In the midst of everything, the yelling, the blaming, the swearing and the hurting, I do what my dad had done. In the heat of Mom and Paul’s fight, I walked out, just like that. Something I had never done before.
As fast as I could, I run to the park, bringing nothing but my anger. For years, I’ve been kept up all night listening to them quarrel. I’m beginning to think that maybe it is our fault, me and Nathaniel’s. Why Dad had left and why all this is happening right now. Perhaps it’s a bit too much for me to expect that Paul was fatherly enough to fill in that gap. I’m wrong to think he was the missing piece. Just like he said, we’re not his kids.
We’ve come this far. We moved here in hope of starting anew, with Paul finally becoming the breadwinner. But nothing’s changed. Mom still has to do everything.
Everything is so different from where we came from. Here, the sun shone brightly in between cirrus clouds. Back in Benton, we had stratus skies. At night, the twinkling stars were visible. Montruce smelled of the salty sea breeze. Benton was humid and polluted. This town, no matter how small it is, is a town where everyone knew and trusted one another. People are honest. It’s safe to go out at night. After a couple of months of residing here, I know that this is where we should be. We’re at the right place.
But sure, my family can go to all the right places in the world, but they’ll never stop fighting. Paul can’t see that this town has a lot of opportunities to offer. Sure, Montruce is small and quiet, but it’s certainly not a place for losers. If there’s one loser in this town, it’s him. All he’s been successful in doing since we got here is getting my mother pregnant. I guess I’m kind of mad at Mom too. How come after all the hurt she’s been through, she’s still putting up with this ass clown?
Okay, easy, I think to myself as I sit on the bench. Inhale. Exhale. Good vibes, good vibes.
“The world is quiet here,” a voice says behind me. I turn around. It’s Travis. The pale moon makes his sparkly sapphire eyes glisten even more.
He looked perfect as ever, but timing was imperfect. Why right now? Why when I’m in the middle of this? “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” I snap. Okay, now I’m really angry at myself for being so rude to him.
“Why’s that?” Travis asks, sliding in next to me on the bench. “Is Montruce not silent enough for you?” He doesn’t look cheeky or offended. He’s still got the same poker face.
“No, no,” I shake my head. “That’s not what I meant. This town is amazing. It’s just… my house isn’t so peaceful right now.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks. I don’t say anything. “Okay,” he finally says.
No. I wasn’t going to let my parents’ fight ruin my dream coming true of Travis Rathownd finally having a conversation with me. I force a weak smile. “So how’ve you been, Travis?”
“Great. Just great.” I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not.
Nevertheless, I’m not going to allow this conversation to become awkward. “How’s your head? Looks like you’ve been hit pretty badly in school a while ago.”
He lifts up some hair on his forehead to reveal a large bruise on his temple. “The ice pack was bandaged around my head with a tea towel all afternoon. Some random even asked if the towel covered any lobotomy stitches. At least I get to have an early dismissal. And it’s actually not that bad.”
“Getting knocked out in the middle of the hallway after Tyler the Tank demonstrates an indoor flyball isn’t that bad? What, are you like Superman now or something?”
This makes him laugh. “I believe that if I were Superman, I wouldn’t have this bruise,” he says. “But hey, I get the advantage of having bottomless Swiss Miss at the school clinic.”
