Irene, My dead best friend [Wattys 2015]

Chapter 25: Reaching Conclusions

Chapter 25: Reaching conclusions

“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.” 
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters

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Supernatural. No, not the television show, although that is super cool. What I meant was, everything around me was supernatural, I was certain now; Irene, the woods, the things inside the woods, my house, everywhere I looked…and all of it was out of this world. The most intriguing part, however, was that I was still sitting there, next to the vision of perfection that was Irene, her accepting parts of what I was telling her a minute ago but also, most importantly, telling me that she could FEEL me.

My heart was beating quite fast, causing my breath to involuntarily quicken. All I could do was sit and look at her. She was rambling now, saying how absurd it was that all these things had been happening all along and she had no idea…well something along the lines of that, but I’m not too sure, because I wasn’t concentrating. My mind was running at a 100 miles per hour, thinking of possibilities that had passed and that could come. This entire while, I hadn’t known that she could feel me, I had spent majority of my time freaking out, trying to comprehend what it was that I felt when I touched her, that emptiness in space and when I had finally gotten over that, I had spent my time convincing myself that nothing could ever happen. To be realistic, however, nothing could still happen with Irene and I, after all, it was I who couldn’t feel her. I felt a loss of something I’d never had, changing into a determination that it was something I wanted. Maybe, one day, when everything was alright, when she and I weren’t running around in these enchanted woods, when she was happy, when I could explain all her supernatural elements…one day perhaps there was a chance.

“Jason, are you listening?” she broke me out of my chain of thought, waving her delicate hand in front of my face.

Shaking my head ever so slightly, I returned to present moment, “Yes…yes, I’m listening,”

“Seemed like you weren’t,” she gave me a skeptical side glance but continued talking, “have you thought about what all this means? The fact that you can’t feel me? If there were people around, I’d ask someone to grab my hand and see if they could feel me. Imagine the odd looks they’d give us!” and she let out a giggle with that but all I could think of was the brilliant thing she had just pointed out. If there HAD been people around, I could have tested my supernatural theory quite easily but as luck would have it, we were all alone.

I considered things as I moved around to my bag pack and pulled out two packs of little cream cakes, handing one to Irene and then resting my back against my back pack. My stomach was beginning to make me realise just how hungry I was but all I had was snacks in my bag and I wanted to drag them out as long as I could.

“What is this?”

“Think, knock off Twinkies”

“What are Twinkies?” She gave me a confused expression, yet ripped open the plastic wrapper anyway.

“You’ve never had a Twinky? They really aren’t all that great if you ask me, but it’s sweet enough to not have our blood sugars fall for a while. You’ve been very impressive in regards to your hunger. I usually go crazy when I’m hungry,” I informed her, shrugging my shoulders and taking a huge bite out of the spongy layer.

“Oh, really? I usually don’t get that hungry. I told you, I get by quite easily on berries from the bushes around these woods,” she told me as she took a little nibble at the corner of the cake. “Wow, this is such an absurd tasting cake,” she said more to herself and proceeded to take a slightly bigger bite.

“So how come you pretended your family was so great? Why didn’t you honestly tell me they didn’t treat you right?” I asked her, finishing the Twinky look-alike with a huge bite. I figured while we were holed up in this tree and while we were honestly discussing things, why not make the most of it?

“I don’t know, Jason. It’s an instinct, I guess. I can’t imagine telling people what my family did to me. Discussing it with you alone is putting me on edge. Families are supposed to be protective, they’re supposed to love one another and care, you know?” Her voice was beginning to shake just a bit, emotion taking over her, but she averted her eyes and continued on, “For the longest time I thought the way they treated me was normal. It was until I grew up and started going to school and saw other people that I realized that was not what relationships were like. I felt more related to Louise than mother or father. She genuinely cared for me and looked out for me. She was the mother I always wanted; took the blame for any mistakes I made, looked out for me, made sure I was alright. She was amazing. But they were as horrid to her as they were to me,”

I let her go on, thinking she might continue but I guess she had had enough. The silence between us was far from uncomfortable. It was a knowing silence that extended from me to her, engulfing us in a comfortable bubble. The woods too were inaudible, all the animals probably asleep at the arrival of darkness, leaving us to our thoughts and words. It was in this silence that my mind started running. I was trying to make sense of why someone’s family would treat them that way. I was running through theories of perhaps she was adopted to maybe she was a step child of sorts but nothing made sense. Then, just like that, a little thought came to me. I mulled it over, wondering if I should mention it to Irene. It made complete sense, explaining the events and how they had come to be, but I didn’t want to say it out loud and risk offending her. I had only just begun to get closer to her. On the other hand, it would probably be worth the offense, just to find out if we got any closer to things. Chuck it, I’d have to ask her.

I cleared my throat unnecessarily, what the hell, Jason, just a couple of hours ago you were applauding yourself on growing into a man and here you are wondering if you should risk saying something to a girl. Just say it!

“Irene?” I had no idea why I was so afraid, perhaps the understanding that if at all my theory was correct, it would change the entire course of our meeting.

“Hmm?” she mumbled back, still in thought but broke away and finally looked at me.

“Something just occurred to me and I want to discuss it with you. Keep an open mind and remember, I’m not pointing fingers, alright?” If it hadn’t been so dark, she would have seen the perspiration collect on my forehead. Everything was suddenly intense, changing course and I was having a mini freak out session in my head.

“Okay….what is it?” hesitation was evident in her voice, yet she encouraged me to continue.

“Well, what you just said, had me thinking. You were just saying how families are supposed to love each other and what kind of family treats their own that way, right?”

“Yes…what are you trying to get at, Jason? Get to it” She was either afraid or annoyed by my slow reveal, I couldn’t tell.

“Think about it. I know you can’t remember anything than what you and I have put together but consider this. Your family never treated you proper, they went to the extent of beating you up…is it at all possible that maybe you didn’t get lost but in fact ran away from home to get away from them?” There, I’d said it. I was now 90% sure that my theory might have been right because I saw the changing expressions on her face. Her face went through a kaleidoscope of emotions, quickly changing from shock (at my audacity?) to surprise and then ever so slowly…consideration. She was considering my words and trying to make sense of them.

©Hafsa T.M (aka HTMwrites)