A Spine-Tingling Story - TDG Fanfic

What's In a Name?

After Ryan had left the quiet room in a state of tumultuous emotion, Mike, Karen and Chloe just sat there for a long moment, staring at the way he had left.

Finally, Mike said, "Do you want some tea, or coffee, or anything?"

"Coffee would be nice, thank you," Karen said. "Milk, one sugar," she clarified quickly as the man got up and walked out, leaving the mother and daughter sitting quietly together.

"I'm sorry," Chloe mumbled, looking down at her knees.

"What for?"

"That he was so rude."

"It's not your fault," Karen sighed, wrapping an arm around her. "You can hardly blame him, either. Bearing a burden like that for so long, and having cancer on top of that, I guess it was all just building up, waiting to come out."

Chloe debated internally on whether to tell her mother about her brother's wish to see her purely so he could give her Hell over what she had inflicted upon him, both directly and indirectly. As much as she agreed that Karen's egregious lie was a terrible thing to do to a child that had led to the accumulation of many negative results over the years, she was still her mother, and within her clear memory, Karen had always gone out of her way to do her best by her.

That was until she had left her to go to America with her new boyfriend, Calvin, three years ago, but even then, she had promised Chloe that when the time was right, they would all be reunited and would live a wonderful life in America together. It was a dream that Chloe had held on to, that comforted her whenever she felt lonely in care. It had certainly thrown her for a loop to discover what her mother had done, that she had her own closet skeletons.

Now, here she was, confronted with a choice, and it was harder than all the troubles that came with paraplegia put together.

The door opened and Mike walked back in, holding three mugs. He placed one in front of Karen and another in front of Chloe, full of something she recognised as hot chocolate, though she really wasn't in the mood for it. Her mother, however, accepted her coffee gratefully, taking a long sip of the caffeinated drink.

"I'm sorry he was like that," Mike sighed, sipping his own coffee.

"No, it's alright," Karen replied, looking downcast. "I don't know what other reaction I could've expected, really." Then, she smiled a little. "He reminds me so much of Connor, it's almost spooky. When he was growing up, he grew to look more and more like him, and when he died, sometimes ... just looking at Ryan was enough to break my heart. I know, what a thing to say about my own son," she said, letting out a mirthless laugh.

"Who's Connor?" Chloe asked, though she had a good idea already.

"Your father," Karen replied. "Well, his full name was Constantine, but he hated that name and always insisted on being called Connor. He said he didn't want to sound like a dictator - ironic, considering he used to be a policeman."

"Tell me more about him," Chloe said.

"I'd love to, but I'd rather have Ryan hear it too," Karen said. "He deserves to know."

Meanwhile, said boy had taken a seat on his bed, breathing heavily in a poor attempt to calm himself. Every muscle in his body was as tense as a rock - even his normally weak legs were tense with spasticity. He knew he would have few spoons once the adrenaline wore off, but at this point, he hardly cared if he lost every single spoon he would've had for the rest of his life. He felt like an electric kettle that was steadily raising the temperature of the water inside of it, just moments from boiling over.

A knock on his door finally sounded, He ignored it, as he did the calls of the knocker, who turned out to be Mike. The man opened the door anyway - to reveal himself as well as Karen and Chloe behind him.