The 7th Child

Chatper 3: The New Kid

March, 2012

The voice on the other end of the line, who was obviously the Doctor, replied in one sentence, "This phone is gonna receive a text of an address, take him there alone and there'll be a boat for you, get on it and you'll be here.". Jennifer creaks her door open, looking out to her son, who was fidgeting with the tv now that the movie was over, and turns back to her phone, "How do I know I won't regret this?" She whispers. The Doctor responds, "Because you'll how much he needed this." He says, almost sounding genuine. Jennifer rolls her eyes, "Any other instructions?" She asks, sarcastically. The Doctor replies strictly, "Don't call this number again." He says, and the number immediately hangs up. The moment the call disconnected, Jennifer's phone received a text with an address on it. She sighs as she knows there's no going back now. Whatever they do next, they do it together. She looks at her son, who's laughing at some episodes of "The Amazing world of Gumball '' that he found, and says, "Hey bubba! What do you think about going on a vacation?" She said as her eyes lit up in joy. Legai's eyes lighten up in excitement, "REALLY?!?" He exclaims. The fact being he hasn't been outside of the house in years, the news of a full vacation was great to him. He runs to hug his mom, who embraces him in her arms. He pauses though, looking up at his mom, "But- but we can't. not yet." He said in a pitiful tone of voice. Jennifer looks down at him with confusion, "Why not?" "Because we still have to wait for dad to come back from his job. We can't leave him alone here, what if he gets worried." Each word of that sentence sent daggers into Jennifer's heart, tears erupting from her eyes as she sits Legai down on the couch, "Legai..." She said through heavy breaths.

          "What?" Legai responds. Jennifer almost couldn't muster up the courage to answer him, but she had enough. She couldn't lie to him anymore, "I have... something to tell you." Her breath trembled and she picked at her fingernail. "What is it?" Legai responds again, getting progressively worried. Jennifer paced to the kitchen, Legai's piercing eyes following her, "Mom, you're scaring me. What is it?" Legai asked again. Jennifer felt a wave of shame come over her, and she could barely form the words she wanted to say, trying to hold Legai's hand but he pulled away. The look in her eyes scared him, and her lack of words told his imagination everything. Tears welled up in his eyes as he shook his head. Jennifer tried to comfort him, "Legai... Your father-" "No." He dejected her, "No, not him." He turned away and walked towards the dishes, his lip quivering. Jennifer followed him, "I'm sorry bub-" "No. No, he's fine. He's gonna walk through that door any day now and we're gonna see him again." He said pointing to the front door, lightly chewing on his lip. Jennifer almost couldn't look him in the eye, as he stared at the ceiling. The thought had lingered in his mind for some time now, but he couldn't bare the thought of... "When?" His frail voice let out, dreading the answer. Jennifer looked to the ground, "2 Months after he left." She rushed out, clearing her throat. Legai came out of his trance, looking at her in disgust, "What?" He whispered, "This whole time? This whole time you've been lying to me?" His voice gradually raised. Jennifer tried to come up with a way to explain herself, "Bubba I know you're upset, but please... please understand. It happened so suddenly, I could barely process it myself. I couldn't let you feel that way too. So helpless, so... angry." Tears were running down her face as she tried to put her hand on his shoulder. As soon as she touched him though, electricity shocked her fingers, causing her to jolt back. Legai was... emotional, for lack of better words. He was enraged at his mother, mourning his father and wondering how they could move on. 

          The ominous darkness of the sunset turning to a starry nightsky was visible from the window over the sink, contrasting the bright neon light shining from Legai's tearful eyes. His emotions caused his powers to sporadically surge, causing him to frequently twitch and shudder. The sight of him being broken by this news broke Jennifer down, and his powers reduced him to this unstable mess of lightning and anger further planted The Doctor's words in her mind. She needs them. He needs them. She was almost scared to touch him, and definitely too scared to speak. But she couldn't leave him like this, she had to figure out some way to comfort him. "Legai, I did what I did because I-" "You were scared." Legai interupted, "Scared of how I'd react? Scared of having to say it out loud? Well guess what mom, I was scared too." He said, raising up to her, his eyes burning bright as he breathed heavily through his words, "I was scared that something happened to him. I was scared that I'd never see him again. I was scared that you would come into my room one day and tell me he was gone. What I was never scared of is figuring out one day that you've been lying to me this whole time!!" Jennifer shook her head, "It wasn't a lie, Legai-" "Every part of us being here is a lie!!" Legai spun as he gestured to the whole room, "A lie to keep me here!" "I did it to keep you safe!!" Jennifer reasoned. "You kept me here against my will!! You knew I hate it here, you knew how miserable I was!!!" Legai screamed as the tears began to flow again. They began screaming over each other, "I won't apologize Legai, I did this for you!!" "But did you ever ask how I felt?!" "It doesn't matter how you felt!!!" Jennifer and Legai began to get more and more enraged with each other. "It doesn't matter how I felt?!?" "NO!!" "THEN YOU"RE NOT MY MOTHER!!" Both of them were stunned. Legai couldn't believe he'd said it, nor how much he actually meant it. In his eyes, she had done this to protect herself from the shame and grief, not for him. And Jennifer- Jennifer had a bubble of cries and screams building in her throat, "Don't. Ever. Say that again. You have no idea how much stress it has been for me to take care of you. Everything that I have done for you." She scolded, pointing at him sharply. "Well I'm sorry that I'm such a burden on you." His voice was hoarse from his crying, but not enough to disguise the sarcasm. "Don't take that tone of voice with me young man!" Jennifer responded, trying to keep the strictness in her voice. "Or what? You'll lock me away in a new house for another 7 years?!?" Legai exclaims, before noticing the papers on the dining room table. He saw numbers, graphs, data...."Mom-" He uttered, "- Where are we really going?" He asked, turning to her slowly.