The World is Ugly

No, this wasn't happening. He was 2,880 miles away in Portland. There's no way he could be here.

"What's wrong honey?" he asked me. His words were slurred. He stepped towards me, and right then I knew that this was real, that I wasn't imagining this. I tried to run, but I couldn't. Panic and fear set in. He placed a hand on my cheek. "I missed you," he told me. His breath reeked of alcohol. I recognized that smell. When I was really, REALLY little, mom got drunk. Her breath smelled the exact same way for the past few days. Everclear, I think it was called. Really strong, 190 proof. He obviously had drank a lot. Then, I was back in control of my body. I screamed and ran downstairs, nearly slipping at the last step. The officer ran inside to see what was wrong. I ran to Gerard and hugged him. "What's wrong?!" the officer asked, frantic.
"Dad... Inside.. Upstairs," I told him. He ran upstairs.
"Shh, it's okay babe. So what happened?"
"My dad... he was upstairs... drunk... everclear..."
The officer came back downstairs. He looked pissed off. "There's no one up there, stop making a fuss."
I froze. "Yes there is! He touched me!" I told him.
"There's fucking nobody up there. Calm down."
"He was drunk, he couldn't have gotten out that quickly."
"MISSY, THERE'S NO ONE UP THERE."

I was so fucking confused. He... he touched me. I could smell the liquor on his breath. Before I could say anything, Gerard led me outside and we started walking back to his house. "So, what happened?"
"I... I was going downstairs. I heard someone call me and I turned and he was standing there. He was slurring his words and he smelled like everclear. He was drunk. He told me he missed me and touched my cheek and that's when I screamed and ran downstairs."
"Everclear? Like, the alcohol?"
"Yes. I was scared. How the hell did he get here? He should be miles away in Portland."
"Well, if he was drunk, there's no way he could've ran away that fast. Maybe the officer was right."
"I just happened to imagine my dad and that he touched my cheek and the smell of liquor?"
"You're under a lot of stress."
"I know what I saw and smelled and felt, Gee. It was him." He didn't reply. The second we got home I went upstairs, dropped my bags on the floor, and slept.

Notes

filler because i wanted to do something before i started my chores for the weekend uwu