Chapter 12: Chapter 12

“If you ever need me, use my private line, the one I keyed into your phone. I will alwaystake your calls.” He kissed Colin again, gently this time, and went whistling down the stairs.

* * * *

The tether grew larger in front of Colin’s eyes. One moment it was thin as a hair then in the next it was thicker like cotton sewing thread. Colin shook his head. He was either loopy and seeing things, or he had better go get his eyes checked.

Colin taught an Introductory to Creative Writing class the next morning, and when he got home from teaching, he had to work on his next book so he wouldn’t miss his deadline. Colin also needed to spend some time writing his thesis. It was a novel about a man with a physical flaw who couldn’t get people to see past his face. It was gut-wrenching to work on it because it exposed all of his hopes and fears. It laid bare all that Colin Callahan was, what he would like to be and what he thought he could have been, without his scarred face.