So This is Love

“Where have you been?” Damien’s father demanded the moment Damien walked in the door.

Damien had never seen anyone look as angry as his father did that moment. His dark eyes were squinted under bushy eyebrows furrowed in anger. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all that night. Mixed in with anger and exhaustion, Damien thought that he sensed a bit of relief in his father’s expression.

“It’s a long story,” Damien started, suddenly exhausted.

“Well you had better start explaining. I’ve been up half the night; I don’t know how many messages I’ve left you on your phone. You couldn’t bother to call? Well? Where have you been?”

“There was an accident. This girl... I―I thought she was dead,” Damien’s words came out jumbled and rushed. He couldn’t gather his thoughts long enough to put them to words.

“Is she okay?” his father had calmed down considerably, and was now pressing his son for details.

“I―I took her to the hospital. She’s okay though. Sprained wrist and a concussion, but nothing serious.” Relieved that his father was no longer angry, Damien felt that it was safe to take off his coat and boots and put them in the customary places next to the door.

His father looked at a loss for words. “Well, get some sleep, son. I’ve got to get to work, but I’ll see you when I get home.”

“Alright,” Damien acquiesced, grateful that he’d gotten off the hook so easily. He started on his way up the stairs, but stopped when his dad spoke again.

“And Damien?”

“Yeah Dad?”

“Make sure you call me next time you decide to play Good Samaritan and stay out all night.”

“Sure thing Dad,” Damien called back as he trudged up the last few steps.

In his room, Damien changed into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt before climbing into his bed. Despite his exhaustion, he couldn’t sleep. His mind replayed the night over and over behind his closed lids. Thoughts of Grace took over his brain and occupied his mind. He couldn’t get her out of his head.

Attempting to think of something else, Damien thought about his parents. They got divorced when he was still a kid, 8 years old. Right after their divorce, his dad joined the army. He travelled around the country―and the globe, for the rest of Damien’s childhood, while Damien’s mom turned to her work to cope with the divorce. With neither of his parents around, Damien grew to like the solitude.

And then, on his fifteenth birthday, he got a phone call from his father, from whom he hadn’t heard from in years. His father had moved back to the US, permanently, and was living in Massachusetts, on the other side of the country from California. Damien’s father wanted Damien to come live with him, but after surviving seven years without a father, Damien decided that he was better off not talking to his dad. Two weeks after his seventeenth birthday, Damien’s mother told him that her job was relocating her to Japan. He had a choice: move to Tokyo, or move in with his father.

Damien had been with his father for less than a week, and was already desperate to leave. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forgive his father for leaving them. He knew, though, that living with his father was better than living in Japan, so he was determined to suffer through it with as much grace as possible.

Grace. Once more his thoughts drifted to her. Her soft, beautiful face, long dark hair, and soulful blue eyes. Damien finally drifted to sleep with Grace still dancing through his dreams.