I Wish [ManxMan]🦂

DRAY~20

I find myself at the last place I should be. Why am I here?

I get the answer when I see Jace trying to talk to Carter but Carter dismisses him. He doesn’t even look at him.

Oh! I went out with Carter. I wanted to make sure he was okay.

I promised myself I will stand beside Steve no matter what. Not even this news of him knowing me will change that. 

Not now.

“You look lost.” Carter's mom says. For the past years she has been sweet to me. Even daring me to call her mom. And I do sometimes.

I smile at her. my gaze must have lingered longer, “is it true?” I find myself asking.

She looks at me with this look. Like I am one of her sons. She always has that look for me. “ yes. Whatever you heard is true.”

She takes a deep breath then continues.  "My son didn’t talk to me, his own mother for six years. You can imagine, the last memory of him was him being dragged, naked by a police officer. And seeing the fight in him leave as he started smiling, then laughing in that courtroom. You can imagine my pain, drayton. I deserved that. Especially after his own sister did that. I failed him as a mother. I failed him as a friend. And it was until later I realized, in his eyes, I must have looked like everyone else who betrayed him. And when I realized that, I stopped going to see him. I stopped writing. I stayed. I prayed. I wished for this nightmare to end."

She looks down at her hands,  then back at me. We are sitting at the dining table across from each other. A vase of flowers in the middle.

Spring never looks so beautiful, especially in her home.

But I wish it was like that in her heart too.

“But nothing worked,” she says. “until one day, I got a letter. And my eyes couldn’t believe me when I saw the address. I held on to that letter for dear life. Before opening it. Before knowing anything inside. I just held it close to my chest and thanked god for bringing my boy back to me.” Tears  are trying to escape her eyes. 
She is holding her chest. The memories vivid in her mind. The emotion seen in her eyes.

“ Wait, so you never opened it?”

She nods. “for two weeks, I didn't open it. But I started seeing strange things happening around me. Neighbors started coming around. Some just say hi and some come clean and apologize to me for what happened. I couldn’t put my hand on what was going on. Until Jace asked me if I read the letter. So that night, I went and read it.”

She smiles. Her beautiful eyes are just like Steve. Now I see clearly how much of her went to her son. She is beautiful with a kind soul.

“ I read it ten times. And when I was done, I went looking for you the next morning. Remember? I met you at the library, I think it was your third visit to this town. You were buying a book  and you helped me with mine."

My eyes widen, it's all coming back to me. “I remember that. I remember meeting the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I think I told you that same day.” I tease her. she laughs

“aren’t you a charmer?” She nudges my shoulder.

“I guess now I know why. Because my soul loved your son before my heart met him.” I charm her some more. Maybe deep down, saying my truth.

She chuckles and stays silent. And for the first time, it wasn’t a bad silence. It was peaceful.

“So if I may ask, what was in the letter? Jace didn’t tell me, no one did.”

“ It's more like he threatened us.”

“what?”

she laughs. “Yes, he told us, we will be monsters if we create another him. Another broken dream. Another broken life. He told us it's not too late to save someone else from that kind of pain. Then he begged us to be human beings for once in our lives. He begged me to look after you."