My mind was full of questions and my nerves were stretched to the breaking point.
I didn’t snap out of it until I heard a knock on my bedroom door.
“Evelyn? Are you asleep? Why did you lock the door?”
Dad turned the doorknob a couple of times, sounding urgent, completely different from his previous gentleness.
“Evelyn, open the door!”
“Evelyn, what are you doing hiding in there? Are you taking a nap at home and locking the door in front of your dad?”
“What on earth are you doing? Did you hide a man in your room? Are you dating already? You waited until I was asleep to bring someone home? You're showing no respect for your father at all!”
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. He violently twisted the doorknob and began kicking and banging on my bedroom door like mad. I was so terrified that I didn’t dare to move.
I tried to call my mom in fear, but her phone kept saying: “The number you dialed is unavailable.”
The next second, Dad forcibly broke open the door.
Just moments before, I had hidden the diary. I watched as Dad stormed in with a ferocious expression, scanning my room in anger.
“Where is he? Where is he!”
“Evelyn, where did you hide that filthy man?”
I didn’t even dare to breathe, only cried in silence.
“I... I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad. There’s no one here. I was just taking a nap.”
“You need to lock the door to nap?”
Dad shot me a cold look and said, “Next time, don’t lock the door again, understand!”
Curled up, I nodded and agreed. Dad suddenly smiled and reached out to pat my head.
“Good girl. That’s my sweet Evelyn.”
As he touched my head, I caught that foul smell again.
Dad was no longer Dad. And whether Mom was still Mom… I didn’t know either.
Everything had become mysterious and confusing.
Ever since Dad came back, Mom hadn’t appeared once in half a month, not even a single phone call could get through.
During these two weeks, Dad became extremely gluttonous and terrified of sunlight. He stayed inside the house all day and wouldn’t even step into the yard.
Not only that, his temper became completely unstable. As long as I did anything slightly displeasing, he would suddenly explode in rage. And afterward, he would try to comfort me, patting my head and calling me his sweet Evelyn.
I didn’t know what exactly had happened. All I knew was that every time he touched my head, I smell that foul stench and the stench was getting worse.