MORTAL ✰ ISAAC LAHEY

[CHAPTER 10]

The Night of the Accident

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ISAAC LAHEY didn't join his classmates at the hospital—he barely knew the girl anyways, so why would he crowd the emergency room with the rest of the population of Beacon Hills and feign sympathy for a stranger—but he felt increasingly bad as the night went on..

He had to admit to himself that it felt wrong to not hop onto his bike and peddle desperately towards the emergency room, but he couldn't find the courage to leave his seat as his father chewed his steak intensely. He was human, after all, so how could he deny the very human urges of comforting others?

To him, it seemed that everyone knew Skylar McCall, but he only knew her as a stranger.

Of course, he had never really had the chance to encounter her in the situations others did, and they rarely had classes together because despite Beacon Hills High not being a highly populated school, it was still a medium sized public school thriving upon social hierarchies and education standards. If he had been smarter, he might've seen more of her, but he spent too much time worrying about the graveyard job his father had burdened him with and with the upcoming lacrosse season, he was too fatigued to do more than what was required of him. Perhaps the fact that they were from two different worlds that barely had a single thing in common really did put up barriers. It felt like they would never amount to anything other than blissful strangers that would pass by each other and remain that way until the end of time.

Isaac had no reason to visit her, even if it felt like the right thing in his heart.

He was meant to be here—sitting across the table from his father as he interrogated him intensely. It felt so terribly wrong, but he couldn't escape the tense atmosphere, even to check up on a stranger's wellbeing.

"Um—so far it's an 'A' in French and a 'B' minus in Econ," Isaac said, hoping that the grades would be enough for his father. He knew in his heart that they weren't, but he kept stuttering the words anyways.

"Oh. What about Chemistry?" his father asked, his eyes hard; the disappointment had already set in—but then again, even if they were perfect grades, he would've found some fault.

"I'm not sure. Uh, midterms are in a few days so it could go up," Isaac muttered uncomfortably, knowing the outcome already.

"Well, what's it at now?"

"The grade?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Uh, I'm not sure."

"But you just said it could go up," his father remarked, wiping his mouth with a napkin as he stared his son down. l

"I just—uh, I meant generally."

"You wouldn't be lying to me, would you, Isaac?"

"No."

"Then tell me your grade," Mr. Lahey demanded, his voice rising. God, Isaac was terrified; his hands shook as he grasped at his fork and didn't meet his father's eyes.

"I just told you. I don't know," Isaac stuttered, his heart racing.

"You wanna take this little conversation downstairs?" his father asked, taunting him, "No? Then tell me the grade, son."

"Dad, this semester's only half over," Isaac tried to reason.

"Isaac?"

His father's voice was cold and steady. Isaac knew he had to answer soon, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. He knew exactly what would happen if he revealed the terrible grade, and that would end in a disaster.

"There's plenty of time —"Isaac blurted out quickly.

"Isaac."

"It's—it's a "D"," he revealed, fear clawing at his heart. His hands were shaking desperately as he stared at his father's face for a hint of the person he used to be; he wished the dad that coached the swim team and bought him and his brother candy on his way home would appear. He tried to breathe as he thought about how his father would roughly grab him and drag him down the basement steps as he struggled to stop his own father from throwing him into a freezer and locking it.

"All right. It's a 'D'," his father said, looking as if he was considering his options. "I'm not angry."

Isaac was shocked at his willingness to let it go. It had been a while since his father had treated him this kindly. The utter relief felt like rain in the desert.

"You know I'm gonna have to find a way to punish you though," his father revealed and Isaac's stomach dropped. "You know, I have my responsibility as a parent. So we'll start with something simple, like, uh—tell you what, you do the dishes and you clean up the kitchen, okay?"

Isaac was relieved and he let out a breath as he replied "Yeah."

"Good," his father said. "Because I'd really like to see this place spotless," he replied as he threw a ceramic cup to the floor. The cup shattered into a million pieces that Isaac could never pick up without pricking his fingers crimson with blood. "Know what I'm saying? You know? I mean this entire kitchen."

Plates crashed down to the tiled floor and objects were thrown everywhere.

"Yeah! Yeah, absolutely—spotless," his father's voice rose as Isaac cowered against the wall. His father reached a vase, grasped it in his hands, and threw it against the wall above Isaac's head. His son tried to cover his face as he ducked away from the shattered pieces.

"Well, that was your fault," his father remarked as Isaac stared at his father in shock, a piece of the vase protruding from two inches below his left eye.

"You could have blinded me," Isaac spat out after he plucked the piece from his face and ignored the warm blood slowly running down his cheek.

"Shut up! It's a scratch! It's hardly even—Isaac," his father reasoned, but stopped as he saw the blood slowly be sucked back into the injury.

Isaac touched the injury and found a hint of scar. It healed.

He knew his father had seen something he shouldn't have, so he fumbled to grasp the doorknob before hastily pulling open the door and racing across their front yard. He yanked his bike up from the grass and nearly fell as he got on it.

"Isaac!" his father yelled into the night as his son peddled quickly. When his son didn't stop, he groaned and got into his car angrily. It was then that he drove off, chasing his son, and his own death.

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[EDITED] SEPTEMBER 1, 2017

it's a weird feeling to delete your author's notes from an entire year ago...

also it's past midnight so i guess it's september now! time is so fleeting...