(32)-Things Are Not Always What They Appear.

Kyle was apprehensive, to say the least, when he walked inside the house. It was an alright place, nothing like it's outer shacky appearance, but there was a certain vibe to it that just made it not so easy on the eyes for him. He had a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. He supposed it was all due to the bad taste his father had left in his mouth.

"What happened to Vegas?" Kyle asked. This wasn't what he had seen on his father's social media page. Over the years, since his father had left him in 2017, Kyle had been keeping a watchful eye on his Dad on his Instagram page by looking at the new photos and videos he'd posted in Las Vegas. According to his posts, he lived there in a big mansion-with a fancy car, and was very rich due to winning the lottery out in L.V. and this looked nothing like what was presented on his Dad's Instagram page. Where was Vegas? Where was the big mansion his father lived in, where was the big fancy car he drove around in, where were his riches and wealth? What happened to that?

"You've been lookin' at my Instagram page, haven't you?" Lance said, smiling.

"Well...yeah, but..." Kyle stopped himself.

"It's okay, i don't have anything to hide." Lance assured, still smiling.

"Oh, i beg to differ." Kyle thought to himself. His father had clearly been lying about his life in Vegas on his Instagram page this since he bailed on him, his Mom and his brother and he had the nerve to say he had nothing to hide?

Lance then went over to a white mini-fridge on a long table.

Kyle squinted. His father was acting so casual about seeing him again after all this time. Like it hadn't been years since they had seen each other. Like he hadn't been the one who walked out on Kyle to begin with. He hadn't seen his father in eight years and yet here his Dad was, acting like he had never left.

Lance treated it more like a casual meeting between two good friends, rather than a reunion between a long lost father and son.

Kyle could feel his heart drop slightly, just hoping it wouldn't feel like this when he found his brother.

Lance closed the door to the mini-fridge, now holding a brown glass bottle of beer, and re-joined Kyle. "Here, have a beer."

Kyle was some-what stunned, squinting at his father. Clearly he was trying to change the subject to avoid answering Kyle's question about his life in Vegas. "Um...i'm not 21 yet. I can't...drink."

"Aw, c'mon. Like ya said, you're all growed up. Consider it your transformation into bein' a man!" Lance said. "(Chuckles)." He gave a chuckle, giving Kyle a pat on the shoulder.

Kyle, if he was being honest with himself, felt a little too hurt now. His father had ditched him when he was just 9 years old. Kyle swore he felt nothing for the man, but seeing Lance act so casual with him without a hint of remorse hurt him. And what did the adults back home do when they were upset?

Drink, of course.

He knew he wasn't suppose to know about that sort of thing when he was growing up...but he did.

Kyle, on instinct, just swiped the beer from his father, removed the cap and chugging it down.

"That's the spirit!" Lance said. "Hahahaha!" He laughed, slapping his right knee. "Wow, son, you sure chug them suckers quick." He said before he went back over to the mini-fridge and opened it, retrieving six more brown bottled beers. He pushed the door closed with his body. "Let's see how long you can keep it up." He asked as he returned to Kyle.

And so Kyle did, in fact, keep it up.

He took and chugged one of the beers his father had.

And the next.

And another.

And the remaining three, one by one, becoming dizzy and dizzier as he did.

To drown his sorrows, to make him forget he had gone on this journey to fill a hole in his heart left by his father and his brother.

And because of it, he ended up collapsing to the floor face-down and passing out.

(Scene in 30s retro footage.)

Prairie Grove, Kansas

May 4th, (2017)

In the wood of the backyard of Kyle's home, inside his large 2-story treehouse, 9-year old Kyle was with 8-year old Charlotte, talking to her about how he had gotten on his Mom's laptop and looked up his father's Instagram page and came across new photos taken by him in Las Vegas, most of them of himself in fancy suits. His Dad and several of the other men in town had built this tree-house for Kyle back in 2013 after Kyle had turned 6. After all, he was his Dad's favorite child. But that didn't stop Lance from bailing on him, his Mom and brother. Kyle's father had taken off on April 29th of this year while Kyle and Michael were at school and while their Mom was at work, never to return.

"You should've seen him on his Instagram page, Charlie. All those pictures of him in Vegas-smiling in expensive suits, photoes of him winning the lottery, his big mansion and his fancy car, with no mention of me, my Mom or Michael. It was like we never even existed. How could he just bail on us and forget us like that?" Kyle said, sitting up against the wall, with his right leg propped up. His brown-reddish hair was it's usual curly neck-length. He wore a red un-buttoned short sleeve plaid shirt, a gray shirt, a pair of blue overalls and black sneakers with white laces and white trims.

"Kyle, you need to stop obsessing over your Dad leaving you. He's not a good person." Charlotte said-standing in front of Kyle, her blond hair shoulder-length. She wore a white, sleeveless, calf-length sun-dress and white flat shoes.

"I know that. It's just...i hate what it's doing to my Mom, ya know? She's been all sad and depressed since Dad left. I just hate that my Dad gets to live it up in Vegas, posting pics about his new life on Instagram while my Mom, brother and i are struggling to get by without him." Kyle said.

"You can't believe everything you see on social media. Most of the time it's not real." Charlotte said.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Kyle said.

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