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"Daddy?" I shook his arm and his eyelids fluttered and then opened wide as he focused on me

"What?" He started to sit up quickly, but stopped as if the reat pain It was then that I saw the tear in the elbow of his left shirt sleeve and the dry blood on his skin My eyes went to his pants and I saw the ht knee

He straightened up

"Olivia? You're home? I mean, you've returned? What is today?" He scrubbed his cheeks with his dry palorously and licked his lips

"What happened to you, Daddy?" I asked softly Had he been in a fight? I wondered

"Happened?"

"Your clothes are torn and you've hurt yourself"

"Oh," he said as he blinked rapidly, his"I had a little accident out back It's nothing Looks worse than it is"

"What sort of an accident?"

"I tripped on a stump It was dark"

"What were you doing out back in the dark? What's going on here? Where's Belinda?" I fired my questions at him so quickly he only heard one word

"Belinda?" He ran his right hand over his hair "Isn't she here?"

"I don't know I just ca outside in the dark, Daddy?" I repeated

"Doing?" he said forcing a s his lips shattered his cheeks All the tiny veins had co the night air Your aze at the ocean and the stars, but it was overcast and I wasn't watching where I alking"

"You look like you took quite a fall, Daddy You look like you were running, not walking," I saidwith suspicion