Page 118 of Rent Free

The woman left with her child, and once again I started to scan the area for my girl.

She was nowhere to be found.

I frowned, glanced at my watch, and reached once again for my phone.

Again, like the last four times that I’d checked it, the phone showed no signal.

“Goddammit, AT&T,” I grumbled, shoving my phone back into my pocket.

Out of all the days for it to go out, it had to be when I was waiting for the love of my life to get here with my son.

I rubbed at my chest, an unfamiliar feeling take over me.

Something was wrong.

I just knew it.

“She’s fine.” My mother laughed. “You’re being extra, Atlas.”

I rubbed at my chest harder. “I know she’s probably fine. I just have this really bad feeling.”

“Like the kinds of feeling you get when you can’t ring the bell?” she asked, able to read me like a book she’d written.

“Well,” I hesitated as I thought about it. “Yes.”

“You know, I noticed something the last few weeks,” she said.

I crossed my arms over my chest.

She patted my arms. “Put those down. You look unapproachable, and we want the kids to come visit you.”

I dropped my arms, but my mind was spinning.

“I haven’t had to…”

“You haven’t had to ring the bell since you started seeing her,” she agreed. “You came over the other day, and I didn’t know you were there.”

My mouth opened and closed as I realized the implications. “Do you think she fixed me?”

“I think she gave you something else to focus on instead of your compulsions.” She shrugged. “Fixed, probably not.”

“Oh,” I thought about the last time that I’d rang any bells or double-checked any doors.

It’d been… weeks.

A few very long weeks.

“Hey, Mr. Officer.”

I looked down to see a young boy standing there with the curliest brown hair I’d ever seen.

“Hey there,” I said to him.

“Can I see?” he asked, pointing at the squad car.

I grinned but glanced up when I felt like the temperature in the exhibit center changed.

My mom was talking to the little boy’s mother.

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