Don't Give Up On Me - Unedited

Chapter 25

Terry rose from the couch, her face red from anger. The livid expression making me shake in fear. Her pacing and screaming 'bastard this' and 'bastard that' caused me to rethink. Paul or myself?

Hunter stood rigid to the spot as his mother followed his previous footsteps. Watching her contort her expressions from rage to sadness, sadness to hurt, hurt to guilt. The myriad of emotions left me confused. The guilt and hurt stood forefront.

Her handkerchief was fidgeted with so much, it would turn to flimsy pieces of thread in mere seconds.

Palpitations pumped in a uneven rhythm. Terry doesn't come across as a woman who can't handle something out of her control. Quite the opposite in fact. Graceful, upholding and put together. The side I see now is a mother infuriated and ashamed.

"I don't know what I could possibly say to you Charley. I'm deeply ashamed of my sons actions. Maybe I wasn't hard enough on him as a youngster, maybe I was too firm actually, what if I never showed him enough love?" Her voice croaks, holding back urge to cry.

But the dam has burst in a flurry and now the waterfall flows.

"I am so so sorry. He would never have done anything like this if his father was still alive. God rest his soul. He was always reprimanding them when they were going through the awkward teenage stage. Paul was always a rebel. Bullied in school until he was 14 and that was when he fell in with the wrong crowd. Sneaking out for the high school parties, drinking and at one stage taking drugs. However, that is no excuse. He was brought up to know what right from wrong is. His father would be turning in his grave."

The freedom of speech has left me. I can't form a coherent thought. Or a sentence either mind you.

Hunter watches my every move with predatory eyes, as if I am sort of prey ready to flee from his line of sight. Waiting for any reaction, any sign of life still in my body.

Standing dumbstruck, Terry throws herself and clasps me tight in her iron clad grip. She sobs uncontrollably. Her hysterical crying causes me to cringe and the sudden movement of her body causes me to flinch, expecting a slap. Why though?

Taking this moment to interject, Hunter speaks void of any emotion or expression.

"Mother has not heard from him since that night. The police had previously contacted Leanne and Rachel to see if they had any indication of his whereabouts. They didn't know why but they didn't ask any questions. Rachel last spoke with him two days after the wedding. They flew home together. She told the police he remained his usual self and they shared a cab back to his apartment where she had dropped him off."

"Did you tell them?" I need to know how they will take this.

A solid nod answers my question. Hunter is not himself. That is very much obvious in his speech and his actions. Something's wrong, I can sense it.

"How did they take it?"

"As to be expected." That doesn't say much. His expectations or mine?

Clearly forgetting about the hysterical mother attached to my being, I speak up.

"Please don't apologise. No one could have foreseen what was to happen. I don't blame anyone for this."

An awkward silence ensues the room before being broken by Hunters snort.

"Except for yourself."

His mother gasps and turns to face him with a shocked expression.

"Aidan James Hunter! How dare you say that." Her hand rises above her heart and clutches dramatically at her chest.