Hearts Under Ice - CS Patra Page 0,3

Industries wasn’t her cup of tea, it was a good opportunity. She would have the chance to meet new people and make some real money. It would be nice to hang out with someone. Most of her friends were either too busy, or they had moved to another state. Bethany had just gotten married and was on her honeymoon. Elizabeth was engaged to someone from London and had moved over there to be with him. Ana was in grad school and busy with that. Amber lived in California with her husband and son. Olivia was the only one left behind, and it felt like she had done nothing with her life. This job would hopefully give her some excitement. She would finally have something to talk about when people asked her what she did. She wouldn’t have to stammer or come up with a silly excuse. She could now tell them about her new job. There would be good opportunities to come from it.

Who knows? Something good might be coming around the bend. She thought as she went back upstairs. Tomorrow was surely going to hold some good things. Her life was going to change, and she couldn’t wait to see what was in store.

~ ~ ~

Dr. Donovan Vaughn looked down at everything he had scrawled on his papers. His calculations weren’t coming out right. He had done the problem every way possible, yet something was still off. It was the same problem that was plaguing him night after night. He had to solve it before he tested his new creation. It was days like this that he wished he had someone to vent to. The world was filled with people, yet he couldn’t find anyone to talk to.

Yeah, I need someone that won’t make fun of me. He sighed, pushing the papers away. His eye fell on the phone, and the only number scrawled on the refrigerator. That belonged to his uncle who lived on the other side of the town. Uncle Raymond was a good man who did everything he could to help his nephew out, but even he couldn’t understand his true genius. Anytime Donnie had tried to tell him something, he would just smile and gently brush it aside. It wasn’t meant to ignore him, but to show that he didn’t understand.

“You’re a smart kid, Donnie, but I’m not.” Raymond would say. “You need someone who can understand this stuff. It’s not me. Surely, you’ve got to have someone your age that will get this better than me.”

What he said made sense, but Donnie had no one of that sort. He had no one that he could call a close friend. Of course, he got along well enough with the neighbors and his colleagues at work, but that didn’t mean any of them would hang out with him for fun. No one ever asked him to go for a beer or to the movies. He could tell them about his ideas, but most would brush them off. It felt like being around Raymond again. No one was doing it to be mean, but their lack of interest still hurt. Even his colleagues, who were used to his ideas, just didn’t want to think about them outside of the office. That left him lonely and desperate.

“Some scientist I’m turning out to be.” He said, looking at the framed photo of his parents that hung on the wall. It was one the few pictures he had of them, and the last one that they had taken together. He had been only two when they died in a boating accident. The memory of that night was very fuzzy, but he did understand that Mommy and Daddy were not coming back. They were gone, and he was alone. He didn’t remember crying for them, but he knew that their goodbye was forever. “Sorry, guys. It’s probably a good thing you aren’t here to see this.”

There was no point in making them proud, so all of his work was for himself. He didn’t really have many memories of them when they were alive, and they hadn’t left him much after they died. Raymond had been kind enough to take him in and raise him. He was his father’s brother, and the only one who had no other family members living with him. The other family members weren’t able to take in a new child, so he stepped up and decided to be the father that Donnie would never know. Though money