was busy searching for his father's house. The old one had been sold, and he had no idea where his father would be living now. He wasn't sure what he would do when he found him, or if he even wanted to see him, but he had to get away from Joey. Right now, Craig wasn't even sure how to find him.
It was hours before Craig thought of a way to find his father, and he was sitting behind the café the entire time. He had just acted like he'd left until Jay went back to his car, and then he sat back down on the wall.
Sighing, Craig went to the hospital. He walked in through the front doors, and approached the nurse that had been good friends with his father. "Where's my dad?" he demanded.
"Craig, you know that your father—" the nurse began.
"NO! He's alive, and we both know it. Don't feed me this crap, lady. Tell me where he is." Craig gave the woman a death glare until she answered. Sighing, she said,
"He lives about two miles away from here. In an apartment." The woman gave Craig the directions and the address, and sent him on his way.
There was a knock on the door of Joey Jeremiah's house. Joey answered, as he had decided to skip work that day. He was under too much stress. It was Ashley. "Is Craig here?" she asked.
"No," Joey said. "He's not home from school yet."
"Home from school? He wasn't at school today. That's why I'm here." Joey closed his eyes and imagined the worst case scenario. Craig had told Joey that he wasn't going to run away again, and here he goes running off. He began breathing unsteadily. "Is something wrong?" Ashley asked in a worried voice.
"Craig ran away. He's gone."
"What?" Ashley screamed. "No…no…he wouldn't…he doesn't…" Then she fell onto her knees and broke down. Joey took her to the couch and put a blanket around her shoulders before he left to try and find him. Ashley stopped crying for a minute or two and ran up to Craig's room and fell asleep on his bed.
Half a block to the apartment building, Craig heard his cell phone ringing. He looked at the name. 'Joey'….
He had unexplainable feelings toward Joey right now, but he answered the call for some unknown reason. "What?" he shouted.
"Craig! Where are you?" Joey said loudly.
"I'm in Toronto, why?" Craig said.
"I kind of figured you were in Toronto. WHERE?" Joey almost shouted.
"I'm going to my dad's. It's none of your business where he lives."
"I hope you know what kind of damage this is putting on everyone."
"Like who? You? Poor lying sack of crap Joey."
"Like Ashley. She's at our house crying because you left and she's worried about you."
"Why is she…Joey, why'd you call?" Craig asked.
"Because I want you to come back."
"Well I don't feel like coming back to someone I can't trust." And then, Craig hung up. He told the man standing outside the apartment that he was there to see his father.
Craig went up about four stories in the building. He stopped at the fifth floor and went about four feet before found the room. The number 4 was all that was on the door. He looked up and down the hall and found no other doors. "He must live on this entire floor," Craig muttered to himself before knocking. He put his finger over the glass hole in the door.
A minute later, the door opened. His father stood before him. He looked a little older, hadn't shaved in a while, had more wrinkles and his hair was a bit grayer. But other than that, he looked the same.
"Craig," said Albert in almost a whisper. They both stood there staring at each other.
Albert let Craig in, and told him there were two bedrooms in this huge apartment.
In the second bedroom, there was only a couch and a TV. A small window sat on the right side of the room, and the plain white, plush carpet was all that was on the floor. Basically, it was empty. He sat on the couch and turned the TV on. He wondered as he flipped through the channels how he had the apartment immediately after getting out of jail. Then, he remembered the nurse. She'd probably taken care of things for his father.
Probably found the apartment complex, told him how much it would cost a month, etc. And then, when he got out, he probably just came and lived here. He also wondered if his father had a job.
"Craig," Albert said, popping his head in to the room. "I'm going to the store. D'you need anything?"
Craig shook his head. Albert left.
Craig laid back on the couch and turned off the TV. Nothing on, anyway. He reached in his pocket and took his cell phone out. He text messaged Ashley, who was still asleep on his bed at Joey's.
Back in Craig's room, where Ashley was sleeping, a cell phone beeped. Ashley moaned and picked up her phone. "1 Message Received" was all the screen said, other than the little envelope picture next the words.
Ashley was in no hurry to check her text messages. She pressed 'Inbox', and read the message.
"A, I'm sorry I left. I love you and I'll talk to you soon. Love C". She smiled softly at the message. He'd even taken the extra time to put capital letters and proper grammar in to it. Usually, he'd be lazy and put in 'A-srry i left i luv u and ill ttys luv c". But not today. She felt a little bit better that he'd contacted her, but she wanted to actually talk to him.
Several hours later, Craig woke up and realized he'd been asleep for a while. The only thing he knew was that he was sleeping on someone's couch. He ran to the window and saw several other buildings. Then it all came back to him—the news, Jay, the nurse, the apartment, his father…he hadn't been dreaming. It was so strange for him to not know exactly where he was when he woke up. He'd woken up on the floor in the bathroom and was staring at the wall when he woke up and forgot where he was for about a second. Why he'd been sleeping on the bathroom floor still remained a mystery to him, but…
He walked out of the small room and into the empty living room. Craig went to the kitchen and got some water. He drank about half the glass and then sat it down in the sink. Thinking about it, he filled it back to the top and took it back to the room, setting it on the window sill. He could've left whenever he wanted to, regardless of how lonely he was, but he didn't. He didn't feel like going out on the streets right now.
He fell back asleep on the couch, this time watching TV. He slept until his cell phone rang. Again, Joey. He answered it. "What do you want, Joey?" he said loudly, annoyed that he'd woken him up.
"Craig, I want to talk to you," Joey said flatly.
"About what? About how you set up my dad's death? The funeral, the police, the… where'd the ten-thousand dollars come from?" Craig asked, forgetting about everything else.
"Your father wanted you to have it before he went to jail."
"Oh. Well, then," said Craig, not knowing what to say to that.
"Craig, you know what happened last time you almost went back to him… he'll do it again," Joey muttered.
"He's different, now, Joey. He's not going to do anything. And if he does… I'll leave."
"Where are you going to go?" Joey asked.
Craig paused and hesitated before sighing and saying, "I don't know. I'll figure it out IF and when it happens." He hung up after a few minutes of arguing with Joey. Something inside him told him that Joey was right, but he ignored the feeling and sat around the apartment, bored.
Yes… that was Part 4-B. Heeheehee. Took me like, a week to write. People aren't reviewing. What's up with that? You could email me… but that wouldn't be AS fun, right? Rate the story altogether… there's like, 700 views of this story..