The Random

Chapter 2: Underground City

Chapter Two: Underground City

          Charlie had his eyes fixed on the ceiling for almost half an hour. It was blank as it was before. There was nothing to be seen, but for some reasons staring at the blankness brought him some comfort. Darkness was what pulling him from the world and its chaos. It was an escape, from pain, and from the surging unwanted emotions that light made visible. Today was entirely different. A lot of both weird and shocking events happened and kept on happening. When he woke up, Harriette, his mom, was in the kitchen preparing his breakfast. That was the first time in a very long time, since his parents parted ways seven years ago—when he was still barely ten years old. He never bothered himself knowing what went wrong between them, and over the years he came to learn not to ask even a single question to his father whom his mother left him with.

          Today, Hariette made him his favorite: raspberry pancakes and waffles, bathed in generous amount of chocolate syrup and honey.

          "How are you my Charlie? Happy Birthday!" she said as she lounged toward Charlie to meet him in a hug.

          "Guess what I made for your birthday! Pancakes!"

          "You're here?" he mumbled softly, his eyes taking a short look at what his mother prepared for him on the table.

          "Well, it's your 17th birthday! I really can't afford to miss it, I'm your mom, am I not?" she said as she attempted to maneuver Charlie to the chair.

          "That's new" said Charlie, gently throwing at her mom a gesture that meant he could sit himself on his own.

          "This day must be very special to you, isn't it?" he gave her a glance, his voice tinged with sarcasm. He knew the nature of her mom's work: long and tedious office hours, going around the whole city the entire day; one would never really expect someone like her to find time to visit their loved ones.

          For a moment he held himself back from speaking further, afraid of what his emotions might bring himself to say. He stared for some frozen moments at the pancakes, wandering on thoughts of the past—how his mom abandoned them and went on with her life without him and his father.

          He had a sudden realization that whatever it was happening inside him, was also new. He never had that bitterness about his mom leaving them before, and he never bothered to unravel the secrets and issues about his parents' separation. But that moment, he was already questioning, thoughts came playing in his head which if not turned into words would possibly make him burst like a bubble, if not explode like a bomb.

          He looked at Harriette with disdainful eyes, tears starting to flump down his cheeks. For the first time, he felt the pain from all those years that he never tried to fix or even search for the wrongs in his life—because nothing ever felt wrong before, in the first place. Just in that moment. Now it dawned to him that there had always been something missing in his existence, that that space inside him which was supposed to be filled by someone he loved, had long been empty. And as her mother pulled him into her arms, he realized that it was her absence that made his life incomplete, and it was just during that moment that it started to rebuild itself. His anguish began to vanish as longing-ness for a mother found its way inside him.