New and Strange Book 2

Memories

"No! I won't let ya hear him!"

"He's my son too, Elizabeth! A boy should know his father!"

"Ya left me, William! Ya left us! If ya wanted to know ya boy, ya woulda stayed! Ya wouldn't have left me pregnant and poorer than the shit under a white man's boot!"

"Eliza my family-"

"Oh don't start this again! We knew the moment we kissed ya family wouldn't want ya with me, but I thought ya didn't care! I sure as hell didn't! I loved ya, Will! I loved ya with all my heart and ya left because ya family was gonna disown ya if ya claimed to be the father of a black lady's child!"

"They're my family!"

"I WAS YA FAMILY TOO!!!" Elizabeth suddenly screamed, making the man in front of her freeze up, never having heard her speak with such raw emotion before. Elizabeth looked at the man who once held her like she was his whole world, and had to wipe tears from her eyes.

"Elizabeth please...I wanna know my son."

"Ya son thinks ya died. That's what I told him."

"You what!? Why would you do that!?"

"Because ya did." Elizabeth looked William dead in the eye, her dark eyes starring into his hazel ones, as if seeing his soul, "Ya died the moment ya chose to leave me to raise a baby on my own. Ya promised to looks afta us both, but ya didn't. I had to work, sweat, and bleed to get multiple jobs that paid well enough to pay for this little home, to put clothes on my boy's back, to feed him every day. I did all of that without ya. I did that without ya, Will. I don't need ya, and neither does he."

"Eliza-"

"If ya eva really loved me, Will, just go. Leave and neva come back. My boy doesn't need ya life, not when ya can't even stand the life ya live."

"...alright Elizabeth...I'll go...just- just take the money. Let me do that much."

"I ain't takin' ya money. This ain't a charity case. We got along without it, we don't need it."

William picked up the envelope of cash he'd set on the table, and pocketed it. He then picked up his hat, and wrapped his scarf around his neck, all in defeated silence. Elizabeth went and grabbed the door handle, fully intending to have the father of her son leave without another word to him. Before the door could be opened, a small voice suddenly spoke up from the bottom of the stairs.

"Mama...what's going on?" Both adults turned, and Eliza heard William's breath catch as he laid eyes on his son for the first time.

The little boy was rubbing sleep from his eyes, having been awoken by his mother's shout, and had a tattered stuffed deer toy under his arm, one of it's button eyes missing. Alastor was in grey pajamas that were just a tad to big for him, the sleeves covering most of his small hands, and the pants legs catching under his heels, his little toes barely poking out from under them. His doctored coffee colored skin was a bit red and puffy on one side of his face, which was marked with the lines one gets after waking from a heavy slumber. The boy's reddish brown hair was all sorts of messy, sticking up in some places, giving him the look of one who'd been zapped by electricity. His brown, doe like eyes, bleary with sleep, looked between his mother and this man who to him was a stranger, and he blinked, trying to make sense of what he saw. He let out a big yawn, revealing a missing tooth.

"J-Just talkin' with this man sweety. He was just-"

"Hello there." Before Elizabeth could stop him, William took a few long strides and knelt in front of his son. He ran a hand through his own hair, which was the same shade as Alastor's, almost not believing what he was seeing, before holding his hand out, "I'm William. You can call me Will."