The Consequence

Chapter Seventeen

   "He does?" I frowned. Zak can actually stand being in her presence for more than five minutes? Was it the guilt talking because of how loud he and his 'friends' got? Or did he genuinely like her? Whatever his reason, that was extremely nice of him to do.

   "Yes. I was upset when you didn't come across. Your Alexandria doesn't come anymore either." I had not heard Lexi be called Alexandria in a long time. She hated that name with a passion.

      "If it helps, I haven't been to this house in three years so I haven't seen anybody in that time." I explained, hoping that stuck and I could go back to sitting on my stone step. She was already wearing me out. What was this, the Spanish Inquisition? 

   "It does not help!" She yelled, taking me by surprise. "Zachary is alone in that house and he cannot cope - he tells me so. Instead of moving away with that girlfriend of yours, you should have been looking after your brother and sister. Your grandmother asked that of you when she died, God bless her soul."

   I scowled, Zak was an adult when I left, sure Lexi wasn't but it wasn't like I had much of a choice at the time. "Mrs Green, I didn't move away with my girlfriend. Megan died." I informed her. "That is why I moved." 

   Her face fell from the furious look she had been going for, instantly. "Well Zachary never told me that!" 

   Why would he not? It wasn't like it was a secret, it was plastered all over the newspapers, apparently. Mrs. Green also knew Megan as we lived at the house together for about a year. 

   "Yes well, I was too upset and I needed some time away. I am sure you will understand." Her husband died before I was born so she must have been in her fifties or earlier when he died. According to my grandmother, it was what turned her so bitter.

   When I was younger I used to joke around that her husband got out easy but now I know what it feels like to lose someone you love, I can sympathise with her more and she had crossed my mind a few times over the years. She was the only person I could think of that would have known how it felt.

   I suppose her consolation prize was that she had two children with him so she still had a part of him to hold onto. I had nothing. It was all taken away from me.

   She started nodding her head vigorously. "Of course, my dear." Her voice had softened considerably. "I never knew. I was told that you had moved away and had always assumed that you had moved away with her to start a family." 

   I gulped and my eyes fell to the floor. I would have loved nothing more than to start a family with her. "How did you cope?" I asked her, my voice quiet. 

   She took my hand in hers. "It was difficult but I had my children to think about. Sure, Frank was twenty-two and Cathy was nineteen, so they were not children but it was still hard for them to lose a parent at such an age, I am sure you can agree." She added and I nodded my head in agreement.

   I was an orphan at eight years old. I was just at the right time where I could remember them and so when they did disappear from my life, I felt their loss a great deal. Zak and Lexi felt it also but not to the extent as they were younger at four and two. 

   "So how did you cope?" As far as I was aware she had not married since. I didn't want to look at another woman again and the thought of marrying someone other than Megan made me feel sick to my stomach. Was it always going to be like this or..?

   "I just put all of my effort into looking after them and one day about five years later I looked at his chair and it hit me. I had been so busy with Frank and Cathy that I did not have time to mourn him and just after Cathy moved out, I saw his chair and it was like it had just happened all over again." She explained. Her dark, brown eyes had clouded over slightly. "It was a good decision to get away."