Just Shapes and Beats: Restart

Chapter Two

"Hey mom, dad, I'm back," Blixer announced, walking into the household. It took longer than he expected to help the woman get the boxes to her brother's house, and he was feeling sore from the surprising weight of the box.

His dad peaked out from the kitchen area. "Welcome back Blixer. Seemed to have taken a bit. Did it go well?"

"It did. Helped a few folks... still don't feel comfortable around everyone right now," he replied. "But one shape let me help take something to a house, so I guess that was alright."

His mom, Eowyn, piped up, turning to his direction from the couch. "Remember that all wounds heal with time. Maybe not fully, but heal they do nonetheless."

Blixer glanced at her face and looked away just as quickly. He could feel tears making their way to his eye. "Yeah, well, I wish it could heal you fully."

There was silence for a moment, the family remembering what had happened only seconds before Blixer had gone rampant. In his blind, pain-filled confusion, he unknowingly injured his mother by severely damaging her eye due to clawing at her. She went blind but has been able to adapt in some ways. His father, who also got an injury during the past moment, luckily only has scars on his chest.

"Blixer, honey, I don't blame you for anything. You know that. Please don't keep letting it get to you," Eowyn said worryingly. The topic of what happened to her was one of the more soft spots to Blixer, she could tell.

He didn't say anything else. He was focused on not crying. She could hear him struggle to stay quiet.

"Why don't you help your father with preparing dinner?" Eowyn suggested.

"I could use it!" Theon shouted from the other room.

Blixer nodded, then stopped. Not like his mom could see that. "Okay."

He walked into the kitchen where Theon was cleaning up some spilled water off the counter. "Would you mind chopping up those carrots, buddy? Just into decent sized circles, nothing crazy."

Blixer grabbed the knife next to the cutting board and began chopping away. "What are you making?"

"Chicken pot pie. But I wanted to try making small, separate ones instead of one big dish. I feel we have a lot left over still afterwards and even though we eat some of the leftovers, it'd be more practical to have 'personal' ones," Theon explained.

"Seems like a good idea. Do we have the dishes for that?" he asked, stopping with the carrots to turn around.

"I actually had a few from when I was younger, your grandma liked giving us random things like that," he laughed lightly at the memories of being given the most random items. "But they were old and been collecting dust for years. I got new ones a few days ago."

"Ah, gotcha. I'm sure these will come out just fine dad." Blixer returned to the carrots once more.

Theon smiled and began pulling out more vegetables from the fridge. "So... your mother wanted to take you shopping for some clothes in a few days. It's no rush, and she isn't forcing you since you still are recovering too. But I think it would be nice to spend some time with her." He whispered the last part, leaning closer to Blixer for it.

He thought for a moment. It would be nice, but what if shapes started avoiding him again? While it was expected he still felt off about it.

"I'll think on it. Thanks for telling me," he said. Theon gave an "mhm" in return and started chopping the vegetables he pulled out.

The minutes of silence felt brutal for Blixer. He hated being trapped in his own thoughts even when he was around someone he was comfortable with. He tried to focus on something else, but was truly waiting for his dad to talk about something at least. He heard the tapping of his mom's cane and poked his head over. She was walking towards the kitchen, so Blixer watched to make sure she made it over okay. She made it into the doorway and stood there, simply to stay out of the way.

"Smelling good already," she chirped.

"But I barely started!" Theon exclaimed.

Eowyn waved her hand dismissively. "The vegetables smell nice."

Blixer half heartedly smiled at the small comment. He brought the finished carrots to his dad and stood out of the way. He only felt like listening to his parents' exchanges. It was better than sitting in his room for now. And something to focus his mind on instead of everything else he didn't feel like battling right now.