Hold On

What Would I Do Without You

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I recommend you read ADAM before reading this chapter and for current ADAM readers please don’t read this chapter until you’ve finished ADAM.

Sorry it’s been a while but you know how school is. I’ll spare you the boring re-count of what happened and just let you read it. I hope you like it and vote J>>

 Karlin looked up at me and opened her mouth but nothing seemed to be coming out. She tried again, getting the same results before bowing her head down. I could see her biting her lip; a habit I had inherited from her.

I could tell she was going to back out; it was obvious. It wasn’t fair. She has to tell me what happened. I have the right to know.

 Hold her hand, a voice in the back of my head commanded.

 I was hesitant for a while but I soon thought better of it. I had to know. Slowly, I brought my hand on top of her before giving it a tight squeeze, pleading her to go on.

 I could feel her flinch under my hold. I know she thinks I didn’t notice but I did. I decided to let it go as I felt her gently relax.

“Your mother was my best friend, you know,” Karlin whispered, making me jump in surprise. I hadn’t expected her to speak never mind tell me something like that.

She not only knew my mother but she was close to her. Her words shocked me but it was a good kind of shocked. It was actually more of a surprise than a shock. Nonetheless it was good.

There was something that was bothering me though; what did she mean by my mother ‘was’ her best friend? What could have ended their friendship?

Wanting her to go on but not having the will to speak I squeezed her hand again to tell her to continue.

“She lived next-door to me when I was in my last year of university.” They went to the same college?

“We didn’t go to college together, Katy was much older than me,” she said answering my silent question.

Katy. Her name was Katy. I finally had a name to her. As much as I hate to admit it, I always imagined my mother to have a unique name like Karlin’s. Was she just as plain as her name suggested?

“She would always come around to my house to catch up when your father wasn’t around,” she said, her face contorting in disgust as she said the word ‘father’. Something tells me that these two didn’t really see eye to eye. I feel better knowing that I didn’t come from a broken family but what nagged me was the way Karlin talked about my father. What was so bad about him? It must have something to do with why my mother only ever saw Karlin when he wasn’t there.

“Why did she only ever see you when my father wasn’t there?” I finally asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

Karlin sighed, her eyes closed in what looked like pain before she finally answered me. “Nathan, your father was an awful man. If I’m honest, I’d say he wasn’t exactly what you’d call ‘right in the head’.”

She looked up at me trying to capture my reaction to the news but I didn’t have one. I didn’t know how to react. I was starting to regret asking about this. It feels like I’m not going to like what happened.

“W-what do you mean?” Dangit; my curiosity had got the best of me.

Karlin looked uncomfortable for a while. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. I could feel how much she wanted to cry so I rubbed her hand in comfort.

“Baby, when your mother was still pregnant with you, and most probably before, Adam, your father, was very violent towards your mother,” Kalin spat in distaste. I could literally feel he shiver in disgust as she said my father’s name.